CHAPTER 1

(595 B.C.)

EZEKIELS VISION OF GODS GLORY

¹Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. (The thirtieth year probably refers to the thirtieth year of the Babylonian Empire. By the river of Chebar, does not exactly tell us where Ezekiel was. Some think that this is the river now known as Khabour, which flows into the Euphrates about 200 miles north of Babylon. At any rate, it was somewhere in Babylonia.

The phrase, That the heavens were opened, signifies the beginning of Ezekiels Prophetic Ministry.)

²In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachins captivity (at this time, Ezekiel had been in captivity approximately five years. At this time, the false prophets of Judah were prophesying of the overthrow of Babylon and the return of Jehoiachin within two years [Jer. 28:3]. The expectations thus raised were probably shared by many of Ezekiels companions in exile. However, Ezekiel knew better, adhering to the counsels of the letter which Jeremiah had sent to the Jews of the captivity [Jer. 29:1-23]. Thus, in this atmosphere he began his Prophecies),

³The Word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the Priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the Hand of the LORD was there upon him. (The Word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel, means in reality or without doubt. In the land of the Chaldeans, refers to the Divine Truth that wherever a searching heart is, God will be found. Actually, the deeper the darkness, the brighter the Light.)

⁴And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, 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. (And I looked, and, behold, refers to the fact that what was described could be seen. In other words, it was not a figment of Ezekiels imagination.

The phrase, A whirlwind came out of the north, refers to the Holy Spirit. It was the same rushing wind that came on the Day of Pentecost [Acts 2:2]. Actually, Ezekiel is given a vision of the traveling Throne of God, one might say.)

⁵Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four Living Creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man. (We learn from 10:1 that these Living Creatures are Cherubims.)

⁶And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings. (Their hands and their wings were in proportion, which means that equal intelligence indwelt their entire being, and the One Spirit energized them all.)

⁷And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calfs foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass. (The phrase, Straight feet, means they were shaped like those of an ox, which emphasizes the fact that they did not move by walking. Even though like an ox, there their similarity ended.)

⁸And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings. (The number four is not without intense meaning. Four refers to fourfold and, therefore, completion, i.e., complete within itself, which can only speak of the Creator, and not the Creation. These Creatures attend the Throne of God [Rev. 4:6-8].)

⁹Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward. (When adding Verses 11 and 24, two of the wings were always down, and, when the Living Creatures moved, two were extended upwards, so that their tips touched, and were in this sense joined. When at rest, these were let down again.

They turned not when they went, refers to the fact that the four wings were not in motion as wings normally are when the Cherubim moved. In other words, their power of movement was not in the wings.)

¹⁰As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle. (First of all, it is impossible to exhaust the meaning of the symbolism given here. One can connect all of this with the human face of the Son of Man, Who shared in the Glory of the Father: the Ox, with that of His Sacrifice; the Lion, with that of His Sovereignty, as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah [Rev. 5:5]; the Eagle, with that of His bearing His People, as on Eagles Wings unto the highest heavens [Ex. 19:4; Deut. 32:11].)

¹¹Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies. (Thus were their faces, seems to imply that the Holy Spirit desired for us to understand the symbolism, at least as far as is possible for man to do!)

¹²And they went every one straight forward: whither the Spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went. (And they went every one straight forward, seems to imply that from point to point, they always traveled in a straight line, thereby denoting perfect knowledge of direction and perfect ability to travel the designated course.

The phrase, Whither the Spirit was to go, they went, refers to the Holy Spirit giving direction, which the Cherubim instantly obeyed. [The Hebrew word for Spirit is a noun, and should have been translated the Spirit, as in Gen. 1:2.])

¹³As for the likeness of the Living Creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the Living Creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. (It seems that these Living Creatures were bathed, as it were, in the fire that played around them, yet were not consumed. Fire, as distinct from Light, seems to be the symbol of the Power of God, as manifested against evil [Deut. 4:24; Heb. 12:29].)

¹⁴And the Living Creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning. (The idea is of speed incomprehensible to the human mind and overwhelming in brightness. Perhaps one can say that they traveled with the speed of thought.)

¹⁵Now as I beheld the Living Creatures, behold one wheel upon the Earth by the Living Creatures, with his four faces. (The wheels represent direction, hence the eyes of Verse 18.)

¹⁶The 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. (Strangely enough, and as we shall see, these wheels which accompanied the Cherubim were not attached in any way. A wheel in the middle of a wheel, seems to imply two wheels in one.)

¹⁷When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went. (And they turned not when they went, probably indicates that they traveled in a straight line and that the wheels did not turn as wheels normally do. This suggests the idea of orderly and harmonious working.)

¹⁸As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four. (John the Beloved, on the Isle of Patmos, described the Living Creatures he saw as full of eyes before and behind [Rev. 4:6], whereas Ezekiel describes his as the rings [rims of the wheels] full of eyes round about them four. These eyes see all of the Holiness of God [Rev. 4:8].)

¹⁹And when the Living Creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the Living Creatures were lifted up from the Earth, the wheels were lifted up. (First of all, we should understand the laws of nature have absolutely nothing to do with these Cherubim. They seem to be subject to no laws except the sphere pertaining to their own creation and design by God.)

²⁰Whithersoever the Spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the Living Creature was in the wheels. (Whithersoever the Spirit was to go, refers to the Holy Spirit, and should have been capitalized in the English translation. As well, the phrase, Thither was their spirit to go, implies their own personal spirit, soul, and body, regarding these Living Creatures. However, it should be emphasized that their body is not physical, but rather a spirit body.

The phrase, For the spirit of the Living Creature was in the wheels, seems to have to do with the eyes and concerns their ability to know.)

²¹When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the Earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the Living Creature was in the wheels. (This Verse is very similar to Verse 20. Laws indigenous to man are only a part of the laws created by God. We are now seeing the laws of the Heavenly creation, which are far ahead of anything we presently know. We will know these laws after the Resurrection of Life, when we are given Glorified Bodies.)

²²And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the Living Creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.

²³And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: everyone had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies. (According to Verse 9, when the Cherubim moved, their wings were straight up with the tips touching. When they stopped, they were let down pointing straight forward with the tips continuing to touch. The other pair covered their bodies.)

²⁴And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings. (Even though there is no evidence that the wings moved except from a vertical to a horizontal position when stopped, still, he heard the noise of their wings. The only explanation is that their movement signified great praise to God [Rev. 19:6].)

²⁵And there was a Voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings. (This is the Voice of God, even though we are not told what was said.)

²⁶And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. (Ezekiel sees the appearance of God here, which was similar to a Man, but with a spirit body.)

²⁷And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of His loins even upward, and from the appearance of His loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. (Ezekiel did not say that God was clothed in fire, but the appearance of fire round about within it. In other words, there was a glow which made the Lords Spirit Body seem as if it was on fire.)

²⁸As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the Glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a Voice of One who spoke. (Ezekiel saw a rainbow round about the Throne of God exactly as did John in his vision [Rev. 4:2-3]. The Glory of God denotes the revelation of Gods being, nature, and presence to mankind, sometimes with material and spiritual phenomena, as here.

And when I saw it [the Glory of God], I fell upon my face, portrays the experience of most under these circumstances [Mat. 17:1-8; Mk. 9:2-8; Lk. 9:28-36; Gen. 17:3; Ex. 3:1-6; Num. 22:31; Josh. 5:14; Dan. 8:17; Jn. 18:6; Acts 9:4]. This proclaims the fact that being slain in the Spirit is Scriptural.)