Ezekiel's vision
A lot of times when you mention prophesy, people get a glazed look in their eye like you are speaking another language and try to end the conversation as soon as possible. They have in mind people who try to predict Jesus coming to the day and hour or someone who is extreme in their views at worst and at least someone who is talking about something that isn't very practical. If you ask people about Old Testament prophesy you will probably get the response that they don't know much about it or blank stares because they haven't read it or if they have they don't know what they have read.
There is that struggle with some of the Old Testament if we are going to be completely honest. And since this is my blog, I will be honest. Some of it is very difficult to understand and every harder to find out how to apply. Which is why many busy christians don't bother with reading it hardly at all. Which in some ways is a shame because if you plum the depths of it you will find riches there. I believe all of the Bible has riches in it if you are open to receiving it. Sometimes it takes more work and is less evident at first.
One of those places is in the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel starts his book of prophesy while already in exile by the Babylonians. He sees a series of visions where the Spirit of God shows him visions of Jerusalem and the men of leadership there committing acts of idolatry. God has Ezekiel act out his prophesy in front of the people in a variety of ways. One of the ways that God appears to him is with the cherubim under the throne of God.
The cheribum themselves sound like something out of a science fiction movie. We are told that they have four faces and four wings each (Ezekiel 1:6). They gleam like bronze and have feet like calf's hoof and under the wings are hands like humans (Ezekiel 1:7-8). The four faces are in the likeness of man, lion, bull and eagle. Their was a wheel beside each being that Ezekiel called the whirling wheels Ezekiel 10:13 and eyes throughout the cherubims bodies.
Ezekiel's vision is in some ways troubling and in some ways mysterious and it is unclear how we are to take the vision if some of it is symbolic. Some commentators have said that the four faces are symbolic of the different types of creatures God has made including flying things, domestic animals, wild animals and mankind. And that may be part of what is going on here. Whatever the symbolism is I think there is also the message that Ezekiel has for us that God is all together different than we think He is. That God is unique and powerful and holy and something completely different than we imagine.
At one point early on in Ezekiel's vision, God lifts him up and takes him to the temple and tells Ezekiel to dig through a wall (Ezekiel 8:8). So, he does and he comes to a door. He enters this door and is shown 70 elders of the people of Israel. The seventy are the group that would later make up the Sanhedrin. These are the religious and community leaders of Israel. God shows Ezekiel what up until now has only been suspected, that they are bowing down to idols in their hearts. God is saying to Ezekiel that what is done in secret He sees and will judge.
And that is one of the great truths here that gets lost in the symbolism and the wierdness of the visions and creatures. God is saying that while it may appear that he doesn't see what is going on that He does. The judgments that feel on the people of that day were a result of God disciplining his people for their idolatry. There is a lesson to be learned here. God sees the good, the bad and the ugly which is done in secret. His eyes, which are covering the angels around the throne sees what is going on.
One of my concerns about the church today is that the church appears to be busy and full of activity, but is a lot like a New Years Eve party with all the whistles and noise and no substance. You can hear it in the sermons that are listened to each Sunday in most churches. You can see it in the lack of an impact the church makes on the community each week. You can see it in how apathetic the witness is of the church. The church appears to be a mile wide and a inch deep. Hopefully, this is not a reflection of the heart of most christians, but I fear that it is. For those who have settled into their christian life like a well worn easy chair, the Spirit of God cries out to us and says that he sees the state of our hearts and minds and calls us to take up our cross, to quit compromising with the world and its values and to live holy lives.
There is that struggle with some of the Old Testament if we are going to be completely honest. And since this is my blog, I will be honest. Some of it is very difficult to understand and every harder to find out how to apply. Which is why many busy christians don't bother with reading it hardly at all. Which in some ways is a shame because if you plum the depths of it you will find riches there. I believe all of the Bible has riches in it if you are open to receiving it. Sometimes it takes more work and is less evident at first.
One of those places is in the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel starts his book of prophesy while already in exile by the Babylonians. He sees a series of visions where the Spirit of God shows him visions of Jerusalem and the men of leadership there committing acts of idolatry. God has Ezekiel act out his prophesy in front of the people in a variety of ways. One of the ways that God appears to him is with the cherubim under the throne of God.
The cheribum themselves sound like something out of a science fiction movie. We are told that they have four faces and four wings each (Ezekiel 1:6). They gleam like bronze and have feet like calf's hoof and under the wings are hands like humans (Ezekiel 1:7-8). The four faces are in the likeness of man, lion, bull and eagle. Their was a wheel beside each being that Ezekiel called the whirling wheels Ezekiel 10:13 and eyes throughout the cherubims bodies.
Ezekiel's vision is in some ways troubling and in some ways mysterious and it is unclear how we are to take the vision if some of it is symbolic. Some commentators have said that the four faces are symbolic of the different types of creatures God has made including flying things, domestic animals, wild animals and mankind. And that may be part of what is going on here. Whatever the symbolism is I think there is also the message that Ezekiel has for us that God is all together different than we think He is. That God is unique and powerful and holy and something completely different than we imagine.
At one point early on in Ezekiel's vision, God lifts him up and takes him to the temple and tells Ezekiel to dig through a wall (Ezekiel 8:8). So, he does and he comes to a door. He enters this door and is shown 70 elders of the people of Israel. The seventy are the group that would later make up the Sanhedrin. These are the religious and community leaders of Israel. God shows Ezekiel what up until now has only been suspected, that they are bowing down to idols in their hearts. God is saying to Ezekiel that what is done in secret He sees and will judge.
And that is one of the great truths here that gets lost in the symbolism and the wierdness of the visions and creatures. God is saying that while it may appear that he doesn't see what is going on that He does. The judgments that feel on the people of that day were a result of God disciplining his people for their idolatry. There is a lesson to be learned here. God sees the good, the bad and the ugly which is done in secret. His eyes, which are covering the angels around the throne sees what is going on.
One of my concerns about the church today is that the church appears to be busy and full of activity, but is a lot like a New Years Eve party with all the whistles and noise and no substance. You can hear it in the sermons that are listened to each Sunday in most churches. You can see it in the lack of an impact the church makes on the community each week. You can see it in how apathetic the witness is of the church. The church appears to be a mile wide and a inch deep. Hopefully, this is not a reflection of the heart of most christians, but I fear that it is. For those who have settled into their christian life like a well worn easy chair, the Spirit of God cries out to us and says that he sees the state of our hearts and minds and calls us to take up our cross, to quit compromising with the world and its values and to live holy lives.
