It was my observation while reading chapter 3 of Ezekiel that he was given a very tough audience by the one true living God. He was warned by Elohim they were people of bad character… More
Confine Yourself to Quarters
It has been my observation that the early chapters for the book of Ezekiel are a series of give and take events between Ezekiel and the God he serves. We find ourselves at the end of the third chapter. After all the pomp and glitter of his visions and the clear directives of how he should respond to the rebellious House of Israel in Chapters 1-3, we would expect to see him walk outside his house, find a high spot amongst the Israelites and start talking. We would expect a large group to gather at first until the message started to bite. And so, we find the watchman in his first act of ministry. This first event seems a bit unexpected given the power and grandeur of his commissioning.
Ezekiel 3:22-27 says — The hand of the Lord was on me there, and he said to me, “Get up and go out to the plain, and there I will speak to you.” So, I got up and went out to the plain. And the glory of the Lord was standing there, like the glory I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown. Then the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet. He spoke to me and said: “Go, shut yourself inside your house. And you, son of man, they will tie with ropes; you will be bound so that you cannot go out among the people. I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be silent and unable to rebuke them, for they are rebellious people. But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’ Whoever will listen let them listen, and whoever will refuse let them refuse; for they are rebellious people [NIV].
In this passage, we find the usual interaction. God tells him to get up, head to the flatlands (away from the river) so we can visit. Ezekiel goes to the flatlands and sees the same thing he saw at the river Kabar; So, he lays prostrate in respect, then the Spirit of God stands him back up and starts talking.
As he drops to the ground, I suspect he would be thinking – God can be any place he wants to be, any time he wants to be, in any form of Glory he wants to display. He is a man who once took issue with his calling and withdrew from the previous visions (see Ezekiel 3:14). Transformed, he is a man who is now comfortable talking with the one true living God.
I do not think that we should expect to see such a vision, but we should expect to interact with God. He is not silent. We will hear him in meditation, through scripture, and in prayer. We do within the confines of our faith have a glimpse of the Glory of God (see 2 Corinthians 3:18). As he is being raised up, I suspect he was wondering if he has already made a mistake, hanging out in his house. He gets fully up and he gazes at the Glory of God. I suspect he was expecting a direct statement – go here, do this. Instead, God orders him to sequester himself at home. Immediately! God tells him to not appear in public. I think he might have been relieved. He was off the hook. Then the rest of the story unfolds. Men came to his home and tied him up. Opps!
I think that our choices often define our speedbumps. It is reasonable to expect God to sideline pastors when they do not tend to their flock and do not respond to gentle nudges to get things done. We pray for stuff we have no business requesting and then God sends us a ‘I Love you’ note in the form of a speedbump – the very outcome of the poor prayer decision we made a few weeks ago. Ezekiel is now confined to quarters, bound, laying on the floor and unable to speak. Talk about a speedbump!
Yet God uses this situation to demonstrate the siege of Jerusalem where people were confined to their homes and unable to talk to others. He shows that even in this dire situation, He is the Lord God Almighty. He is in control. He is sovereign. He shall be respected. I choose Jesus.
Windstorm from the North (Part 2)
It has been my observation that Ezekiel was given a profound glimpse of the one true living God as he describes in chapter 1 of his opus. In a nutshell, we see God on the move, leaving the Temple in Jerusalem, drifting in a mobile throne room, displaying all his glory and splendor. The first four verses set the stage for the main event. Then we read about the windstorm and the center mass of the storm…
Ezekiel 1:4-11 says — 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, and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was human, but each of them had four faces and four wings. … Under their wings, on their four sides, they had human hands. All four of them had faces and wings. … 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. Such were their faces [NIV].
We have here an account of four angels. Oh my, what amazing view we have of them. They are alive, with multiple faces and immensely strong wings. They receive life from the fountain of life, in the same manner that we see the sun, the clouds, the moon and the stars as part of the creation, we see these four angels as part of the throne. They are integral to how Ezekiel describes the Glory of God as they amplify the visual we see through Ezekiel’s eye. This is a vibrant scene!
The four faces of each angel suggest to me that they are set to view the four winds of heaven (see Matthew 24:31). The four faces emerge again in Revelations 4:7 as four creatures around the throne. If I only saw one side of the angel, I would say one had the face of a eagle, another one had the face of an ox, not realizing they each had four faces. I recall that Zechariah described the four angels as four chariots heading North, South, East, and West (Zechariah 6:1). God sends his messengers all directions, his kingdom reaches as far as we can imagine and then a bit farther (beyond our imagination).
Ezekiel tells us that each angel had the face of a man. This suggests they may have understood things, seen their surroundings, and experienced feelings similar to the way we function, but given their situation, they far exceed our abilities. With the face of a lion, I might expect them to be strong and bold. With the face of an eagle, I might expect them to have a strong, strategic vision of God’s plan.
In the account from Ezekiel we notice each angel had four wings. John saw them with 6 wings (Revelations 4:8), Isaiah saw them with 6 wings (Isaiah 6:2), we are wise to notice that when Isaiah say the angels and the throne, they were above the throne and they covered their face with two of the wings (respect for the Glory of God). when I consider the meaning of all this, I get the feeling that faith and hope rest on their wings which soar upward. They carry godly devotion and affection to us with cheerful readiness. When Ezekiel observes their joined wings, I see a simile of unity, unanimity, and community among them. This is truly a profound window into the throne room of God.
The deeper truth – this community of angels is somewhat shielded from our eyes, they work in the smoke, not of darkness, they work within the smoke of God’s Glory. When they enter our realm, they hide their true body with a shield so they appear in a manner that we can assimilate. We see what God wants us to see for the moment, just a moment.
I choose Jesus.
Windstorm from the North (Part 1)
It was my observation while considering the impact of Ezekiel chapter 1 on my perceptions of God that the vision presented is very humbling. In the vision there is a complex structure presented, in its simplest form (from bottom to top) we have four wheels (four angels), each wheel supporting a column (four angels), the four columns support a flat roof with a throne on top of the roof. Seated on the Throne is God. The entire structure is wrapped in a massive fireball. That is the sum of chapter one. But, as you might guess, there is more to the story – the details matter!
Ezekiel 1:4-8 says — 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, and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was human, but each of them had four faces and four wings. Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. All four of them had faces and wings, and the wings of one touched the wings of another [NIV].
Why do we start this book with this vision? I suspect there are definable reasons. First, this firms up Ezekiel’s calling – he knows he is working directly for the boss. Second, it refines the view of God for Ezekiel’s audience – God is getting into their face — they know God means business. Their days of defiance are numbered. They quickly learn their God is a consuming fire whom they cannot stand before. Finally, they know his mercy will not be withheld forever. They have reassurance, the column of fire that led Moses to the promised land – is the ball of Fire that Ezekiel is seeing. Symbolically, God is on the move from Jerusalem to where they are at in Babylon. They have not been abandoned. All of this assurance unfolds in the vision of chapter 1. The message is clear – let them know captivity is not the end, God is with them. Even though God is not in his sanctuary, he is near.
God clears the sky with a windstorm preparing the space for his holy presence. This clearing produces a serenity of the mind that opens our heart to heavens message. The great cloud that appears wraps the holiness of God to protect us from the intensity. The whirlwind comes to us in much the same way that is presented in 1 Kings 19:11 for Elijah. The whirlwind prepares the way for God, it demands our attention, in a sense it issues the command if you have eyes, then look, if you have ears then listen.
The cloud brings fire to the vision, as we see in Mount Sinai, where God presents in a thick cloud that rings his consuming fire (see Exodus 24:16-17). But this time we see a fire that seems to have no fuel, it is sustained by God himself forever. We also see that the fire is surrounded with visible glory, we are not able to see into the fire, yet we do see a glow or brightness that is produced by the fire, it is perhaps a reflection of the fire in the clouds. Similar to Moses seeing the back of God, just of glimpse of him. We have the same in this vision. Finally, we are told of an amber hue (glowing metal). Some think it is the color that is reflected in our eye when we look at fire and others see the fire in our eye.
Then Ezekiel speaks of the four angels (the columns). They are presented with a sense of greatness, the goodness of God in their work, the important role they play in his glory. Their image emerges from the fire, a ray of hope for us that he loves his creations. We find later, in chapter 10, Ezekiel tells us they are cherubim. What are they doing in this vision? Their wings are interlocked, these four angels working together as a community to support the glory of God, sustain a platform for his throne. Is that not what our prayer and service provide? Is this not a shadow of what the church does? Do we not fill the temple with the incense of our prayers and our service offerings? I think so. This compels me to say…
I choose Jesus.
The Bottom of the Glass
It has been my observation while reading Ecclesiastes that Solomon struggled to find meaning in Life. He had the resources to explore a wide range of avenues looking for wisdom and meaning. In Ecclesiastes 2:1-3 Solomon leaps into the fray with the following observation, “I said to myself ‘Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.’ But that also proved to be meaningless. ‘Laughter,’ I said, is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish? I tried cheering myself with wine and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.” [NIV]
Solomon was struggling, trying to put his finger on the nature of wisdom and the fullness of meaning in his life. He tried pleasure (a form of hedonism) to determine if there was something to be learned. He pursued anything he wanted, any woman, any object, any experience. Nothing was out of bounds for the king. Yet this failed. Both pleasure and laughter were unable to calm the angst in his heart as he searched for peace and meaning in life.
He filled up vessel after vessel with wine, hoping the buzz would dull the angst. As many people do, he looked for wisdom at the bottom of an empty glass. Finding none, he turned to other things, see Ecclesiastes 2:4-11 “I undertook great projects: I built houses … planted vineyards … planted all kinds of fruit trees … made reservoirs … owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem … I amassed silver and gold …. I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me …. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.” [NIV]
So, what happened? He had achieved all we could imagine when defining success. He had money, possessions, power, prestige, and pleasure. He had it all, and he had done it all “for himself.” There was a reason he struggled to find purpose. This reason was simple – God was not part of the plan, rather Solomon was busy working on self, building for self, looking for satisfaction of self with little regard to the negative impact on others (effort and taxes of the common folk to build stuff) or benefit to anyone else but himself.
He learns the hard way that leisure and entertainment are not valuable to anyone including himself if there is no intent or external goal associated with the effort. It is not enough to see a new thing, do a new thing, or experience a new thing; if all we are accomplishing is the receipt of something, then we are left with angst.
Giving is not just a mantra, it is central to the way we are made, the way we think, the way we find meaning in life. When we think of others before self our angst begins to dissipate. When we give to others, our angst begins to dissipate. As a man thinks – a Man is (implied in Proverbs 23:7). As the Father gave to us – we are designed to give to others. After all, we are created in his image. Giving only to self is counterproductive to who we are, why we are, how we are designed to function.
What do we do? Isaiah 43:6-7 says, “I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth— everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” [NIV]
What do we do? We respond to the call!
I choose Jesus.
The Rim was High and Awesome
It was my observation as I worked my way through the first chapter of Ezekiel that the vision seen has a most interesting description of what appears to be a Gyro. The wheels have perpendicular intersecting wheels (think about how ball of yarn looks). They moved in any direction but allowed the angel standing on top to remain facing in the same direction. Rolling Spheres? Kinda. But the description seems to describe intersecting rings, more like a gyro than a sphere. I am wise to be vague on this matter.
Ezekiel 1:15-18 says — As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces. 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. As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creatures [four angels] faced; the wheels did not change direction as the creatures [four angels] went. Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around [NIV].
When we take in this message, we cannot escape the glory of God. We see him in full splendor, we see the steadiness of his heavenly environment, all thing in order and in place. No renovation going on in this house. It is all done. We might be wondering, is there anything useful for us to do in Heaven? But clearly the angels have a mission and a function. We also will have a mission and a function. We see his plan with an eye of faith, we see it through a filter, but soon we will discern the full beauty of his glory, wisdom, goodness, and power that shine over the universe, over his throne. We will see God as he is.
The wheels sparkle like topaz, the soft glow of bronze fills the air, much like a reflection of fire on glass. We are not told much about the topaz, but we do know that wheels intersect and we can see the intersecting wheels full of eyes.
We know from the description the wheels moved with the angels; the angels moved with the wheels. Many sources I have reviewed feel that when the living creatures moved in a direction, any direction, they were engaged in God’s work. As the wheels moved, things happened in the kingdom. Movement causes the ministry and ministry causes the movement. Imbedded through all the movement is God’s plan and his glory.
And then we have the rims with eyes. Goodness. We are really moving in the inner court of God’s reality. This idea of wheels with eyes is difficult to accept with our delicate earthly eyes. We are instinctively protective of our eyes. They are hard to protect and even more difficult to repair. Yet, God takes our weakness and makes it his strength.
The rims were of a vast circumference, we note at the bottom of the first chapter as the vision is revealed, Ezekiel drops his head down, shrinking away from the image. He was looking at something extremely large from a distance or he was looking up at some massively large wheels with the rest of the image seeming to be a long way up. The size is astonishing with the height and depth of God’s glory.
The deeper truth — The all-seeing eyes of God’s angels are on the move. This rim is a sign of God’s infinite wisdom and the notion of the ‘eyes of the Lord running to and fro’ throughout the entire earth beholding good and evil, revealing himself full of power to the church (strongly implied in 1 Chronicles 16:9). His interaction is not blind fortune, rather it is carefully orchestrated by the Spirit of God and the angels who move with us every day of our life holding back the hordes of hell. His grace and mercy are forever amazing. I choose Jesus.
Friday Quote
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 – So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.
There is a Time for Everything
It was my observation while reading Ecclesiastes chapter 3, that Pete Seeger created the song ‘Turn Turn Turn’ from the first 8 verses. Solomon said (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8) “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens, a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.”[NIV]
It is clear there is a plan for us, a plan that has been in place for eons, a plan that includes ebbs and flow of life events, a plan that carries us from birth to death. This plan was built from God’s foreknowledge, (God’s awareness of our choices and decision nuances), he integrates our free will decisions with His goals and forms the plan. Solomon pens the ebbs and flow of life in the context of God’s plan for us. We read about the rhythms of joy and sorrow, tearing down and building, scattering things and gathering things all playing out in our life and the life of our community.
Everyone reading this essay knows that life is full of turns. Not all the turns lead us to smooth waters. Some lead right through the valley of death, complete with tragedy and deep troubles. We know that God provides comfort and protection, but the bumpy road remains. Not all death means the termination of human Life. The death may be of things that matter, or relationships, or feelings, or other things. He uses these troubles to draw us over, around, or through walls that keep us from a deeper trust of his love for us. He uses events (good and bad) to strengthen our character.
There is more — Solomon says (Ecclesiastes 3:11) “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” I think that we know about some things, but there is much knowledge that God keeps tucked away, out of our reach. Human wisdom is real, is true, and extremely useful, but it is built on a limited knowledge structure – the things and ways he chooses to reveal to us. But, for sure, there is not one thing that we can know or ever know apart from God. Everything we experience, encounter, embrace – the good and the bad – is allowed from God. We discover things, we experience all that life brings us and we find trust. His timing is his business; in the end his timing reflects His glory.
Solomon says (Ecclesiastes 3:12-14) “I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to His plan, and nothing taken from His plan.” I think — if we knew everything that God knew it would create a burden that could not be carried. Consider the initial shock that Adam felt after they realized they were being evicted from Eden – I bet it took a while to adapt to their new surroundings. They had two sons, one of the sons killed the other son. This early example of evil is difficult to assimilate. How did things get so far out of control so quickly? I suspect this is why so much is hidden from us.
Love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are amazing blessings that are gifted from God to us. With Jesus, hope abounds. We can face a myriad of experiences (good and bad) with hope, knowing we are secure in his grace. I really like the song ‘Turn Turn Turn’. Solomon wrote the lyrics long ago; the 1965 ‘Byrds’ recording holds the distinction of being the oldest known lyric for a #1 U.S. hit on the pop chart. But I think God’s Grace is infinitely better. I choose Jesus.
Shalom Talk 