Ezekiel Chapter 1
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Ezekiel 1:1 Now 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.
Ezekiel was a
young man here among those that had been
taken captive by the Babylonians. The verse
referring to the 30th year has different
meanings to some. Some say it is probably
Ezekiel's age at that time. Notice the his
age was the same as when John the Baptist
and Jesus started their ministry. Another
one I read was that it was the 30th year
from finding the book of the law in the 18th
year of Josiah. Then we have some that say
it could be the 30th year from the reign of
Nabopolassar, the father of Nebuchadnezzar.
Ezekiel ministered for about 27 years among
the captives at Babylon arriving 9 years
after Daniel had arrived. Ezekiel served as
God's prophetic messenger at the same time
as Jeremiah ministered the word of God back
in Jerusalem. The Babylon captivity was to
be 70 years. He was taken to Babylon at the
same time as Jehoiachin who reigned at that
time. Jehoiachin was one of the wicked kings
but he willingly surrendered to the
Babylonians.
God had not forgotten those who were still
faithful to Him and awaited the day of
redemption. Just as with Daniel, He did not
leave them in darkness but gave them a
vision of that which is and that which was
to come.
When God gives a vision it is usually for a
purpose. He was commissioning Ezekiel to be
a messenger to the rebellious house of
Judah.
If we desire to see dreams and visions
straight from the Lord, it will be for a
purpose; usually calling us into a service
for God to give warning or to preach the
gospel. It is never for the purpose of
exalting a person higher than someone else.
A real prophet of God usually suffers
persecution for his message rather than
become a Lord over his brethren.
We do have
to discern whether or not a vision or dream
is from the Lord. In our day we are
privileged to be able to received the Holy
Spirit if we have received Jesus into our
lives and can hear from God that way. We
also have the written word to discern truth
as opposed to imaginations or other sources.
This truly is a gift from God. According to
Hebrews chapter 1, He speaks to us through
His Son Jesus. However, there are some that
still have dreams and visions.
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Hebrews 1:1 God, who in sundry
times and in divers manners spake in
times past unto the fathers by the
prophets,
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2 Hath in these last days spoken
unto us by His Son, whom He hath
appointed heir of all things, by whom
also He made the worlds;
We see in this book
of Ezekiel God chose to speak to Ezekiel by
a vision.
We can assume that these captives had been
there five years already. The story of King
Jehoiachin's captivity is in 11 Kings 24.
Here we see another one chosen of God to be
His messenger. He was already a priest.
Priests in the Old Testament were set apart
to serve the temple and make intercession
for the people for sin. This was before the
great High Priest, Jesus Christ came to be
the permanent intercessor between God and
man. Before that there was a need of priests
to act as a mediator or intercessor because
the perfect way for men (women) to be
cleansed from sin had not yet come.
Through Christ God made a wonderful way that
each and every individual human being, male
or female can go to God with prayers and
supplications directly without a human
intercessor. Although He still gives us pastors, prophets and teachers for the
perfecting of the assembly of believers, it
is for the purpose of leading individuals to
Jesus Christ and helping them to establish
that one on one relationship with the Father
for themselves. We should not have to
continually rely on human intercession like
a priest. Our pastors have a different
type of service than the Old Testament
priests did because Jesus became the only
mediator between God and mankind.
Ezekiel was a priest but was also called to
a prophetic office. Perhaps the term, "The
hand of the Lord was upon him" is similar to
a more modern term of "He was filled with
the Spirit."
This river Chebar flows into the Euphrates
and is north of Babylon about 200 miles.
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Ezekiel 1:4 And I looked, and, behold, a
whirlwind came out of the north, a great
cloud, and a fire enfolding itself, and
a brightness was about it, and out of
the midst thereof as the color of amber,
out of the midst of the fire.
Notice this whirlwind came from
the north. Many times in the bible we see
judgment as coming of the northern
direction. The fire enfolding itself could
mean it was traveling in a circular pattern
and the whirlwind was very powerful and
moved rapidly.
Some believe this
represents the army of Babylon coming from
the north but since he is already in
Babylon, I sort of lean toward a real
whirlwind that God has used at other times.
A whirlwind is air spinning in a circle
forming a vortex. It stays close to the
ground or water. A tornado is more violent
and dangerous higher in the sky.
I'm reminded here of the cloud of fire by
night and the cloud by day that was with the
children of Israel when they were delivered
from Egypt and went into the wilderness.
Elijah was taken to heaven in a whirlwind.
Also in the book of Job
the Lord speaks to Job in a whirlwind.
This is similar to
the four beasts in Revelation chapter four.
These are probably cherubims. They resembled
a man in appearance. We can remember that
man was made in the image of God so it is
not strange to see angels or cherubim
resembling men in appearance.
How awestruck Ezekiel must have been at this
time to have had the opportunity to see a
vision from heaven but we must remember that
these types of visions carry with them a
great responsibility to obey whatever God is
calling one into after seeing the vision.
They are always given for a purpose.
Each being had four faces.
These are cherubim created to show the
holiness of God and show holy worship of
God.
Some have
speculated that the faces represent the four
gospels but there is no proof of that
anywhere in scripture, however I will point
out how some come to that conclusion,
bearing in mind that we must not add to
scripture our own theology and ideas if not
thoroughly supported by other scriptures
that bear out that truth. So this is
just speculation.
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Matthew emphasizes the Messiah of Israel
as the lion of the tribe of Judah.
Matthew's name is also Levi which was
the tribe that was chosen for the
priesthood service in the days of the
law of Moses. Matthew's gospel is
primarily for the Jews or Israel.
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Mark
emphasizes the service of the Lord and
we can think of the Ox in that respect.
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Luke
covers the descendants from Adam to
Christ and emphasizes Christ as the Son
of Man. One of the faces is a man.
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John
emphasizes the deity of Christ - the
eagle.
Again I
stress that the above explanations are
speculation only by some scholars.
The beasts in
Revelation were only described as have one
face but each face was the same as all four
faces described in Ezekiel.
I'm thinking that the Revelation beasts may
be the same ones but John did not see all
four faces only one on each beast. That is
only speculation on my part though. It could
be the one in Revelation was different than
this one but they could be the same,
just being described by two different
people.
If we take down accounts of witnesses to
some accident or event, the accounts will
usually be similar but different in certain
points. One person may notice something that
another witness missed. That is why God
gives us such a great cloud of witnesses to
the message of the gospel. They all say the
same things but have a different way of
saying it and some remember things others
left out.
The bible is a
fascinating book to study. I find that it
can be its own interpreter if studied
diligently as we trust God to give us
understanding.
Ezekiel saw each creature with four wings
whereas John saw each creature with six
wings.
Ezekiel first saw the color of Amber, a
yellow-orange fire and the feet shined like
burnished brass as opposed to a dull brass.
John's vision of Jesus's feet was similar
but I'm do not think this vision of
Ezekiel's is Jesus.
This is really a strange vision but very
real.
Now we notice they had hands as well as
wings. It might be that John noticed more of
the purpose of the beasts and Ezekiel
noticed a more detailed description of them.
This seems to indicate that they were joined
together for a united purpose and nothing
would hinder them from that purpose. The
beasts in Revelation gave glory to God and
their whole purpose seemed to be to honor
and praise God for His marvelous works of
righteousness.
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Ezekiel 1:10 As 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.
I tend to take this vision literally and do
not believe it represents the four gospels
or any other symbolic representation. I will
only point out that the different faces are
like the different stages in the creation
but since it doesn't mention the fish or sea
creatures it may not have anything to do
with symbolizing the creation.
He created the
fowls first, the sea creatures second, the
beasts and then the domestic beasts. Last of
all He made man to rule over all the rest.
Whether these cherubim represent any of
those things is mere speculation. God can
create any type of beings He likes without
us understanding what they are for.
Isaiah's vision also is similar:
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Isaiah
6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died I
saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high
and lifted up; and the train of his robe
filled the temple.
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2 Above him stood the seraphim.
Each had six wings: with two he covered
his face, and with two he covered his
feet, and with two he flew.
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3 And one called to another and
said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of
hosts; the whole earth is full of his
glory!"
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4 And the foundations of the
thresholds shook at the voice of him who
called, and the house was filled with
smoke.
We see so many similarities showing the holiness of God. It is so awesome.
- Ezekiel 1:11 Thus were their faces: and
their wings were stretched upward; two
wings of every one were joined one to
another, and two covered their bodies.
- 12 And they went every one
straight forward: whither the spirit was
to go, they went; and they turned not
when they went.
- 13 As 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.
Whatever these creatures were they resembled
heavenly beings because of the light and the
brightness accompanying them.
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Ezekiel 1:14 And the living creatures ran
and returned as the appearance of a
flash of lightning.
They moved swiftly and quickly as lightning.
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Ezekiel 1:15 Now as I beheld the
living creatures, behold one wheel upon
the earth by the living creatures, with
his four faces.
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16 The appearance of the
wheels and their work was like unto the
color 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.
Beryl could have been a bluish green or
similar colors.
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Ezekiel 1:17 When they went, they went upon
their four sides: and they turned not
when they went.
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18 As for their rings, they were
so high that they were dreadful; and
their rings were full of eyes round
about them four.
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19 And 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.
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20 Whithersoever 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.
One thing I notice about this vision is how
it portrays the holiness of God. God
never changes. Notice that it says in verse
17, they turned not when they went. Verse
20, they didn't go anywhere except where the
spirit went. The spirit of God was in the
wheels.
We too need to be filled with the spirit and
learn to follow where He leads and not be
swayed by every wind of strange doctrines of
men but follow God's word which stays the
same. God's spirit will lead us if we are
willing to follow.
These wheels that appeared as wheels within
a wheel was where the spirit of the
creatures were. They were full of eyes. John
described the creatures he saw as full of
eyes but did not mention any wheels. A verse
in Proverbs is good to throw in here as an
indication what the eyes were for but again
that is speculation.
Nothing is hid from God at any time.
- Ezekiel 1:21 When 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.
- 22 And the likeness of the
firmament upon the heads of the living
creature was as the color of the
terrible crystal, stretched forth over
their heads above.
- 23 And under the firmament were
their wings straight, the one toward the
other: every one had two, which covered
on this side, and every one had two,
which covered on that side, their
bodies.
- 24 And 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 a host: when they stood, they
let down their wings.
This surely was an awesome vision similar to
the one John saw in heaven. John also saw
much light and brightness. He saw a sea of
glass resembling crystal. Notice the
firmament of crystal above the heads of the
cherubim. I believe Ezekiel saw similar
scenes as John except for the 24 elders.
John also heard voices, lightning and
thundering from the throne of God.
He may be seeing God on His throne here
showing that God is in control no matter
what situation Israel may find itself in.
God still has a purpose and a plan for the
tiny nation of Israel even though they fail
so many times. His promise to Abraham though
still stands.
Sapphire is a stone that reflects different
colors but mostly a light blue. How
beautiful this must have been.
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Ezekiel 1:27 And I saw as the color 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 got to see God Himself on His throne
showing that God resembles men. That makes
sense seeing that we are made in His image.
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Ezekiel 1:28 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. 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 that spoke.
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Revelation 4:2 And immediately I was in the
spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in
heaven, and one sat on the throne.
John also saw the appearance of a rainbow.
The rainbow symbolizes the covenant God made
with the man that He would not destroy the
earth with a flood like in the days of Noah.
However, He still has to bring judgment. He
is getting ready here to send forth Ezekiel
with a message to the captives of Judah and
since we are reading this today, it is for
us also. It would appear that our
creator likes color, light and beauty since
He created it.
Ezekiel chapter 2
Ezekiel Index
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