Ezekiel 1:22
Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was the likeness of an awesome expanse, gleaming like crystal.
Sermons
The Glory of the EternalVarious Authors Ezekiel 1:4-25
The Providential Government of GodW. Jones Ezekiel 1:4-28
The Vision of God is the Source of Prophetic InspirationJ.D. Davies Ezekiel 1:22-28














We cannot fail to observe in Scripture that the prominent prophets were prepared for their responsible work by an ecstatic sight of Deity. Without a clear and overpowering sense of the greatness of God, along with the undeserved honour of being his messenger, mortal men shrink from the perilous task of reproving and warning their fellows. This was the royal university in which the prophets received their high commission; and every evangelic prophet, too, must hear his message from Jehovah's lips before he can speak with authority to the people. In the words of St. Paul, modern preachers should be able to say, "I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you." We learn -

I. THAT GOD'S ELEVATION ABOVE HIS CREATURES IS A MORAL ATTITUDE RATHER THAN MATERIAL DISTANCE. His eminence measured by intrinsic excellence, not by intervening space. That both angels and men - all the principalities and powers - are symbolized in the "living creatures" (or cherubim) is evident from the fact that immediately above the wings of these ideal beings stretched the floor of heaven - a crystal firmament, awe-inspiring in its splendour - and on this was erected the sapphire throne of Deity. Between the blue transparent floor of the heavenly palace and the wings of the cherubim no distance intervened. "He is not far from every one of us; in him we live." We may see, not only the rod, but also the hand that has appointed it. "Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved;" "The Lord of hosts is with us;" "Thou encompassest my path;" "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God."

II. THAT GOD IS ACTIVELY ENGAGED IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF THIS UNIVERSE. He was seen by Ezekiel, as also by Isaiah, occupying a throne. This implies that he has not given himself up to majestic and well earned repose. The crystal firmament and the sapphire throne bespeak the presence of serene and perfect peace. Yet there is no indolence in heaven. Perfect life means constant activity. "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work;" "They serve him day and night in his temple." It is an exploded fallacy of the sceptics that God has withdrawn himself from the scenes of earth, and takes no interest in human affairs. The very opposite is the truth. He acts mediately in the most minute changes and events. "His throne is prepared in the heavens: his kingdom ruleth over all."

III. THAT THE MOST HIGH GOD DEIGNS TO REVEAL HIMSELF IN HUMAN FORM. This is an unquestionable honour put upon human nature. We have in these visions of Ezekiel mysterious forms of cherubic life, but God does not disclose himself to the view of the prophet in any of these forms. "Verily he took not on him the nature of angels." It is nowhere said that God created the angels in his own image. It is said that man was formed after the likeness of himself. It is nowhere said that recovery was provided for fallen angels; for man it is provided, and at prodigious expense. Angels are uniformly styled "servants;" the redeemed from humanity are designated "sons." In the apocalpytic visions of St. John, the angels stand in an outer circle round about the throne; while the elders - representatives of the Church - sit on thrones nearer to the Deity. God has put stupendous honour on human nature. There is a Man upon the highest throne. God has stooped to our poor level, that he might raise us up to his. "We are to be partakers of the Divine nature." In this vision granted to Ezekiel we have a forecast of the Incarnation - an anticipation of Bethlehem.

IV. THAT GOD'S NATURE GLOWS WITH FIERY INDIGNATION AGAINST SIN. The glorious Being who occupied the throne, presented in one respect a twofold appearance. From the loins - as a dividing line - upwards he appeared as chasmal, electron - as when gold and silver are fused in the flame. From the loins downward there was the appearance of fire. No other interpretation can be put upon this, but that the God of heaven was about to proceed on an errand of judgment. It was still in his heart to forgive, if only men would abandon the abominable thing; but the lower parts of his person - his legs and feet - burned with fierce resolve to vindicate his outraged honour. Similar is the declaration of the Apostle Paul, that "the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of his Son;" "He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire;" "Our God is a consuming Fire."

V. THAT IN THE MIDST OF JUDGMENT GOD IS MINDFUL OF HIS COVENANTED MERCY, "As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about." The execution of righteous retribution upon the ungodly will be an occasion of advantage, and blessing to the redeemed. The blacker the storm cloud, the more clear and beauteous is the rainbow traced upon its departing form, when the Sun of Righteousness again shines forth. This is God's repeated proclamation of mercy - the renewal of his gracious covenant. This brightness was round about Jehovah's head - a halo of glory, a diadem of transcendent beauty - redemption's matchless crown. In it are blended all the attributes of Divine perfection, from the scarlet hue of righteousness to the soft blue of perfect peace. "He will be ever mindful of his covenant;" and it increases our strong consolation to be ever mindful of it also. On the raindrops this heavenly bow of beauty is sketched, as if to suggest that on the daily gifts which flow from the Divine hand we may discern the "everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure."

VI. THAT THE SUPREME LORD OF HEAVES AND EARTH STOOPS TO HOLD INTERCOURSE WITH MEN. This series of magnificent visions was intended to prepare the mind of the prophet to receive new disclosures of truth, new commissions of duty. The splendour of the scene, when once the prophet's visual organ was enlarged - the glorious sovereignty of Jehovah especially - so impressed and awed the prophet's mind, that he fell upon his face. Nothing so humbles the proud heart of man as the sight of God, or even a general sense of his nearness. In the presence of God's greatness, he perceived by contrast his own littleness; in the presence of God's purity, he saw his own vileness; under a sense of God's absolute rule, he was constrained to render glad and preempt obedience. Such lowliness of spirit is a prerequisite for the Master's service. "The meek will he teach his way." Because the lawgiver of Israel was the meekest of men, God "made known his ways unto Moses." So is it still. "With the froward thou wilt show thyself froward." Humility of mind is the only attitude in which we can wait with patience at wisdom's gate, and really pray, "Speak, Lord; for thy servants hear." And still God speaks to humble men. Prayer is not a mere traditional custom of piety. It is a real application poured into the attentive ear of God, and gracious messages of love come to us in return. Said oar Lord in his last days on earth, "If a man love me, he will keep my commandments, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." Ezekiel - a man of like passions with ourselves - records, "I heard the voice of One that spake." - D.

Whithersoever the Spirit was to go, they went.
Oh for conquering grace to crush down self. I would be as a grain of dust blown in the summer gale without power to change my course, carried by the irresistible breath of God; forever made willingly unwilling to will anything but the will of my Lord. I would be as a tiny straw borne along by the Gulf Stream, carried wherever the warm love of God shall bear me, self delighting to lie low and see the Lord alone exalted.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

For the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
The bosom of Providence is the great moral crucible in which things work, in which they work together. They assimilate, repel, interpenetrate, change each other; and then leave as resultant one grand influence in the main for each character, for each man. "All things work together," not in an aimless and capricious manner, for this end and for that, now in one way and now in another, as though a stream should one day flow seaward, and the next back toward its fountain among the hills, but in one volume, along one channel, in one direction, toward one end.

(A. Raleigh, D. D.)

People
Babylonians, Buzi, Ezekiel, Jehoiachin
Places
Chebar
Topics
Arch, Awesome, Beings, Color, Colour, Creature, Creatures, Crystal, Expanse, Fearful, Firmament, Form, Forth, Gleam, Heads, Ice, Likeness, Shining, Sparkling, Spread, Stretched, Terrible
Outline
1. The time of Ezekiel's prophecy at Chebar.
4. His vision of four cherubim;
15. of the four wheels;
26. and of the glory of God.

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Ezekiel 1:1-28

     8474   seeing God

Ezekiel 1:3-28

     7775   prophets, lives

Ezekiel 1:4-28

     1090   God, majesty of
     1469   visions

Ezekiel 1:5-25

     4627   creatures

Ezekiel 1:22-24

     4150   cherubim

Library
God's Providence
"Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces. The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel. When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went. As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 54: 1908

The Noble Results of this Species of Prayer
The Noble Results of this Species of Prayer Some persons, when they hear of the prayer of silence, falsely imagine, that the soul remains stupid, dead, and inactive. But, unquestionably, it acteth therein, more nobly and more extensively than it had ever done before; for God Himself is the mover, and the soul now acteth by the agency of His Spirit. When S. Paul speaks of our being led by the Spirit of God, it is not meant that we should cease from action; but that we should act through the internal
Madame Guyon—A Short and Easy Method of Prayer

'Deliver us from Evil'
'But deliver us from evil.'--MATT. vi. 13. The two halves of this prayer are like a calm sky with stars shining silently in its steadfast blue, and a troubled earth beneath, where storms sweep, and changes come, and tears are ever being shed. The one is so tranquil, the other so full of woe and want. What a dark picture of human conditions lies beneath the petitions of this second half! Hunger and sin and temptation, and wider still, that tragic word which includes them all--evil. Forgiveness and
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

This State of Prayer not one of Idleness, but of Noble Action, Wrought by the Spirit of God, and in Dependence Upon Him --The Communication Of
Some people, hearing of the prayer of silence, have wrongly imagined that the soul remains inactive, lifeless, and without movement. But the truth is, that its action is more noble and more extensive than it ever was before it entered this degree, since it is moved by God Himself, and acted upon by His Spirit. St Paul desires that we should be led by the Spirit of God (Rom. viii. 14). I do not say that there must be no action, but that we must act in dependence upon the divine movement. This
Jeanne Marie Bouvières—A Short Method Of Prayer And Spiritual Torrents

The Prophet Jonah.
It has been asserted without any sufficient reason, that Jonah is older than Hosea, Joel, Amos, and Obadiah,--that he is the oldest among the prophets whose written monuments have been preserved to us. The passage in 2 Kings xiv. 25, where it is said, that Jonah, the son of Amittai the prophet, prophesied to Jeroboam the happy success of his arms, and the restoration of the ancient boundaries of Israel, and that this prophecy was confirmed by the event, cannot decide in favour of this assertion,
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

How Subjects and Prelates are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 5.) Differently to be admonished are subjects and prelates: the former that subjection crush them not, the latter that superior place elate them not: the former that they fail not to fulfil what is commanded them, the latter that they command not more to be fulfilled than is just: the former that they submit humbly, the latter that they preside temperately. For this, which may be understood also figuratively, is said to the former, Children, obey your parents in the Lord: but to
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

A Sight of the Crowned Christ
(Revelation, Chapter i.) "Since mine eyes were fixed on Jesus, I've lost sight of all beside, So enchained my spirit's vision, Looking at the Crucified." "The Lord Christ passed my humble cot: I knew him, yet I knew him not; But as I oft had done before, I hurried through my narrow door To touch His garment's hem. "He drew me to a place apart From curious crowd and noisy mart; And as I sat there at His feet I caught the thrill of His heart-beat Beyond His garment's hem. "Rare was the bread He broke
by S. D. Gordon—Quiet Talks on the Crowned Christ of Revelation

Appendix v. Rabbinic Theology and Literature
1. The Traditional Law. - The brief account given in vol. i. p. 100, of the character and authority claimed for the traditional law may here be supplemented by a chronological arrangement of the Halakhoth in the order of their supposed introduction or promulgation. In the first class, or Halakhoth of Moses from Sinai,' tradition enumerates fifty-five, [6370] which may be thus designated: religio-agrarian, four; [6371] ritual, including questions about clean and unclean,' twenty-three; [6372] concerning
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Of Love to God
I proceed to the second general branch of the text. The persons interested in this privilege. They are lovers of God. "All things work together for good, to them that love God." Despisers and haters of God have no lot or part in this privilege. It is children's bread, it belongs only to them that love God. Because love is the very heart and spirit of religion, I shall the more fully treat upon this; and for the further discussion of it, let us notice these five things concerning love to God. 1. The
Thomas Watson—A Divine Cordial

Covenanting Enforced by the Grant of Covenant Signs and Seals.
To declare emphatically that the people of God are a covenant people, various signs were in sovereignty vouchsafed. The lights in the firmament of heaven were appointed to be for signs, affording direction to the mariner, the husbandman, and others. Miracles wrought on memorable occasions, were constituted signs or tokens of God's universal government. The gracious grant of covenant signs was made in order to proclaim the truth of the existence of God's covenant with his people, to urge the performance
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

An Advance Step in the Royal Programme
(Revelation, Chapters iv. and v.) "We are watching, we are waiting, For the bright prophetic day; When the shadows, weary shadows, From the world shall roll away. "We are watching, we are waiting, For the star that brings the day; When the night of sin shall vanish, And the shadows melt away. "We are watching, we are waiting, For the beauteous King of day; For the chiefest of ten thousand, For the Light, the Truth, the Way. "We are waiting for the morning, When the beauteous day is dawning, We are
by S. D. Gordon—Quiet Talks on the Crowned Christ of Revelation

Brief Outline of Ancient Jewish Theological Literature
The arrangements of the synagogue, as hitherto described, combined in a remarkable manner fixedness of order with liberty of the individual. Alike the seasons and the time of public services, their order, the prayers to be offered, and the portions of the law to be read were fixed. On the other hand, between the eighteen "benedictions" said on ordinary days, and the seven repeated on the Sabbaths, free prayer might be inserted; the selection from the prophets, with which the public reading concluded--the
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

Ezekiel
To a modern taste, Ezekiel does not appeal anything like so powerfully as Isaiah or Jeremiah. He has neither the majesty of the one nor the tenderness and passion of the other. There is much in him that is fantastic, and much that is ritualistic. His imaginations border sometimes on the grotesque and sometimes on the mechanical. Yet he is a historical figure of the first importance; it was very largely from him that Judaism received the ecclesiastical impulse by which for centuries it was powerfully
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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