Ezekiel's first chapter presents us with a very high view of God. This chapter has left many readers puzzled, confused, and bewildered, but by the end of the chapter, Ezekiel saw things more clearly than ever before. As an Israelite living in exile, he was reminded that God's sovereign plans cannot be thwarted. Comforted by this vision which reveals so many of God's glorious attributes, his outlook on his life and the circumstances he faced as an exile was changed forever. This incredible vision didn't only benefit Ezekiel by giving him a higher view of God, however; when we consider the significance of what he saw in his vision, it will strengthen our faith and confidence in God as well. This chapter reminds us that God is always in control, even when the world appears to be spiraling into chaos.

Well, thank you all for being here today. It's such a blessing and a privilege to be able to join you for a great weekend of so much great fellowship and great preaching. It's been a huge blessing to me. I hope that the weekend has been as much a blessing to you as it has been to me. Let's begin our time with a word of prayer.

Our God and Father, We are not here just to know about you. We're here to know you. And so we pray, O Lord, that you would give us ears to hear and eyes to see. For we know that without your grace and your spirit working in us, we can't understand what your word would say to us and we certainly can't apply it to our lives. So we ask, O Lord, that you would bless the preaching of your word and grow us in Christ's likeness for his glory and in his name we pray.

Amen. Well if you have your Bibles with you, please turn to Ezekiel chapter 1. We're going to be looking primarily at Ezekiel chapter 1 today. I was recently asked who my favorite Old Testament prophet was and my answer was Ezekiel. And there are really two reasons that I said that, two reasons that Ezekiel stands out to me as my favorite Old Testament prophet.

First of all, if you go through the book of Ezekiel, the visions that he has are so filled with details. They're so vivid. They're unlike a lot of the other visions of God that you see from the prophets in the Old Testament. But the second reason is I think that there's a timely message in the book of Ezekiel for us. That being that one of the major themes in the book of Ezekiel is that there is hope for God's people even while the nation around them is being judged.

So I've always found the book of Ezekiel to be one of the most fascinating books of the Bible. It stands out from many of the other books written by prophets because of the amount of just vivid lively imagery. The first chapter though contains one of the most glorious, one of the most astounding, one of the most awesome and maybe even scary or frightening encounters that anyone in Scripture ever had with God. The book begins with the prophet Ezekiel in a situation that would have caused most people to wonder where God is and to wonder why God isn't doing something about his circumstances. Maybe that's something that Ezekiel was wondering.

Maybe it's something that you've wondered regarding a situation or circumstance that you faced in life as well. See, Ezekiel was an exile. He'd been taken captive by the Babylonians, and he was taken far away from home. And not only far away from home, but far away from what was in his mind the most cherished place in the world, which was the temple in Jerusalem. The 24th chapter of 2 Kings tells us that God purposefully raised up King Nebuchadnezzar to invade and to defeat Israel as a means of disciplining Israel.

2 Kings 24, 9 says that the king of Israel, Jehoiachin, did evil in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father had done." And then in the very next verse we read, at that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon went up to Jerusalem and the city came under siege. And then with only within only a few verses We read in verse 14 that King Nebuchadnezzar led away into exile all Jerusalem and all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, 10, 000 captives and all the craftsmen and the smiths. None remained except the poorest people of the land. And Ezekiel was among those who were taken into captivity Ezekiel was a contemporary of another well-known prophet named Daniel Daniel became an exile probably around the year 605 BC it's estimated that Ezekiel became in exile about ten years after that. So as the book begins, he's been in exile for about five years probably.

Ezekiel's probably in his fifth or so year of being an exile. Now the name Ezekiel means God strengthens. God strengthens. And you're going to want to hold on to that because that was exactly what Ezekiel and his fellow exiles were in need of. And that's exactly what God would provide.

So the book of Ezekiel starts in a low place. It doesn't start at a high point. It starts at a low point, a place of weakness and not strength. God's people are in exile. But by the end of the first chapter, we're gonna see that Ezekiel and his whole outlook on life is changed.

His attitude toward his circumstances takes a 180 degree turn. It starts, this book starts in a situation that looks hopeless as God's people are being disciplined for their refusal to remain faithful to God, But the chapter ends with a sense of great optimism and hope. The point of this chapter is that God does discipline his children. But even when he does, he will not abandon them nor forsake them. His unchanging nature assures us that His love for His people, even when they sin, even when they sin greatly, can never be diminished.

Because God doesn't change. There are some events that are so etched into our memories that we can remember exactly where we were when that event happened. For many of us, maybe we remember 9-11. We remember exactly where we were when we got the news that a plane had crashed into the tower. For others, maybe it was the assassination of JFK.

For those of you who were younger, maybe it was the earthquake in Japan in 2011. Or who knows, Maybe it was even the Chicago Cubs winning World Series finally in 2016. But for Ezekiel, his first encounter with God in which he was given this amazing vision of God was one that he would never forget. And just like we recall significant events and remember exactly where we were when they happened, Ezekiel begins his book by recalling the exact day in the exact place that God first appeared to him. So let's start by looking at Ezekiel chapter one, just verses one to three.

We read, now it came about in the 30th year on the fifth day of the fourth month while I was by the River Chebar among the exiles. The heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. 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 Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chabar, and there the hand of the Lord came upon him." Ezekiel says, he starts off saying that this happened in the 30th year. Now there's some discussion about what exactly that means, the 30th year of what, So we have to understand there's not exactly a consensus on that. There's some uncertainty, but most scholars, most commentators agree that this is probably a reference to Ezekiel's 30th birthday, which is huge, very significant.

You might be wondering what's the significance of that who cares about his 30th birthday well Ezekiel did because for Jewish men if they were training up to become a priest it was on their 30th birthday that they would be inducted into the priesthood in the temple in Jerusalem. How's that for a happy birthday Ezekiel? Ezekiel like anyone who was going to enter into the service of priesthood in the Temple, would have spent his entire life up to this point looking forward to this very day. He would have spent years studying and learning and preparing for this very day. But as an exile, he was not only far away from home, but he was far away from the temple in Jerusalem.

You can probably imagine how incredibly disappointed, how discouraged Ezekiel would have been as this day dawned. Rather than being a day in which he realized a lifelong dream and ambition, it would have felt like just another day living in Babylon. The idea of ever assuming the roles of the priesthood would have felt just impossible for him on this day. And so as Ezekiel sat down by the Chabar River, his mind was probably filled with all kinds of could have been, would have been, should have been type scenarios of the day there was probably a whole lot of woe is me type of thinking going on but what ended up happening on that day was something that Ezekiel would have never expected that he never could have anticipated in fact it was something that he never could have prepared for if he had a million years. He couldn't have prepared for it if he had a million lifetimes.

He was called on this day to a higher office than the priesthood. God appointed him on this day as a prophet. See prophets never aspired to be a prophet. They never asked to become a prophet. It was something that God in his sovereignty appointed a man to do on the basis of God's own sovereign will and God's own sovereign authority.

As you go through the book of Ezekiel you learn why nobody aspired to be a prophet. They not only are going to be very unpopular with the people, something that Jesus alluded to, but sometimes God would have them do some really difficult or even weird things like lay on your side for about a year. But Ezekiel tells us that it was on this day, on the fifth day of the fourth month, hard to believe he left out the minutes and seconds, but he did. On that day, he says, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. So that tells us what he's about to tell us about.

That's something that we want to hold on to as well. It's a vision of God. One of the things that we see here is that Ezekiel is almost in a frenzy as he writes this. In fact, he maybe even gets a little bit ahead of himself. He forgets to identify himself in the first verse, but he kind of goes back and does it in verse 3, kind of with a sense of haste.

But it's not that what we're supposed to see is it's not that Ezekiel opened up the heavens. The heavens were opened for him to see. Ezekiel himself is passive here. Ezekiel is not doing anything other than probably lamenting. God is the one who is sovereign here.

God is the one who takes action here. God is the one who allows Ezekiel to see what the eye normally cannot see. Ezekiel doesn't only see the heavens opened up, but he tells us in verse 3 that it was there the hand of the Lord came upon him. Which is just another way of saying that God began to use Ezekiel as a prophet. He began to use Ezekiel to announce and to accomplish his sovereign purposes on this day.

On a day when Ezekiel was probably thinking that he should have been joyously celebrating his birthday and his induction into the priesthood in the temple, we can be sure that he was instead lamenting. Lamenting Israel's unfaithfulness, Lamenting the sin of Israel that resulted in them being disciplined by God as exiles. Lamenting Israel's weakness, possibly even lamenting his own weakness. But God strengthens. God strengthens, And yet, God doesn't always strengthen the way that we think He should or would.

Often He strengthens us. Often He strengthens His people through discipline. Discipline serves the purpose of humbling us, and humbling us leads to us being strengthened. In the same way that a bone that's broken will heal and become stronger at the point where it was broken. One of the ways that God strengthens his people is by breaking them away painfully from the sin that they love, breaking them from the idols that they follow.

And by the way, that wasn't just an issue for Israel. That's also an issue that we face today. For the Christian, whoever finds himself or herself wondering, where is God in the middle of this situation and why isn't he doing anything to fix my situation. It's good to remember that if God is with you and God is for you then who or what can stand against his purposes being accomplished in your life. Do you believe that?

It's really easy to believe that when things are going well, yes? But not when things are going poorly, like if you're in exile. But even if God should allow us to be disciplined and weakened, his grace is sufficient for us, isn't it? For the Christian who finds themselves struggling with their situation, they need to cling to God's sovereignty. There is hope.

Ezekiel, like his fellow exiles, he needed a bigger, he needed a vaster understanding of God, of who God was and what God could do. That was the remedy for the despair that the exiles would have been feeling at this point. It would have been difficult, if not impossible, for them to have a sense of peace or joy in the middle of their situation without a high understanding of God. Not only were they far away from God geographically, not only were they exiles geographically, but in one sense they were also far away from God spiritually. They were Self-imposed spiritual exiles.

Even if they could go home, by the way, the Temple in Jerusalem was about to be destroyed. That would happen in Ezekiel chapter 10. But God is sovereign. God is in control. In fact, he was sovereign over every detail of their circumstances as exiles, just as surely as he is sovereign over every situation that you and I face as well.

Let's think biblically about this for a second. If a tragedy, like being an exile, is just some kind of random event, then those exiles would have a reason to feel hopeless. They'd have a reason to feel despair, if it was random. But if tragedy, if difficult circumstances in our life aren't random, if they are ordained and orchestrated by God for a purpose in His sovereignty, then there is hope. God's everlasting covenant love is the foundation for hope, even in the midst of terrible circumstances.

That word in the Hebrew is chesed. If you know Psalm 51, it starts out with that. That's what David appeals to for his forgiveness. According to your loving kindness, that's the word, chesed. According to your chesed, have mercy upon me.

That is the foundation of hope for an exile. God loves his people enough to discipline them, not for the purpose of punishing them, but for the purpose of strengthening them. Strengthening them in their faith, strengthening them in their likeness to him, strengthening their hatred for sin and their love for righteousness. But even when God does discipline his children, we can be sure that he will never abandon nor forsake them. His unchanging nature assures us that his love for his people, even when they sin greatly, can never be diminished.

So what Ezekiel would learn is something that we must learn and something that we have to keep in mind too, particularly when God disciplines us. And that is that God is always faithful and he is gracious and he is compassionate, but he does not take too kindly to the proud. James tells us God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Indeed it's only the humble who will find that grace. It's only the humble who will find it to be true that God strengthens.

If you ever find yourself in a situation that would lead you to despair, that seems absolutely hopeless and which the darkness of despair never seems to give way to the light of hope, then you need the same thing that Ezekiel and his fellow exiles needed. And that is a broader, bigger vision of who God is. For the exiles, they felt like they were banished from God's presence, being unable to worship him at the temple in Jerusalem in their minds, surely God wouldn't come and work in a place like Babylon, would he? Now what would prevent them from thinking that God would do that. A low and inadequate view of God.

But a high view of God, a biblical view of God, which is the view of God that we need and which the exiles certainly needed if they're going to find hope, a high view of God would remind them that God can't just be contained within the temple in Jerusalem, and even beyond that that there's no place on earth that is so wicked that God cannot raise up instruments of righteousness in that place to accomplish his sovereign purposes. In the darkest possible circumstances of life, God can bring light. Do you need to be reminded of that? If so, you need a chapter like Ezekiel chapter 1. But it's at this point in the text that if this was a roller coaster, I'd be going along and making sure that your harness was fastened correctly.

If we were driving down the road I'd pull over and say hey you want to make sure you tighten up your seat belt here because what comes next is Ezekiel's vision of God in all his majestic glory and it is wild and it is unpredictable. This is such a wild and vivid account that many people in our day and age have speculated that Ezekiel didn't actually have a vision of God, but that he apparently had an encounter with a UFO from outer space with aliens. In fact, if you've seen Close Encounters of the Third Kind they actually allude to Ezekiel's vision and say, oh it's obvious he encountered a UFO. No. This is a vision of God.

That's what Ezekiel starts out by telling us, that this is a vision of God. It was an encounter. This vision of God, it was a vision that was going to change Ezekiel's whole outlook on life. But it started with recovering a high view of God, a biblical view of God, a view of God that allows for discipline and for God to sovereignly raise up instruments of righteousness even in a wicked place like Babylon. The message that would be given to Ezekiel would be one of judgment upon God's people, in which the way forward was not to go back to the way that things used to be, but it was nevertheless one of hope, as Ezekiel would call God's people back to faithfulness to God.

The time of exile would eventually come to an end, and there would be life again from the dead, not because God's people deserved it, but because God is merciful and faithful to his promises and his covenants. Until that happened though, Israel was to find hope in God's promises of restoration. One commentator notes that the biblical image of life in exile has actually never been more timely than it is today, for we live in a time in which people are experiencing a growing sense of alienation from the world around them." End quote. Can you relate to that? I know I live in a weird place.

I live in Washington State. Seattle is like a crazy place, right? But it's not just there. I know that it's everywhere. So maybe you can relate to that as you see the woes in our own country everywhere.

But the solution is the same for you. To find hope in God's promises. He has neither abandoned us nor forsaken us, just as he had neither abandoned nor forsaken the exiles in Babylon. Find hope in that faithfulness to his people. It is an anchor for them.

It's an anchor for us, especially when the nation around them is being judged. So let's continue. Ezekiel chapter 1, verses 4 to 14. He says, 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 there 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 calves hoof. They and they gleamed like burnished bronze. Under their wings on their four sides were human hands.

As for the faces and 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, and all four had the face of an eagle. Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out above, each had two touching another being and two covering their bodies, and each went straight forward. Wherever the spirit was about to go, they would go without turning as they went.

In the midst of the living beings there was something that looked like burning coals of fire, like torches darting back and forth among the living beings. The fire was bright and lightning was flashing from the fire and the living beings ran to and fro like bolts of lightning. Now there are two things that really stand out to you as you read through this. Number one, things are moving around really fast. Things are moving and there's the image of judgment coming.

We're familiar with Isaiah's great vision of God from Isaiah chapter 6. If you look at that vision things are very settled, things are very stationary. That's part of the message of that vision. Though earth was was shaking and filled with uncertainty, Isaiah's vision reminded us that heaven's throne is never shaken. It's never threatened.

Isaiah saw the Lord seated in his temple but Ezekiel's vision, he's not seated, this vision is very different, he sees the Lord in the midst of a raging storm wind. The velocity at which the storm moves sends the message that God is moving, that God is living, that God is active, and that he is working quickly to accomplish his sovereign purposes. And so nothing is going to stop him. Nothing is going to get in his way. As surely as you cannot stop a storm wind, you're not going to be able to stop God from doing what God wants to do.

Now before we get into too much detail about the details that he gives us, I think it's worth noting that Ezekiel has a very difficult time explaining or communicating exactly what he saw. As such, as we go through this chapter, we see terms such as like or likeness of or appearance as over and over and over again throughout this chapter as he records this vision. But given that that he has such a tough time describing it, maybe you'd wonder well why doesn't he just give us a more general description? Why does he have to even try to give us an exact description of what he sees? And I'd say that there are probably several answers.

I guess one answer would be that his vision of God was really a means of authenticating his promotion to the office of prophet. But I'd say even more importantly than that, I think the details of this vision were actually intentionally difficult to describe and to understand and to visualize because these vision, these details were given to destroy, to absolutely obliterate, to smash, whatever low views, whatever inadequate views of God that Ezekiel and the exiles had. And to replace those inadequate views with a biblical view of God. It's only as the exiles would abandon their low and inadequate views of God, which would also by the way mean casting aside their high views of themselves. It's only as they did these things that renewed joy and peace and hope could be found in the middle of their circumstances.

And so Ezekiel tells us that he saw a great storm, storm wind coming from the north. I think this is probably a real storm that he sees coming, but God only delivered the spiritual significance of it to Ezekiel. This is what we would call a theophany, which is just a fancy word that theologians use to say it's an appearance of God, kind of like God in the burning bush with Moses. That was also a theophany. This is going to be a theophany that we see.

But what's interesting about this vision is that it has so many distinct similarities to the creation narrative from Genesis which reminds us that God works in Accordance with his own will and that if he's going to do something new, he's going to do something new. In Genesis chapter 1 verse 2 we read, the Spirit of God is hovering over the waters. That's in Genesis chapter 1 verse 2. The Hebrew word for Spirit there, hovering over the waters, The Hebrew word for spirit is ruah, which is a word that is onomatopoetic, which means it sounds like what it's describing, like the words boom or pop or bang, you know, they kind of sound like the word they're describing. But ruah not only gets translated as spirit, it also gets translated as wind.

Think about it. Ruah. It's the sound of wind. In Noah's flood, God sent a wind, he sent a Ruah to dry up the flood waters and Ruah is the word used here for the wind in Ezekiel chapter 1 verse 4 so Ezekiel tells us that he sees a great cloud surrounded by a bright light with fire bursting forth from it continuously. I think it's probably fair to say that he's describing something that is at least very similar to lightning, if it's not actually lightning.

But in the midst of the great cloud with the fire shooting forth continuously, Ezekiel sees something like glowing metal in the midst of the fire. All of these things, all of these details are indications not only of the presence of the Lord coming near, but also of his awesome power. Just as you would be absolutely out of your mind, you'd be crazy to be flippant or casual when you're handling a piece of hot metal, a piece of metal that was glowing hot from being in the flames of a burning fire, the image of glowing metal reminds us that God is holy and that he cannot be approached casually or flippantly, and that you'd be crazy. You'd be out of your mind to approach him that way. We're reminded of the burning ember in Isaiah's vision, how the seraphim touched Isaiah's mouth with the ember to purify his mouth after Isaiah had proclaimed, Woe is me, I am ruined because I'm a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips.

You see, the imagery of something that looked like hot metal in the midst of this burning fire reminds us that there is a danger in approaching a God who is holy. If you don't take God's holiness seriously, it can only result in terrible, terrible consequences. And that's exactly what had happened to Israel. That's why they were where they were. That's why Ezekiel and so many others had been taken off into exile because they had not feared God and they had been very flippant about God's holiness.

The image of fire is also an image of judgment. They had forgotten what God had told them back in Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 24 where God said, the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. How do we know they had forgotten those words? Because they weren't living their lives in light of those words. What about you?

Do you live your life in light of those words that God is jealous for you. And if you believed more that God was jealous for you, would that change your life? It would. It would. The same way that a wife knowing that her husband is jealous for her heart changes the way she feels about him.

Ezekiel then moves on to describing the four living beings who describe who represent throne attendants of God. It might seem odd that Ezekiel simply refers to them as living beings instead of angels since later on in the book he will identify them as as angels specifically as cherubim but at this point in the narrative he seems to be just frantic. He seems to be so frantically overwhelmed that it's like he can't think straight. He's just trying to get the details down as fast as he can. Who can blame him for feeling overwhelmed at this point?

But he describes them as having human form. Interestingly, the Hebrew word that gets translated form is the same word that gets translated as likeness, again going back to Genesis as in then God said let us make man in our image according to our likeness. We can assume that by this Ezekiel simply meant that they stood upright, not that they were bent over as animals or having any other type of posture, but that they stood upright, they had hands, and they had faces. In fact, he next tells us that each of these beings has four faces and four wings. With four faces, the angelic beings, the cherubim would have been able to see in every direction simultaneously.

And the four wings indicate that they are not limited to just working on the ground, they are able to move in ways that we are not able to. He tells us that their feet were like the hooves of calves. If you think about this, a human foot is always facing the direction that it's going to go. And so If I'm going to go as quickly this way as I can, I have to completely turn that direction? But being that their feet were not like that, but that they were like calves hooves, they were able to go in whichever direction without turning.

Whichever direction they were instructed to go, they could go. They possessed hands under their wings. It's unclear if they have four hands or like one under each wing, or if they just have two hands, nobody can be sure about that, but their wings joined to touch one another in an overlapping touch so that they formed kind of a protective square around the throne. The description indicates that whichever direction they moved, they were always facing that direction already. Ezekiel then proceeds to describe their four faces.

Each had the face of a man, which represents the fact that they were intelligent beings, they were sentient beings. They had the face of a lion on the right, which symbolized their strength, their might. They have the face of a bull, or in some translations it says ox, on the left. That symbolized their faithfulness to do the task at hand and they had the face of an eagle which symbolized their swiftness to act. All these characteristics, all these attributes were consistent by the way with the heavenly king whom they served.

God not only has all of these attributes as well, unlike the creatures, he has them to an infinite degree. He is unlimited in all of his attributes. Ezekiel adds in verse 11, their wings were spread out above, each had two touching another being and two covering their bodies. So he's kind of clarifying here that only two of their wings were actually overlapping the wings of the cherubim to either side of them. But the presence of the cherubim, if you think about it, that brings us back to Genesis once again.

The end of chapter 3 ends with a scene with cherubim. When man had fallen into sin, he was exiled from the Garden of Eden, and God positioned cherubim at the entrance of the garden to prevent anyone from getting in. We also might remember that their likeness was also placed over the Ark of the Covenant, and their likeness was found on the curtains of the tabernacle. The message was these angelic cherubim were guardians of God's holy presence. As such, when they moved, it wasn't of their own volition.

They were not self-governing beings. Rather, Ezekiel tells us wherever the Spirit was about to go, they would go without turning as they went. It's a reference to the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. Ezekiel concludes his description of the cherubim, noting that they were like two things, he says. First of all, they were like burning coals of fire and the appearance of torches, and that they were fast as lightning.

As soon as the Spirit directed the throne to be moved, the beings complied without turning. This is to show us that there is no crookedness in their works, and there is no delay in their works. Now if these amazing, these powerful, awe-inspiring angels who are so glorious and so able to do things that we are not, if they are so quick to obey the direction that the Spirit sends them, who are we as far, far less capable beings ourselves to delay in following the directions of God's Spirit? It's an important part of the symbolism here, important for the exiles and of course important for us today as well. But you know you could spend all day looking at these cherubim and thinking about these cherubim but this chapter is not about the cherubim.

They're not the message. So now Ezekiel looks beyond the angelic beings. Let's continue looking at verses 15 to 21. He says, 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. The appearance of the wheels and their workmanship was like a sparkling barrel, and all four of them had the same form, their appearance and 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 roundabout. Whenever the living beings moved, the wheels moved with them. And whenever the living beings rose from the earth, the wheels rose also. 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." Now obviously as we're trying to visualize all of this it's it's very clear that words continue to fail Ezekiel. He's still struggling to describe these four wheels which constitute the support of an intricate and awesome heavenly chariot that moves in whatever direction the Spirit of God desires to go. Now keep in mind that the characteristics and attributes not only of the cherubim but now of these wheels and everything, the chariot that they accompany, They're all filled with imagery that ultimately doesn't point to itself, but ultimately points to and reminds us of God's glorious attributes. So the wheels inside of the wheels represent God's ability to move wherever he wants to move. The fact that this chariot is able to move in any direction reminds us that God goes wherever he pleases.

He's not contained to a temple within a temple in Jerusalem. You know, you think of a chariot. A chariot was a great weapon of war, but it was limited in the directions that it was able to go. If they were ambushed from the side, they were in trouble. There were no chariots in the ancient world that could move sideways, but God's chariot could go wherever he wanted it to go, whichever direction he wanted it to go.

The rims of these wheels, Ezekiel tells us, were covered with eyes. Now, how many of you have ever seen a picture, an artistic sketch of this scene with all the eyes? This is where, you know, you start to think that What are people actually seeing in this chapter? They're trying to make this visual representation of what Ezekiel is describing, but it's obviously very difficult. Because you can see that some artists are wondering, was he seeing aliens?

Was he having a very strange dream? Was he making this up? Was he hallucinating? What was exactly going on here? Now the eyes on the wheels, they don't make for very good art in sketches, but the eyes on the wheels are a reminder of the fact that the one who sits on heaven's throne is all knowing, that he sees it all, that Nothing escapes his attention.

He's not only all-knowing as represented by the eyes on the wheels, but he is omnipresent as represented by the unlimited mobility of the chariot. What a great thing for an exile to be reminded of. Nothing escapes God's attention. Proverbs chapter 15 3 says, the eyes of the Lord are in every place watching the evil and the good. The Israelites had been living in a way that at least revealed that they didn't care that God was all-knowing and all-present but they should have they should have cared and we should care too And the exiles certainly needed to be reminded of it now.

And you and I need that reminder all the time as well. And we need to remember the same thing that the exiles needed to remember here. And that is that we need to live our lives in light of who God is, including his omniscience, his omnipresence, and his omnipotence. God rules over the world in his sovereignty. He knows it all, he sees it all, and you can't hide anything from him.

For those of you who are kids, maybe mom tells you to clean your room and you just move your mess from the floor to the closet or something like that. You haven't actually cleaned up your mess, you've just moved it. You might be able to trick mom and dad with that for a little bit, but you can't trick God like that. You can't just move your mess with God. He sees it all.

He knows it all. And we have to live our lives in light of that truth. We can't hide anything from him. The prophet Jonah had to learn the hard way that when God calls us to something, there is no place to run and there is no place to hide. The exiles had to learn that same lesson here and the only proper response to realizing or to remembering these truths is to live our lives like an open book before the Lord.

It might seem like the world is shaking and that the nations are raging and just the world is ready to fall apart at times. I mean you look at America right now. We've got inflation. We've got the stock market tanking. We've got gas prices going crazy.

Is there a recession coming? Is there a depression coming? It seems like the world is going crazy sometimes. It might seem like God is unaware or that he doesn't care about what's going on. But the message that Ezekiel needed to be reminded of and the exiles needed to be reminded of and that we need to be reminded of is that he is aware and that he does care and just as the wheels are moving in perfect harmony with God's sovereign will, so does the earth and everything within it.

Nothing happens apart from God's sovereign will. Nothing happens apart from God's sovereign decree. Nothing. As the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith says, God hath decreed in himself from all eternity by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably all things whatsoever comes to pass. Whatsoever comes to pass, including being taken into exile, including inflation, including a depression, all these things.

God is sovereign over whatsoever comes to pass. What a blessed thing for the exiles to be reminded of and to learn to live by. And what a blessed thing for us today to live by as well. This chapter ends with a vision that goes beyond the cherubim, beyond the chariot, to a vision of divine glory. Let's continue looking at verses 22 to 28.

He continues, he says, now over the heads of the living beings there was something like an expanse, like the awesome gleam of crystal spread out over their heads. Under the expanse their wings were stretched out straight, one toward the other. Each one also had two wings covering its body on the one side and on the other. And I also heard the sound of their wings, like the sound of abundant waters as they went, like the voice of the Almighty, of sound of tumult, like the sound of an army camp. Whenever they stood still, they dropped their wings.

And there came a voice from above the expanse that was over their heads. Whenever they stood still, they dropped their wings. Now above the expanse there was over their heads there was something like something resembling a throne like lapses luzi in appearance and on that which resembled a throne high up was a figure with the appearance of a man. Then I noticed from the appearance of his loins and upwards something like glowing metal that looked like fire all around within it. And from the appearance of his loins and downward I saw something like fire and there was a radiance around him.

And as the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking." So above the heads of the cherubim was something like an expanse. In other translations it says firmament. Again, note the imagery from the book of Genesis.

But this resembled the glimmer of crystal. The NASB describes it, the word it translates it as it says that it was awesome. But the Hebrew word here doesn't indicate awesome as in something to be excited about. Like if you go home on Monday and somebody says, hey, how was the knowing God conference? You might say, oh, it was awesome.

We had a great time. That's not what awesome means here. There's a second definition for awesome that means something to be feared or dreaded and that's what this word means here and maybe that is why Ezekiel lowers his gaze from the expanse of this this throne back down to the cherubim in verse 23 it's at this point that Ezekiel tells us of the sound that the cherubim were making he says I also heard the sound of their wings like the sound of abundant waters Now given how much imagery we've already seen from Genesis where do we learn about abundant waters in Genesis? It's a reminder of God's judgment which was exercised when God covered the earth in water, saving only Noah and his family from his holy judgment. Ezekiel continues, noting that the sound was like the voice of the Almighty, a sound of tumult like the sound of an army camp.

Maybe it was resembling the sound of rolling thunder. Whatever the case may be, we see that the words are still proving to be very inadequate and difficult for him as Ezekiel continues to constantly use words such as like to describe what he's seeing and what he's now hearing. But notice that Ezekiel doesn't use the word like when we get to verse 25. He tells us that he heard a voice. It wasn't like a voice, it was a voice.

Now you might be wondering, what did the voice say? And we don't know. He doesn't tell us. Apparently it was for the cherubim, but it wasn't for the exiles, but the cherubim are noted to have silenced their wings when the occupant of this throne spoke. This was a voice that needed to be heard.

This was a voice that needed to be heeded and listened to and that should not be interrupted or distracted from hearing. And this brings us to the highest point of the vision. Ezekiel once again raises his eyes and he sees something like a throne above the cherubim. And on that throne he tells us he sees a figure with the appearance of a man. This man was upon this heavenly throne, which tells us that this man was a king, a king who had radiance around him.

Who is this king? It's the king of glory. It's the king of kings and the Lord of Lords, the Lord of the universe. This king appears here with imagery like glowing metal, representing his wrath, his judgment, his holiness, reminding us that his holiness is serious, that his wrath is very serious, that it's very real. This whole vision reminds us that God cannot be taken casually, that he cannot be taken lightly.

He's not tame. He's not predictable. He's not bound as we would be inclined to imagine him to be. He's sovereign. He is almighty.

And he's worthy of our worship. He's worthy of our obedience. He's worthy of our love. And perhaps that's why Ezekiel ends the chapter by falling flat on his face, which is a posture of worship, which is the only response that's proper when you are before God in his glory. But the imagery isn't only of God's wrath.

The imagery isn't only of God's judgment. Ezekiel tells us that as the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Where do we get the imagery of a rainbow from? It reminds us of God's faithfulness in the flood, His covenant that He made with Noah. The exiles were being disciplined by God, but they were not being disciplined and left without hope.

The rainbow is a reminder that God is faithful to His covenant and God is faithful to his promises. Regardless of the severity of God's just and holy discipline and judgments, the rainbow was a reminder of God's faithful loving kindness and mercy. And that in the end, when God draws near to his people nothing can stop him from doing that nothing can separate God from his people very similar to what Paul wrote in Romans chapter 8 verses 38 and 39 where he said for I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. He may as well have included several hundred miles back to Jerusalem. That's not going to separate them from God's love either.

So who is this king who appears on this throne in human likeness? John Calvin noted that, quote, whenever God appeared in human form, an obscure glimpse was given of that mystery which was last made manifest in the person of Christ. And he goes on to note that neither God the Father nor the Spirit was ever manifest in the flesh but God was manifest in the flesh when Christ appeared to us and the fullness of the divinity dwells in him." As we consider this we actually find a helpful clue in John's testimony as we're trying to figure out who exactly this king is that he sees up on the throne. We keep in mind that God told Moses that no man may see God and live, but we also have to take into account that we read this in John chapter 1 verse 18, that no one has seen God at any time. The only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained him.

In other words, the only one that people have ever seen, the only person of the Trinity that people have ever seen is Jesus. He is the fullness of the deity in human flesh. This king is none other than Jesus. This is a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ in the Old Testament. This whole chapter reminds us that God is so much greater and so much higher than we could ever fully imagine.

And that he is just and that he is holy, but that he is also loving, compassionate, and faithful. He judges in holy and righteous wrath, but he also graciously forgives and restores So loving is this high and majestic King of glory this King of Kings That's 600 years after this book was written, he stepped down from this heavenly throne. He took on flesh and he lived a perfect, sinless life. The perfect sinless life that God requires for us to ever come into his presence and be welcomed as children rather than as prisoners who are guilty, criminals who are guilty. And even though Jesus lived this perfect life, even though he was perfect in every way, he was nevertheless crushed as our transgressions were imputed to him.

He was crushed for our transgressions in our place. Our sins were credited to him. They were transferred to him. They were imputed to him. And he imputed his perfect righteousness to all who believe in him.

He died but he was raised again on the third day. He ascended into heaven but he will come again and his glory will be seen once again when every eye will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. People wonder how is everybody gonna see God on that day? Well I think if you look at this vision of Ezekiel it makes a lot more sense. You couldn't miss it.

If you have not believed on the Lord Jesus Christ you must know that there is no place to run and no place to hide on that final day when judgment comes. You cannot just move your mess from one place to another and pretend that it doesn't exist. It doesn't exist. But the gospel is this, that all who believe in Christ have his perfect righteousness imputed to them so that they can stand before him, forgiven, standing in his own righteousness. So come to him in faith if today you hear his voice.

Don't harden your heart. If you have believed in him, you can be confident that even in the most difficult seasons of life, Whatever circumstances you may face, God is sovereign, and He's got a purpose that He's using to grow you in Christ's likeness through those circumstances. And he will never abandon you. He will never forsake you. The verse for this conference is Daniel 11 32, which tells us that those who knew their God will be strengthened and they will take action.

They'll be strengthened and they will take action. What does that mean for them to take action? It means that their knowledge of God changes their lives. It has an impact on their lives. They don't just know about God, they know God.

It's great to know about God. It's great to have all kinds of intellectual knowledge about God. We need that, right? But if you go home on Monday and all you have is a head full of knowledge and it has not penetrated your heart, then it is all for naught. So pray therefore that God would apply these truths to your life, that you may be strengthened, and that you may take action, meaning you live in light of who God is.

It gives you a renewed sense of hope and confidence, particularly in difficult times. There's hope for God's people, even when the nation around them is crumbling and coming under God's judgment. Knowing God in this way, Not just knowing God, but believing, trusting, and walking in accordance with who He is. Having this high biblical view of Him, it changed everything for Ezekiel. He got something better than the priesthood on that day.

He got hope and it strengthened him. It strengthened him and it'll strengthen you too. Let's pray. Our Sovereign God, we thank you for your Word, and we pray, O God, that you would save us from low and inadequate views of you. We Pray, O God, that by the strength of your Spirit working within us, we would live our lives in light of who you are, a holy, just, compassionate God who takes sin seriously and yet is faithful to his covenants with his people and takes their sin and puts it on Christ.

We thank you for this redemption that we have in Christ. And we pray, O Lord, that you would teach us to become more like him. Teach us to live our lives in light of the reality that we were purchased at the high cost of his own blood. And we pray these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.