Luke 21:8

Christian, Be Not Deceived!

Commentary on Ezekiel Chapters 1-3                                                                  

By L. Hardinge

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Transcript


The prophecy of Ezekiel is one of the most fascinating prophecies in the entire Bible. In fact, I have almost come to the point that I can say the message of Ezekiel is one that fills me, perhaps more than any other book in the Holy Scriptures. I think there would be many more people enjoying studying Ezekiel if it were not for chapter one. The prophecy of Ezekiel one sounds so formidable when we first encounter it that we become a little discouraged to continue in the book. But chapter one repays every moment of time spent in investigating it. It lies at the foundation of the entire message of Ezekiel. So let us set our minds with open Bibles to follow through and discover what God is trying to say to us in Ezekiel chapter one.

The Prophet introduces the time, the 30th year. As far as I have been able to find, nobody knows exactly what he meant. The best guess that I have encountered is that this was probably his 30th year. As a man from the priesthood aged 30, he was officially entering into his priestly ministry. And he tells us that in this year memorable for other things also became memorable because of the vision that he received from the Lord as he looked through the open heaven. Notice he sees visions of God. I think we must never fail in the hours that we shall spend studying Ezekiel to concentrate on this central idea. Ezekiel is a vision of God. It looks at God in His position, in His glorious state, in His functioning, in His ultimate bringing to conclusion consummation His grand design as the central object of the entire book. Ezekiel consists of visions of God.

This vision was given to Ezekiel at a time when Jehoiachem's captivity was bitter. It was in the fifth year of his captivity. The conditions in Judah were worsening every day. Jeremiah, in Palestine, in the city of Jerusalem, was doing his utmost to turn the minds of king and prince and priest and people back to God. Defiance, violence, indifference characterized the responses to his message. In the land of captivity by the river Chebar, Ezekiel was granted visions that span the ages and also looked directly to conditions in Jerusalem.

As far as Judah was concerned, the world was coming to an end. That which they had feared, that which they refused to believe, that which every prophecy, every prophet for decades had predicted. The captivity, the overthrow, the destruction of Jerusalem was now taking place. A contingent had already gone to Babylon. Those who stayed in Jerusalem felt that nothing worse could happen to them. But Jeremiah emphasized that the city would be broken up and this terrible condition filled with foreboding the mind of the captive exiles by the river Chebar. It was there that Ezekiel the priest felt the hand of the Lord upon him.

And he looked out of the North, chapter 1, verse 4. In the scriptures, especially in the symbolic section, the North stands for that concept that points to an advancing enemy. The enemies of God's people in Palestine came from the North. The Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans. All came down over the land bridges into Palestine from the North. Satan sets up his throne in the sides of the North. As the sanctuary looked to the east, the North part would be the left. The South part would be the right. To the Semitic mind, the right hand was the place of honor. That was the South. The left hand was the place of hardship and dishonor and terror. That was to the North. So, out of the North came a whirlwind.

Daniel 7, strife, war and a great cloud that contained a fire self-igniting. As the margin indicates. The last verse of Genesis 3 talks about this. Fire attached to the sword in the hands of the cherubim, that turned every way, self-igniting. As one looks at logs burning in a fireplace, one flame blends and mingles with the other. So it was that he saw brightness and out of the midst of it the color of amber like fire. So here from the North, strife, a whirlwind with a self-igniting fire burning. And out of the midst of this incandescent mass, appeared the likeness of four living beings.

These four living creatures are very important and we will spend quite considerable time thinking about them. In chapter 10, these living beings are called the cherubim. –Ezekiel 10:15. The cherubim were lifted up. This is the living creature that I saw by the river Chebar.

So these living beings are called the cherubim. We encounter them again in Revelation 4 and 5. There they are called beasts, but the Greek term indicates they are living beings, zoe, which we get zoology. They are creatures invested with life. This was their appearance as Ezekiel continues. They had the likeness of a man. So the general view of a cherub is anthropomorphic. They have a man-like appearance. This is not their main characteristic, but he continues. They had four faces. And these faces he describes in verse 10 as faces of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle.

In comparing this description, with the description that he gives later on in chapter 10, verse 14, we see that the face of an ox is substituted for the face of a cherub. So man-ox, lion, eagle is equivalent to man-cherub, lion, eagle. The ox and the cherub therefore became interchangeable.

And as one thinks of the golden ox that Israel made at the foot of Sinai, why Moses was up in the mountain, we gain an intelligent rationale as to why they would make an ox. An ox was the simplest symbol of a cherub, a guardian to the gate of the temple, that could be manufactured. And so when we look at the bull that is worshiped in India, the sacred cow, or in Egypt, the sacred bull, we realize that this is one mutation of the concept of cherub.

We first encounter cherubs in heaven. In the 28th chapter of Ezekiel, which we will study, God willing, in detail, Satan is called the covering cherub. We have no idea what he looks like except that he was beautiful and wise.

In the scriptures, in the salvation story, the initial revelation of the cherubim is found in the last part of Genesis 3. Here we are informed that God placed cherubim at the east of Eden. We are not told what they looked like, nor are we given any detail concerning the number.

We don't hear of cherubim anymore until the 25th chapter of Exodus when Moses is informed by God that Bezaleel[1] must fashion to cherubim and stand them at each end of the mercy seat which was to rest upon the ark as a cover of that chest, containing the law, two tables of stone, manna in a golden pot, and the resurrected Aaronic rod. Still we have no description of them.

When David was given a vision of the sort of temple God wanted him to make, he was shown to further cherubim.

These had to be made of olive wood overlaid with gold. They were gigantic. They stood on the floor of the most holy place of Solomon's temple, and under their wings, the entire ark with the mercy seat and the two cherubim rested. So in Solomon's temple we find that there were four cherubim.

Apart from the fact that they had wings and that they could stand, we are given no description of the cherubim until we come to Ezekiel 1. And here inspiration goes out of its way to give us most-detailed descriptions. These man-like living creatures that stood had straight feet, Ezekiel 1-7, the word means legs as well.They had straight legs like a man. They could stand, but the soul of their feet was like the soul of a bull's foot. So they had bull’s feet, straight legs like a man, a body like a man, and four faces.

Besides that, in verse 6 they had four wings, to which in verse 11 are added two special other wings. They are therefore possessed of six wings. In Isaiah chapter 6, the young prophet was given a vision of the throne of God, and he saw seraphim, six winged creatures. The only point that he adds to the fact that they were seraphim is that they had six wings.

Ellen White in describing Lucifer calls him, on at least two occasions, the covering cherub, that shining seraph. So Lucifer was both cherub and seraph.

A “cherub” and “seraph” are Hebrew terms, and they have been left untranslated by the direction and editorial supervision of the Holy Spirit through the centuries to call our attention to the etymology of these terms. Seraph comes from the verb seraph, which means to burn or glow or be incandescent or shine. Seraphim are shining ones. They are bearers of light. They are light bearers. In Latin they might be called luci-fer, lux and ferous. The word cherub comes from two words, the initial k, calf, the inseparable preposition meaning like, and rû or râb, meaning father, revered Father. Cherub therefore means one who is like the father, like the revered father.

Of all created beings, Lucifer, the light bearer, the shining one, the seraph, was most like the Father. He could be called the karûb, the cherub, as he is in Ezekiel 38.

The character of the cherubim is God-likeness. The function of the cherubim, as seraphim, are bearers of light.

Now Ezekiel sees in the cloudy, whirlwind-tortured north, four living cherubim. He emphasizes the fact that they are living: six-winged, four-footed, four-legged, calf-footed. Besides that, Ezekiel 1:8, they have the hands of a man.

Now get a picture of the cherubim. They are shining, God-like symbols of living beings with four faces (man, ox, lion, eagle) with six wings, with a human body, with straight legs, bull’s feet, man's hands, and their wings touch each other. One pair of wings covers their feet in humility. Another one covers their face in adoration, and with the third pair of wings, they fly.

If you can picture the cherubim standing with faces looking reverently at the mercy seat, with two wings stretched out over their faces, over their heads. The right wing touching the left wing of the cherub in front of him, and the left wing touching the right wing of the cherub in front of him. Then their are two wings that go past their feet, down touching the tips of the two lower wings of the cherub in front of them, and then a pair of horizontal wings. One going to the right and left touching the tips of the left and right wings of the facing cherub. You have three circles of wings, two pairs of wings forming a horizontal circle and the other wings forming two vertical circles, like wheels within interlocking wheels at right angles to each other.

Verse 11, everyone was joined to the one of the other. There is a cooperative touching, affectionate kissing effect pictured here.

Verse 12, they went everyone straight forward, whither the spirit was to go, they went[2]. So these cherubim are spirit directed. Wherever the spirit decides, they go.

Now among them, verse 13, are coals of fire. Now we encounter the same coals of fire in the sixth chapter of Isaiah. The young prophet complained to the Lord that he was a man of unclean lips, and the Lord says, in effect, I can cleanse those.

And so he commands one of the seraphim and they bring a live coal from the altar. They touch Isaiah's lips and he is purged from his sins.

Among them is the appearance, verse 13, of these coals of fire that are also like lamps. Fire burns lamps in lumen. The scriptures talk of John the Baptist, in the words of Jesus Christ, as a burning and a shining light. The burning purifies the dross. The shining illuminates the way. So not only do they cleanse, but they also cast light on the journey through life.

And this lamp of fire went up and down among the living creatures, like lightning. And the Spirit of Prophecy informs us that this speed, like lightning, of the light passing among the cherubim, indicates the speed with which the work of the three angels is going to be completed in this earth. The living creatures, verse 14, ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.

So far, the description of the cherubim. Manlike, six-winged, four-faced, man-handed, straight-legged, bull-footed symbols of a function. I want to underline the fact that these cherubim are symbols. Every part of the sanctuary was symbolical.

We look at the lamp, where so used to it, we immediately think of the tender, merciful, innocent, suffering, unresisting Jesus Christ.

We look at the seven branch candlestick, we think of Christ the light of the world.

We look at the showbread and the goblets of wine, and we think of our partaking of his message, his words which are bread and life.

The fragrance of the incense turns our minds to the merits and intercession that he carries out on behalf of sinners.

So when you look at the cherub, you see the symbol of a function, a symbol of a function first fulfilled by Lucifer, and later fulfilled by Gabriel, and finally fulfilled by the redeemed of the Lord. Now this may come as a surprise to you, but may I call your attention to our verse in Revelation chapter 5. Here we have a description following chapter 4 which describes the cherubim of the judgment seen. In verse 8 of chapter 5, we meet the four living beings, the four beasts, who in verse 9 sing a new song. And part of this new song, ascribing honor to Jesus Christ, is that thou was slain and has redeemed us to God, by thy blood out of every kindred tongue and people.

So the four living beings, the four cherubim, sing the song that they have been redeemed from among men. So they are symbols of a function that first was fulfilled by Satan, then was fulfilled by Gabriel, and ultimately will be fulfilled by human beings redeemed from among men.

What mean their four faces?

The early Christian teachers following the apostles understood that these four faces could be likened to the revelation of Christ found in the four gospels.

Matthew, written for the Jewish people, sought to establish the royal dignity of Jesus Christ the master, born of the tribe of Judah. He is the lion of the tribe of Judah.

Mark depicts Jesus Christ as the patient toiler. The book of Mark opens with a tremendous day in which Christ worked for morning, noon and night, trying to serve and seek and help needy humanity. A whole gospel of Mark depicts Christ the toiler. The ox was the most useful faithful beast of burden in Palestine.

The gospel of Luke, the physician, depicts Jesus Christ as a man, looks to the humanity of Christ through the Virgin Mary, shows Him tired, thirsty, hungry, sleepy as a human being would be. Luke depicts Him as a man.

John mounts with wings as eagles and soars into celestial spaces. He depicts Christ as the eagle.

So the four characteristics of Christ, royal dignity, patient, toiling, suffering, sacrificial labor, human, communication and sympathy, and soaring vision that goes up into stellar spaces.

These four characteristics, Jesus Christ, depicts in humanity.

Now these characteristics had been depicted on the standards of the four leaders of the tribes of Israel.

To the east of the tabernacle enclosure in the wilderness was located the tent of Judah with a lion emblazoned on its standard.

To the south was Ruben with a man, to the west was Ephraim with an ox, and to the north was Dan with an eagle with a serpent in its talons.

So we have man, ox, lion, eagle as representatives of called humanity among the twelve tribes.

If one may look at this fourfold symbology as a whole, the characteristic of God the Father, the likeness of the Father, as light unapproachable, goes through Jesus Christ as through a lens, as through a prism. And the four major rays of this light are broken up and burned and glow on the faces of Judah, Ruben, Ephraim and Dan, lion, man, ox, eagle.

The children of Israel are supposed to depict the likeness of Jesus Christ. We see them, therefore, with these standards representing formalized appearances of that likeness.

On the mercy seat, the cherubim were standing, looking forward to the fulfillment of the promise with which Revelation 3 ends. To him that overcometh, I will grant to be with me on my throne, or in my throne, even as I am with my Father on his throne.

Satan claimed to be like God. Satan prostituted his gifts, revolted against God, seduced a third of the angelic hosts, destroyed this earth, declared that God's idealism is impossible of attainment. Then it was that the light and the character and the life of God through the promises of Jesus Christ, filling the hearts of men and women, purposed to change them into that likeness and take them back to the throne of God. To demonstrate to the universe that Satan was a liar, that God is true, that God's purposes can be carried out.

In Ezekiel's time, the people were in a desperate state. What were they going to do? They were being broken up, they were apostates, the Prophet's heart was breaking. God said in spite of the whirlwind, in spite of the terror from the north, His purposes through the cherubim would be carried out. So they moved in wonderful processions, fast as lightning, guided by the Spirit, through the turbulence of these terrible days.

Now with the cherubim, in Ezekiel 1:15, there are wheels. Now what are these wheels? We encounter them several places in the Bible. Take, for example, the third chapter of James. And as you look at this verse, you will be amazed from the margin that the wheels of nature are set on fire by a word that is not spoken as God would have it spoken.

A word fitly spoken in Proverbs 25 verse 11 contrasts with a word that is not fitly spoken in James 3 verse 6. Spoken on his wheels is used in Proverbs as well as in James 3.6. Daniel 7.9 declares that God has wheels that are full of light and full of fire.

Now these wheels, according to the book Education, represent the play and interplay of the machinery of life.

Connected with the living beings, the cherubim, there are wheels. And these wheels represent the complicated performance of relationships and human events. 

A word spoken fitly on his wheels produces wonderful fruit. A word that is not spoken sets on fire the wheels of nature. And God who sits on his throne in Daniel chapter 7 has flowing from Him wheels of light and wheels of fire. He is in control of the play and the interplay of human events.

As we consider these wheels, we discover in Ezekiel 1 16 that they have a work to do. And their work is symbolized by the color of a burl. This is a green stone. And in the scriptures green has the function of bringing hope.

In the Bible, colors have a very important function. We talk about fine, linen, clean and white. We talk about scarlet sins becoming as white as snow. We talk about the color of blood, purple robes.

Ellen White was given a vision, a dream, when she was a little girl, of a cord that was green in color that she had to keep coiled close to her heart, stretch out every time she wanted hope and faith.

So these wheels, the play and interplay of human events, connected with these living beings as they give out the likeness of Jesus Christ through the ages was to bring hope.

Verse 18, the rings of these wheels, the outer rim, was full of eyes. Sometimes we think that human events are blind. We talk about blind chance. In Ezekiel's vision, the play and interplay of human events were full of eyes. They are seeing where they are going. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout them, whither so the Spirit was to go. And so there is no darkness, no mystery. The play of events is guided by the never sleeping eye of God.

Verse 19, when the living creatures go, the wheels go. When the living creatures are lifted up, the wheels are lifted up.

Whither, verse 20, the Spirit was to go, they went. What does this tell us? That God's purpose of making men and women like Himself, karâb, impressed with the likeness of Jesus Christ. One with Him as Satan was in the beginning. That this purpose is connected with the play and interplay of human events and is all guided by the Spirit of God.

Whithersoever the Spirit was to go, they went. Fither was their Spirit, ready to go. This is a wonderful picture.

Here are human beings in a time of crisis and war and disintegration, who are allowing Christ through His Holy Spirit, so to mold them into His likeness.

That they can be called Karubim, karâb, like the Father. That their function is to shine their seraphim, the shining ones. They are filled with the Spirit, they are guided by the eye of God. Their purpose is, their color is green to give hope to all who see.

In verse 22 of Ezekiel 1, above their heads, there is a firmament. This word means stretched out place. And this firmament connected with the throne in verse 20 has the appearance of a sapphire stone. Now we first encounter this special firmament, like a sapphire stone, in a description of the throne of God, found in connection with the time when the 70 elders, together with Moses, went up into Mount Sinai for a distant encounter with Yahweh. They saw through the mist of that vision, this stretched out place, supporting a throne, the color of sapphire. The foundation of the throne is sapphire. And this led to the traditional view of the Jews, that the original ten commandments were written on sapphire stones. The law of God is the foundation of his throne. The two tables of stone and sapphire would remind them of this, as did the ribbon of blue, that was to confine their wrists and their ankles, wherever they moved. So their hands and their feet always were active within the circle of the law of God.

So he sees a foundation of the law, sapphire, pavement, over the heads of the living beings. And upon this foundation, a throne, verse 20, the likeness of the throne. And on the throne, the likeness is the appearance of a man. And around the throne is a bull, verse 28, full of brightness. Now let me summarize this part of the vision.

Above the heads of the cherubim was a stretched out platform of sky blue sapphire. Upon this platform was a throne. Above the throne was a man. Surrounding the throne was the rainbow. Jesus Christ is the man. The rainbow is the symbol of the everlasting covenant. Surrounding His throne as evidence to the universe that He will never break his word, supported by the sapphire pavement of His unchangeable law, that in turn is connected with wheels, that are connected with the living beings, showing that the Son of Man upon the throne controls the play and interplay of human events, whose one purpose is to impress malleable, surrendered human beings with the likeness of Jesus Christ.

And in verse 24, the sound of the wings of the cherub were like great waters, like the voice of El Shaddai, like the speech of a host.

So as he listens, he hears the voice from the throne connected with the wings, connected with the living beings, the voice of God.

We first encounter the voice of God, in Genesis, creating. Then in Genesis 3, in pleading with mankind to repent and accept the divine way. Now we hear the voice of the man on the throne as the voice of humanity, supporting guiding.

And this, verse 28, the prophet tells us, is the likeness of the glory of God. We encounter the glory of God again in John 1:14. The word was made flesh, dwelt among us, and we beheld the glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Grace is power to attain. Truth in the word is the description of what we must attain. The word inspired, tells us what to do. The word incarnate provides grace to enable us to do.

And so in this vision of Ezekiel chapter 1, we have the most inspiring picture of God upon his throne. Seen through Jesus Christ, surrounded by the bow of unchanging promise, supported by the law of unchanging providence, controlling the wheels of interplay of human events full of eyes, nothing is hidden from his sight, guiding the destiny of cooperative men so they might become impressed with the fullness of Christ's likeness.

This was the vision by the Chebar. This was the purpose of the Incarnation.

And as Ezekiel looks at this vision, as chapter 1 ends, he falls upon his face, full of wonder. But he has a voice speak to him, saying, chapter 2, stand on by feet. And the Spirit entered into him and spoke to him.

Having seen the vision, verse 3, Ezekiel is commissioned. Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel.

Once a man catches a vision of Jesus Christ on his throne and the purposes of the plan of salvation, he must bear the good tidings to those who listen. And so Ezekiel is sent as a messenger.

But he has warned that the children of Israel were a rebellious nation. They have transgressed. They are impudent children, stiff-hearted.

Not an easy task to carry the message of God. It's not an easy task to preach the gospel. Those who listen are not there with their mouths open for the bread of life. Many times they are rebellious, stiff-hearted, impudent. But what is Ezekiel to do? What is every speaker for God to do? I send thee to them and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God.

The message that Ezekiel is to bring, therefore, is a message that is to be filled with the Word of God. It's not his own ideas, it's not his own opinions, it's not sociology, it's not anthropology, it's not psychology, it's not behavioral science, it's the Word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God.

And he is to continue to preach this whether they will hear or whether they will forbear. Then he's warned they are a rebellious house. So he may expect them not to listen to him. Yet shall they know that there has been a prophet among them.

Seeing the look of consternation probably on Ezekiel's face, the Lord continues in verse 6, son of man, be not afraid of them. Don't be afraid of their words. Don't be afraid of their looks, though they are like briars and thorns and scorpions.

Now a scorpion doesn't make a frontal attack. He sneaks up from behind or he gets you an unsuspected moment and buries his tail in you. And Ezekiel is to expect such treatment from those to whom he speaks.

But nevertheless, verse 7, speak my words unto them. Whether they will hear or whether they will forbear for their most rebellious. He is to go as a messenger, he is to speak God's Word, he is to speak God's Word whether he has an attentive, appreciative audience or not.

Now how is he to learn God's message? Verse 8, hear what I say unto thee. Don't be like one of their rebellious house. Open thy mouth and eat what I give thee. Now this concept of eating the Word of God is found in many parts of the Bible. Jeremiah, for example, says thy Word was found and I did eat them and I would unto me that joy and rejoicing of my heart. In Revelation chapter 10, John the Revelator is told to take the scroll and eat it. And here Ezekiel is told to take the book and eat it.

And when I looked, a hand was sent to me and a roll of a book was therein. And it was spread before me, written within without.

And what did this message contain? Lamentations, mourning and woe.

In chapter 3, he was told eat what thou findest. Eat this roll and go and speak.

To the messenger of God, the prophet or preacher or priest or evangelist or witness, be he ordained or unordained, the commission is, see the vision of Jesus Christ upon his throne. See the vision of God's glory and then go and study the Word.

And so Ezekiel took the roll. He opened his mouth and he ate the roll. And the Lord tells him, cause thy belly to eat. This is digestion. Fill thy bowels with the roll. It must become part and parcel of his very life.

Then did I eat it. And it was in my mouth, honey for sweetness.

Now we may ask ourselves, how could lamentations, mourning and woe, be honey for sweetness? This is the interesting part of the Holy Scriptures. To the unregenerate mind, the message of lamentation, mourning and woe is a put-down. The unregenerate mind always says, the preacher or the prophet is all the time cutting me down. He's all the time criticizing me. He's all the time hitting me over the head.

To the regenerate heart, however, these are pointers towards righteousness. He is delighted to have weaknesses pointed out so that he can avoid them in the future. He does not wish to live in a fool's paradise. He is delighted to see areas of improvement. He rejoices to know that to whom the Lord loves, He rebukes and chastens.

And so as Ezekiel ate this inspired record, this roll handed to him by the Holy Spirit. In his mouth it was honey for sweetness.

And the word of the Lord came to him, saying in verse 4 of Ezekiel 3, Speak with My Words unto them. This emphasis is also interesting. Speak My words. Speak with My Words.

Every speaker for God should so fill himself with scripture imagery when he prays and when he speaks and when he preaches, it is with God's Word.

Then the Lord warns Ezekiel, I have not sent you to a people who don't understand your language, but to the house of Israel. Not to a people with a strange speech, Verse 6, or a language that you can't understand. If I had done so, they might have listened to you. But I have sent you to the house of Israel and they will not harken unto you, for they have not harkened unto me. This is exactly what he had told Samuel centuries before. They haven’t rejected you. They have rejected me.

And today when we reject the Bible and when we reject the Spirit of prophecy, we are not rejecting a human author. We are not rejecting Ellen White. We are rejecting God. They are impudent, hard-hearted.

Verse 8, he promises Ezekiel, I have made thy face strong against them. I have made thy forehead strong against their foreheads as an adamant, harder than flint.

So the spokesman for God must not be cowed by angry looks, or hostile bitter scorpion-like words. Fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. Moreover, he said unto me, Son of Man, all my words, that I shall speak, receive into thy heart, hear with thine eyes.

So before the preacher can preach, before the prophet can proclaim, before the witness can give testimony, he must himself have received in his heart and in his ears all God's word. To leave some section out is to make oneself open for sin and temptation to enter in. Then he was to go to the captivity, get thee to them of the captivity, speak unto them, tell them, thus saith the Lord, whether they were here or whether they were forbear. Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard rushing, blessed be the glory of the Lord. Now this is the second time he encounters the glory. First time he sees it in vision, in the total picture of the great controversy in salvation story. God, on his throne, manipulating the wheels and within wheels of the inter-player human events, bringing through it all living beings who are like Christ in every way.

Now he is a part of that ongoing salvation story, and he is supported by the surrounding note of the glory of the Lord from his place. I heard the noise of the wings, touched one another, the noise of the wheels, a great rushing, the Spirit lifted me up, took me in the heat and bitterness of my Spirit, a hand of the Lord, now a symbol of the Holy Spirit, strong upon me. And I came to them of the captivity of Tel-abib by the river Chebar. I sat where they sat and remained astonished among them seven days. Here Ezekiel as he enters into his ministry, is infused with the Spirit of God and surrounded by the atmosphere of heaven and the knowledge that all the forces of the salvation story and the glory of God are working on his behalf.

First he must realize the need, so he sits where they sit. And after seven days, having seen what they were doing and saying, the Lord says to him, verse 17, I have made thee a watchman. Hear my word? Give it to them.

And the picture he presents in the next few verses is repeated in the book of Ezekiel. When I say to the wicked, verse 18, you shall surely die. If you don't give him warning, that wicked man will die in his sin, but his blood will I require at thine hand. If thou warn the wicked man, and then he doesn't turn, he'll die in his iniquity anyway, but thou has delivered thy soul[3].

The necessity then for giving warning is vital. It doesn't say if the wicked is not warned, he'll be saved by living up to his light. It doesn't say that. If he's not warned, he will die in his iniquity, but his blood will be required at the witness's hand. When the righteous man turns from his righteousness, verse 20, and commits sin, then his blood will be required at thine hand if thou does not give him warning.

Nevertheless, if thou warn the righteous man, and he still turns, thou has delivered thy soul. So Ezekiel has given a picture of his responsibilities as God's witness.

The hand of the Lord, verse 22, was there upon me, and he said, Arise, go forth to the plain, and I will talk with thee. And I went forth to the plain, behold, for the third time, the glory of the Lord was there, which I had seen by the river Chebar. And I fell on my face, and the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and said, Go shut thyself within thy house.

First the Spirit says to him, Go and sit where they sit, and live where they live. Now he says, Go shut thyself into thy house. And think, and I will bind thee. I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth until I tell thee to speak. When I speak, I will open thy mouth. Thou shall say, Thus saith the Lord, He that heareth let him hear, he that forbeareth, let him forbear.

These first three chapters of the book of Ezekiel constitute a unit. They give first the vision of the glory of God. This vision is to be the prophet's dynamic. He is never to forget that above the din and the turmoil and the confusion of the wheels within wheels of human events sits Christ upon His throne: guiding, directing, controlling, manipulating to bring about His will.

The opening vision was a guarantee that this purpose of God manifest through the incarnation when the glory of God was seen full of grace and truth will produce characters like Christ, who will be witnesses to His eternal life in all the ages.

So we see the cherubim, symbols of redeemed human beings, symbols of that function that was first carried out by Lucifer in heaven. It was later carried out by Gabriel and will finally be carried out by the redeemed of the Lord. Perhaps you would want to read in Prophets and Kings the comment on Zechariah chapter 3. Note particularly the words of Satan himself. When he looks at the redeemed and says, “Are these the men who are to take my place in heaven?”

And Ezekiel saw the cherubim, the transformed human beings with the royal dignity of the lion of the tribe of Judah, with the patient toiling, suffering, sacrificial attitude of the ox, with the communicating compassion of a man, with the soaring vision of an eagle. He saw them controlled by the Spirit of God, filled by the Spirit of God, surrounded by the eternal bow of the everlasting covenant, under the guidance of the eye of God. And with this vision infusing his mind, filling his soul, throbbing through his heart, digesting the written Word of God, Ezekiel is commissioned to go and preach “thus saith the Lord.” He is warned that his word will not be heard, that his message will not be regarded. But he is to preach whether they will hear or whether they will forbear. Knowing their stubborn, rebellious, he is to take courage. He himself first must digest the Word. He must nibble at it. He must eat it. He must masticate it. He must allow it to go into his belly. He must fill his bowels. He must digest it. And when he himself is filled with the Word, he himself must follow that Word. All my words thou shalt receive in thine heart. So he himself must be a sample of the believers before he can witness to the believers. Then he is to go and see the need.

The Spirit carries him right into the midst of the people of God. He is there astonished seven days, plenty of time, perfect time. He reads their thoughts, he listens to their words, he observes their actions. They are rebellious. They are indifferent to the message of God. They are unmindful of the divine purpose. They are thinking only of themselves.

Then the Lord says, you are a watchman to these people. Whether they are good or whether they are bad, you must speak my word to them. If you do not, you are not discharging their responsibility and the blood of souls will be on your hand.

Then the Lord took him to the plain. He could see the vastness of the task before him. To support him for the third time, the glory of God is by his side. Jesus Christ is there in his fullness. The Spirit enters into him. He is told to go on brood upon these important events. So quietly within his closet he thinks, what am I? Who am I? What is my attitude to all this? What is my relationship to this wonderful vision? How do I react?

The Lord says, remain there quiet with your tongue cleaving to your mouth till I give you the opportunity. When I bid you speak, then speak my words. Whether they will hear or whether they will forbear.

Now the vision of Ezekiel applies particularly to our days upon whom the ends of the world are come. We live in a time of human history when society is breaking up before us. When rebellion and sin and evil of every stripe is multiplying around us, when men's hearts turn away from the things of God and the things of eternity to the things of the flesh and time and sense. They have no regard for tomorrow. Eat and drink for today is the only day we have to live.

But if we will look up, we too may see the Man upon the throne. With his nail pierced hand guiding the affairs of men. The Sapphire platform is still there and the law of God is unchangeable. The rainbow promise that has buoyed up God's people in every age is still shining. Jesus is still on His throne. The wheels are still full of eyes round the back. The play and interplay of human events are not blind chance. They are divinely guided providences. The living beings having their characters formed. The chosen ones are still submissive to the Spirit. Whether the Spirit was to go or to go, there was their spirit to go. They turn not to the right, not to the left. They go every one straight forward. They are allowing the likeness of Jesus Christ to be impressed upon them.

This vision should be our vision. The commission that Ezekiel was given should be our commission. Take my words, eat them, fill thy belly with them, go sit with the people and see their needs, go out into the plain and see the vastness of the task, go into thy closet and meditate upon the word. And then when I give opportunity, speak my word to them. Whether they will hear or whether they will forbear. Remember they are rebellious people. But if thou doest not warn the wicked, if thou doest not warn the apostatizing righteous, their blood will be on thy hand. With this urgency, Ezekiel in the long ago went to his task. With this urgency, we today should enter our task.


Footnotes:
[1] Exo 31:2

[2] Eze 1:12

[3] Eze 3:18-19