Ezekiel 1-3

[00:00:00] This evening from Knox's version, which of course is a translation of the Latin Vulgate, which in turn is a translation of the Septuagint version, and therefore, in some ways sometimes differs from the Hebrew text because it has been received through the Greek and Old Latin texts. But in some instances, of course, the Septuagint, the Greek, The Old Greek version of the Old Testament differs quite considerably indeed in some parts on this vision. It differs so considerably that it almost seems to be a different vision. [00:00:42] But here there are some very interesting notes which were added by Jeremy and others, or earlier than Jeremy, some who added little notes which were meant to explain. Explain one or two things and which embody, in some cases probably true traditions concerning it. So it is very, very interesting. And Knox has actually compared it with the Hebrew and other things and has been, I think, quite fair. I'm going to read it from verse 4. [00:01:17] Let's read it in Knox's version. [00:01:21] I think it will be rather interesting to you. [00:01:24] I looked around me to find that a storm wind had sprung up from the north, driving a great cloud before it. [00:01:34] And this cloud had fire caught up in it that fringed it with radiance. [00:01:40] And there in the heart of it, in the very heart of the fire, was a glow like amber that enclosed four living sickles. [00:01:50] These were human in appearance, but each had four faces and two pairs of wings. [00:01:59] Either leg was straight formed, yet ended in a calf's hoof. [00:02:04] They sparkled like red hot bronze on each of the four sides. Human arms showed beneath the wings. [00:02:13] Faces and wings looked outwards four ways. [00:02:19] Wings of each were held touching wings of other, and when they moved, they did not turn round, but each kept an onward course. [00:02:29] As for the appearance of their faces, each had the face of a man. [00:02:35] Yet each of the four looked like a lion when seen from the right, like an ox when seen from the left, like an eagle when seen from above or within. [00:02:50] So much for their faces. [00:02:52] Each had two wings spread out above him, those two which met his neighbor's wings. With the other two, he veiled his body. [00:03:01] Each of them marched straight forward, following the movement of a divine impulse, never swerving, he marched. There was that, too, in the appearance of the living figures, which put me in mind of flaming coals or of torches. [00:03:16] That was what I saw going to and fro in the midst of the living figures, a glow as a fire. And from this glow lightning came out. [00:03:25] So the living creatures came and went, vivid as lightning flashes. [00:03:30] And as I watched the living figures all at once wheels appeared close to them, one at each of the four sides of strange colour and form. [00:03:40] All four were alike the colour of aquamarine, and each looked like a wheel within a wheel. [00:03:48] Move day. It was ever one of the four ways the living figures looked, and they did not turn round in moving. [00:03:55] As for their size, their height was terrible to look upon, and the whole frame of them all round was full of eyes. [00:04:04] Onward the wheels moved. When the living figures moved onward at their side rose above the earth, when the living figures rose above it, they too had a living impulse in them. They too, whenever that impulse stirred them up, must rise up and follow the way it went with the living figures whose vital impulse they shared. The wheels too moved and halted and rose over the living figures. A vault seemed to rise like a sheet of dazzling crystal resting on their heads. [00:04:36] Under this vault each held two wings erect to meet his neighbors. Each had two turned upwards to overshadow him, and two turned downwards to veil his body. [00:04:49] When they moved, the sound of their wings reached me loud as waters in flood or thunders from on high, incessant as the hum of a great throng or an armed camp. [00:05:01] Only when they came to rest did they lower their wings. [00:05:05] A voice would come from the firmament over their heads, then they would halt, Then they would lower their wings above this vault that rested on them, sapphire blue, towered up into the form of a throne. [00:05:22] Nor did that throne seem to be empty. A shape was there above it as of one enthroned, and all about him it was filled with amber coloured flame, upwards from his loins, downwards from his loins an arch of light seemed to shine like rainbow among the clouds on the day of storm. There was brightness all about him. So much I saw of what the Lord's glory is like, and seeing it I fell down face to earth. [00:06:01] Well, now, this evening we want to take up what we where we left off last week, we want to take up again the matter of the key to this book of Ezekiel. You will remember that last week we pointed out that Ezekiel, the key really to Ezekiel, or the first thing we've got to understand in coming to the key of Ezekiel is that his is a ministry of definition. It is abundantly clear and there is much evidence for it that Ezekiel, it is not the man that the Holy Spirit is leaving with us. It is not so much his life and character that is being impressed upon us, it is his message. [00:06:58] And with Ezekiel, the all important thing is ministry. [00:07:04] It is clear in the way that the book is set out. It is his clear in the analytical, systematic way in which everything is approached, the way it's all, as it were, defined for us here. There is a ministry to God's people in compromise and exile, conditions which we can only describe as a ministry of definition. [00:07:28] It is, as we underlined, a ministry of definition and not building. [00:07:34] He is not involved in the practicalities of the actual building, rebuilding, the actual restoration, the actual return to the land. [00:07:45] All his ministry is taken up with the principles that, as it were, underlie all God's work, underlie all God's purpose. And that is really one of the lasting value of Ezekiel. [00:08:06] You see, he has touched principles in God's work, in God's purpose, that in God's service that are applicable to every generation and to every age. That is the amazing nature of, of Ezekiel's type of ministry. [00:08:29] He cannot be bound really in many ways to any one locality or one generation even, although his is a ministry preparatory to recovery. Yet really, essentially he had a ministry of definition. [00:08:51] And he goes back into the history of God's people and he begins to sort all kinds of things out. Why they went astray, what caused the blockage, why there was the judgment, why it was necessary for God to put them into such a trial and in such suffering. He was tracing it back all the time to the sources and the contravention of principles. [00:09:21] Ezekiel was all the time ready, as we shall see as we go through the book in the next week or weeks, that he was all the time pointing out a principle which, if contravened, would have certain results. It was as sure as that if you, if you didn't obey this principle, if it wasn't operative, then certain things would result ashore as that. [00:09:49] Well, that's really where we started last week, if I remember rightly, and we went on to the whole question of the cherubim. We pointed out that there was a lot in his ministry. [00:10:00] We underlined certain emphases in his ministry, and we left it with the cherubim. You remember, we spent a lot of time last week going right through Scripture looking up this whole question and matter of the cherubim and seeking to get to the root of it. Now that's where I want to take it up really this evening. [00:10:26] I want to point out to you that if I remember rightly, we concluded on this note last week that it was quite clear that the cherubim are a composite symbol to representing the kind of humanity God originally intended. [00:10:58] There are a tremendous number of theories as regards the cherubim, and I don't think there's probably anything else that has quite been the source of so much mystery and so many speculative theories and suggestions as the cherubim. But when, as we did last week, we take it all into account and seek to go back to the beginning of the Bible and trace right through, all the way through this whole question of the cherubim. And there are certain things that in the end we have got to admit and there are certain theories which will not accommodate all that we have in Scripture. [00:11:44] So I believe I am right, that we came to the conclusion, at least as we studied the Word, that the cherubim were, are not actual beings, they are not angelic, they do not actually exist. [00:12:02] They are a representation, or if you like, a picture, a symbol of something else. [00:12:16] Very much in the way the Tree of Life, for instance, is a symbol of something. The cherubim are a symbol and throughout Scripture they stand as a symbol. [00:12:28] And we have learned from the way that they're always revealed to us that they are associated always with God's purpose, with God's presence, always, never apart from God's presence, with God's dwelling place, with God's throne, and with God's glory from beginning to end. [00:12:55] So we have come to the conclusion, at least I have, that they are a redeemed humanity. [00:13:05] And they represent what God originally wanted out of humanity, what he originally purposed for humanity. And indeed the constitution that he wanted humanity to have at its inception, at its creation. [00:13:24] The story is a very different one. And that is why, because of another kind of humanity that has existed, the cherubim are always guarding the way to God from man. They will not allow man to come to God. They always stand in the way. And they're always, as it were, closing and barring the door to God because they represent a kind of man who alone can, if I may use the expression, be part of God. [00:13:56] This kind of humanity that we're all born into and are all part of naturally cannot be part of God, cannot be part of God. It has a constitution which is anti God. Basically, it can accommodate an awful lot of religion as a sop to its conscience. [00:14:17] But it is basically anti God because it has a constitution which cannot contain God. [00:14:26] Until a miracle happens and a new constitution is formed and created by the Holy Spirit, there is no place for God. [00:14:37] And so the cherubim guard the door always to God. And they stand over against God's great purpose to have a dwelling place, a home in man. [00:14:48] They. They stand against this human race, attaining to it, coming to it getting anywhere near to it, until there is a new kind of humanity that can contain. [00:15:04] Then we suddenly find the cherubim. Far from keeping back, humanity are welcoming humanity in and joining with them. In worshipping the Lord, they've found the one who was the way through and whom they indeed symbolized for the cherubim are completely summed up in the Lord Jesus as man, completely in the person of the Lord Jesus. Every characteristic that is symbolized, represented in the cherubim is wonderfully fulfilled and exemplified. [00:15:40] And when the Lord Jesus comes, when he's laid down his life, and when, because he's laid down his life, he is able to produce a new humanity, a new kind of man like himself, then the cherubim step back and they usher in a new kind of man and woman. [00:16:02] And I believe, if I am right, that we not only underlined that, but that we also said that they represent really all that God ever meant humanity to be. An essential character and function. Not just character, but character and function. [00:16:20] I think we shall see that this evening. [00:16:22] And furthermore, we, I believe, discovered that this kind of humanity is intimately linked with the rest of creation. [00:16:32] Remember, I asked a question last week. Do we not sometimes, and do we not sometimes wrongly make a division between man and the rest of creation? [00:16:45] And in God's mind, will we not find in the end that when he has the right kind of man, that right kind of man will be in the most amazing way linked with the whole creation? [00:16:59] You know, it is a most interesting fact that the cherubim represent the head of all creatures. [00:17:04] The lion, head of the beasts, the ox, the head of tame creatures, the eagle, the king of the birds, and man, the head of the whole creation. That is the oldest traditional way of interpreting this fourfold aspect of the cherubim. I believe that the cherubim represent redeemed humanity, but they represent not just humanity, but humanity in its right place. [00:17:37] And therefore a whole creation in harmony. [00:17:41] A whole creation linked to that kind of man in the most glorious progress. [00:17:52] A thing that we cannot imagine at this present time. But we do get to know a little glimpses of it. When some of the prophets tell us that one day the lion is going to lie down with the lamb and children will play with asps and adders as they would today with a kitten, you get a glimpse of the glimpse of this future that lies ahead when the whole creation is restored back to its original order. [00:18:27] And I believe it is somewhat hinted at in the. [00:18:34] In the symbolism of the cherubim. [00:18:40] Certainly we do know that the whole natural creation is waiting. And it's groaning and in pain and travail until a certain kind of man is revealed. When that certain kind of man is revealed, evidently we. So we. [00:18:55] We infer from what Paul said. The groaning and the travail of the natural creation will be over. [00:19:02] And we do not know what will happen. [00:19:06] But it all is focused upon a certain kind of man coming forward. And not just one man, but a race. [00:19:18] You know, it's an interesting thing that when God first created Adam, he said, multiply. [00:19:23] Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. God didn't just want Adam and Eve, he wanted a race. [00:19:30] When the Lord Jesus was brought into this world through Mary, you know, the Lord Jesus, God the Father didn't just want the Lord Jesus. [00:19:40] I have to be very careful what I say for fear of being misunderstood. But God the Father didn't just want the loan. Jesus, though he's perfectly satisfied with him. [00:19:49] All he wants to do is to obtain a new humanity. A new race through the Lord Jesus. And where the first Adam failed, the last Adam succeeded, you see. [00:20:05] And I think there's something very, very wonderful about that. When that race, when that kind of humanity comes into its right place. [00:20:15] In the purpose and timetable of God. [00:20:22] Then we shall discover that everything is going to suddenly go right. And all that so disharmonious about the natural creation. All the queries we've got. And the headaches indeed that we have. [00:20:38] The problems that the natural creation presents to us. Will all somehow be unravelled and solved. [00:20:46] The most wonderful thing. Sometimes when I look at ourselves and see all the complexes that exist. [00:20:53] And all the difficulties that exist. Even though we are the lords. And sometimes these things only come to the surface when we are the lords. [00:21:02] I sometimes think, well, how is the Lord going to unravel all these things we know he is. One day, when we're in glory. All these complexes and all these difficulties that belong to our old men, women belong to an old creation and nature are all going to go. [00:21:17] And I suggest that if we have such difficulties within us now. [00:21:22] And the Holy Spirit is capable of overcoming them. I'm sure that when man is in his right place. All the difficulties. Difficulties, however constitutional in the natural creation. Will be similarly overcome. [00:21:35] It seems to me that God has started where it began. [00:21:40] Where the fall began with man. God intends to start. [00:21:45] And when he can get man back into its place. Then we shall discover, probably I'm sure I'm right in this. That the whole natural creation will be similarly unraveled and brought back into its right harmony and constitutional order. I sometimes wonder whether, just as we have received a different constitution as a result of the poor, whether in actual fact the natural creation also has a different constitution. I think that it must have in many aspects. [00:22:18] Now, it was all this that Ezekiel's and his ministry was bounded by this. [00:22:25] I won't say that he saw as clearly as we see with the New Testament before us, but I believe that Ezekiel saw far more than we, than we would warrant him with. [00:22:44] He. I believe his. He saw, saw that the presence and the purpose of God were linked with the cherubim. This was the greatest single factor in his life. When he saw that vision by the River Kibar, somehow it was as if into Ezekiel's head a key was placed. [00:23:06] And although Ezekiel, in recording it, has given a headache to many Christians ever since, then, to him it was the answer to a tremendous amount that he had undoubtedly wrestled with in his mind. Because when he saw that vision, he undoubtedly had the interpretation of it. [00:23:30] He saw exactly what it all meant. And I believe that implicitly because he has been so careful to record every detail. Now, a man doesn't record details really, when he doesn't understand them, is not impressed. He only records the tiniest details when either it so lives with meaning to him that if it was out, he would say to oh dear, you've missed the point. [00:23:57] Don't you see the wheels have eyes all round and down the spokes? As well it might, if you were to talk with Ezekiel, he would say, that means a tremendous amount to me. [00:24:08] I've got to be very careful how I put that down onto paper, because it means so much. You see, the very fact that the symbolism of Ezekiel is so complex and so difficult argues for the. For the simple fact that he saw in every single thing something that was absolutely vital and he felt he couldn't put it aside. [00:24:37] Well, I believe that Ezekiel saw. When he saw that vision, he saw that God's dwelling place, God's throne, God's presence, were all bound up with the cherubim. [00:24:52] And he summed it all up by calling it the glory of the Lord. Now, you know, this is most important, I believe I just touched on this last week, that Ezekiel does not mean by the glory of the Lord some glorious brightness up there in the heavens. And that's what most of us think. We think of it as some splendid, majestic sort of brightness up in the heavens. Ezekiel did not. [00:25:21] What he saw is, when he speaks of the glory of the Lord, he always speaks of the presence of God, the dwelling place of God, the throne of God, and the purpose of God being absolutely intimately involved with a kind of man. [00:25:46] Now, I want to point out another thing this evening to you. Do you know this is borne out absolutely in Scripture? [00:25:55] I am interested to find that glory hardly ever appears, if ever it appears. And you are free to follow this out and see whether what I say is correct. Glory hardly ever appears, if it ever appears apart from men. [00:26:13] The first time glory is mentioned in scripture, it is at the end of Exodus, and that is the setting up of the tabernacle. And as soon as the tabernacle is set up, God comes in. He doesn't come in with Abel, he doesn't come in with Noah. He doesn't even come when eight people are saved from a destroyed world. He doesn't come in even with Abraham, though it says the God to glory appeared to him, he didn't dwell. But where the first time you find the glory actually touching the earth and actually inhabiting a spot on the earth is when the tabernacle is set up. And again and again you will discover in Scripture that glory is associated with either the tabernacle or the temple. As far as a dwelling place goes, every time glory comes to rest, it is to do with God's people here on earth. [00:27:09] So I think that what Ezekiel saw is very important for him. The whole question of recovery, the whole question of rebuilding, the whole question of restoration was related to the inward spiritual character represented by the cherubim. [00:27:27] This is one of the great features of his ministry. [00:27:30] He wasn't bothered about time and places and localities and the practical difficulties. He was bothered with the kind of men who alone could become the container of God's glory. And as he saw it, therefore, the whole question of God's house, God's purpose, God's throne, God's authority, the testimony of God on the ear earth was bound up with a kind of man. [00:27:58] If you didn't have that kind of man, you could have everything else, but you wouldn't have God, you wouldn't have the glory of God. And in his mind, it was as simple as this. If you've got that kind of man, God will be there. [00:28:10] His was a tremendous emphasis upon the spiritual character that is absolutely necessary to the glory. [00:28:21] God, I might say that he sees the temple, he sees the city, he sees the land, he sees its recovery. He sees the very glory of God itself. He sees everything in the light of the kind of man to which alone God can commit himself. [00:28:46] Now, I believe that's very, very important for us to understand. [00:28:52] I want to suggest something here. I believe that it is most clearly displayed in the title used of Ezekiel by the Lord, never used elsewhere in scripture except once or twice. [00:29:06] And yet used of Ezekiel over 100 times. The title Son of Man, never used by Ezekiel of himself, always used of Ezekiel by the Lord, Son of man. There are only two prophets that are called Son of Man. One was Ezekiel, the other was Daniel. [00:29:28] Now, isn't this interesting? A lot of other very interesting facts here. You know, it's interesting that these two men are both men living off God's ground. [00:29:40] They had this title. They also both had the name Ezekiel. [00:29:44] Dani L as soon as you find others in the land, they are Isaiah, Jeremiah. It's very interesting, but we must leave all those little points as interesting points. [00:29:57] My point about this title God uses of Ezekiel is this. It seems to me that it signifies the kind of character, the kind of spiritual nature that God must have. [00:30:13] And it is most clearly seen in this that it is the most commonly used title of the Lord Jesus, the Son of man. [00:30:24] Of Ezekiel. It's always used without the definite article. The and of Daniel, the same just Son of man. [00:30:29] The Lord Jesus always spoke of himself as the Son of Man, the Son of Man, a kind of man. [00:30:39] He didn't mean that he was the same fiber and being as a fallen creation. He meant that he was truly human, but a different kind of man. [00:30:51] I'm afraid. The Lord Jesus said that we are naturally of our part of the. The devil. [00:30:57] We are not truly human until we are born of God. [00:31:01] That's something you can go away and think about. We are not truly human until we are born of God. [00:31:09] That's a big point. [00:31:11] Well, I think you can see something in that question of Ezekiel being called the Son of Man. He sees everything in the light of the kind of man that God alone will commit himself to. He says it's no good. You can have everything else, but unless you've got that kind of man, God's not interested. God vetoes it. [00:31:32] We shall see later on, in another week or two that he doesn't mean that God is just with this man anywhere. He sees it all as the temple in the finish, as within certain. Confined. [00:31:45] Confined in a sense. But it is the. It's the inward character of the people. Now, all Ezekiel's ministry is taken up with this kind of thing. Spirituality, spirituality, spiritual character. [00:32:01] It looms large in his mind because he undoubtedly saw it represented in the cherubim. There is a sense in which Ezekiel refused to be tied to local and personal details or to temporal practicalities. [00:32:18] His was a ministry of the eternal, a ministry of the spiritual, a ministry of the abiding principles. Do get this. It's most important. You know, Ezekiel almost refuses to touch local things. [00:32:34] It's very interesting. It comes out in all kinds of ways, of ways, how Ezekiel just will not touch lots of things that are just local and personal and temporal practicalities. [00:32:49] But he gets to the principle, and in giving them the principle, he has in actual fact given them the most important element of all. [00:33:01] This can be seen in a variety of ways in Ezekiel's ministry, and it is part of this kind of ministry. Ministry of definition is often in this realm. [00:33:12] We must not, however, think that in saying that Ezekiel was an unpractical or an impractical man. [00:33:22] I want to point out that as far. Now listen very carefully. As far as his ministry, he was intensely practical. [00:33:32] It is interesting that all through, he, more than any other prophet, has to act out his signs, act out his prophecies. They actually have to be acted out by him, which is a very interesting thing. [00:33:46] He is beyond all the other prophets in this business of acting prophecies. [00:33:52] And then, you know, there came a time, just another incident, when his wife died by the hand of the Lord. [00:34:01] And she died at the exact point at which the armies of Nebuchadnezzar went into began the siege of Jerusalem. And she died as a sign. And the Lord said to Ezekiel, you are not to mourn. You are not to look grief stricken. You're to wash your face, you're to look absolutely not. [00:34:20] And you're to make this the basis of your ministry to the people at this time. Now, I suggest that that is far from being impractical. That, I believe, is a ministry that is in law. [00:34:34] His life and his being, where his ministry and his ministry are bound up with it. Do you understand? [00:34:41] The two did tally. [00:34:44] We might say to Ezekiel, Ezekiel, we can't quite understand why you didn't get down to things a little bit more and get on with the job, the practical job, because he never touched a brick. [00:34:56] And as far as we know, he never touched a person who went back either. [00:35:00] He certainly didn't go back with them. [00:35:03] It all seems very strange and contradictory. But we can say this, that his ministry tallied with his own personal experience in every way. [00:35:17] Then again, I want to say that having said all this about him not touching temporal things and local things and personal details, it's amazingly evidenced in the way in which Ezekiel prophetically acts things out and not only acts prophecies, but speaks of message, you know, actually preaches a message when it can't have any possible effect whatsoever upon the situation. Do you know that he spent four and a half years speaking about Jerusalem when it couldn't have possibly had any effect upon Jerusalem because he was at least a thousand miles away from them. And in those days it would have taken months and months and months for news of his, of his messages to have got through. And when he was warning the people of what was going to happen, Nebuchadnezzar was going to come in, he knew very well before the news had got to them of his warning was that the place would have been taken. [00:36:11] You see, this is the whole point. It seems so impractical. [00:36:15] Here is a man absolutely giving himself, absolutely pouring himself out amongst people who for the most part are hostile about situations thousands of miles away and he can't possibly touched them. [00:36:29] We would have said to him, well, look here, Ezekiel, forget the people in Jerusalem. You're always talking about the people in Jerusalem. You're always talking about conditions in Jerusalem. Why don't you be a bit more practical? I have no doubt some of the people of dear people of God were quite upset with Ezekiel and so on. He's always talking about Jerusalem, always talking about the conditions of Jerusalem. We're thousands of miles away from Jerusalem. [00:36:54] He can't do anything. [00:36:56] He can't effect the situation. [00:36:58] But you see, in actual fact, you miss the whole point of Ezekiel's ministry. He's not trying to affect the situation practically. [00:37:09] He is pointing out the causes and the sources, the reasons for the judgment of the God. And in doing so, he's getting to the root of the matter. [00:37:24] And in getting to the root of the matter and defining it, he's not just doing it for his generation, indeed, for that. It didn't affect much that generation, but he did it for succeeding generations. And his ministry today is as valuable now as ever it was, was, you see, he got to the root of things and defined things. [00:37:52] That's the point. So of course, he could talk about Jerusalem and what he saw in Jerusalem. He said he saw women weeping over tumults, some idol, and awful immorality connected with it. He saw men in the inner chambers of the Lord's house with all these terrible, idolatrous and wicked, abominable paintings all around the room, worshipping. And he saw those 25 men with their backs to the house of God, worshipping the sun. [00:38:20] Well, you See, he saw all this in a vision, but he was pointing out points which were much more than the acts in themselves, much more than the incidents which in the end, if studied by the serious child of God, will lead him to an understanding of the devices of Satan and to the causes of backsliding and to the reasons for the judgment of God upon any of us. [00:38:51] Well, I believe all that's very important. [00:38:53] So to conclude about the key to Ezekiel, what is it? I want to suggest in summing it all up, that the key to Ezekiel is a ministry of definition, and the key to his ministry is the glory of God. [00:39:13] That is the key to Ezekiel's ministry, the glory of God. He sees God's glory to be intimately bound up with God's dwelling in a redeemed new humanity. [00:39:28] That's his point. [00:39:30] Well, there we are. That's the key. I hope that will help you a little. It's rather a lot, isn't it? We've covered a lot of ground and getting to the key with Ezekiel. It's a very complex and exhaustive book. [00:39:43] Now, what about the outline? I've put a very simple outline on the board. Some would say that there is only a threefold division in Ezekiel. Others would say there is a fourfold division in Ezekiel. [00:39:56] Certainly Ezekiel falls historically into three main groups and possibly four. From chapter one to chapter 24, you have a whole series of prophecies that were given before the siege of Jerusalem. [00:40:17] Then you have from Ezekiel 25 to Ezekiel 32, some more prophecies that were given during the siege of Jerusalem. And from Ezekiel 33 to Ezekiel 48, you have all the prophecies that were given after the siege. Now, some people would take the very last portion of this book from chapter 40 to 48, which is undated, and would say that is the fourth great portion of this book deliberately undated because it is wholly to do with the Eternal. [00:40:56] Wholly to do with the Eternal. [00:40:59] Of course, when we come to it, we will have to look at that. I see there are many people who believe, of course, on the basis of those last chapters, that the Jews are going to rebuild the temple and they're going to reinstitute sacrifices in the millennium, so called and all the rest of it. But I think that we shall see that it is so remarkably linked with the city at the end of Revelation that we have to dismiss that theory spiritually. However, even if historically it falls into three main groups, or possibly four spiritually, it seems to me that there is is a fivefold division, and I have Put that on the board. The first is just the first three chapters. It is the God's glory seen and understood. [00:41:50] It comprises Ezekiel's vision, his call and his commission. [00:41:55] And then from chapter four to 24, the departing glory and the reasons for its departure. [00:42:03] Really a very, very wonderful part of Ezekiel, actually. [00:42:09] The way the glory of God slowly but surely departs, step by step, right out. [00:42:15] And then the judgment of the nations, the judgment of God upon the nations. [00:42:22] There's a principle bound up there because Ezekiel is the first one to say that the judgment of God must begin at the house of God. When God has judged his house, his temple, his own, then he moves out to the nations. And that's taken up in Peter, where Peter says, for judgment must begin at the house of God concerning the end. [00:42:45] So you see, the judgment of the nations follows on the judgment and departure of God's glory from his own. Then from chapter three 33 to 39, we have the restoration and the recovery of the people. [00:42:58] And from chapter 40 to 48, we have the glory of God returning forever. [00:43:07] I think we ought to note that all focuses on the glory of God in this book, as I've said. Here's another way of looking at it. In the first three chapters, you have God's glory defined, God's glory defined. [00:43:25] Then from chapter four to chapter 32, you have God's glory departing. [00:43:34] And you have in those chapters the causes for the departure of God's glory. [00:43:39] And not only have you got the causes for it, but it ties it right down to the very principles upon which God cannot be glorified, to which God cannot be committed. [00:43:57] It's not as if God is sulking and sort of because he's in a sulk like so many of us, moves out because he can't get his own way, or because he can't get through, or something else. He just moves out. God isn't like that. God here, you see, he cannot commit himself to a certain kind of nature or character. And so he's got to get out. [00:44:19] He's got to get out. [00:44:22] And it's a very wonderful picture how God's glory refuses to depart too far. I think it's very wonderful, very, very illustrative of God's nature and love, that he only goes out onto the east mount and waits there. [00:44:41] In other words, he goes as far away as he's got, to the minimum, that's all, and waits. [00:44:46] And then you have, in those last. From the last chapter 33 to 48, you've got God's glory returning forever. And in that there you've got all covered, but not only all recovered, but it ends with that wonderful little word, Jehovah. [00:45:03] It shall be called Jehovah Shammah. The Lord is there. [00:45:06] That's the end of Ezekiel. [00:45:08] God's glory defined, God's glory departing, God's glory returning forever. [00:45:14] And the last. [00:45:15] The last title given to God's people is the Lord is There. [00:45:24] Well, that brings something, doesn't it echo somehow over to Revelation, to the book of Revelation, those last chapters. [00:45:33] Now, let's consider in the last moments this evening, something of the. Of the nature of the first three chapters. We will not get beyond those first three chapters. [00:45:42] The first three chapters of Ezekiel, if you'll turn to them, let's consider the outline a little more fully. We will spend this evening on the 1st, and I think next week we shall probably cover the next three, because we shall spend a little more time on this verse. [00:45:59] And last evening we spend on Ezekiel. We will spend on the last eight chapters which are so important. [00:46:09] Now, what have we got in this? [00:46:12] In these first few chapters we have the glory of God seen and understood. [00:46:19] It is the. The record of Ezekiel's vision, his call and his commission. [00:46:25] Now let's see if we can look at this and understand a little. [00:46:30] The first thing we find, and the first key to these three chapters is verse 28 of chapter one. [00:46:38] It says this, the center phrase of it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. [00:46:46] Now that is how Ezekiel sums up what he saw, this complex vision that he saw. He says, this is the likeness or the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. [00:47:02] He doesn't say to us, this is it. [00:47:06] He can't describe what he saw. That's the point. So he says, this is the appearance of the lightness of the glory of the Lord. He saw a symbol of the glory of the Lord, but he couldn't even manage somehow to put into human language the symbol that he saw. [00:47:23] And so he says, I saw the appearance of the symbol. That's all I could. This is what it was like. I've given it to you as clearly as I can. [00:47:33] The vision of the glory of the Lord. Now, what is this glory of the Lord? Well, let's look at. First we shall find it is the glory of the Lord. [00:47:43] In Ezekiel's vision was a cloud. [00:47:47] First it came in a strong cloud, rather like a hurricane blowing out of the north. [00:47:54] And as it moved swiftly, he saw two or three things about it. First he saw that it was a storm cloud. Secondly, he saw that it was in enveloped with fire. [00:48:05] That is, there was a fire within it, a red amber glow inside. It seemed to be absolutely on fire. And thirdly, he saw lightning, vividness or brightness, as he calls it, flashing out from this. This is the glory of the Lord. [00:48:24] That's what he saw. The first thing he saw. Now, out of it. Now mark it very carefully because it says this. Out of this cloud, out of this appearance of the likeness, the glory of the Lord, came what he describes as the form of four figures out of the midst of it, not underneath it, not above it, not around it, but out of it. [00:48:53] Suddenly, as he watched it, he saw these four living ones appear. These figures appear out of it. [00:49:04] They had a fourfold aspect. [00:49:07] They had four wings. They were four sides to a square. [00:49:15] They were. [00:49:17] They had four faces to each one of them. [00:49:21] In other words, there was something that was completely general, shall we say, about them. They covered the whole of the universe in that sense. [00:49:37] Now, what he saw was this. [00:49:43] He saw that there was a basic human form to these. If you look at verse five, verse five, it says this. And from the midst of it came the likeness of four living ones. And this was their appearance. They had the form of men. Now, that's very important. [00:50:02] The actual figures were basically human. [00:50:06] Now, that's very important for us to understand. They were basically human. [00:50:10] They were not basically, as some people tried to point out, oxen. [00:50:14] Some people tried to point out out that they were. They weren't. It says explicitly here that they had a human form. Basically, that's very important. [00:50:24] And he noticed this. [00:50:28] From this he learned that God was enthroned, or God was inhabiting these figures. [00:50:42] This is what he calls glory. In Ezekiel's mind, the glory of the Lord. Is the Lord in, enthroned in, or inhabiting these four figures. [00:50:56] That's very important for us to understand if we're going to get to an understanding completely of the symbolism of what he saw. [00:51:04] For instance, look at verse 13. Now, I'm going to read to you in Moffat because it's very interesting. [00:51:11] He says also in the middle of the creatures or the figures, there was something with a capital S moving to and fro like glowing coals, like torches, a fire that gleamed and flashed out lightning. [00:51:28] Now, the American Revised Standard puts more or less the same. In the midst of the living creature, there was something that looked like burning coals of fire, like torches moving to and fro among the living creatures. And the fire was bright and out of the fire went forth lightning. [00:51:45] This is the presence, that's all, the presence of God in the living figures. [00:51:54] Now mark it. This presence was in the four living ones. [00:52:01] Ezekiel saw, as it were now, that they were the containers of something. [00:52:08] Although the glory was all around them, somehow there was a presence inside of them, as if glory had become personified in something, as he put it, that was moving all the time in the midst of them. [00:52:26] Then I want you to compare this with Ezekiel 10 and 2, and I think you will discover that we have here the altar, verse 2 of chapter 10. [00:52:41] Go in between the whirling wheels, even under the cherubim. Fill both thy head with coals of fire from between the cherubim. [00:52:50] It is this fire. This something in the midst is linked with the altar. [00:52:59] Now mark that. It's linked with the altar. [00:53:03] Later on, the man with the ink horn, dressed in linen, with the ink horn and writing case, is told to go in between the wheels and obtain coal, burning coals from off the altar of God in the midst. [00:53:21] So the presence of God is identified with the altar in the midst of the four living ones. This is the fire that you can see. It's not just a fire. It's not just an abstract glory. It's centered in the actual altar. [00:53:37] The altar itself is in the midst. [00:53:41] Then again, I want you to notice, therefore, from that to Ezekiel, God's glory was bound up with a human vessel. [00:53:52] He could see from these four figures. He was bound up with a human vessel. [00:53:59] And this human vessel was God's home. [00:54:03] That's what Ezekiel saw, God's home. When in the end, he said, the Lord is there, he didn't. He didn't mean temporarily, in a transient way. When in the last word of Ezekiel, is the Lord is there? He meant the Lord's come home. [00:54:18] The Lord set up home. [00:54:20] The Lord at last finally has found his rest. To Ezekiel, this human vessel is the rest of God. Now, that's very important. It's the rest of God, the human vessel. And it is the throne of God, not only the rest of God, because he saw above it, as we shall see in a moment, a throne. [00:54:40] So the throne of God, the home of God, the rest of God is all bound up with this human vessel, these four living creatures. [00:54:53] And I want you to point out that the heart of God's home is an altar. [00:55:00] The altar is the central point of his rest. [00:55:08] And I don't believe that just simply means Christ dying for our sin, but I believe it's an eternal principle with God that is exemplified in the Lord Jesus, when, though he was unequal with God, yet he didn't count it a thing to be grasped at. But humble. [00:55:26] That was the cross, eternally a relationship. [00:55:30] And whenever you get that, you've got rest, whether it is in a human being or whether it's in a family or whether it's in a company. Whenever you've got a few people who know something on the cross, you've got rest at the heart of everything, God's rest and their rest. [00:55:47] So you see here that what Ezekiel saw is not nothing small, but tremendous, really, in its nature and in its implications. [00:55:57] Now then, what are the characteristics of this vessel? Can we go through them swiftly? What are the characteristics of this human vessel, which is the rest of God and the home of God and the throne of God? [00:56:10] What are their characteristics? Let's look first in verse four, in verse 13, comparing it with Ezekiel 10 and verse two, which we have, I think, looked at, we discover that one of the characteristics is a fire in the midst a fire. And that fire is, as it were, enveloping an altar. [00:56:37] There's something in the heart. Well, if you don't think it's an altar, let go of the idea of the altar and just think of fire. The same thought is there. The altar in the temple would never have been anything without the fire. [00:56:48] The fire is the thing. [00:56:50] The altar is there. All right. [00:56:54] Even if you didn't see an altar, the fire is there. What does that fire do? It's a cost. [00:56:59] Now, one of the great things about this human vessel is that it's costly. [00:57:05] Everything in this human vessel comes out of fire. [00:57:08] If you look at this human vessel, wherever you look, it's fire. [00:57:12] Fire is dazzling you. Fire is somehow seeping through and enveloping everything in this. Even the wheels. It says there's fire in the midst of them. Even the man on the throne does fire, from his loins upwards and his loins downwards. You look at the living creatures, the spiral in their hooves. You look at them and you see fire round about them. You look at the throne and you see, see a rainbow vividly around amber colored fire. [00:57:42] Everywhere is fire. [00:57:44] Look at the City of God at the end. Everything in the City of God has come through fire. Everything, the gold, the crystal, the precious stones, the pearls, everything has been produced out of the altar. [00:58:01] I have often pointed out to you that when in Ezekiel, we find that the river comes out of the altar, in the Book of Revelation, it comes out of the throne. And we learn from that that the Throne of God is the altar of God. That's all. [00:58:16] The altar of God is the throne of God. And then nothing comes by any other means or way than by the altar. So one of the basic characteristics of this human vessel is the altar. Fire is in its very nature. [00:58:30] It's been fired, it's come through fire. It lives in the midst of fire. [00:58:37] You know, Isaiah once said, who can dwell in everlasting burning? So he went on to say, the righteous of God, the redeemed of the Lord, will dwell there in the midst of everlasting burnings. It will burn up the sinner, but it will only purify and make beautiful the saints. That's all. [00:58:56] The cross is judgment to some and salvation to others. It's an interesting thing that whenever there is judgment, it goes back to the altar. Scatter coals, says the Lord to the angel over the city from the altar, judgment on one, salvation to the other. [00:59:17] Well, I leave it there. The altar is one of the great characteristics of. [00:59:21] Of this vessel. Secondly, if we look at 8 and 9. [00:59:26] No, sorry, not 8 and 9. [00:59:29] If we look at the four faces that we have in Ezekiel, chapter 10, chapter 1, verse 10, you have four faces. You have looking out to the front, a man. [00:59:47] Looking out to the right, an ox. [00:59:50] To the right, a lion, to the left, an ox. Inwards or upwards, an eagle. Now, it's very interesting that Knox's version says perhaps this might be the answer to a lot of people's travels. [01:00:05] Many of us have not been able to understand quite how you could see ahead with all these different faces. But it would be very interesting if the Latin is right and that it was the way you looked at it. If you looked at it straight on, it was a man. [01:00:19] If you looked at it from the side, from the right, it was a lion. Looked at it from the left was an ox. But looked at from above or within, it was an eagle. [01:00:32] You see, this human vessel has got these four basic characteristics symbolized by these faces. [01:00:40] Firstly, the man. What does the man speak of? He symbolizes affection, sympathy and intelligence. [01:00:49] Intelligent affection and sympathy. [01:00:52] Or put it another way, sympathetic, affectionate intelligence. [01:00:58] But it means the same however you look at it, really. Maybe different emphases, but that's what the man represents. This human vessel, God doesn't want automatons, spiritual automatons, press button machines, pious, sanctimonious. And you just do certain things and they do it. God wants living, affectionate, sympathetic, intelligently responsive creatures. [01:01:26] Oh, that intelligent. Your spiritually intelligent worship is to present your Bodies, a living sacrifice. That's the kind of person God wants. Not a beast that has to be with bit and bridle forced into the fire, but a man out of sympathy and love and intelligence, spiritual intelligence, can see that the way through is to put themselves into the fire. [01:01:55] That's what God wants, that's this kind of vessel. [01:01:59] And then if you look at it from the right, the right hand is always authority, it's always the throne, it's always government, it's always strength. We find a lion and if we look at it from the right, it's a lion. And lion always speaks of king, royalty, authority. [01:02:17] This vessel's got authority, not an authority, but which is just doled out. Some people have got an idea that authority is this, oh, I'll make you an elder, we'll make you an elder tomorrow. [01:02:30] And then you've got an authority that sort of wafts around you wherever you go. Everyone knows you're an elder. [01:02:37] That's authority. With God, authority comes out of experience of an inroad experience. [01:02:44] This lion, this lion like character is best exemplified in the Lord Jesus, who is the lion on one side and the lamb on the other. [01:02:56] That's what God means by a lion. [01:02:59] People who know when to be lambs and when to be lions. [01:03:02] That's what God means by the lion like aspect of this vessel. Royalty. Royalty. Not the royalty that is superior and condescending and barges its way and overlords everyone but the royalty. That is so inherent that people just have to acknowledge it and have to respect it. They can't help it. They might not like you, they might disagree with you, but there's something so royal about you, so noble about you, that can only be stamped out as Christ. [01:03:38] Lion like, nature of Christ. People just say, well I don't agree with him, but I've got to stand, that's all. [01:03:46] I just can't. [01:03:49] Something in me on the other side, you look at it from the left hand side, which is the lowly side. What do we find? An ox. And you know what the ox is? Poor creature that plodding patience, steadfast creature of labor. [01:04:06] And you know in scripture, never the lion was sacrificed, never the eagle, never a man, always a ox. [01:04:15] Cal was the thing that was offered up often as a burnt offer. [01:04:19] See, this is the nature of service. Look at, look at this human vessel from the left and what do you find? Something so lowly, something so steadfast, something so patient, it just goes on and on and on. [01:04:34] Thou shalt not muzzle the Ox that treadeth out the corn, you know why? It's bound to a wooden axle, as it were, and just go round and round and round and round and round and round. That's its job. [01:04:53] Hour after hour, hour after hour, after our treading. [01:04:59] Well, that's one aspect, I'm sorry to say, for many of us of this human vessel. [01:05:06] That's what God means by service. And many of us are near to fainting on it. [01:05:11] He just means going on and on, being tied to a center with a few yards, that's all. And round you go, treading out the cliff, hour after hour. We used to see them in the east, day in, day out, as poor creatures, walking round and round and round and round and round, treading out the corn. [01:05:32] Well, that's the ox. There is something about this human vessel which can only be described as sacrificial service. Patient, enduring, steadfast, just. Just plodding on, tied to a spot, a prisoner. [01:05:52] And the other, I might say, and this is wonderful from within. [01:05:58] I am so glad that if any of the world should look from without at this human vessel, they don't see the eagle, they see the man. [01:06:09] But when God looks for within or from above, he sees only the divine. [01:06:19] The eagle is the symbol of deity. [01:06:23] It is the symbol of spirituality, something that soars into the heavens. [01:06:29] And the whole idea of this, this aspect of this human vessel is that is one with God in divine nature. [01:06:41] It has a union with God, and that's the only way God will come to it. [01:06:48] Through that aspect. [01:06:52] You know, when you look at the Lord Jesus, he absolutely exemplifies this. [01:06:57] Absolutely. The whole thing is summed up and exemplified in the Lord Lord Jesus. [01:07:04] Oh, just look at him. Just look at him as the man. [01:07:08] Look at him as the king. [01:07:10] Look at him as the servant suffering unto death. [01:07:15] Look at him as the eagle, the son of God, in touch with God all the way through. [01:07:26] Well, of a few other things, I think. Just seek to cover them and leave it. There are four wings that you will find in chapter 1, verse 8, 9 and 11. Four wings. Two pairs of wings touching. Or as it says in the American and the Authorized Version, Revised Version. Joined. [01:07:46] Joined. I like that word because that's what it really means. Although all the modern versions are put touching because they think that's probably what it means, not joined. But the thought stronger than touching. [01:07:58] These wings. Two of them were covering the body and two of them were out overshadowing them. Now, that's interesting remarket. Two veiling their body and two Overshadowing them and joined. [01:08:22] Wings. Now, you know, I thought for two weeks about wings. I thought, what can wings mean? [01:08:31] Why? [01:08:32] I want you to point out to you that the wings are connected with the eagle wings. Do you know, I found the most interesting thing that there are different words, Hebrew words, used in the Old Testament for wings. And they've all got a different aspect of the wing. And the word used here is the word which means the covering nature of the wing. [01:08:56] The Lord Jesus used it in a different language when he said that a hen gathers her chickens under her wings. [01:09:05] Moses spoke of it when he spoke of the eagle bearing up its young on its wing. The whole idea is protection, covering, security. [01:09:16] Now, what does this mean? One of the characteristics of this human vessel is that they know the Lord in such a reverential way. They know the fear of the Lord that they are covered. [01:09:31] They let nothing get uncovered. No tempting of the Lord by foolish words, no uncovering of evil other. They not only cover themselves, but they seek to cover each other. [01:09:45] They are joined in this tremendous fellowship of covering, love, cover the multitude of sins. [01:09:55] It is the fellowship that comes through mutual love and care for each other as the body of the Lord Jesus. I don't know whether that makes sense to you, but in Scripture, if you wish to test me out on this, look through what wings mean. And I think you will discover that the thought behind them is covering, covering, protection, security. [01:10:20] And it's not only personal, it is corporate. [01:10:25] And then again, you will notice that under the wings in verse 8, there are human arms and hands. And under the lower wings. And you know, again, I thought a lot about hands. What do hands really symbolize in Scripture? It's very interesting. The first time we ever have hands mentioned in Scripture, they're taking something lest he take of the tree of life. [01:10:45] And all the way through Scripture, you find that hands are taking or receiving and giving, receiving and giving. [01:10:53] Even prayer was the lifting up of the hand, hands by the Jew. He stood always to pray to this very day and lifts his hands up like this. The cops still do it, their hands up. That the thought is to see. [01:11:08] It is interesting that later on, when Ezekiel see this vision again in chapter 10, when the man is told to go into the wheels to get the coals from the altar, the cherub stretches out a hand and takes off the coals and gives to them. [01:11:26] And I believe that one of the great characteristics of this human vessel is that it receives everything, to give everything. [01:11:36] The principle inherent within it is that it has nothing within itself. But it receives all to give all. [01:11:47] Life is that as soon as you block one end, there's no giving, you stop giving and it's before long the inflow. Something will go wrong with the inflow. [01:12:00] You must give to receive. [01:12:04] That's life giving, reproducing, scattering. [01:12:12] It's all this simple principle of receiving and giving, receiving and giving. I think it was brother Lee who said about the tree of Life, you ate it, you ate it, you received it. Once you received it, you had something to give. [01:12:33] So that's one of the, another one of the characteristics of this vessel. And then I want you to, you to notice in verse seven it has calves feet. And that always speaks to separation. You know, the calf is one of the clean creatures. In Leviticus it speaks of separation. He had a body like commands, but its feet were calf's feet. [01:12:54] And we were in scripture we're told that which chews the cud and parts the hoof can be eaten because it is clean. [01:13:03] This speaks of a walk. [01:13:05] This vessel knows a sanctified work in spirit. [01:13:11] Something which is separate, something which is holy for the Lord. [01:13:16] Its hands are to take from the Lord and pass on to others. [01:13:22] Its feet are holy for walking in God's way. [01:13:27] Separate, sanctified, walking and standing. [01:13:33] And then I want you to notice in verse 12, it is spirit impelled and single minded. The most amazing thing about these cherubim is they can't turn around. And they can't. They can only go straight forwards and straight back. That's the only way they can go. They're single minded. There's no turning aside. They can only go straight. [01:13:54] And furthermore they, they can only go as the Holy Spirit constrained. [01:14:00] It says that whither the Spirit went, they go. [01:14:05] The Holy Spirit is the great impulse, the great impelling force within them. [01:14:13] So there you've got the character of this human vessel. I don't know whether that makes any sense to you. But I think if you go away and see, think about it and pray about it, it may make more and more, as you look at it here, this composite symbol and it speaks of a human vessel. Now just underneath it, we suddenly find wheels. And the wheels are huge. [01:14:33] What do the wheels speak of? The wheels speak in scripture here of activity because they're called whirling wheels. They never stop, they're whirling all the time. [01:14:46] What is the idea in these wheels? I believe that if you look in scripture you will find that a cycle or a wheel speaks of life. [01:14:55] And here you have a symbol of service. [01:14:59] Not just character. You've taken a step now. [01:15:02] Service. [01:15:04] And service is a question of eternal life. The life of God within it is continuous, ceaseless in its activity. Once you've got the life of God, you know you've got the greatest force in the universe within. [01:15:24] Obey the law of the life of God within us. [01:15:28] And there's nothing that's impossible. Nothing. [01:15:31] That's the great secret of the Christian life. And few find it. [01:15:35] Activity and service is all bound up with the. These wheels, you see, the cherubim could not go themselves. They couldn't walk by themselves. The wheels went and the cherubim went. Do you understand where the cherubim went? I'm sorry. The wheels went. The two were bound together. You never found the wheels apart from the cherubim or the cherubim apart from the wheels. The two were bound together. [01:16:01] It speaks of life and it speaks of life, of life and activity in God's service, God's work. [01:16:10] The whole of the wheels are eyes and it speaks of intelligence in the work of God. [01:16:20] You see, the only way, the only way that God's work, ministry, service can be fulfilled, you can function, is to seize humanity. You must see. You must not only see the Lord, but you must see situations for what they really are. These wheels are not just an eye here and an eye there. [01:16:40] They've got eyes all round the rim. And the spokes are all eyes. [01:16:46] A weird sight, a wheel within the wheel. Wherever they go, it doesn't matter how they move up or down, backwards or forwards, they see endless everything in a flash, everything. [01:17:00] Nothing escapes their intelligence. [01:17:03] They are sort of. You know what the eye is, don't you? It's like a lens. It not only allows you to see out, but it immediately registers into the brain all the impressions of what you see. [01:17:16] Now you think of a thing covered with eyes, back, front, every part. [01:17:22] It is like something that can register anything in a moment, absolutely register anything. It's so sensitive. [01:17:34] So you find that all activity, all service, all movement is bound to inward character in this vessel. [01:17:44] All this question of movement, all this question of service, it's all a question of the cherubim, where the cherubim go. It says, if you look at it in verse 21, so the wheels went. [01:17:58] It's bound up with the kind of character that this human vessel has. And I want you to note also that these wheels are also linked with the altar. The man went through the wheels in order to get those burning coals from off the altar. It's linked, I think there you have the most amazing picture of this festival. If people think they are saved to sit down one day all round the Lord sort of thing and just have glorious conferences where they listen and listen and listen and do nothing, we've all got another tremendous thing coming. [01:18:38] Because from what I can see from this symbol of redeemed humanity, which is going to be the dwelling place of God, there's going to be a tremendous amount of activity and service. [01:18:47] These wheels speak of the ceaseless nature of God's life. Always exploring, always creating, always moving on, always branching out. I believe that God, when we won't, when once we're holy with him and not just in a fallen atmosphere, we shall discover the law. To be someone so exciting, so exciting on this question of his exploratory nature. Oh, I don't believe that this is the end, this universe. You wait what we're going to see. Those wheels are just a little symbol of it. They're going to go and all kinds of things are going to come out of this activity. We're going to be in it. [01:19:31] We're going to be in it. We're going to be the vessel. [01:19:35] It's the life of God inside of us. We with him and he with us tremendously. This, this, this world, this universe and all its ones is a little stepping off ground, a little. A little launching platform. [01:19:51] Some of God's rockets seems to be tremendous, sings one day when we are there with Him. And this poor fallen humanity is a pale reflection of what God would have. So you see, there's not only wheels, but when you look up, he sees right above a balk, he sees above a B, blue, and there a throne. [01:20:14] And on the throne the likeness of a man. That's the most wonderful thing of all. [01:20:19] The throne is in the midst of these creatures. In the midst, above them, out of them. [01:20:28] And on the throne a man, you know who he is going to tell you that's not God. [01:20:35] Not just God, that's God, the Son, the Lord Jesus on the throne, head of a body, the church. [01:20:50] A lot we could say about that. Christ enthroned the rainbow around him which speaks of grace. You know where that goes? Back to that covenant of grace which God made with a new creation. Never flooded again, ever. [01:21:06] It's all there. [01:21:08] Well, that speaks of dominion and authority with the Lord Jesus. The cherubim are with the man on the throne. They are, as it were, part of him. The rabbis said that the cherubim were the chariot of God's throne. [01:21:26] And that is it. [01:21:28] God's throne, according to the Rabbis, was a chariot. It wasn't one of these things that you just sit down and can't move. It was a throne on wheels, and the cherubim with the throne and the wheels, the life of God. [01:21:45] Well, now, I'm sorry it's all so complex. I'm sorry it's such a difficult evening for you all to listen. [01:21:51] I hope you gained something from all that. That is Ezekiel's ministry. And from that, after he's seen that, the angel says to Ezekiel, here are Ezekiel, here is Ezekiel scroll. Eat it. [01:22:04] Ezekiel looks in the scroll. It's all mournings and lamentations and woes, he says, but he eats it, and it's very sweet to him. [01:22:12] And then afterwards, after a few more words of commission, the Lord said to him, ezekiel, you are a watchman. You have seen something. Now he says in chapter three, and you can read it when you get back home. And I'd like you to read that more than any other part. [01:22:29] The Lord says to Ezekiel, every living person is your responsibility. You've seen something. [01:22:38] If you don't warn them, and they die because you don't warn them, I will require their blood at your hand to seek you. [01:22:50] Even if a righteous man, he says, sins, and I tell you to warn him, and you don't warn him, he will die in his sins because he has sinned. But his blood I will acquire joy. [01:23:08] It is the solemn nature of this, that when we've seen something, it doesn't matter if we go back into the world, woe betide us or wherever we go. [01:23:18] Once we've seen something, we are answerable to God, for He never did. [01:23:29] We are watchmen. [01:23:31] We've seen something, and we are therefore constituted watchmen. [01:23:38] May the Lord help us then to get to the root of this symbol in our own hearts. You've heard a lot this evening. Help. Help us to get to the root of it. I'm sorry we've been long, but help us to get to the root of it, to understand it. [01:23:53] And not only to understand it, but to give ourselves wholly to the Lord for its working out.