If you have your Bible, please turn with me to Ezekiel, chapter one. I am continuing my series on the Holy Spirit to the third of the four major writing prophets of the Bible: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. Ezekiel was a priest in exile in Babylon, and a contemporary of the prophets Jeremiah and Daniel.

Every reference to the Spirit of God in Scripture is significant, since the Holy Spirit is the dynamic Agent and Third Person of the Triune God – the one who executes God’s sovereign will powerfully, creatively, wisely and perfectly. As the Author of scripture, wherever and whenever the Spirit of God inserts His name is worthy of note, because they refer to God’s dynamic interaction with His people – and vicariously, to you and me. We are God’s people, and the Holy Spirit intends to interact with us dynamically. There is great promise in His activity for us, but also peril if we remain heedless and unrepentant to His warnings and treat God’s holiness lightly. We all struggle in this area; so we should all recall Psalm 111:11, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a sound understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.”

Ezekiel had a series of extraordinary visions that pertained to Jerusalem, which had been conquered once by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, but was still standing as the capital of ancient Judah, the southern kingdom of Israel. The northern kingdom of Israel, what later became known as Samaria, had been conquered and scattered by the Assyrian empire. Ezekiel’s role as a prophet was to prepare the exiles living in Babylon for the destruction of Jerusalem and Solomon’s Temple. But Ezekiel also had the privilege of unfolding the most beautiful prophetic vision at the end of his prophecy: the rebuilding of a new temple in Jerusalem, with Messiah the Prince as their king-in-residence and Israel at rest and at peace.

Ezekiel’s visions are vivid and fascinating, describing angelic creatures and functions that are supernatural to us. In his visions, we see the central role of the Spirit in guiding these winged creatures. Let’s look at Ezekiel, chapter 1, vv.1-3:

The Vision of Four Figures
¹ Now it came about in the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was by the river Chebar among the exiles, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. ² (On the fifth of the month in the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s exile, ³ the word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and there the hand of the Lord came upon him.)

Ezekiel’s vision occurred in his “thirtieth year”, that is when he was 29 years old. He was likely the same age, or close to it, as the prophet Daniel; and they were likely both part of the initial conquest and deportation to Babylon from Judah in 606 BC. Ezekiel gave a specific location: it was by the river Chebar, a great canal which ran south from Babylon to the city of Uruk, just north of the Persian Gulf and Abraham’s ancestral home of Ur of the Chaldees. Ezekiel lived in the Jewish exile settlement of Tel Aviv, next to the Chebar Canal and near the Babylonian city of Nippur, which was a center of the Jewish exile community.

Ezekiel received his vision in the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s exile to Babylon, or 593 BC. For the next seven years, Ezekiel prophesied against the rebellious, idolatrous city of Jerusalem, now under the deposed King Jehoiakim’s nephew, Zedekiah, which would soon be besieged by Nebuchadnezzar in 588 BC (the Hebrew calendar fast day of the Tenth of Tevet) and captured two years nearly later (the Hebrew fast day of 17^th of Tammuz). Solomon’s temple was destroyed shortly thereafter on Tisha b’Av the Ninth of Av (one of two major Hebrew fast days, along with Yom Kippur).

According to the Jewish Mishnah, or ancient commentary on the Torah or Law of Moses, Tisha b’Av was the day the twelve spies returned from Canaan land and gave the bad report that led to Israel’s wandering in the wilderness for forty years under Moses. Ironically, Herod’s temple was also destroyed on the Jewish calendar Ninth of Av in 70 AD, and on Tisha b’Av, August 4th, 135 AD, the Bar Kochba rebellion was crushed by the Romans with the sacking of the Jewish city of Betar, where approximately 580,000 Jewish civilians were slaughtered. Subsequently, the Roman commander, Turnus Rufus, plowed the temple mount in Jerusalem as an added indignity and condemnation of the Jews and Judaism. Tisha b’Av is thus the saddest day of the year in the Jewish religious calendar – a day seemingly appointed for Jewish calamity.

Ezekiel’s vision began in v. 4 with a great storm coming from the north, symbolizing the coming invasion and destruction by Nebuchadnezzar II in the winter of 588 BC, and the cold force of nature that a northern winter storm represents. “As I looked, behold, a storm wind was coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing forth continually and a bright light around it, and in its midst something like glowing metal in the midst of the fire.”

The fiery lightning flashing continually denotes destructive power that pointed to the wrath of God against an idolatrous Judean kingdom. Yet the storm cloud glowed with a bright light around, revealing that this storm was not simply natural, but divinely directed and empowered. In the great cloud “something like glowing metal” shown in the midst of the fire. Here Ezekiel introduces the central figures of this vision, beginning in v.5: “Within it there were figures resembling four living beings. And this was their appearance: they had human form.”

The four living beings are later called cherubim in chapter 10. The first thing Ezekiel tells us is that they were living. The life-force of God’s Spirit flowed in and through them so powerfully, that they glowed with divine glory.

Secondly, the living beings had human form. Before time began, God had a vision of preparing heavenly creatures – the angelic realm – to serve and protect His kingdom, but also a new race, both physical and spiritual – the human race – to be His precious possession forever. For this reason, the cherubim had a human form, just as God the Father has human form, and Jesus our Lord forever has human form. It is precious to know that God designed heaven and earth with us in mind; for God and His angels could have taken on any form they wished.

By contrast, the gods of Hinduism and paganism are often half-human and half-beast, as with Ganesh, the elephant-headed god of Hinduism, or the satyrs of the Greeks, or Quetzalcoatl, the feather-headed serpent of the Aztecs. Continuing in vv. 6-11:

Each of them had four faces and four wings. ⁷ Their legs were straight and their feet were like a calf’s hoof, and they gleamed like burnished bronze. ⁸ Under their wings on their four sides were human hands. As for the faces and wings of the four of them, ⁹ their wings touched one another; their faces did not turn when they moved, each went straight forward. ¹⁰ As for the form of their faces, each had the face of a man; all four had the face of a lion on the right and the face of a bull on the left, and all four had the face of an eagle. ¹¹ Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out above; each had two touching another being, and two covering their bodies.

They have four faces, four wings, and four hands – one for each wing. The four faces going clockwise are those of a man, a lion, an eagle and a bull. In chapter ten, the four faces are different in order, going clockwise: the face of a cherub, a man, a lion and an eagle. John MacArthur, states in his study Bible, “The number 4 may have respect to the 4 corners of the earth, implying that God’s angels execute His commands everywhere.” Put another way, four suggests the four cardinal directions, and the dynamic movement of God’s purpose that can move in any direction suddenly, and unpredictably. God’s will is dynamic and beyond our comprehension, and can move suddenly and swiftly in any direction God pleases to accomplish His will. The four cherubim exemplify the swiftness, power and comprehensive movement of God’s will and kingdom as led by His Spirit.

In Ezekiel 10, the four faces of the cherubim are a bit different from chapter one: cherub, human, lion and eagle. They probably were the same cherubim, because angelic creatures can take on different forms; but in Ezekiel 10, it is the cherub face and identity that he identifies first. They are angelic beings first and foremost, and only bear human faces as a reference to the creation that we know.

The four wings of these cherubim also serve a dual purpose. Two of the wings touched the wings of the adjoining cherub; and two covered their bodies. This posture served to honor God’s holiness in the way covering our bodies with clothes obscures our nakedness. These cherubim knew nothing of sin to cover their nakedness like humans; but again, their posture reinforced an image of modesty to Ezekiel before the holiness of God, just as the seraphim who flew before God’s throne in Isaiah’s vision of Yahweh.

It is a serendipity of scripture that the term “living beings” for these awesome, four-winged creatures is only seen again in the greatest vision of the New Testament, in Revelation – Revelation chapter four, vv.6 and 7. John’s description of the four cherubim differs from Ezekiel’s, but with the same animals represented – each cherub had only one face, that of a lion, a calf, a man and a flying eagle. These living creatures had six wings – like the seraphim Isaiah saw in his calling to prophethood that I talked about last month. Ezekiel’s had four; but remember angelic beings can take on different appearances for the symbolic role they are fulfilling.

Ezekiel’s cherubim came to declare the judgment of God against rebellious Jerusalem. The four living creatures in Revelation four prepare the way for the judgment of God against the world in Revelation. But this time they do so by leading Heaven in praise to God, “and day and night they do not cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.”

Try to picture in your mind what Ezekiel saw, and the awesome wonder of his experience. The cherubim had four faces, representing strength and authority on earth. Humans, first of all, were given dominion over the earth. The lion next to the human face, represented the most feared predator in Southwest Asia and Africa, the king of beasts. The eagle is the most majestic, highest flying bird of the skies. That the eagle’s face was behind and opposite to the humans represents the contrast between earth and sky. The cherubim exercised divine authority in both domains. Finally, the bull represented great strength in submission, since no animal can pull a plow like an ox. Collectively, the four faces of the cherubim represented the power and dominion of God over every facet of creation.

The angelic realm is the first order of God’s creation, “the beginning of His strength”, to use a term ascribed to a first-born son. No order of creatures, now and forevermore, will rival the angelic realm in power, for that is their glory. God made the angelic creatures supernaturally powerful and capable to carry out His commands instantly and perfectly, to enforce perfect order in the heavenly realm, and to impose order on this sin-cursed and disorderly world. The cherubim of Ezekiel’s vision, and angels in general, remind us that human hubris in exerting power without submission to God is the height of folly. Perhaps the greatest historic display of contrasting angelic and human power was the annihilation of Assyrian King Sennacherib’s army outside the gates of Jerusalem by just one angel in a single night.

We should also remember when we come against the tempter, Satan, and people energized by the devil, that demons against angels are like a gaggle of rats against an organized pack of rat terriers and rottweilers. There is no contest: the angels win every time. Isaiah 14:19 calls the fallen Lucifer a rejected, or dried up, withered branch – devoid of the flowing life that was immediately evident to Ezekiel.

Cherubim represent the mightiest, holiest creatures of heaven. They are instant and unwavering in their obedience and responsiveness. We see this clearly in v. 12, where the Spirit is first mentioned: “And each went straight forward; wherever the spirit was about to go, they would go, without turning as they went.”

In the Bible I use, the word “spirit” is lower-case, as in reference to the spirit of these living beings; but there’s only one Spirit mentioned in this passage, suggesting that the four cherubim were guided by the same Spirit, that is the Spirit of God. Remember that in the Hebrew as well as New Testament Greek, the word spirit isn’t capitalized; it’s only the context that reveals whether the author meant God’s spirit, a human spirit, another spirit or even simply a breath or gust of wind. The Hebrew ruach can mean all those things.

The four living beings went, as it says, “wherever the Spirit was about to go.” Angels are so in tune with God’s Spirit that they know intuitively where the Spirit intends them to go and what to do. They don’t have to process information the way we do to make a wise decision. Wisdom and the right course of action are instantly obvious to them, and their obedience is immediate. We could all ask God for more of that instant obedience to the Spirit of God. Instead, I am too often inclined to follow a fleshly inclination that either lags behind or chooses a less righteous action, following my sin nature. Paul warns believers in Galatians 5:17, “For the flesh has desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you may not do what you want.”

So continuing in v. 13: “In the midst of the living beings there was something that looked like burning coals of fire, like torches darting back and forth among the living beings. The fire was bright, and lightning was flashing from the fire. ¹⁴ And the living beings ran to and fro like bolts of lightning. This is a picture of holy power and dynamism – the energy of the Holy Spirit – flashing continually among the cherubim. I can only imagine how energizing this felt to these mighty creatures. God’s fire caused them no pain. Its destructive potential would only be against evil, whereas these holy creatures are indestructible and inured to pain. But these rapidly moving torches seemingly energized the living beings to dart to and fro like lightning.

Then Ezekiel’s vision introduces a new element that is intimately connected to the living beings. Reading in vv.15: “Now as I looked at the living beings, behold, there was one wheel on the earth beside the living beings, for each of the four of them.” Once again, we see there are four wheels, one for each of the cherubim.

“The appearance of the wheels and their workmanship was like sparkling beryl, and all four of them had the same form, their appearance and workmanship being as if one wheel were within another.” The image of wheels within wheels is a supernatural perception, since the wheels had the same form and apparently the same size, and yet as if one wheel were within another. This strange and wonderful imagery is something our natural minds can’t fully picture. It’s as if Ezekiel’s spatial perception were extra-dimensional, which is quite reasonable when picturing something as supernaturally driven as these living beings.

Wheels, again, are objects that people were quite familiar with and for thousands of years had been the primary means of transportation of people and goods. So the image of the human-shaped cherubim having an attached wheel conveyed the image of dynamic movement. So it is in v.17 forward: “Whenever they moved, they moved in any of their four directions without turning as they moved. ¹⁸ As for their rims they were lofty and awesome, and the rims of all four of them were full of eyes round about. ¹⁹ Whenever the living beings moved, the wheels moved with them. And whenever the living beings rose from the earth, the wheels rose also.

Notice that the wheels-within-wheels moved “in any of their four directions without turning as they moved.” This explains the number four as being omni-directional; and the wheels don’t have to turn to move. There is no thrust needed to cause these wheels to turn and move. The wheels move without turning, and can turn in any direction without swiveling on an axle. They are supernatural wheels, whose shining beryl-like brilliance exuded divine glory. The wheels also were perfectly connected to the living beings, so that they moved perfectly with the cherubim.

V.20-21 expand on what Ezekiel said in v.12, “Wherever the spirit was about to go, they would go in that direction. And the wheels rose close beside them; for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels. ²¹ Whenever those went, these went; and whenever those stood still, these stood still. And whenever those rose from the earth, the wheels rose close beside them; for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels.”

The wheels, as well as the living beings, moved “wherever the spirit was about to go.” Then we read something strange and wonderful that Ezekiel emphasizes through repetition: “The spirit of the living beings was in the wheels.” Somehow, the spirit or life-force of these awesome cherubim was in the wheels. God wanted Ezekiel to see that the life of these living beings and the wheels were intimately connected. I’m not sure I understand why God portrayed these cherubim so intimately with these unmoving wheels. I think God was showing Ezekiel that the cherubim and their dynamic activity, the wheels, were one.

In ancient times, horse-drawn chariots were the most powerful military vehicle. They were invented by the mighty Egyptian kingdom and they inspired fear in opposing armies who lacked the horses and chariots of the Egyptians. So connecting the cherubim to these massive, brilliant wheels certainly conveyed overwhelming power to Ezekiel.

Wheels could also convey the unstoppable movement of God’s sovereign will. In contrast to the static, cyclical worldview of surrounding pagan cultures, God’s kingdom is always moving to a purposeful end. What God was showing Ezekiel was not another season of an endlessly repeated cycle of events. God was about to do something purposeful and radical that would forever alter the culture and perspective of the Jewish people: He was about to put the dynasty of King David, that He promised would live on forever, to a long and devastating hiatus. God was about to crush the Judean kingdom and send Israel into exile for over fifty years and reduce the stature of their nation to a mere ethnic group within a much larger Middle Eastern empire.

But how did Ezekiel know the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels? The Holy Spirit impressed this to his own spirit as he observed them. Seeing in the spiritual realm often means understanding, just as we figuratively mean when we say, “I see.”

Neither wheels nor cherubim turned as they moved. By facing in all four directions, with wings touching each other, God conveyed that these cherubim were able to act in perfect unison with the Spirit, and without cause and effect. They simply knew and responded to wherever the Spirit was about to go, seemingly before the Spirit moved that way. That is a description of instantaneous responsiveness, outside of time, space or energy as we know it.

In our world, Newtonian laws of physics dictate that things only move from a state of inertia when force or thrust is applied to it; and the weightier the object the more force that must be applied. In the spiritual realm, the word “glory” or chavod literally means “weightiness”. Yet these mighty angelic beings that exuded the glory of God like the brilliance of lightning moved as quickly as light without any acceleration or change of momentum needed. God conveyed to Ezekiel the superiority of the spiritual realm of these creatures over the natural world in which he lived.

Now Ezekiel’s vision shifted to an even higher plane. Reading from v.22: “Now over the heads of the living beings there was something like an expanse, like the awesome gleam of crystal, spread out over their heads. ²³ Under the expanse their wings were stretched out straight, one toward the other; each one also had two wings covering its body on the one side and on the other. ²⁴ I also heard the sound of their wings like the sound of abundant waters as they went, like the voice of the Almighty, a sound of tumult like the sound of an army camp; whenever they stood still, they dropped their wings. ²⁵ And there came a voice from above the expanse that was over their heads; whenever they stood still, they dropped their wings.”

Above the living beings, there was a gleaming, translucent covering that immediately suggested the glory of God above and separated from the cherubim. The sound of cherubim wings was like the sound of a rushing river, or in modern terms, jet engines. The sight and sound must have been overwhelming to Ezekiel. And then He heard the voice of God above these mighty creatures, causing them to drop their wings when they weren’t moving. Continuing from v.26:

Now above the expanse that was over their heads there was something resembling a throne, like lapis lazuli in appearance; and on that which resembled a throne, high up, was a figure with the appearance of a man. ²⁷ Then I noticed from the appearance of His loins and upward something like glowing metal that looked like fire all around within it, and from the appearance of His loins and downward I saw something like fire; and there was a radiance around Him. ²⁸ As the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking.

This awesome vision of the living beings prepared Ezekiel for this culminating vision of Messiah in His full glory seated on something that represented a throne with the radiant royal blue color of lapis lazuli. His appearance was radiant with light – like glowing hot metal from his chest and head, and from his waist down blazing like fire. The description is like that of Messiah in Daniel 10 and Revelation 1. Surrounding him was radiant color, blazing like fire but with the colors of the rainbow.

Seeing the Lord and the cherubim below magnified the awesome power and presence of God in this vision; and Ezekiel fell on his face in response to God’s presence. Then God spoke to him, as we read in Ezekiel 2:1-5:

Then He said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet that I may speak with you!” ² As He spoke to me the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet; and I heard Him speaking to me. ³ Then He said to me, “Son of man, I am sending you to the sons of Israel, to a rebellious people who have rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day. ⁴ I am sending you to them who are stubborn and obstinate children, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ ⁵ As for them, whether they listen or not—for they are a rebellious house—they will know that a prophet has been among them.

God the Son commanded and the Spirit lifted Ezekiel to his feet, as Messiah commissioned him as a prophet of the LORD. God’s message to Ezekiel concerning Israel was harsh. They were a rebellious people, who repeatedly transgressed against God, who were stubborn and obstinate, unwilling to turn from their idolatrous ways and return to the LORD. Thus begins one of the fiercest prophetic books of the Bible. From chapters 2 onward to chapter 35, Ezekiel’s prophecy scorched the people of Judah and the surrounding nations with unrelenting adverse prophecies. But even in the midst of this, God inserted the promise of something better that would reverse the fortunes of His people, at least in spirit. Ezekiel 11:19-20 conveys the promise that Jesus fulfilled through His death, burial and resurrection – a new covenant that would change the inner motivations and being of God’s people:

I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, ²⁰ that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God.

The new spirit that God would give His redeemed people was one indwelt by the Holy Spirit. This is the new heart that changes the inner drive and motivations of the believer to be responsive to God’s promptings in ways we never could have been before. It is God’s Spirit that allows us to move against our fleshly, sinful inclinations to serve the living God. And it is the Holy Spirit within you Who creates new opportunities for you to move out into new directions and encounters that serve God’s kingdom and point people to Jesus the Savior.

Jesus said as much to Nicodemus about the Spirit-led child of God in John 3:7-8: “ Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Do you know what it feels like to be born and led by the Spirit? You become born from above, regenerated into a new creation with a new inner nature or heart, when you ask Jesus Christ to come into your life as Lord and Savior. It begins with a simple desire and prayer; but must be sealed by a sincere commitment to forsake the sins of this world to follow Him. Have you made that quality decision to honor and follow the Lord Jesus Christ all of your days?

Let us pray.