September 30, 2024 | Be God's Light
Four Living Creatures and the Wheels
Scripture: Ezekiel 1(NIV)
1 In my thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.
2 On the fifth of the month—it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin— 3 the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, by the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians. There the hand of the Lord was on him.
4 I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north—an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, 5 and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was human, 6 but each of them had four faces and four wings. 7 Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. 8 Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. All four of them had faces and wings, 9 and the wings of one touched the wings of another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved.
10 Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a human being, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle. 11 Such were their faces. They each had two wings spreading out upward, each wing touching that of the creature on either side; and each had two other wings covering its body. 12 Each one went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they went. 13 The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forth among the creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it. 14 The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning.
15 As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces. 16 This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like topaz, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel. 17 As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creatures faced; the wheels did not change direction as the creatures went. 18 Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around.
19 When the living creatures moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the living creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose. 20 Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. 21 When the creatures moved, they also moved; when the creatures stood still, they also stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
22 Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked something like a vault, sparkling like crystal, and awesome. 23 Under the vault their wings were stretched out one toward the other, and each had two wings covering its body. 24 When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty, like the tumult of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings.
25 Then there came a voice from above the vault over their heads as they stood with lowered wings. 26 Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. 27 I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. 28 Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him.
This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking.
Devotional
Recall that the Babylonian empire attacked Judah and took exiles from there back to Babylon in three waves over more than twenty years. The first period of deportation took place in 605 BC under King Jehoiakim. During this wave, Daniel was taken captive. The second round of Jews deported to Babylon happened in 597 BC under King Jehoiachin. Ezekiel was exiled during this wave. The third period of deportation ended Judah’s monarchy in 586 BC under King Zedekiah, when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem.
For the next four weeks we will look at Ezekiel and Daniel’s prophetic ministries to Jews under captivity in Babylonia. Then, in the final five weeks of this Old Testament study, we will explore how God used people like Zerubbabel, Ezra, Esther, and Nehemiah to save the Jewish people and restore a remnant back to Jerusalem and the Promised Land.
In today’s reading we see that Ezekiel was a priest. No doubt he had dedicated his life to serving God in the temple of Jerusalem. But now he found himself to be a street prophet, proclaiming the ways of the Lord as an exile in a foreign land.
Ezekiel’s vision of the four living creatures is much like Revelation 4:4-9. The lion is the king of the wild beasts, the ox is the most powerful of the domesticated animals, the eagle is the most majestic of the birds of the air, and the human being is the one created in God’s image. All of creation gives glory to God!
In the image of the wheels with eyes, God is able to move anywhere, anytime, seeing everything as He does so. Oh the majesty of God! The power of God would bring judgment, but also grace. The rainbow recalled God’s covenant promise with His people all the way back to Genesis 9:8-17.
When Ezekiel encountered the likeness of the Lord’s glory so powerfully, he fell facedown, humbly listening to the voice of God as He spoke. The chapters that follow are the Word of the Lord spoken to Ezekiel the prophet. How do you prepare yourself to hear and respond to God when you are in prayer, worship, reading Scripture, listening to a sermon, discussing faith with another believer, or going about your regular day?
Poem
For The Image Of God
For the Image of God, God envisioned a garden
An Eden of bounty and grace
To an Image of God, the LORD shared his full vision
Destruction of most of the race
For the Image of God, God envisioned a people
As numerous as stars in the sky
To an Image of God, the LORD gave a dream vision
A bridge ramp ascending on high
For the Image of God, God envisioned great freedom
To worship; cloud, fire lead the way
To an Image of God, the LORD met on a mountain
Eyes covered, cleft hiding place stayed
For the Image of God, God envisioned twelve clan tribes
To inherit a land filled with promise
To an Image of God, God gave great revelation
Interpreting dreams, famine’s commerce
For the Image of God, God sent great prophet see-ers
Who dreamt of a Hope yet to come
To an Image of God, God sent visions of rescue
Despite chains on exiled sod
For the Image of God, God envisioned great visions
Prophetic announcements ‘gainst sin
To an Image of God, the LORD shared great depictions
Of potter, a plumb line, holy hymns
For the Image of God, God envisioned redemption
Amidst persecution of sin
To an Image of God, God revealed His great char’ot
With Spirit led men, wheels a-spin
For the Image of God, God so loved the whole world
Showed many His throne-reign on high
To an Image of God, God announced strange conception
A Savior from sin, by and by
For the Image of God, God gave up one and only
Proclaiming the great plan of Love
To an Image of God, came a great revelation
“Truly, this is the great Son of God!”
For the Image of God, God envisioned a people
Of Jews and of Gentiles alike
To an Image of God, God met one on the road
A persecutor, full blindness did strike
For the Image of God, God sent forth many nations
His vision to share with the world
To an Image of God, the LORD showed full completion
Lamb of God, full enthroned, with the scroll
