Ezek. 1: The Vision

Twenty-six centuries ago, Ezekiel received a vision from the Lord which would set him on the path of declaring God’s judgments upon the Jews because of their rebellion. Now, this wasn’t just because of the rebellion of that particular generation of Jews; but, rather, it was because of that generation’s continuing the rebellion that had taken up permanent residence among the people since their beginning. The reason that I mention this is because it’s no different today. As I’ve said and will continue to say: there are multitudes of good, honest believers and ministers in the church, just as there have always been. But there are still far too many who are anything but good, honest believers. Contrary to what we’d like to think, however, it doesn’t matter how good and honest we’d like to think we are; but we’re ALL the reason for the prophecies of Ezekiel today.

With that said, we also need to realize that all throughout the millennia, God has had a people through whom He could speak. Sometimes they were words of encouragement, sometimes words of warning; but the Lord has always had people who have risked all, who have given all, and, thus have gained all. And, once again, He’s raising up a company of people to go to His church with His words of warning in an attempt to guide them back to true worship and a devotion to Him that has been lacking for far too long. Before they can go forth, however, they need to receive a vision from Him of His purposes. And, just so you’re aware, His purpose isn’t to judge anybody. Rather, it’s to cleanse and to purify the earth in preparation for manifesting His Kingdom; and judgment is, unfortunately, the only route.

So, right off the bat the Lord lets us know that the time of His judgment is at hand. In the Gospels, both John the Baptist and Jesus started their ministries with the exhortation to “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”; while here we see a whirlwind. Either way, He’s telling us that we have a choice. We can continue on the path we’ve chosen, which will ultimately lead to our eternal loss, or we can heed His voice and receive the reward of obedience and faithfulness. But those who will be called to bring forth His words of warning won’t see the judgments as much as they’ll see His glory through His judgments; and that brings us to the cherubim. Now, even though I don’t intend to address the various aspects of the prophecies of Ezekiel in any detail, still, here, I want to bring out something that I don’t believe I’ve seen mentioned by anyone else, and lets us know about those whom the Lord is going to send forth. You see, not only are the cherubim a manifestation of God’s glory, but, they also speak of this company of believers who will bear the glory of God in the earth. With that being said, consider what I’m saying here to understand why I see them that way.

Each of the four cherubim had four faces: the face of a man in front, the face of a lion on the right, the face of an ox on the left, and the face of an eagle at the rear. Therefore, seeing that the vision came out of the north, then that means that, from Ezekiel’s vantage point, the man was on the south, the lion on the east, the ox on the west, and the eagle on the north. This brings us to the tabernacle in the wilderness and the placement of the tribes of the children of Israel around it. You see, on each side three tribes encamped under a primary standard; and these corresponded to the faces of the cherubim. Consequently, the face of the man at the front, on the south, was where the standard of the tribe of Reuben was located. The face of the lion at the right, on the east, was where the standard of the tribe of Judah was located. Then the face of the ox at the left, on the west, was where the standard of the tribe of Ephraim was located. And the face of an eagle at the rear, on the north, was where the standard of the tribe of Dan was located.

In case you haven’t quite seen what I’m bringing out here, let me explain a little more. The face of the man on the south was associated with the tribe of Reuben on the south, whose name meant “Behold, A Son”. The face of the lion on the east was associated with the tribe of Judah on the east; and there’s reference to “the lion of the tribe of Judah” in Revelation 5:5, as well as Jacob stating “Judah is a lion’s whelp” in Genesis 49:8. Then, the face of the ox on the west was associated with the tribe of Ephraim on the west, who was Joseph’s son when he was in Egypt, and who was born during the times of plenty before the famine came, where the oxen speak of the animal that is used to prepare the fields for crops. And the face of the eagle on the north was associated with the tribe of Dan on the north, whose name meant “Judge, Judgment”; and the word in Hebrew for “eagle” speaks of “tearing with the beak”. In other words, the Lord is letting us know that those whom He’ll be sending forth will be those who will be the standard bearers of the body of Christ; not to go to the world, but to go to the church to prepare her to go to the world.

The wheels then tell us a little more about this company of believers. First: the inner wheel was at right angles to the outer wheel, which lets us know that they’ll instantly go wheresoever the Spirit sends them. And second: the size, and the fact that they were full of eyes, tells us that these messengers of the Lord will see into every realm that exists; and nothing will stop them.

Their whole purpose, however, is seen in the firmament and the throne that was above it. Though the Lord will send them forth to His church with words of warning and exhortations to turn from their ways and to return to Him, still, their primary purpose will be to bear His glory to them throughout the earth.

Here, then, is something that needs some clarification, because I believe far too many Christians fail to understand what I’m about to say; and it’s seen in the following portion of Scripture.

"No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father,

he hath declared him." (John 1:18)

The question I have, then, is: since no man has ever seen God, then how could Ezekiel have seen God? And not only Ezekiel, but what about Adam, or Abraham, or Moses, or John on the Isle of Patmos? Actually, it wasn’t God the Father Whom they saw; but, rather, in the case of those in the Old Testament, the preincarnate Jesus, and in the case of those in the New Testament, the glorified Jesus. He has always been the manifestation of the Father from the very beginning, and it was He Who appeared to Adam in the garden, to Abraham on the plains of Mamre, to Moses on the mount and in the tabernacle, to Ezekiel in the land of the Chaldeans, and to John on Patmos. Yet, at the same time, they all DID see God; for Jesus IS and always was God.

But there’s something more to this, and it can be understood through the letters of the New Testament. The majority of those writings, outside of the Gospels, were brought forth by Paul and Peter and John and James. Do you know what they all had in common? Paul saw the glorified Jesus on the road to Damascus, and Peter and James and John all saw Jesus glorified when they accompanied Him into a mountain; and John saw the glorified Jesus on the Isle of Patmos. In other words, the ones who have written the majority of the New Testament are those who saw the glorified Jesus. And that’s Whom Ezekiel saw at the beginning of His ministry. Consequently, those whom the Lord is preparing to send forth to His church will be those who will receive a vision of Him as He is now in His glorified state. And they’ll be the only ones whom He’ll use to fulfill His purposes.

Finally, the vision began with a whirlwind and culminated with the glory of God and a rainbow. We’re on the verge of the time of His judgments against the authority of carnal man and the enemy, starting with the church, until she’s cleansed and purified and has again become the manifestation of His glory; and then He’ll turn His attention upon the rest of the world. But even though it starts with the whirlwind of His judgments, it will find its completion in the rainbow, in the hope of His glorious promises.