Ezekiel 1
McGeeCHAPTER 1THEME: Display of the Lord’s gloryEzekiel’s vision of the glory of the Lord may very well be a key to all of the visions in the entire Word of God; it certainly is the key to the rest of the Book of Ezekiel. Many people think of the Book of the Revelation as resting upon the prophecy of Daniel and the Olivet Discourse of our Lord. That is true, but I believe it rests primarily upon the apocalypse of Ezekiel; you will find a striking similarity between the vision in Ezekiel 1 and chapters 4 and 5 of Revelation. This vision is a very difficult one to deal with. John Calvin said, “If anyone asks whether the vision is lucid, I confess its obscurity, and that I can scarcely understand it.” I am certainly a Calvinist in the sense that I must concur with his statementneither do I understand Ezekiel’s vision clearly. However, there is one thing that I am confident this vision is not: it is not a vision of the present mechanical age. Ezekiel’s vision of the wheels within wheels is not a prophecy of the airplane! When the old propeller planes were first developed, several prophetic teachers were saying that this vision was a prophecy of the airplane. Today we have jet planes and they have no wheels within wheels, and we must set aside that interpretation. Such interpretations are juvenile. Silly and senile chatter like that is what has brought prophecy into disrepute. What we do have in this first chapter of Ezekiel, I believe, is a vision of the glory of the Lord. In the Book of Isaiah we have the principles of the throne of God; in Jeremiah we have the practice of that throne; but in Ezekiel we have the Person who is on the throne. I want to hasten to add that we do not have God Himself exposed in this visionyou do not have a window display of Him. When I began my ministry I considered this to be a vision of God, but it is not that. It is instead a vision of the glory of God, a vision of the presence of God. We see here a vision of the chariot of God as He rides triumphantly and irresistibly through time. There is one feature of this vision which shocked me when I discovered it: the chariot is vacant. I had taken for granted that God was there. There are four living creatures, the cherubim, connected with the chariot; yet they are distinct from it. Above all, there is a throne, and on the throne there is a Man. This is the highest vision of God that we are given, and it is most difficult to understand. We will note just a few of its impressive aspects:
Ezekiel 1:1
“Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year” would seem to indicate that Ezekiel was thirty years of age. However, it is the belief of many scholars that this is geared to a little different calendar. I will not go into any detail on this as, frankly, it gets a little intricate, and I do not feel that it is essential. “I saw visions of God.” While the captives in Babylon had sat down and wept by the rivers of Babylon (see Psa_137:1), Ezekiel was seeing visions of God. What a contrastseeing visions and weeping!
Ezekiel 1:2
We have not quite come to the time of the destruction of Jerusalem which took place during the reign of Zedekiah.
Ezekiel 1:3
“The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest.” Ezekiel belonged to the tribe of Levi, apparently the priestly branch, and probably to the sons of Kohath. We are told that he was “the son of Buzi.” “Chebar” was the main canal that came off the Euphrates River, which watered that area. Evidently, the Jewish captives were put there to till the land. This area was removed by quite a few miles from Babylon, and that may be the reason that Daniel and Ezekiel did not have the opportunity to meet together for a meal. Daniel may have visited the area, but I doubt that Ezekiel would have been permitted to visit Daniel.
Ezekiel 1:4
“Behold, a whirlwind came out of the north.” I know that many people have made a great deal of this idea that there is a great vacant space up yonder in the north and that this is the direction that leads to the presence of God. Our modern radio electronic telescopes with their big dishes have shown that there are stars out thereit is not vacant. However, “the north” is used in Scripture to point to the throne of God. In Isa_14:13 we read (speaking of the fall of Satan): “For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north.” I believe the idea is that, instead of pointing to the north pole, we are to look upGod’s throne is out yonder, not relative to any direction at all. After all, its location is not something you and I can understand. We are told, “…look up …for your redemption draweth nigh” (Luk_21:28). That is the direction in which our attention should be focused today. Also in Psa_75:5-7 we read: “Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck. For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.” The only direction that is not mentioned is north, and I would say the thought is that it is upGod’s throne is out yonder, even beyond space. This whirlwind out of the north, then, indicates a tremendous movement from the throne of Godit is a judgment from God. “And a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.” This is the first thing we observea light flashing forth, revealing and also concealing. Obscuring and yet bringing out where it can be seen, it is a light brighter than the sun. Perhaps it could be compared to the inside of an atomic blast. It was incandescent, like lightning. The Word of God says that “…our God is a consuming fire” (Heb_12:29), and that “…God is light …” (1Jn_1:5). Paul said that at the time of his conversion he saw “…a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun …” (Act_26:13). All of this speaks of the unapproachable presence of God (see also vv. Eze_1:13-14).
Ezekiel 1:5
This verse and also verse Eze_1:26 (“the appearance of a man”) speak of the incarnation of Christ, the fact that God became a man. “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt [pitched His tent] among us …” (Joh_1:14). Isa_52:7 tells us, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!” God came to earth a Man, walked the dusty trails of Palestine, and finally spikes were driven into His feet.
Ezekiel 1:10
These four faces (compare this with Rev_4:6-8) remind us of the four Gospels in which Christ is revealed in four aspects: His kingship (Mathew) symbolized here by the lion; His servanthood (Mark) symbolized by the ox; His perfect humanity (Luke) symbolized by the face of a man; and His deity (John) symbolized by the flying eagle. These four living creatures resemble the description we have of the cherubim who were in the Garden of Eden to guard the way of the Tree of Life. They were not shutting man out from God; they were keeping the way open. What did Adam and Eve see when they looked back as they left the garden? They saw a slain animal whose skins they were wearing. And they saw the cherubim overshadowing, keeping open the way to God. It is the blood that makes an atonement for the sin of man. When Moses made the mercy seat, there were cherubim above which looked down upon the blood of the sacrificesthe same thing Adam and Eve had seen. Through the blood is the only way man can approach God. The Lord Jesus said, “…no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (Joh_14:6).
Ezekiel 1:12
God is moving forward undeviatingly, unhesitatingly toward the accomplishment of His purpose in this world today. Nothing will deter Himnothing can sidetrack Him at all.
Ezekiel 1:13
The Scripture tells us “…God is light …” (1Jn_1:5). This is a tremendous vision of the glory of God, a vision out of the person of God. The Lord Jesus said, “…I am the light of the world …” (Joh_8:12). What does this reveal to us? It reveals the righteousness and holiness of God. “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1Jn_1:7). We would be scorched by the holiness of God if we had not been redeemed by the blood of Christ and covered with His righteousness. God is not exposed in this visionHe is portrayed. It is still true that no man has seen God at any time. Moses said, “…Shew me thy glory,” and God hid him in the cleft of the rock so that Moses saw only the glory of God, not the person of God. The Lord told him, “…Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live” (Exo_33:18-23). Man has been forbidden to make a likeness of God (see Exo_20:4). We do not know what He looks like. We do not even know how the Lord Jesus who became a man looked. But there is in the human heart a longing to see God; I think every idol witnesses to that desire. Although idols are perverted and profane representations, they reveal that men want to see God. Yet God has not chosen to reveal His Person to man.
Ezekiel 1:15
Again may I emphasize that this is not a prophecy of the present mechanical age or even of the invention of the wheel. I am sure that in the beginning man felled a tree, cut off part of the trunk, and found that he had a wheelbarrow. When he put two wheels on it, he had a cart. Then when he put four wheels on it, he had a Ford automobile! If that is what you want to see in this vision, may I say to you, that is silly and senile, that is garbage and rubbish. We need to read further to gain an understanding of these wheels within wheels.
Ezekiel 1:18
God is a God of intelligent purpose. You and I are not living in a universe that is moving into the future aimlessly and without purpose. God has a purpose for every atom which He has created, and He has a purpose for you, my friend, in His plan and program. The very fact that you and I are alive today reveals that we are to accomplish a purpose for God. God is intelligently carrying out His purpose in the world.
Ezekiel 1:19
Now we can see more clearly that these wheels speak of the ceaseless activity and energy of God. Our God is omnipotent. The Lord Jesus said, “…All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Mat_28:18). God is moving forward, and He will accomplish His purposes. In Revelation 4 we again read of these four living creatures of Ezekiel’s vision. They are set to guard the throne of God, and in guarding the throne they do two things: (1) they protect the throne in the sense that they do not allow man in his sin to come into the presence of God; and (2) they indicate the way that man is to come. “I must needs go home by the way of the cross, there’s no other way but this” (“The Way of the Cross Leads Home” by Jessie Brown Pounds). The cherubim show the way. However, I think that Ezekiel saw something infinitely greater. He saw the cherubim over the world, extending mercy to this little piece of dirt that is flying through space. Someone has said that man “is nothing in the world but a rash on the epidermis of a second-rate planet.” But God made the whole world a mercy seat when Christ died down here, and God is hovering over this world today, ready to receive any sinner who will come through Christ to Him.
Ezekiel 1:26
I see here an amber throne in the azure bluea sapphire-studded throne flashing like a diamond and colored like a rainbow. The light blinds and obscures. The throne is filled with energy, like a missile on launching. It is moving like a chariot. It is not leaving the earth; it is coming to the earth. I see the cherubim over the world. I see a cross, a Lamb, and the blood. I see a mercy seat: there is mercy with the Lord. In the hymn “Only Trust Him” by J. H. Stockton we sing: Come, ev’ry soul by sin oppressed, There’s mercy with the Lord. In Rom_9:15 Paul wrote, “For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” We are also told, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Eze_18:20). God is saying to usnot only to the house of Israel, but to the whole world"You can come to Me."
Ezekiel 1:28
“This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.” Ezekiel saw more than Moses saw, more than David, Isaiah, or Daniel saw. He saw a vision of the glory of Godnot His Person, but His glory. The presence of God was there. When the Lord Jesus came to this earth and took upon Himself our humanity, His glory was not seen. Ezekiel saw the glory of the Lord. “And when I saw it, I fell upon my face.” This vision had a tremendous effect upon Ezekiel, and it should have this effect upon us: “Oh, God, I am undone. I’m lost and I need You. I turn to You and accept You.” We find throughout the Old Testament that when men came into the presence of God, they went down on their faces. This was true of Isaiah who said: “…Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts” (Isa_6:5). In the presence of the Lord, this man found himself horizontal with the ground. That was the position Daniel took also. It was the position John took on the isle of Patmos: “And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead …” (Rev_1:17). What a picture of our holy God we have here! I must say that I stand merely on the fringe, thankful that I’m hidden in the cleft of the rock. Someday I am going to look upon the face of my Savior. I do not know what He looks like, but I am looking forward to that day.