Vision - Ezekiel 1

Ezekiel 1:4 "And 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 color of amber, out of the midst of the fire."

Ezekiel is a glimpse at the awesomeness of God so far as a fleshly person can experience. So far as I know, there have been few people who experienced this visual contact with the Almighty. I do not say that they saw God but that they were in his presence and saw the human comprehension of such a close encounter. In all that I can remember, the men had to be revived before they could continue.

v5 "Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man. v6 And everyone had four faces, and everyone had four wings."

Revelation 4:6 "And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal; and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind."

Revelation 4:3-4 "And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone; and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold."

Some people doubt that Jesus was God. They want him to appear in his heavenly majesty so that they might believe. Instead, He appeared to us in human form and displayed a most awesome character of himself, his love. As we can see from these verses, we are not yet ready to see God in all his glory.

Israel has turned there back on God in our study. Ezekiel is now able to describe to them just what an awesome God they are turning from to serve idols.

My Bible helps says that the diggings in the area explain the visions Ezekiel saw. I differ with them. I think the images were a result of the visions Ezekiel saw. Not the other way around.

v14 "The living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning." See Zech 4:10

By the time you said there they are they were somewhere else.

These are the happenings around the person of God. As Moses met God in the dark cloud to receive the law, so we have not seen God in his greatness. I mean that in the physical sense. We have met God, if we are Christians, in the spiritual sense in the person of Jesus Christ.

Next we have the story of the wheel in the wheel and we get closer to the person of God.

v16 "The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the color of 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."

Ezekiel seemed at a loss for words to describe what he saw and I can understand it. I have trouble picturing it in my mind even as I read it.

v17 "When they went, they went upon their four sides; and they turned not when they went."

You should read the whole event. Look at this verse.

v21 "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."

In all this, it seems that there could be no more awesomeness to behold but these are the things surrounding the majesty of God.

The throne rises above this and again we are limited as to what we can behold and live.

v27 "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."

I sometimes plant a little garden spot when I feel well enough. It is just a small spot compared to our acreage. I go and tend it as I can. A person visiting would not even notice it unless I pointed it out. Such is the image I get of earth when I read these verses. We are quite small when it comes to the greatness of God. YET, he considers us important. He loves us so much that he died for us on a cruel cross. It is beyond my understanding.

v28 "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 spake."