Ezekiel 10
1 “Then I
looked, and, behold, in the firmament that was above the
head of the cherubims
there appeared over them as it were a
sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness
of a throne.”
2 And he spake unto the man clothed with linen, and said, Go in
between the wheels, even under the cherub, and
fill thine hand
with coals of fire from between the cherubims, and scatter them
over the city. And he went in in my sight.” Then I looked, etc. There
follows on the work of judgment another theophany,
like that of ch.1:15-28.
In the “expanse,” or firmament, like the “terrible
crystal,” there is seen as before
the
likeness of a sapphire throne (see ch.1:26, note). The form of the man who is
the
manifestation of Jehovah is implied, though not named. It is He who
speaks to the captain of the six ministers of vengeance, Himself
the seventh,
and
bids him go in beneath the “whirling wheels” that are beneath the
cherub (collective singular, as in ch.
9:9), and fill his hands with
coals of fire (ch.
1:13), and scatter them over the city, as the
symbol of its doom. We are reminded of Isaiah’s vision (Isaiah
6:6);
but
there the work of the fire was to purify, here simply to destroy.
The Throne of God (v. 1)
The Greek conception of God was intellectual; the Hebrew,
moral. To the
Hellenic thought He was the Supreme Mind; to the Jewish He
was the
Supreme Will and Authority. The one conceived Him as the Architect of
the
universe, displaying His intelligence in a vast design; the other, as the
Sovereign Ruler of all things. Thus the Hebrew
symbol of the Divine is a
glory above a heavenly throne, and with the Jew the most
significant
Divine thing is the throne. Each thought is true, and our
later Christian
theology combines them both. But there is an awful sublimity in the
Old
Testament religion springing from the moral and
governmental view of
God, and to miss this is
to sink into naturalism. The modern tendency is in
some respects diverting attention from the Hebrew Throne
to
the Greek
Mind. We need to revive the Old Testament element of the thought
of
God. Perhaps greater regard to this will help us to face some of the
peculiar difficulties of our own day.
GLORIOUS.
Ø
It is righteous.
The justice of God’s rule is not treated
in the Old
Testament as a source of terror,
but, on the contrary, it is always
Praised and rejoiced in. The old
cruel earthly tyrannies were felt
to be so horribly unjust, that men turned with a sense of
relief to
the justice of the Supreme King. God is
the Personal “Power that
makes for righteousness.” The end of His government is the
highest goodness.
Ø
It is therefore glorious. The old glory of mere
brute force with the
triumph of cruelty is a low and vulgar folly by the side of this
Divine glory
of righteousness. Here is the greatest glory of God —
not His omniscience nor His omnipotence, not the irresistible
might and overwhelming majesty of His throne, but ITS
RIGHTEOUSNESS! It is not a blood stained glory of the
earthly conqueror, but the sapphire
beauty of perfect purity,
truth, justice, and benevolence.
REVELATION.
The Greek method of seeking for God is by the way of
intellect. The Great Mind is looked for in His plans. The Architect cf the
universe is to be found by using the “argument from design.” But
lately
this Aristotelian method has been confused in the minds of some
—
though, doubtless, only temporarily and by misunderstanding — through
the spread of THE DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION. Meanwhile
our own
age needS to return to the Hebrew
method. Our best teachers point us in
this
direction. God is not
chiefly the Infinite Intellect. HE IS THE WILL AND
POWER OF RIGHT! We feel Him in all
force. But we discern Him best
in our own consciences. The unanswerable voice within that
whispers, “Thou
shalt” or “Thou shalt not,” is an utterance from the throne of God, and it
bears witness to the existence, and more than the existence, THE
AUTHORITY OF OUR
LORD AND KING!
3 “Now the
cherubims stood on the right side of the house, when
the
man went in; and the cloud filled the inner
court. 4
Then the glory of the
LORD went up from the cherub, and stood
over the threshold of the house;
and the house was filled with the cloud, and
the court was full of the
brightness of the LORD’s
glory.” Now the cherubim
stood, etc. The position of
the
cherubim is defined, with a vivid distinctness of detail, which once
more
reminds us of Dante. They had been standing on the right, i.e. the
southern side of
the sanctuary. What follows is probably a
reproduction of the change of
positions described in ch. 9:3, and the
verbs should be taken,
therefore, as pluperfects. The cloud of glory, as in I Kings 8:10-11
and
Isaiah 6:1-2, THE SHECHINAH that was the token
of THE DIVINE
PRESENCE, filled the court, but the glory itself had moved to the
threshold at the first stage of
its departure.
The Brightness of the Divine Glory (v. 4)
The Shechinah glory in the
holiest place was the visible representation and
symbol of the presence of the Eternal in the place set apart for
special
communion between God and man. Appealing primarily to the sense of
sight, it did in reality appeal to the intelligence and the
conscience of the
people. It was the same luminous cloud which Ezekiel beheld in
his vision,
and
in which he recognized the manifestation of the Divine presence and
interest.
ATTRIBUTES.
The Jews ever required a sign. But whilst the multitude
may have rested in the sign, the enlightened and spiritual
passed from the
sign to the thing signified. True glory is not in material splendor,
however
dazzling, but in that
excellence which is perfected in God, the Source of all
goodness. Whilst the less
reflecting may be more impressed with the
omnipotence and omnipresence of God, which must indeed excite the
reverent admiration of all to whom He makes Himself known, such as
are
morally cultivated and susceptible will find the highest and purest glory in
the Divine wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and love.
SPIRITUAL SUSCEPTIBILITY. As the man is affected by many things
which are neither felt nor noticed by the brute, so the
spiritually living and
earnest are impressed and influenced by the contemplation of the
Divine
character and attributes. These may have no interest for the worldly
and
the selfish; but they are felt to be great, sacred, and
precious realities by all
natures that are brought by spiritual teaching into sympathy with
God.
“They are
spiritually discerned” (I Corinthians
2:14). There is a capacity
within us which is only developed and satisfied when brought into
contact
with the purity and the grace of Him who is a Spirit, and who
will be
worshipped in spirit and in truth.
(John 4:24)
STIMULUS TO HUMAN OBEDIENCE AND PRAISE. The hosts of
heaven gaze upon the Divine glory, and by the vision are prompted
to
unceasing adoration, it is the same with the enlightened and
spiritual
among the sons of men. As the daybreak and the sunrise call
forth the glad
song of the lark as it soars aloft, so the rising of “the brightness of the
Lord’s glory” upon a soul summons it to the glad exercise of exulting
adoration. Nor does this term the only response.
Man’s active nature
renders the service which is due to Him who is recognized as the
Source of
all good, of all blessing. Obedience is acted praise, as
praise is uttered
obedience.
REVELATION OF THE DIVINE GLORY. The evangelist tells us that he
and his fellow disciples beheld Christ’s glory, “the
glory as of the Only
Begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth” (John
1:14). And the
author of the Epistle to the Hebrews describes the Son of God as “the
Emanation from the
Divine glory.” (Hebrews 1:3). They
who look into
Christ’s face behold the moral attributes of Deity in all their resplendent
brightness, “They look unto
him, and are lightened, and their faces are
not ashamed.”
The Moving Glory (v. 4)
It is difficult to follow the enraptured prophet through
all the mystic mazes
of
his vision, and catch the meaning of the many gorgeous symbols that he
discovers on every hand. But now and again certain points stand out
with
an
individual significance even when their relation to the whole shifting
panorama may strike us as somewhat obscure. Here we may take some
hints from the moving of the Divine glory. This radiance moved
from over
the
cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house.
saw the radiance pass from the cherub to the threshold of the
house.
Ø
The glory has visited earth. It is not confined to
celestial altitudes.
Earth is not yet a godless
hell. God, who talked with Adam before
the Fall, also talked with Moses after the Fall. There is a
Divine halo
about every good life. Little children come “trailing clouds of
glory,”
and “of such is the kingdom of heaven.”
(Matthew 19:14). But this
glory is most present in Christ. Thus the beloved disciple said, “We
beheld his glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the
Father”
(John 1:14).
Ø
The glory has reached common life. There were cherubim
in the holy
of holies at the temple, and there the Shechinah
was said to dwell.
But now Ezekiel sees the
glory pass to the threshold of the house.
It moves from the high
priest’s sanctuary to the way of the common
people, and seems to look forth from the doorway with cheering
radiance and a benediction towards the great world outside. This
has
certainly happened in the free preaching of the gospel of Christ,
and
the equal privileges of all Christians. (See Acts 28:24-28).
The Shechinah
passed from the temple at
workshop at
haunts of men, consecrating daily toil, making simple lives
beautiful
with the LIGHT OF GOD!
wilderness moved from place to place. When by the
behind the camp and between this and the pursuing army of
travel, it went on before the host. The presence of God is not
always
equally manifest at the same place. There are God-haunted realms,
and
there are apparently God-deserted regions. Physically, God is
equally
present everywhere. But morally, the conduct of men does not admit
of
an equal revelation of the Divine. (See John 14:23)
Ø
The glory may depart from its old seat. It left the temple, and it
deserted the Jews. Poor
down-trodden
called a “
North Africa and
Christian Church, have been
left dark and deserted. (Let
beware as
owing to God’s changing. His glory is not like the waning moon,
or
the setting sun, or the flickering lamp. But as men forsake
Him,
“Ichabod!” must be
uttered over their most sacred spots. (I
Samuel
4:21).
Ø
The glory may visit new scenes. It has shone over the
martyrs of
it is beginning to dawn in the great dark continent, and
among the
teeming millions of
it will not shine, if only pardon is penitently sought.
5 “And the
sound of the cherubims’ wings was heard even to the
outer
court, as the voice of the Almighty God when He speaketh. 6 And it came
to pass, that when He had commanded the man
clothed with linen, saying,
Take fire from between the wheels, from
between the cherubims; then
he went in, and stood beside the wheels. 7 And one
cherub stretched forth
his hand from between the cherubims
unto the fire that was between the
cherubims, and took thereof, and put it into the
hands of him that was
clothed with linen: who took it, and went
out.” And the sound of
the
cherubim. The use of God Almighty (El Shaddai; compare Exodus 6:3),
the
name of God as ruling over nature, while Jehovah expressed His covenant
relationship to
religion of
The Names of God – El Shaddai by
Nathan Stone – this web site – CY –
2014)
Shaddai alone appears
eighty-one times in the Book of Job. Psalm 29 explains
the
voice of El Shaddai (though there it is “the voice of Jehovah”) as meaning
the
roar of the thunder. The hands of the “living creatures,” now recognized as
cherubim, had been mentioned in ch.1:8, and it is one of those hands
that
gives the fire into the hands of the linen vested minister of
wrath. The
elemental forces of nature, of which the
cherubim are, partly at least, the
symbols, are working out the purposes of Jehovah. The two words
translated wheels are
different in the Hebrew. The first is singular and
collective (galgal, the “whirling thing,” used of
the wheel of a war chariot,
ch. 23:24; Isaiah 5:28), and might well be translated “chariot”
here. The second, that used in ch.
1:15-16, also in the singular, is
applied to the single wheel of the four by which the angel,
ministers stood.
The
Voice of the Almighty (v. 5)
The human voice deserves to be studied and admired as a
most effective
and
delicate and exquisitely beautiful provision for
the expression of
thought and feeling. It
is so ethereal, so semi-spiritual, that there seems
scarcely any anthropomorphism in attributing it to the Creator
Himself. The
sounds of nature may indeed be designated the voice of God. But
the
characteristics of the human utterance seem most justly attributable to
Him
who
comprehends in perfection within Himself all those thoughts and
emotions which are distinctive of the spiritual nature.
The voice is, among all the
inhabitants of this earth, man’s prerogative
alone. And for this reason — man alone has reason, and therefore
he alone
has speech. There are noises and sounds, and even musical
sounds, in
nature; but to man alone belongs the voice, the organ of
articulate speech
and intelligible language. (I marvel that when I think of
people I have
known in my life, both living and dead, that I still can hear
their voices
and they all have a different pitch or tone – CY – 2014). When voice is
attributed to the Almighty God, it is implied that He is Himself in
perfection
that Reason which He communicates to His creature man. Our
intellect and
thought are derived from His, and are akin to His; our reason is “the candle
of the Lord” within.Proverbs 20:27)
BETWEEN GOD AND MAN. The purpose of
the voice is that man may
communicate with his fellow man by means of articulate language, and
by
means of all those varied and delicate shades of intonation by
which we
convey our sentiments, and indicate satisfaction and
disapproval,
confidence and distrust, tenderness and severity, inquiry and
command.
Now, where we meet in Scripture
with the phrase, “the voice of God
Almighty when he speaketh,” we are
led to think of the purpose for which
He utters His voice. It is
evidently to communicate with man — mind with
mind — that we may be acquainted with His thoughts, His wishes,
His
sentiments with regard to us, if we may use language so human. The whole
of nature may be regarded as uttering the Divine thought,
though, as the
psalmist tells us, “there is no speech nor language, and their
voice cannot
be heard” (Psalm 19:3). But His articulate speech comes through the
medium
of human minds — the minds of prophets and apostles,
and (above
all) THE
MIND OF JESUS
CHRIST! The Word speaks with the Divine
voice; IN
HIM ALONE that
voice reaches us with all the faultless tones, and with the
perfect revelation which we need in order that we may realize and
rejoice
in the presence of the Divine Father of spirits, the Divine Saviour and Helper.
PRIVILEGE OF MAN.
Ø
It is ours to listen
with grateful joy to the voice of God. “The friend of
the bridegroom rejoiceth greatly
because of the bridegroom’s voice”
(John 3:29). Christ speaks, and His utterances are welcome
to every
believing and sympathetic nature; they are as the sound of a voice
long
expected and wished for, as it now fails upon the listening and
eager
ear. The sinner may well dread the voice which
can speak to him as with
the thunder of threatened vengeance. But the Christian recognizes the
tones of love and the accents of gentleness.
Ø
It is ours to listen
to the voice of God with believing submission and
obedience. God’s voice is
always with authority. Because He
reveals
Himself as our Father, He does
not cease to command. “Ye have not
heard His voice at any time,” was the stern reproach addressed by Jesus
to the unspiritual Jews. The exhortation
comes to us all, “Today if ye
will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” (Hebrews 4:7)
8 “And
there appeared in the cherubims the form of a man’s
hand
under their wings. 9 And when I
looked, behold the four wheels by the
cherubims, one wheel by one cherub, and another
wheel by another
cherub: and the appearance of the wheels was as
the color of a beryl stone.
10 And as
for their appearances, they four had one likeness, as if a
wheel had been in the midst of a wheel.” The description
of the theophany
that follows, though essentially identical with that in ch.
1 is not a literal transcript
of
it. The prophet struggles, as before, to relate what he has
actually seen in the
visions of God. The fact is stated as explaining the mention of
the “hand”
in
v. 7. That, as in ch. 1:8, was one of their members
(see notes
on
ch.1:15-17). All that had seemed most startling and awful to
him
on the banks of Chebar is now seen again — the four
living creatures,
now
named cherubim , the wheel by each, the unswerving motion of the
wheels in their onward course.
11 “When
they went, they went upon their four sides; they turned not
as they went, but to the place whither the
head looked they
followed it; they turned not as they went.” Whither the head, etc. The
word has been taken, as in Job 29:25, for the “chief”
or “principal” wheel,
that which for the time determined the course of the others. With all the
complex structure of the cherubic chariot, all was simple in its
action. The
spirit of the living
creatures was in the wheels, and that gave unity
(ch.1:20).
12 “And
their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their
wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round
about, even the
wheels that they four had.” And their whole
body. Here there is distinctly a
new
feature. In ch. 1:18 the “rings”
of the wheels were “full of eyes.”
Here the
eyes are everywhere. It is not hard to interpret this part of the vision.
The
prophet receives a new impression of the
all-seeing eye of Jehovah.
Everywhere, as he stands face to face with the forces of
nature, he can say,
must say, within himself, “Thou
God seest me” (Genesis 16:13). There
is
an eye that looks upon him where he least expects it. The same thought
appears in the stone with seven eyes in Zechariah 3:9. John
reproduces it in the same form as Ezekiel, with the exception of the
wheels, which form no part of his vision, in Revelation 4:6.
13
“As for the wheels, it was cried unto them in my hearing, O wheel.”
As for the wheels, etc.; better, with
the Revised Version, they
were called in my hearing, the whirling wheels; or better still, to keep the
collective force of the singular galgal,
the chariot. He recognized that as
the
right name of the whole mysterious and complex form. It, was nothing
less than the chariot throne of the King of the
universe. There is no
sufficient reason for taking the noun, with the Authorized Version,
as a
vocative.
14 “And
every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a
cherub, and the second face was the face of a
man, and the third
the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of
an eagle.”
The first face was
the face of a cherub, etc.; better, with the
Revised Version, of the cherub. This takes the place
of “the face of an ox”
in
ch. 1:10, and it is first in order instead of being,
as there, the
third. It is as though, in this second vision, he recognizes
that this was
emphatically the cherubic form. Possibly the article indicates
that this was
the
form that had given the “coals of fire”
in v. 7. Each form, we must
remember, had the four faces, but the prophet names the face which
each
presented to him as he gazed.
15 “And
the cherubims were lifted up. This is the living
creature that I
saw by the
went by them: and when the cherubims
lifted up their wings to mount up
from the earth, the same wheels also turned not
from beside them.
17 When
they stood, these stood; and when they were lifted up, these
lifted up themselves also: for the spirit of the
living creature was in
them.” As he gazes, the recognition is complete. What he sees in
the
courts of the temple is identical with the living creature by the river
of Chebar. It moves as that moved, wheels and wings and cherubim, all
as
by
one harmonious impulse.
18 “Then
the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the
house, and stood over the cherubims.”
Then the glory of the Lord, etc. The
chariot throne was, as it were, ready for its kingly Rider. The “glory”-cloud,
or Shechinah takes its place over them, and THE
DEPARTURE BEGINS!
From that hour the temple was, in Ezekiel’s thoughts, to be, till the time of
restoration
contemplated in chapters 40-48., what
GOD DESERTED PLACE! We arc reminded of
the voice which Josephus
tells us was heard before the final destruction of the second
temple, exclaiming,
“Let us depart hence,” as the priests were making ready for the Pentecostal feast
"Besides
these [signs], a few days after that feast, on the one- and-twentieth
day of the month Artemisius, [Jyar,] a certain
prodigious and incredible
phenomenon appeared; I suppose the account of it would seem to
be a fable,
were it not related by those that saw it, and were not the
events that followed it
of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals;
for, before sun-setting,
chariots and troops of soldiers in their armour
were seen running about among
the clouds, and surrounding of cities. Moreover, at that
feast which we call
Pentecost, as
the priests were going by night into the inner [court of the] temple,
as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations,
they said that, in the
first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a great noise,
and after that they
heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, "Let us
remove hence"
(
Josephus - Jewish Wars,
VI-V-3).
Glory Departed (v. 18)
In v. 4 Ezekiel says that the glory visited the threshold
of the house. Now
he
describes its departure and return to the cherubim.
The glory that visited the
threshold of the temple brought a special
symbolical revelation, and when that revelation had been made the
glory
retreated and left the scene in its
normal earthly condition. Revelation has
come in epochs separated by periods of assimilation, when the
newly
revealed truth has been left to work among man like leaven. God
gave the
Law once for
all from Sinai. “For the law was given by Moses,
but grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John
1:17). The gospel was brought
into the world by Christ and His apostles, and left there to
spread — not
left without the aid of God’s Spirit and that inward revelation
by which an
old truth becomes new in each fresh heart that receives it,
but still given as
a completed thing in respect to its facts and substance. We
have no more
prophets like Isaiah nor apostles like Paul. But we do not need
them, for
CHRIST HAS GIVEN
US THE PERFECT TRUTH FOR ALL TIME!
Yet we cannot but feel that
there was a wonder
and a beauty in those old
days when the glory of the growing revelation was flashing out upon an
astonished world.
times when heaven is opened and we see the angels of God
ascending and
descending upon the Son of man. Then we would fain build our
tabernacles
and retain the rare delight. But it is not to be. These angel
visits are few
and far between. Jacob wakes from his dream to the chill
loneliness of the
desolate hills of
Transfiguration must descend
from Hermon to the troubles of the plain,
and exchange the society of Moses and Elijah for that of a
raving lunatic. It
is rare for the soul to be in a condition to enjoy the
greatest bliss. But it is
not necessary that this condition should remain; indeed, it is
better to be in
quieter moods for the homely tasks of life. Therefore we must still tread
this lower earth, though we may have some fine glimpses of the heavenly
splendor. The spray that is
flung off from the great ocean of celestial bliss
may occasionally reach us in drops of gold. Yet our vocation is to WALK
BY FAITH! Meanwhile the departure of this glory does not
mean the
departure of God; He is with us in the dullest days. Nor does it
mean our
fall and shame; it may be best for the faithful servant to work
in quiet
without the full revelation of the Divine presence. We need
ceaseless grace;
we can wait for eternal glory.
a glory which should be on us and abiding with us. All Christians are
“called to be saints.”
Few of us may behold the celestial splendor, but all
of us should wear the aureole of purity. When we have washed our robes
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, the new glory of
pardon
and cleansing should abide. But, alas! even
this glory too soon departs; the
cleansed garments are again dragged through the mire, and the
Christian,
though renewed by Christ, dares not regard himself as a “saint.” When he
falls into a great sin the glory has indeed departed. If the
fresh fervor of
youth fades, and a commonplace character is all that remains,
must it not
be said that the glory has departed, though the faith
and fidelity may remain?
19 “And
the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up
from the
earth in my sight: when they went out, the
wheels also were beside
them, and every one stood at the door of the
east gate of the
LORD’s house; and the glory of the God of
above.” The departure has the east gate of the Lord’s house for its
starting point. By that gate, in the later vision of the restored
temple, the
glory of the Lord was to return (Ezekiel 43:4). For “every one”
read
“it,” sc. the galgal, or complex structure of the chariot.
The Hebrew verb
is
in the singular, but, as the italics show, there is no word answering to
“every one.” (See photos of the Eastern Gate in Ezekiel 43 – this
web
site – CY – 2014)
20 “This
is the living creature that I saw under the God of
21 Every
one had four faces apiece, and every one four wings; and the
likeness of the hands of a man was under their
wings.
22 And the
likeness of their faces was the same faces which I saw by
the
every one straight forward.” Once more the
prophet asserts, with fresh
emphasis, the identity of the two visions which it had been given him to
see.
Now, as it were, he
understands why the first vision was seen as coming
from the north. He does not tell us whether the journey of which he
saw the
beginning was to end. For the present there was a halt, as we learn
from
ch.
11:23, “over the midst of the city.” Even when the vision
ended, it had not gone further than the
conjecture, however, that he thought of its goal as that more sacred
region
of
the heavens in which it had at first manifested itself (see note on
ch.
1:4). It was, at any rate, no longer in the temple. The banks of
Chebar or any other place might become, as
(Genesis 28:17), as “the house of God”
and “the gate of heaven.”
Heavenly Changelessness (v.22)
There is great resemblance between ch.
1. and ch. 10. Ezekiel is
transported in spirit from the banks of the Babylonian river Chebar to the
temple at
exactly the same as those he has seen in the other. This fact of
identity in
great diversity of circumstances strikes the prophet as
remarkable, and he
chronicles it with emphasis. Earthly scenes change; heavenly facts
remain.
(God is everywhere! I
spent my first 17 years in
when I went to
the
Lord God who had been with me all my life, was
there also! – CY – 2014)
Ø
In various times.
Divine grace is always essentially the
same. On the
very threshold of history Abraham is justified by faith; today
faith is
the one ground of the soul’s becoming right with God. The
Psalms
of David express the inmost essence of religion for modern
Christians.
The gospel of the first century
is the gospel for the twenty-first
century.
The Christ of history is the
Christ of the future. If we can see the old
Familiar countenances of the
essential Divine facts that cheered and
warned and guided our fathers (“Elijah was a man subject to like
passions as we are” James 5:17), we have just the vision that we need
today — though, indeed, the old truths are to have fresh
applications,
and though, perhaps, we may have to remove the veils with
which
the errors of the past have sometimes obscured them.
Ø
In various places. The cherubim of Chebar were the cherubim of
The religion that dawned among
the hills of
over the whole earth, and shows itself as suitable for
Middle East, and just as
suitable for
Ø
Under various circumstances. The quiet river bank
was very different
from noisy
upon both scenes, as the same stars of heaven gaze upon the
city slums
and the country villages, on the blood stained battlefield and
the
peaceful meadow. THE SAME GOD IS OVER ALL! The gospel
of Christ is THE SAME FOR ALL — rich and poor, learned and
ignorant, young and old.
Ø
Inherent truth.
Our better changes come largely from the
correction of
mistakes. We are always having to unlearn
our errors, to slough the old
skin. But TRUTH
ABIDES! In heaven all is true. God’s Word is true.
Therefore while “all
flesh is grass… and the grass withers… the Word
of the Lord abideth forever” (I Peter
1:24-25). Jesus said, “Heaven
and earth will pass away but MY WORDS SHALL NEVER PASS
AWAY.” - Matthew 24:35)
Ø
Absolute perfection. Revelation came by
stages of growth and
development and through human channels. Hence its changes and the
putting away of the old form of it in the Law for the new form of
it in
the gospel. But when we see through these earthly
manifestations THE
REALLY DIVINE
behind them, we come upon ABSOLUTE
PERFECTION which is CHANGELESS!
Ø
Stable constancy. God is not fickle. His
representative agents,
symbolized by the cherubim, must be constant too. God will keep to
His Word! Therefore
we may build upon His promise as on a
granite rock. We change; He abideth faithful. (II Timothy 2:13)
The Machinery of God’s
A man must be embodied ignorance who should suppose that
all the activities of
God’s government come within the
range of his vision. Our knowledge is not the
measure of existence.
“There are
more things in heaven and earth
Than are dreamt of in our philosophy.”
What we know is an infinitesimal fraction of what we
do not know. Hence
EVERY REVELATION OF GOD’S ADMINISTRATIVE RULE should be
welcomed WITH EAGER DELIGHT!
for man to comprehend the nature and government of God lies,
not on the
part of God, but on the part of man. His spiritual nature is so
environed
with bars of flesh that he cannot discern spiritual realities.
Truth finds its
way into his mind mainly by the use of sensuous images. The difficulty is
aggravated by long
habits of neglect and self-indulgence.
Under these
circumstances, the marvel is that he knows as much about the world as he
does. We can form no definite conception of the Infinite or of
the Eternal;
yet it appears to our reason that GOD
MUST BE INFINITE IN CAPACITY
AND ETERNAL IN
DURATION! Possibly, God is above the conception
of the oldest archangel. Possibly, God cannot reveal the
whole extent of His
nature to any created being. Certain it is that the wing of human
imagination
soon tires in its attempt to soar to the height of the Godhead.
(When a child,
I used to do that and it made my
head swim. – CY – 2014)
All the machinery
of His rule is in harmony with Himself — majestic, ethereal, sublime! How
shall man measure himself with God? Surely he is but a mote in
the
sunbeam, incomparably minute, yet to
God incomparably precious!
INSUPPORTABLE.
On every occasion on which God has condescended
to reveal Himself to men there has been the attendant circumstance
of a
cloud. “God is light;” but to human sensibilities the full blaze of light is
insufferable. When God appeared to Moses among the solitudes of Horeb,
“the glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud” (Exodus 19:9). The
presence
of God among the Hebrews in the desert was symbolized by the
pillar of
cloud. At the moment when the first Jewish temple was
consecrated to the
service of Jehovah, a mysterious “cloud
filled the house of the Lord”
(I Kings 8:10; II Chronicles
5:14). God was known to
abide in the holy
of holies, in the cloud that covered the mercy seat. When
Moses and Elijah
descended to commune with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, “a cloud
overshadowed them,” and the voice of the Father “was heard out of the cloud”
(Matthew 17:5). At the close of our Lord’s earthly mission He
ascended from
earth to heaven from the heights near
out of the apostles’ sight” (Acts 1:9). So too the prophecies which announce
the next appearance of our Lord indicate the surroundings of a
cloud: “Behold!
He cometh with
clouds” (Revelation 1:7); “Ye shall see the Son of man coming
in the clouds of heaven”
(Matthew 26:64; Mark 14:62). Clouds
distribute and
attenuate the fierce light of the sun, and enhance the splendors of
the
scene. They are a manifestation of the component parts of light.
They
reveal its beauty and its power. So God tempers the brightness of
His
essential glory to suit the necessities of men.
AND COMPLEX SYSTEM. Human agency is intimately allied with the
dynamic forces of nature on the one side, and with the active
powers of
angels on the other. The wheels (with the numerical symbol,
four),
impressive from their magnitude and their rotatory
speed, indicate the
mighty forces of nature. Even in these wheels the prophet
discovers eyes,
which are the symbol of intelligence. The cherubic beings are
represented
as combining the strength of the ox, the courage of the lion,
the swiftness
of the eagle, and the intelligence of man. Beneath their
wings there is seen,
ever and anon, a human hand — the index of human agency and
action.
Resting on this complex system
of cherubic life is seen the cerulean
throne
of God, bright as a sapphire stone. In the destruction of
Chaldean armies did not act alone. Nebuchadnezzar, probably, was
not
conscious that any power, other than his own will, was instigating
him to
the war. Nevertheless, he was an instrument of justice in the
hand of God.
There is much
service done for God which is not intended. Said God
respecting Cyrus, “I girded thee,
though thou hast not known me”
(Isaiah 45:5). Human kings and warriors are only parts of a
complex system.
Human will has a very limited
circle in which to play; yet it has its place.
IMPORTANT PART.
(v. 2.) “The man clothed with linen” clearly
represents the great High Priest — the Divine Mediator. He who brings
mercy to men is also the Minister of judgment. He who proclaims “the
acceptable year of the Lord”
announces also “the day of vengeance of
our God” (Isaiah
61:2). God will “judge the world by that Man whom
He hath ordained” (Acts 17:31). If the
great Shepherd will preserve His
flock, He must destroy the wolves.
Justice and mercy go hand in
hand.
As we see here the ministrations
of
angels, along with God’s Son, in the
work of destruction; so in later days we see, in fact, the
alliance of angels
with Christ in the work of men’s salvation. Nor should we
fail to overlook
the promptitude with which the Son fulfilled His
Father’s word, “Go in
between the wheels,…and fill thine hand
with coals of fire,…and scatter
them over the city. And He went in in
my sight.” Is not this a practical
commentary upon Messiah’s words, “I do always the things that
please
Him”? (John 8:29) So with all God’s servants, “They
go straight forward.”
(ch. 1:9,12; v. 22)
AND RELUCTANTLY. We
read in v.4 that the glory of the
Lord withdrew from the inner
court of the temple, and stood over the
threshold of the house. Again, we read in the v. 18 that “the glory of
the Lord departed from off the threshold of the house, and
stood
over the cherubim. And the cherubim lifted up their wings, and
mounted
up from the earth in my sight.” Again, in the next chapter the record runs,
“And the glory of
the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood
upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city” (ch. 11:23). With
slow and successive steps God departed from the sanctuary which
He had
chosen for His residence.. All this prefigured the “leaving the house
desolate” (Matthew 23:38; Luke 13:35) and the ascension
from the Mount
of Olives, by our Lord. SO HAS IT
ALWAYS BEEN! The axe is laid at
the root of the tree (Matthew 3:10) — a delay of judgment — that
the
tree may yet become fruitful. Infinite
patience belongs to God. He “is slow
to anger, while plenteous in mercy” (Psalm 103:8). A
great truth is
embodied in the old adage:
“The mill
of God grinds slowly,
But it
grinds exceeding small.”
(Henry
(An
obvious reference to Matthew 21:44 – CY – 2014)
SCRIPTURE.
Between this unveiling of God’s purposes respecting
and His purposes towards the world revealed in the Apocalypse
of John,
there are instructive resemblances. The cherubic forms again
appear.
Angels have special charge over
the forces of nature — winds and fire and
earthquake. So far as human vision reaches, kings and armies act by
their
own free will, and to accomplish their own ambitions; but when
we are
lifted up to God’s pedestal, and are shown the progress of events
from that
high standpoint, we see that a series of Divine agents is
employed — men
fulfilling their part in subordination to angelic ministers. In God’s
great
army we have generals and captains and lieutenants, as well as
the rank-
and-file. In the government of the universe, men fill a humble
though an
honorable place; and consequent on
their diligence and fidelity now will
be their promotion to higher office by and by. “Be thou ruler over five
cities!” “Be thou ruler over ten cities!” (Luke
19:17,19) “I appoint
unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me.”
(Ibid. ch.
22:29)
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