I invite you to take your Bible
and turn with me to the book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel chapter 1. And today I want to bring you
a message entitled, A Soul-Stirring Vision of the Glory of God, Ezekiel
chapter 1. I want to begin by reading the
first portion of this chapter. It's our desire to cover the
whole chapter, Lord willing. I want to begin by reading Ezekiel
1 beginning in verse 1. Now it came about in the thirtieth
year on the fifth day of the fourth month when I was by the
river Chabar among the exiles. The heavens were opened and I
saw visions of God. On the fifth of the month, in
the fifth year of King Jehoiachin's exile, the word of the Lord came
expressly to Ezekiel, the priest, son of Bazai, in the land of
the Chaldeans by the river Chabar, and there the hand of the Lord
came upon him. 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. Within
it were figures resembling four living beings. And this was their
appearance. They had human form. Each of
them had four faces and four wings. Their legs were straight,
and their feet were like a calf's hoof, and they gleamed like burnished
bronze. Under their wings on their four
sides were human hands. As for the faces and the wings
of the four of them, their wings touched one another. Their faces
did not turn when they moved. Each went straight forward."
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. All four
had the face of an eagle. Such were their faces. Their
wings were spread out above. Each had four touching another
being and two covering their bodies. and each went straight
forward. Whoever the Spirit was about
to go, they would go without turning as they went. In the
midst of the living ones, 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. and the four living beings ran
to and fro like bolts of lightning. Now 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 The appearance of the wheels
and their workmanship was like sparkling beryl and all four
of them had the same form. Their appearance had the workmanship
being as if one wheel were within another. Whenever they moved,
they moved in any of their four directions without turning as
they moved. As for their rims, they were
lofty and awesome and the rims of all four of them were full
of eyes round about. Whenever the four living beings
moved, The wheels moved with them, and whenever the four living
beings rose from the earth, the wheels also rose. 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. Whenever they went, they They
went and whenever those stood still, they 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 year is 593 B.C. The place
is Babylon. and the occasion is the captivity
of the people of God in Babylon. The author is Ezekiel and he
has spent his early years in Jerusalem in a priestly family,
being prepared for priestly ministry as soon as he becomes thirty
years of age. But all of that has now changed. God has rerouted His life. God
has a different plan for Ezekiel and even for His people. Ezekiel
was taken prisoner into exile by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon
along with his wife and ten thousand other Jews. He has been there
already for five long years in silence, away from the promised
land and in this seemingly God-forsaken foreign land. There is now virtually
no hope of Him ever entering into the priesthood and this
is a bleak time in the life of Ezekiel. But in the difficulty
of these dark days, Ezekiel is given this vision of God. At the time when he least expected
this to happen, this is when God appeared to Ezekiel. And this is not just any vision
of God, but one so awesome that it is difficult for Ezekiel to
even record that which he sees. This is what Ezekiel needed to
see to strengthen him. In fact, Ezekiel's very name
means God strengthens and it is this vision of God that will
strengthen Ezekiel and it is this vision of God that must
also strengthen you and me. Our name needs to be Ezekiel
in the sense that we need to be strengthened by God, and it
is this vision that will empower Him and enable Him and embolden
Him. The greater our vision of God,
the greater our power from God to serve Him. Here is a vision
that presents the godness of God, God who is infinitely holy,
God who is supreme over all. Here is God who is transcendent
and majestic and awesome beyond description. Here is a God that
defies even human language. Here is a God who commands and
who controls history. Here is the God who is wholly
other than us, the God who is set apart from His creatures,
who towers in the heavens above. Here is the God who is perfect
in all of His ways and who is orchestrating the events of human
history according to His own purposes. This vision of God
must lay hold of us this day. This is our God. This vision is soul-stirring,
jaw-dropping, mind-blowing, eye-popping, ear-deafening, knee-bending,
heart-throbbing, spine-tingling, lips-praising, life-strengthening,
faith-enlarging. This is what Ezekiel needed to
see exactly at this moment in his life, and this is what you
and I must see this day in the Word of God that is living and
active and sharper than any two-edged sword. As we look at this chapter
today in Ezekiel, there are five truths about God that I want
you to note. This is a chapter that is all
about God. This is a theocentric chapter
to lead us into living a theocentric life. I want you to note first
the severity of God in verses 1 through 4. This is a heavy
vision of God. As this initial vision is given
in the book of Ezekiel, it is a revelation of the severe wrath
of God upon His disobedient people in a heavy-handed judgment. Beginning in verse 1. Now it
came about in the thirtieth year on the fifth day of the fourth
month. We believe that this refers to
Ezekiel's age, that he is thirty years of age, at the very time
when he would be entering into the priesthood in Jerusalem to
serve as his own father had served Ezekiel now finds himself in
Babylon at the very time when he would have been entering the
priesthood. He says, while I was by the river
Chabar. This is a major canal off the
Euphrates River and He is there among the exiles. There are ten
thousand Jews that have been secured and captured by Nebuchadnezzar
and carted off to Babylon. They are far away from home,
far away from the holy city, far away from the temple, far
away from the promised land. And it was here that the heavens
were opened and Ezekiel saw the visions. of God. God so often makes Himself most
known to us in those difficult days of our lives. It was true
with Moses. It was true with the Apostle
John. It was true with Paul. And it
is true here with Ezekiel, just like it is in your life and my
life. In verse 2, on the fifth of the
month, in the fifth year of King Jehoiachin's exile. That's the year 393, or excuse
me, 593 or 592 B.C., verse 3, the Word of the Lord came expressly
to Ezekiel the priest. And Ezekiel now is about to become
a mouthpiece for the Word of God. Ezekiel now is about to
become the means by which God will speak to His people. as
he is in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chabar, and the
hand of the Lord came upon him." It came upon him as if pressing
him down because this is now a weighty, heavy message that
God has. And it came to him there. They're not in Jerusalem, not
in the temple, but they're in the exile in the most difficult
of circumstances. And verse 4 now, the vision begins
to unfold before Ezekiel's eyes. A vision is where the prophet
is alive and he sees a panorama before his very eyes. In a dream,
the prophet is asleep. In a vision, the prophet is awake.
And Ezekiel has never been more awake than he is at this moment
as he has a heightened sense of the revelation of God that
is now being portrayed before his eyes. Verse 4, as I looked,
he is seeing this unfold before his startled eyes. Behold, a
storm wind was coming from the north. This storm wind was blowing
into the region of the promised land. It is a threatening thunderstorm
blowing into the land of God's people and it is coming from
the north. This will picture the coming
of Israel's enemies and Judah's enemies from the north. They
always came from the north. They never came from the west.
They could not come from the east because of the desert and
the wilderness to the east. When Babylon came, they had to
go due west toward the Mediterranean and then straight down south
from the north. That is the path that Israel's
armies always came. When the Assyrians came 150 years
earlier, they came from the north and carted off the ten tribes
of the northern kingdom. And now here comes Babylon from
the north. And the reference is very clear
that it is the hand of God's judgment upon His disobedient
people that is bringing these foreign oppressors against His
own people from the north to use them as the rod of His discipline. And as we continue to read... A great cloud with fire flashing. forth continually. The wind,
this enormous, powerful wind is blowing in this great cloud,
this huge, towering, mushrooming cloud. But this is a cloud like
no other cloud that he sees. There is fire flashing from within. It is a raging electrical storm. This is not a calm summer breeze. This is a gathering storm that
Ezekiel sees that is blowing into the land, and there are
lightning flashes that are sending forth, and it represents the
storm of God's wrath that has already burst onto the scene
in the deportation of God's people into Babylon, but there will
be yet another greater storm that will come and it is described
in Jeremiah 1 and verse 14, because while Ezekiel is in Babylon,
Jeremiah is back in the Promised Land, those who were not taken
away. and a bright light around it. The cloud is lit up and as we
will see, there is a glowing metal in the midst of this cloud
that causes the cloud to have the appearance that it is on
fire. And what is inside this cloud
is much like the cloud that led Israel through the forty years
in the wilderness wanderings, the Shekinah glory cloud. This is a manifestation of the
greatness and the grandeur and the glory of God. This is a blazing light. that shows forth the dazzling
glory of God. First Timothy 6, 15 to 16 says,
God dwells in unapproachable light that no man has seen or
can see. And in 1 John 1, 5 it says, God
is light. And in Him there is no darkness
at all. When Moses said in Ezekiel 33,
show me your glory, it was bright shining light that was made to
pass before Moses. This is God coming onto the scene. God is in this storm. God is riding the cloud, if you
will, to bring about His discipline upon His disobedient people. Here we see the displeasure and
even the righteous anger of God toward His own people who are
living in continual, blatant sin. They had disobeyed God's
Word. They had worshiped false gods.
They had made false altars. They had made alliances with
pagan nations. They had killed God's prophets.
They had corrupted God's worship. They had rejected God's Word. They are heavy laden for judgment. And here is the side of the holiness
of God that we must not forget. Here is the disciplining hand
of God punishing His own people for their own sin. Disobedience
to the Word of God, especially prolonged disobedience, always
results in the judgment of God. This is where this vision begins
and there is a sense within each of our hearts this morning of
a...of a holy silence and hush within our own heart as we would
even consider our own lives that God is requiring obedience and
pure worship for Him. But second, not only the severity
of God, I want you to note the servants of God. Beginning in
verse 5 and extending to verse 14. There are in this electrical
storm supernatural beings who are represented as being on the
scene, having descended from the throne of God above, and
they are sent to serve and carry out the purposes of God in this
disciplining hand. So verse 5, within it, within
the storm cloud, there were figures representing four living beings. Well we know who these four living
beings are because later in Ezekiel's prophecy in chapter 9 and in
chapter 10, they are identified as the cherubim, to be distinguished
from the seraphim in Isaiah's prophecy. It is the unique purpose
of the cherubim to guard the holiness of God. They have the
closest proximity to the throne of God. They are a special order
of angelic beings who are in the immediate presence of God. And this again argues that God
is in this storm because these four living beings are always
in the immediate presence of God. As though God has descended
upon the scene in this storm, these four cherubim have also
come with Him to guard His holiness." And this was their appearance.
And Ezekiel now struggles to communicate to us what he saw. He said, They had human...they
had human features, human form. They were not men but they were
like men and how so? He will tell us now in verse
6. And again, understand, this is all representative, not reality. This is a representation of the
cherubim. as they are visually being portrayed
before the watching eyes of Ezekiel. In verse 6, each of them had
four faces. That is to indicate they are
very smart. that nothing escapes their gaze. They have four faces and as we
will learn, they are turned in all four directions so that they
see from every side. There is no blind providence
that will be being carried out. They have perfect vision of all
that is taking place around them. They can see north, south, east,
west, forward, backward, left, right at any moment. and they
have four wings, which is to say they're very swift to speedily
do the will of God. With four wings to each of these
angelic beings, they can fly with exponential speed to carry
out the will of God. There is no dragging their feet.
In verse 7, their legs were straight. This indicates they're very strong.
They are not...their legs are not bent like those of animals,
but they are straight like pillars, upright, sturdy, intact. and their feet were like a calf's
foot. That is to say they're very stable
and very sure-footed. They never slip as they carry
out their missions for God. They never trip over themselves.
They have a calf-like nimbleness. They are very agile and very
deft. and they gleamed like the burnished
bronze." They're very splendid. They are reflecting and radiating
the glory of the God who is in this storm. Being in the very
presence of God, they are like Moses whose face shined with
the glory of God because he had been in the very presence of
God, so these angels are shining forth Much like Moses did because
they have such closeness to the glory of God Itself. And in verse 8, under their wings
on their four sides were human hands. That is to say they're
very skilled. They have great dexterity, great
precision. The hands are far more precise
than the feet or any other part of the body. When a surgeon performs
his operation, it is with his hands that he carries it out
with perfection. And so, these angelic beings
are shown to be just beyond description. And they are but a reflection
of the far greater splendor and grandeur of God as they serve
in His courts. We would expect a God who is
holy, holy, holy to be surrounded in heaven by...by attendance
who are of great regal splendor as they serve around Him. Theirs is a far lesser glory
that merely reflects the greater glory of the One whom they serve. And that is what we see here.
And at the end of verse 8, as for the faces and the wings of
the four of them," verse 9, their wings touched one another. They're
at the four corners as their wings are extended out at ninety-degree
angles, nothing gets through them. There is no symbolic access
to the throne of God. No foe could ever rise up against
God. It is all symbolic but it is
to show that they have marked off the presence of God within
them and as they are touching, it also indicates the unity with
which they work together, the solidarity of this wall around
the glory of God. and their faces did not turn
when they moved, each went straight forward." And the reason their
faces do not move, there's no need for their faces to move
because the four living ones, each one has four faces. It's
a total of sixteen faces. And they can see in every direction.
So no matter from where the opposition might arise, there's no need
to look in the other direction because they're already looking
in that direction. And then we read in verse 10, For as the
storm of their faces...as for the form of their faces, each
one had the face. And now this even becomes somewhat
even more bizarre to our normal sensitivities. They each have
not only four wings, but they each have four faces. and each
one has the face of a man, that is to show how smart they are,
how stunningly brilliant they are. Each one has the face of
a lion to show how courageous and how strong and how determined
they are. Each one has the face of an ox
to show how steadfast and and committed to service they are,
and each one has the face of an eagle to show how swiftly
they can fly and how they can see at a great distance. How
much greater must God be if these are His mere attendants who sit
at His feet? And verse 11, such were their
faces, their wings were spread out above, meaning stretched
out in full extension. Each had two touching another
and two covering their bodies. and the two wings that cover
their bodies are an indication and a confession and recognition
of their own unworthiness to be in the immediate presence
of a God who is so holy and so sovereign and so perfect, they
must remain covered even as you and I must be covered in the
perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ to be in the
presence of God one day or we would burn up like a cinder."
And in verse 12, went straight forward. It indicates they're
not stationary, they're not passive, they're sitting on ready to carry
out the Lord's will and they are ready to advance and to move
forward at but the Word from God. Whenever the Spirit was
about to go, they would go. And the indication here, the
Spirit, whether this refers to the divine impulse or the Holy
Spirit, it is all the same. These four living beings are
impelled and directed by God Himself and they do so, the end
of verse 12 says, without turning, the idea is without deviating
from the will of God, without They are on spot and they are
on purpose and they are on mission with God and there is no delay
and no shuffling of their feet but with a speed and a rapidity
that defies explanation. they are ready to serve God.
In verse 13, in the midst of the four living beings there
was something. And when he says something, it's
as if Ezekiel is searching his own vocabulary and trying to
articulate the awesomeness of this vision of God, and he says,
something that looked like burning coals of fire, like torches,
and this is the glory of God that is shining brighter than
ten thousand suns in the sky above. It is the glory of God
in flashing light and flickering flames of righteousness and of
justice and yes, even love. And this is exactly what the
Apostle John saw in Revelation 4 and verses 5 and 6. The fire
was bright, not dim, bright, and lightning was flashing from
the fire as though ready to strike the earth. What a picture of
these servants of God this is. And if Ezekiel goes to this much
trouble to detail what it was he saw, then it is worth our
time today to...to walk in the midst of these verses and see
what he saw but also feel what he felt. Verse 14, and the living
beings ran to and fro like bolts of lightning, that they are flashing
back across this scene with pent-up energy, ready to serve God at
His beckoning Word. How supremely awesome. must our God be if these are
His mere servants who sit before His throne and guard access to
His holy presence? And how much must we be like
them, ready to go, ready to serve, ready to carry out the will and
the work of God in our lives? not passive, but aggressive in
carrying out God's work. But I want you to know third,
the sovereignty of God. In verse 15, because this next
feature is even further enhanced in what it tells us about God.
And in verse 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." This is to say there are four wheels.
each of the cherubim have a wheel each. And this wheel that Ezekiel
is shown by God is of gigantic proportions, touching the earth. It is directly connected to history,
and when it rolls, it rolls with irresistible progress, and there
can be no speed bumps among men that can hinder the rolling of
this wheel. And this indicates how God is
ready to steamroll in history in the captivity of His ancient
people, but it's not just with them. It is with us in every
moment of every day. Aspergian has a sermon on the
wheels of providence that he preaches on these very verses
to show that what was true then so long ago is true in our lives
every moment of every day. Verse 16, the appearance of the
wheels, all four of them, and their workmanship was like sparkling
beryl. It too is glowing like the sun. And all four of them had the
same form, their appearance and workmanship being as one wheel
were within another. This is becoming more almost
bizarre by the moment. Not only are there four wheels,
but there is a wheel inside of every wheel. And there is now
a total of eight wheels, and it is like a gyroscope so that
the wheel can turn at a ninety-degree angle, at whatever degree angle,
in but a split second. that as God leads the affairs
of human history here upon the earth, God can turn at any moment
in history and reverse any seeming movement or send something into
movement at the drop of a hat. There's no ramp up here for the
movement of God. God's not turning a battleship
in history and it takes a great time to turn a nation or a continent
or a kingdom around, but that God can instantly swivel the
movement and pivot the nation in but a moment. And it can swing
either way, whether for blessing or for cursing. And in verse
17, whenever they, referring to the wheels, moved, they moved
in any of their four directions without turning as they moved. As for their rims, And so, Ezekiel
now begins to describe the circumference, the edges of these wheels, they
were lofty and awesome. These are words that are used
to describe God. This is how Isaiah described
God when He came into the temple, I saw the Lord high and lifted
up. And this reflects the awesome
sovereignty of God that towers over the affairs of human history,
and the rims of all four of them were full of vies round about. This no doubt speaks to the omniscience
of God that God knows everything. God has never looked into the
future and learned anything. That is nothing but a pagan myth,
a demented, even blasphemous view of God, that God looks into
the future as if to learn something that God does not previously
know. Here these wheels have eyes within
them, they see all, they know all, they learn nothing because
it has all been foreordained by this God. And then in verse 20, or excuse
me, verse 19, whenever the living beings moved, the wheels moved,
and whenever the living beings rose from the earth, the wheels
also rose." Here we see the perfect unity and harmony and precision
in the providence of God and the affairs of God. Nothing is
pulling in opposite directions. Everything is in sync, everything
in lockstep. And here we also see how God
works through means as God is working by His Spirit through
the cherubim to turn the wheels and move as the wheels move. In verse 20, whenever the Spirit
was about to go, they would go in that direction and the wheels
rose from beside them for the Spirit of the living beings was
in the wheels. Whenever those," referring to
the cherubim, went, these," referring to the wheels, went. And whenever
those," referring to the cherubim, stood still. Those stood still,"
referring to the wheels, and whenever those rose from the
earth, the wheels rose close beside them. God is never at
cross purposes with Himself, whether within the Trinity or
with any of those who serve Him, but they all carry out with perfect
precision the will of this God who is in heaven. What this tells us is that God
can burst onto the scene at any time, at anywhere, at any moment,
that God never has to have the circumstances just right. that His movement in history
cannot be prevented, it cannot be stopped, it cannot be rerouted,
that God is absolutely sovereign and unhindered in the freedom
of movement upon the earth, and God can sharply pivot at any
moment and swiftly descend whether in judgment or in revival upon
the land, and that God is always on the move. and that He is all-seeing
and all-knowing and all-wise and all-powerful and that no
event is out of place, no trial is out of sync and no circumstance
out of step. What an extraordinary God we
have in the heavens. His sovereignty reigns over all. God has exalted His throne in
the heavens and His sovereignty rules over all, Psalm 103 verse
19. But notice now in verse 22 the
separateness of God because Ezekiel now has yet more to see And verse
22, now over the heads of the living beings, there is something
above them. And he says, something like an
expanse. And he doesn't know how to describe
it. And an expanse is not an empty
space. An expanse is like crystal glass. He says, something like an expanse,
like the awesome gleam of crystal spread out over their heads. And what this expanse is, is
a permanent separation between God and His creatures. And even
in Revelation chapter 4, we see this same crystal sea around
the throne of God, forever marking off God as God and us as redeemed,
glorified creatures. and the expanse like awesome
crystal is to magnify the light of the glory of His presence
and to cause heaven above and in this case, this vision for
the glory of God to be intensified even brighter if that were possible. And verse 22, The expanse, their
wings were stretched out straight one to another. Each one also
had two wings covering its body, the one side and the other. They're covering their front
and their back, a sense of total unworthiness to be in the presence
of God. one in the front, one in the
back, and with the other two wings stretched out to touch
the other wings of the other cherubim. Verse 24, I also heard
the sound of their wings as they are flapping, like the sound
of abundant waters as they went. The flapping of
their wings to go and carry out the mission is like a It says,
like abundant waters, meaning the thunder of rushing water. But that's not enough. He says,
no, it's like the voice of the Almighty that drowns out every
other noise. But that's not enough. He says,
no, it's like the sound of Talmud, like the sound of an army camp,
like a noisy military encampment. as they arouse themselves to
go forth into battle with all of their passions. Listen, there
is nothing quiet about this scene. There is nothing soft and soothing
and gentle about this scene. This scene with God in the midst
is full of intensity and gravitas and God. And wherever they stood
still, they dropped their wings. There is something that makes
an even greater noise that causes them to drop their wings and
in reality to bring them in this scene to a standstill. And it is what comes beginning
in verse 25, fifth, I want you to see the sun. of God, not only
the separation of God, but now the Son of God as this vision
builds to its climactic apex. Verse 25, and there came a voice
from above the expanse. So the expanse is above the angels,
but there is now a voice above the expanse at the very apex,
at the pinnacle, at the highest point that was over their heads
and whenever they stood still, they dropped their wings because
this voice is so powerful that when it speaks, it brings even
these mighty servants to a complete standstill, verse 26. Now above the expanse that was
over their heads, there was something Something resembling a throne. like lapis in appearance. It is...it is beautiful. It is a throne. We understand
what throne this is. This is the throne of God Himself. And as we will discover, this
throne is occupied. Even in their darkest days of
Babylonian captivity, they need to be reminded that God is still
upon His throne and when He but speaks the Word. It brings everything
to a halting stop. And that which is...and on that
which resembled a throne high up was a figure with the appearance
of a man. It is this man that appeared
with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace. It was
this appearance of a man that appeared in Christophanes throughout
the Old Testament. This one in the appearance of
a man is a prelude to the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
expositors from John Calvin to John MacArthur have seen this
as a foreview. of the incarnation of Christ
when He would come into this world, this theophany now becomes
a Christophany. And Christ now has the place
of preeminence in this vision. And in verse 27, then I notice
from the appearance of His loins and upward, something like a
glowing metal that looked like fire all around within it. This is exactly what the Apostle
John saw on the island of Patmos in Revelation 1, the vision of
the glorified Christ. He heard the voice speaking,
he turned around to see and he saw one whose face shined like
the sun, whose feet were standing in burnished fire, whose hair
was whiter than snow. Out of His mouth comes a sharp
two-edged sword. It is none other than the exalted,
glorified Christ." And from the appearance of His
loins, I look downward. and saw fire." He looks up. He sees as though Christ is on
fire. He looks down at His feet because
He can no longer look up directly into this blinding light of glory. And as He looks down, He sees
the same, and then He says, and a radiance around Him. He's in the midst of fire. He
is on fire. This is like the light that appeared
to Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus road and just knocked him off
his horse in but a moment. And he looked up and said, what
will you have me do? Lord, this is the Lord of heaven and earth. that Ezekiel now sees, the one
who will come in the fullness of time, born of a virgin, who
will live a sinless and perfect life, who will go to the cross,
who will be lifted up to die for His people. Verse 28, as
the appearance of the rainbow and the clouds on a rainy day. A rainbow always foreshadowing
the grace of God, the saving mercy of God, the covenant faithfulness
of God. This is what he sees surrounding
this one in the appearance of a man. So was the appearance
of the surrounding radiance. This is breathtaking splendor. This is blinding light. This is dazzling radiance. such was the appearance of the
likeness of the glory of the Lord." This is the intrinsic
glory of God, the sum and the substance of all of His attributes,
the entirety of His being radiating forth from His essence. The word glory is kabod in the
Hebrew that just simply means heavy. And it is applied to royalty
and divinity, the heaviness of who they are, the weightiness
of their words and their sway and their influence, and the sheer gravity of their
majesty. And when I saw it, I fell on my face. and heard a voice speaking." This is surely the only appropriate
response for being in the immediate presence of God and His Son in
their dazzling glory. Ezekiel is overwhelmed. He is overawed. He is overshadowed
by the glory of God. And this is where each one of
us today must be before the Lord Jesus Christ, in our hearts,
on our face, under His Lordship. Better to be on our face before
Him than on our feet anywhere else in the world. In the Lord
we humble ourselves. the higher He will exalt us.
For he who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles
himself will be exalted. And Ezekiel is so humbled that
his face is now on the ground. James Montgomery Boyce spoke
of the teeter-totter effect of children playing in a playground
that when one end of the teeter-totter goes up, the other end must go
down. And when one end that is down
goes up, the other that was up goes down. They can never both
be up at the same time. And Beuys says, so it is with
God in our lives. that when God is exalted before
our eyes, we always and inevitably are humbled low before Him. But
when we lose sight of the glory of God, when we lose sight of
the awesomeness of our God, and when God seems small, and when
God seems on our level, that is when we exalt ourselves and
that is when we are headed for a fall. May this day you have
a soul-stunning vision of the glory of God that towers over
your life. No matter how great you perceive
God to be through the pages of Scripture, He is still yet greater. He is still yet higher and beyond
the highest thoughts that you would have of Him. And there is only one way to
know Him. There is only one way to come into His presence as
these guardian angels have sectioned off His throne and that is the
one that we see at the end of this vision, the Son of God,
the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus Christ who left this throne two
thousand years ago, who descended down into this world and was
conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of a virgin, His
humanity was, and He became the God-Man. And He lived a sinless
and perfect life, the life that you and I could never live, and
He kept all the requirements of the law so that if you put
your faith in Him, His perfect righteousness will be imputed
to your account in the act of justification. And He went to
the cross and was lifted up to die for all the sins of all the
people who would ever believe upon Him. And He was taken down from the
cross and buried in a borrowed tomb, and on the third day, God
raised Him from the dead. And He is now ascended back to
the right hand of God the Father. And the Bible says, "'Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.'" Jesus
says, "'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes
to the Father but through Me.'" There is one God and one mediator
between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Every one of us
here today must repent of our sins. We must put our faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ. We must deny ourselves and take
up a cross and follow Jesus Christ. And when we put our faith in
Him, and one day when He dies, when we die or when He returns,
He will take us immediately into the presence of this all-glorious
God and He will give us a glorified body that will be perfectly adapted
to live in the presence of this glory. We will have glorified
eyes that will be able to look upon Him, glorified ears to hear
His voice, glorified body to serve Him and worship Him throughout
all of the ages to come. And if you've never believed
upon Jesus Christ, surely God has brought you here this day
by His sovereign appointment that you would hear this message.
God is too awesome, He is too holy, He is too holy other than
every one of us here today for any one of us to pull ourselves
up to Him. No, He must come down to us and
He has come to us in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And if you will believe in Him, if you will entrust your life
to Christ, He will take you to heaven one day into the very
presence of this all-glorious God and there you will live throughout
all of the ages to come forever and ever and ever. We do not
have low views of a puny little God. This is the God of the Bible. May this vision capture our hearts
and control our lives as we live here on the earth. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we thank You
that You have pulled back the veil. and allowed us to see something
of who You are in this vision of Yourself that You gave to
Ezekiel. And Lord, as mind-stretching
as this vision is, I pray that by Your Spirit and careful attention
to Your Word here, we may learn something even yet more today
of the height and depth and breadth and length of the glory that
belongs to You alone. We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.