"Ezekiel saw de wheel, way up in de middle of de air," as the old negro spiritual sings.
What would you give to see God?
We began reading the prophet Ezekiel this week, whose book opens with one of the most dramatic human encounters with the presence of the living God recorded in scripture. Like the prophet Isaiah, his eyes were opened to see the very throne of God, "in appearance like sapphire, and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness as it were of a human form." And that's as close as Ezekiel gets.
He is given, however a detailed view of four living creatures that hover continually, before and around the throne of God. As he described them in Chapter One:
"They had the form of men, but each had four faces, and each had four wings."
They moved in unison, with wings touching, facing each direction, but without turning as they went, darting to and fro, he said, "like flashes of lightning."
Underneath were four huge spoked wheels, "and their rims were full of eyes." And when the cherubim moved, the wheels moved also, "for the sprit of the living creatures was in the wheels."
Overhead stretched the "likeness of a firmament, shining like crystal." And as the cherubim moved, Ezekiel wrote, "I heard a sound like the sound of many waters, . . . When they stood still, they let down their wings."
It was above this firmament that Ezekiel glimpsed the throne of God, with a likeness of human form gleaming like bronze, "and there was brightness all round about Him," like the brightness of the rainbow. Dazzling.
"Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord." said Ezekiel, in Chapter One.
Jesus said: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Matthew Ch. 5, vs. 8.
There are wheels within wheels.
These biblical glimpses into Heaven are greater than we little creatures can imagine, let alone comprehend. I long for the day when Scripture's many insights will be made tangible to us on "the other side". Paul put it so well when he said, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it even entered into the imagination of man the things God hath prepared for those who love Him". O that our hearts and minds might be filled with this anticipation!
ReplyDeleteI still have trouble visualizing what Ezekiel saw with the wheels in the wheels and the and the "living creatures" with their four faces and how they all move together. I look forward to seeing that one day. No worldly device could ever match it, despite our modern day's complexity.
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