Well, let's open our Bibles to
the first chapter of Ezekiel. The book of the prophet Ezekiel. This first chapter of Ezekiel's
prophecy, who I believe was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write these
things down. This first chapter is so important
because it sets the tone of the whole book, stating its theme. And in essence, it's the same
as the theme of the whole Bible because it's the glory of God
in Christ, in Jesus Christ. I've entitled the message tonight,
A Vision of God's Glory in Jesus Christ. Ezekiel, his name means God strengthens. as the whole Bible sets forth
the power of God in the salvation of His people, specifically here
the power of God in providence as God works all things after
the counsel of His own will to glorify Himself in the complete
eternal salvation of all His people by His grace through Christ. Providence is God's government
of all things. God is in control. God is never
taken by surprise. And everything that happens,
though we, in our limited view of things, we don't understand
all the ins and outs, the whys and the wherefores. We understand
that God being our Savior, we don't really have to understand
all the ins and outs and all the whys and wherefores. All
we need to know is that God's on the throne. And that's one
of the main themes of the book of Ezekiel. He speaks to his
people, the people of Judah, people of Jerusalem, who are
exiled in captivity in Babylon, who see no hope for themselves. Now granted, there were false
prophets even in Babylon. There were false prophets in
Jerusalem and Judah. There were false prophets in
Babylon. And the false prophet's message was peace when there
was no peace. We read about that in Jeremiah.
The false prophets in Babylon spoke of a return to their homeland
and the glory of it. And this was before Jerusalem
and the temple was destroyed. In fact, I think it was probably
about 10 years into Ezekiel's captivity when he was carried
to Babylon that Jude and Jerusalem were destroyed. But up until
that time, they said, well, everything's going to be fine. It's still
there. And then all of a sudden, it's not there. It's gone. In
these first few verses, we have the prophet's call, the call
of God to his prophet. Listen to what it says. Verse
1, now it came to pass in the 30th year in the fourth month. Most scholars aren't sure what
that 30th year refers to. It may refer to Ezekiel's age. He's 30 years old when he was
called to be a prophet. So it was in the fourth month,
in the fifth day of the month, and I was among the captives,
the captivity, the exiles, by the river of Kibar. That was
a tributary that ran from the Euphrates River into Babylon
and probably the Exiles were placed there by the Babylonian
captors to be farmers and to to raise crops for the for them
So he says I was among the captives by the River of Kibar And then
he says that the heavens during this time that the heavens were
opened and I saw visions of God now, you know Ezekiel, as I said,
he prophesied during the captivity in Babylon. You remember during
that whole historical period, you know, Judah and Jerusalem,
they were attacked by the Babylonian army three times. And each time
that they were attacked, some of the Jews were captured and
taken to Babylon and some of their treasures were stolen.
The first captivity, That's when Jehoiakim was king, and that's
when Daniel and his companions, remember Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego, Daniel and his companions were carried, taken off to Babylon. And then during the second attack,
later on, that's when Jehoiachin, that's the one that's mentioned
here, look at verse two, in the fifth day of the month, which
was the fifth year of King Jehoiachin's captivity. Jehoiachin reigned
in Jerusalem for about three months, and then it was attacked
and he was taken off that was the second captivity and that's
when this man Ezekiel was taken to Babylon it says down there
and look at verse 3 it says the word of the Lord came expressly
unto Ezekiel the priest he was a priest of the Levitical family
the descendant of Aaron And he came from that segment of the
family that was, it says, the son of Buzi. Jeremiah was a priest
too, you remember, but he came from a different segment of the
same family. He was of the tribe of Levi too.
So the son of Buzi in the land of the Chaldeans by the river
Kebar. So Ezekiel was a priest, but
Ezekiel never served in that office under the old covenant.
He's called here to be a prophet. He never served as a priest formally
in the temple in the old covenant. And he began prophesying five
years after he was taken, as I said here, when he was about
30 years old. And he began his ministry, his prophecy in Babylon. In fact, Ezekiel is the only
Hebrew prophet that never spoke a word of prophecy in Palestine. He never did. In the promised
land, he wasn't there. And as I said, during the first
ten years, false preachers were there telling the people in captivity
that they would return, it would be a glorious thing. There was
peace. And then, in 587 B.C., there
was the third attack. And you remember, that's the
final one. We read about that at the end of Jeremiah. That's
when Jerusalem was destroyed. That's when the temple was leveled.
That's when all the vessels of the temple were carried off,
stolen and carried off to Babylon. And here's Ezekiel now. He says
he was among the captives by the river Kibar. Now you remember
when Daniel was taken to Babylon, he was taken where? Remember
where he was taken? He was taken to the palace of the king. And
he became Some say a prime minister. He became a vice chancellor.
He became high up in the king's court. But now, Ezekiel wasn't
taken to the king's court. He was taken to live with the
Jewish exiles by the Kibar River. And I thought about this. Look
at it again in verse 1. He says, I was the captive. I was among the captives by the
river of Kibar. That's exiles. That's what he's
talking about. And I thought about our state
by nature in Adam. That's what we were among. The
captives. Captive to sin and Satan. The
curse of law. Exiled. Barred from God's presence. In Babylon. You know Babylon
is a symbol. You remember that? Babylon is
a symbol of our sinful curse. Being under the curse of the
law. Idolatry. Separation from God. In Adam,
and by nature, we are separated from God. But thank God that
He was never separated from us, because we were chosen before
the foundation of the world in Christ Jesus. We were enemies
of God in our minds by wicked works, the scripture says, but
thank God He never was our enemy. His grace and mercy and providence
was upon us from the beginning, before we ever knew Him. God
was not separated from Israel here yet because He remembered
His covenant with Abraham. And the first part of Ezekiel's
prophecy has to do with the sin and the idolatry of Judah and
Jerusalem and their deservedness of punishment. We're sinners.
All sin deserves death. We're here because we deserve
to be here. That's what he's going to tell
them. He's going to talk a lot about that. But then he breaks
into a message of hope. A message of deliverance. Because
God was not through with this nation yet. God had a purpose
for them. His ultimate purpose, as you
well know, and as we see through the whole old covenant time,
was to save his people by his grace through the promised Messiah,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what it's all about.
And if in any given time when you read through these scriptures,
if you miss Christ, you've missed the meaning. That's just the
way I know it. That's the way it is. You can
read it as history and literature and poetry and law and all of
that stuff. If you miss Christ, you've missed
the book. You've missed the prophecy. You see, this nation was going
to continue as a nation in whatever state they were in. whether in
Babylon or under the Medo-Persians or under the Macedonians, under
Alexander the Great or under the Romans, they were going to
continue as a nation until what the book of Hebrews calls the
time of reformation. And that's the time of Christ.
But he assures them God has not forsaken or forgotten his promise
and his covenant with Abraham. And that's a lesson to us today.
when we're in dire straits or when we fixate upon ourselves
and upon the state of this world and how bad it is or how bad
it's going to get. And I agree with you, that's
true. But I want to tell you something, God has not forgotten
the covenant that He made with His Son before this world ever
began. That's right. And it's a covenant
of grace. And I'll tell you, we're not
in that covenant because we deserve to be. It's of the Lord's mercies
that we're not consumed. Doesn't that ring so true in
your life? It does in mine. Never forget
it. But here it is now. He's calling
Ezekiel. prophesy and he's going to have
to stand against the false prophets. You remember we read over there
in Psalm 137, the people when they heard that Jerusalem was
destroyed, the temple was destroyed, here's their state. By the rivers
of Babylon there we sat down, yea we wept. There's no hope. When we remembered Zion, it's
a thing of the past now to them in their mind. They're not talking
about the church there. They're talking about, in their
minds, they're talking about that physical nation, that physical
city, that physical building. And so they said, we hanged our
harps upon the willows in the midst there. No reason to sing
now. No joy. Just hang up your harps and cry. And what happens here? Well,
look back at Ezekiel 1 verse 1. at the same time by the rivers
of Babylon that the people were weeping and despairing and going
into the doldrums and the slew of despondency. Here's what happens. Ezekiel
says, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. That's
a great contrast, isn't it? That's not saying hang up your
harps and just start crying. No, he says, I, the heavens were
opened. Now you think about that. What
does that mean? Well, that means he got a revelation from God. That means God is gracious to
his people. That means God had a revelation
for this man Ezekiel and for the people. who were captive
in Babylon. And especially for the remnant
of the election of grace. His true spiritual Israel. You
see the first thing that we must have if we're ever going to have
any relationship with God and claim salvation is there's got
to be a revelation from God. He's got to reveal Himself to
us. We can't get to Him This thing about the word of truth
is not how can you make it up, how can you get to God. No sir,
you can't get to God. He's got to come to us. That's
the way it is, isn't it? He's got to stoop down and condescend
and come to us. You see, there's no spiritual
life There's no faith, there's no repentance, there's no obedience,
no worship, no message, no witness, no ministry until God reveals
Himself to His people. Paul said, when it pleased the
Lord to reveal Himself in me. And that's when he had the message. And you notice down there in
verse 3 it says, the word of the Lord came expressly unto
Ezekiel. That word expressly means that
something major happened. That's the idea there. I mean
this just wasn't a regular common day happenstance happening. This
is something big here. It came. It became. It happened. This is an event.
I think about it this way, God revealing Himself in His Son,
Christ, God, the Son, came to earth. That's right. And He's the express image of
God. The Word was made flesh. And
then think about this, this happening, the Word is preached to us. That's express. That's a happening. And then it says in verse 3,
it says, and the hand of the Lord there was upon him. In biblical
terms, when someone placed his hand on someone else, it was
to impart or bestow some power or blessing. Remember the apostles
laid their hands on individuals to give them power for the ministry. Well, here what he's talking
about is the revelation of God comes to Ezekiel in power. I don't know that this was his
specific conversion where God brings a sinner to conviction
of sin and of righteousness and of judgment and brings that sinner
as a mercy beggar to seek the Lord Jesus Christ. Like that
old publican, God be merciful to me the sinner. That's when
God writes his word upon our hearts. Gives us a new heart. Adunction from the Holy One.
But what I do know is that this vision, this revelation took
hold of this man, Ezekiel. And through that revelation and
through that power, the hand of the Lord there was upon, has
the hand of the Lord been upon me? Is it upon me now? You know how you can know if
the hand of the Lord is upon somebody? It's when that revelation
of God The revelation of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ takes hold of a person and they can't let loose of it.
And they preach Christ. It has nothing to do with any
glow or jumping around or hollering or speaking in gibberish. It
has nothing to do with that. It's the power of conviction,
the power of faith, the power of conversion. It's the unction
from the Holy One. But it took hold upon Ezekiel. And I pray God every day, let
it take hold upon me, Lord. And then he begins to unfold
something about this vision, about what he sees, and what
we're going to understand. We won't get all the way there
tonight, because it's too important. We've got to deal with these
images. And there's a lot of difference,
argument, debate over them. You know that. You know that
before you start it. But what we are working towards here in
this glorious vision that God gave to His prophet. And it is
a vision of the glory of God in Jesus Christ. Now that is
what it is. But it is specifically the glory
of God in Providence. I am not going to get to this
tonight, but that is what the wheel within the wheel is all
about. God is working everything. The hub of that wheel is the
is the immutable God whose faithful, great is His faithfulness, whose
mercies never, never stop. And it's all working, turning,
and we can't even keep up with it, can we? But it's all turning
in His good time by His sovereign will and purpose and predestinating
will and purpose. To do what? To save His people
from sin by the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what it's working
toward. All things work together to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to his purpose. And so he begins,
first of all, by relating what he first saw in this vision.
And it was a vision of four living creatures or four living beings. Now let's talk about these four
living beings. Look at verse four. He says, and I looked,
and behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud,
and a fire enfolding itself. You might see in your concordance,
catching itself. And a brightness was about it,
and out of the midst thereof, as the color of amber, out of
the midst of the fire. Now, the first thing we see is
the power of God here. God identified with a storm,
a whirlwind. In the Bible, that's common to
identify and compare or relate the power of God with the whirlwind. Something that no man can come
against. Something that none can stop.
None can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? That's
what Nebuchadnezzar said. It's God's omnipotence. So the
first thing we're assured of is that whoever this God is,
He has the power to enact and perform and accomplish whatever
it is that He sets out to do. He'll not fail. He's not waiting
on us. He's not waiting on you to do
your part. He steps into the realm of human
history out of a whirlwind. He's the creator God of this
universe. And he didn't wind it up and
leave it to itself. He's in control. He's on the
throne. And he speaks of the north here. He says, out of the
north. That speaks of the throne of God. What he's talking about
is salvation comes from God. And you can say it this way,
up there. It's not literally up there, but the north, that's
what it what it usually signifies. It sometimes signifies impending
judgment, like Jerusalem's punishment, Judah's punishment came from
the north, Babylon. But that was God enacting that,
and it came from God's throne. Do you know, you know as well
as I do, that Babylon, as great and powerful as it was in human
terms, would not have been able to lay a finger on God's people
had He not purposed it and put it in action. Now you know that. So sometimes impending judgment,
but also it speaks of renewal and redemption. In other words,
if there's going to be any salvation, if there's any hope of good for
sinners like us, it's got to come from God. It's not going
to come from man. It's not going to come from the
earth. Look up, the scripture says, for your redemption draws
nigh. Lamentations, the last few verses
there spoke of the throne of God. Verse 19 says, Thou, O Lord,
remainest forever Thy throne from generation to generation.
That's what that talks about, that north there, that's God's
throne, God's sovereignty, not only in enacting judgment against
sin, but in redeeming and saving His people. As we said, God has not forgotten
His covenant with Abraham. He's not unfaithful to His promise.
He's coming for His people. And He mentions here a great
cloud and a fire enfolding itself, and a brightness was about it.
That great cloud, you know, that's a significant symbol of God's
presence, God's power, God's glory. God's intention. You remember how God protected
the Hebrew children as they came out of Egypt in a pillar of cloud
by day and a pillar of fire by night? That's something very
similar to what we're seeing right here. A cloud and a fire
enfolding itself. That enfolding itself, I believe,
has to do With that cloud, it is showing here that the light
and the power is of itself. In other words, there is no outside
presence feeding this cloud. Or feeding this power. There
is no conduit from earth to God or anything like that. This is
God in His essence. Alone. Solitary. He is the source
of His own power. You know, you can't say that
about your power. I can't say that about myself. I'm not the
source of it. And even the power that we have as believers, as
servants of God, what does Paul say? It's not I, but Christ liveth
in me. I'm not the power, but God is
the source of His own power, the source of His own light.
It comes from Him because He's the origin of all things. And
this brightness that was about it, that speaks of the effulgent
glory of God. It's a light that no man can
approach. It's the light of the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ where sinners approach unto God
through Him who is the light and who is the brightness of
His glory. And then he says, and out of the midst thereof
as of the color of amber out of the midst of the fire. That
color of amber there, that's an interesting interesting construction
of language here. And it's translated different
ways, and nobody really gets too dogmatic even among the Hebrew
scholars about how it's to be translated. But it seems to be
referring to a gleaming or glowing metal like bronze or brass. And
I believe it has reference back to the brazen altar. And what
he is talking about here is the glory of God shining forth in
the redemption of His people based upon the sacrifice of that
brazen altar which is the Lamb. And some translations even translate
it to be a metal called electrum which is a mixture of gold and
silver. Gold meaning the deity of Christ,
silver meaning redemption. Well, either way, The pure light
of Christ is right here. His brightness, the brightness
of His Father's glory. He's God and man in one person.
His flaming love for His people. His burning love, His zealous
love. The zeal of the Lord of hosts
has performed this. He loved His own until the end,
until the finishing of the world. What was the work? To take our
sins upon Himself and die on that brazen altar, that cross.
That cross really wasn't the altar. The cross was just a means of
His death. But He died as the Lamb for the
sins of His people, He who was made sin. And out of that comes
that brightness of His righteousness whereby we stand before God whole
and perfect and not condemned, not guilty, justified. His burning
zeal for the glory of God and the good of His church. Everything
that God purposes in His providence will ultimately work for His
glory and our good. That's an amazing thought. And it's even more amazing when
you consider the things that we go through here that are just
not exactly pleasant. And then it speaks of His fiery
vengeance against His enemy. But look at verse five. It says,
also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living
creatures. You remember in Revelation, it
spoke of four living beasts. There was a distinction in Revelation.
There's the beast of Revelation. You think about the evil beast,
the servants of Satan. And the word for beast in Revelation
in the New Testament was like a wild untamed animal, evil. But the four living beasts that
he speaks of were four living creatures, living beings. They
had spiritual life. That's why they're called living
beings. Well, it's the same here. It's a different language, but
it's the same here. Four living creatures. And there's a lot
of argument as to what they are. Some say they're the cherubim.
You've heard of the cherubim. You remember the Ark of the Covenant,
the lid, and there were the cherubim hovering over the Ark. What are
the cherubim? Well, I'm not going to get into
all that tonight. There's a lot of arguments over
that. They're angelic beings. They're angels. But either way, whether this
is talking about four living cherubim or just living beings
or whatever, they are symbolic. Just like the cloud and the amber
and all of that, these are symbols. And listen to what it says. It
says, and this was their appearance, they had the likeness of a man.
Well, what's he talking about, these living creatures? Well,
they're symbolic of the human ministers of Christ. Preaching
the gospel over the four corners of the earth. Four living beings. Four being the number of the
earth. North, south, east, west. Preaching
the glorious person and finished work of Christ. One commentator
says this speaks of the actual incarnation of Christ. They had
the likeness of a man. And we'll see some similarities
to that. But either way, Here's Christ
and His ministers encompassing the world with the message of
God's grace. I believe that's the issue. The
man who is God, Jesus Christ. And look here, it says in verse
6, and everyone had four faces and everyone had four wings.
Each one of these living creatures had four faces and four wings. Think about that. What are those
four faces? Well, their message, well let's
put it this way, their salvation and their message of salvation
was all about one person, the Lord Jesus Christ in all his
person and his finished work as our Redeemer. And those four
faces, we're gonna see in just a moment, right on down here,
what they represent. They say they had four wings.
Well, that's their mission and how they're to do it. They're
gonna fly. In other words, they're gonna
encompass the world, as we said, North, South, East, West. And
it says here in verse seven, look here, it says, their feet
were straight, straight-footed, That means that there are straight
paths for their feet. They walked up rightly. It says,
and the sole of their feet was like a sole of a calf's foot.
That's an oxen, they're servants of the Lord. They're yoked together. It says they sparkle like the
color of burnished brass. That's the same color as that
amber. What does it mean? Well, they
walk straight according to the truth of the gospel which sets
forth the glorious person and finished work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. They preach Christ and Him crucified and risen. They
preach the blood of the Lamb that satisfied the justice of
God and brought forth glorious righteousness to enable God to
be just and justifier. And that's His glory. That's
how every attribute of God is glorified and honored. Preaching
redemption. And their feet are straight.
They didn't go into crooked paths. They didn't turn to the right
hand or to the left hand. Having put their hand to the
plow of the gospel, they neither looked back or turned back. But
they just kept right on, focused by the grace and power of God,
preaching Christ. Preachers of righteousness, just
like old Noah. And look at verse 8. It says
they had the hands of a man under their wings. Now the hand speaks
of knowledge, action with knowledge. Putting your hand to the plow.
You got a direction now. It's not just flailing the hands,
but they were under their wings. There was a purpose. There was
action here with knowledge. They go out fully knowing. what
they're going to preach. Ezekiel's going to be sent out
to the Jewish exiles fully knowing what he's sent to preach. He
doesn't have to wonder about it. And it was under their wings. One commentator said, well, that's
like the message of grace. The gospel is hidden from the
wise and the prudent, but revealed unto babes. And maybe there is
a reference there. It says here in verse 8, It says, they had
the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides, and
they four had their faces and their wings, and their wings
were joined one to another. In other words, there was harmony
and agreement of the gospel, just like the calves' feet, the
oxen, they're yoked together, preaching the gospel. And it
says, they turned not when they went, they went every one straight
forward. Straight on preaching the gospel.
Straight on looking to Christ, the author and finisher of your
faith. No turning, no swaying, no veering. Just right there. Look at verse
10. It says, As for the likeness
of their faces, now we get to these faces. Each one had four
faces. Well, look at what they are.
They four had the face of a man, and they four had the face of
a lion, And on the right side, they four had, in other words
on one side they had the face of a man and a lion, and they
four had the face of an ox on the left side, and they four
also had the face of an eagle. Look at verse 11, thus were their
faces. Think about that. A man, a lion, an ox, and an
eagle. Where have you heard that before?
Remember in the book of Daniel? Remember in the book of Revelation?
Remember the four Gospels? Matthew, Mark, Luke and John?
Matthew emphasizes Christ, the King, which would be symbolized
by a lion. Mark emphasizes Christ, the servant
of God, which would be symbolized by the ox or the calf. Luke emphasizes Christ the man,
which would be the man here. And John emphasizes Christ who
is God, which would be represented by the eagle here. That's their
faces. What's it saying? Now what shines
forth in the face of these ministers is the glory of Christ, who is
everything to us. And notice that each one of these
had four faces. I don't just preach Christ in
one aspect as God. I do preach Him as God. He is
God. But I don't do it to the detriment of His humanity. He
is God and man. I preach both. He is the King
and He is the Servant. He made Himself of no reputation
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
He's King of kings, Lord of lords. He's sovereign. He's God and
man in one person. And we preach it all. You'll
find it all in Matthew, all in Mark, all in Luke, all in John.
Just the fact that one gospel emphasizes one aspect doesn't
mean that the other aspects are not important. It's all Christ.
He's the fullness of the Godhead bodily. It pleased the Father
that in Him should all fullness dwell. He is all and in all. Everything that God requires
of His people is found in the person and finished work of Christ.
That's what that's all about. Verse 11, Thus were their faces.
That's it. And he goes on and says, And
their wings were stretched upward, That's like in prayer to God.
In other words, they're recognizing that the power comes from God
and not from themselves. And it says, two wings on every
one were joined one to another. That's their unity and harmony
that we spoke about. And he says, and two covered
their bodies. And I looked at that quite a
long time. A lot of the commentators say, well, that's for modesty.
their wings covering their bodies. That that was for modesty and
humiliation. And some say, well, that's just
showing respect and reverence for the Lord. And that's certainly
true. I mean, if you're one of God's ministers, you want above
all else to show respect and regard and reverence for Almighty
God. I've got an article coming in
Sunday's bulletin, you know, I've seen these signs all over
town about rethink church, let us help you rethink church. And
what most people mean by that, and I know this because I've
talked to them and I've heard about their services, is that it's
like a come as you are, I don't care if you're in your pajamas,
just come on, you know, we'll help you rethink church. Well,
let me tell you something, they certainly need to rethink church,
but they need to rethink it according to the scripture. And I'll tell
you the thing that I think about in a worship service most of
all is reverence and respect and honor for God. That doesn't
mean we have to come in stiff, even dressed to the nines. I
think we should dress appropriately. We're here to worship God, aren't
we? We preach Christ. What does it
mean that with two they covered their bodies? I believe that
what it refers to mainly is the fact is that their whole mission
and their whole message is never to draw attention to themselves. It's not about me. It's not about the Reverend Dr.
So-and-so or preacher so-and-so. It's about Christ. John the Baptist
covered himself with two wings when he said, I'm not the Messiah. I'm not the light. He covered
himself with two wings when he said, I'm not worthy to untie
his shoelaces. He covered himself with two wings
when he said, I must decrease. He must increase. I'm not here
to show you me or to show me off. I'm here to point you to
Christ. Look at verse 12. He says, they
went every one straight forward. Whether the Spirit was to go,
they went, and they turned not when they went. Whatever direction
they went, they went straight. You think about that. You say,
well, now that's a physical impossibility. Well, physically it is, but not
in what's meant here. Wherever they go to preach, wherever
the Spirit moved them, This is probably speaking of their spirit.
They were living creatures. But the spirit, the Holy Spirit,
bears witness with our spirits that we are the children of God.
And just like when the angel was sent by God to tell Philip,
now go into the desert and preach to that Ethiopia. I don't know
what direction Philip went into. I'd have to get a map and see.
But I know this. He went straight. And he preached
straight. And when he heard what that fellow
was reading in Isaiah 53, he preached Jesus. He told him about
the substitutionary work of the suffering servant of God and
the righteousness he established by his death to put away the
sins of his people and justify us before God. And then look
at verse 13. I believe verses 13 and 14 describes
the gospel ministry. And I'll give you a reference.
And that is 2 Corinthians chapter 3. When the apostle Paul contrasts
the ministry of the old covenant with the ministry of the new
covenant. Remember he says the ministry of the law was a ministry
of death, a ministry of condemnation. But the ministry of Christ and
the gospel is a ministry of life and righteousness, a ministry
of the spirit. He said the law was a ministry
of the letter. Look here, it says, verse 13,
as for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was
like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of lamps, light.
It went up and down among the living creatures and the fire
was bright and out of the fire went forth lightning, the power
of God, see, just like out of that cloud. What's he talking
about? He's talking about preaching the gospel in power. Listen,
the law could show you what righteousness is, but the law couldn't make
you righteous. The power of God can and does. The ministry of
righteousness. Righteousness established in
Christ and imputed to us and received by faith. The law could
show you even its spirituality to a point. Coveting, things
like that. But the law cannot give you life.
and give you spiritual life. But here it is, like burning
coals of fire. Remember Isaiah, they took the
burning coal off the altar, touched his lips. Here comes light, and
then you go preach it. And it's the power of God, not
the power of the preacher, but the power of God that brings
a sinner to his knees and drives him to Christ. That's what does
it. And verse 14 says, and the living
creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of
lightning. That describes the ministry of
the gospel. You know, flash of lightning, in the sense, you
know, lightning comes, it's awful powerful, but it doesn't last
very long, does it? And I believe what that's talking
about is we come and we preach the gospel, God in power brings
his people to Christ, we get out of the way. You see, the
power of your salvation, the power of my salvation, it's not
in each other, is it? It's in Christ. That's who we
look to. Our focus is upon him. Christ
is not a flash of lightning. He's the burning, burning flame,
eternal flame. of almighty God's glory. And next time, we'll pick up
on the wheel within a wheel. We'll see what that's about.