The Whirling Wheels
God is the same today, yesterday and forever.
From the time that God heard the groaning of Israel in Egypt when the first Passover was celebrated and Israel leaves Egypt, the presence of the Lord went with them. Through the wilderness for forty years, the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night went with them.
In this time Moses acts as intermediary between Israel and God and we see in Exodus 32 that his face shone when he came down from the mountain after speaking with God.
On God’s instruction Moses builds the tabernacle and erects it. In Exodus 40 we find the same symbolism of the cloud as the presence of God. It reads:” Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting and filled the tabernacle.”
Years later at the dedication of the temple, Solomon prays that God’s eyes might be opened night and day toward this house, referring to the temple, and if Israel sins and return and pray and plead in this house (the temple) that God will hear and forgive.
This is the problem that Ezekiel faced. He could not plead in the temple for forgiveness. Ezekiel is exiled to Babylon in 597BC. The bible does not record whether Ezekiel prayed, but if he did he probable said something like Moses did: Lord, show me your glory.” There is no reason to believe that he did not. Daniel, another one of the exiles, opens his window to Jerusalem and prays for his people.
Historically, this is about 4 years after he was exiled which would place this around 593BC, before the temple was destroyed, which fits with the vision in chapter 10 of the abominations that were committed in the temple.
The vision that he saw of the four living creatures in his own words in Ez 10: 20 were the cherubim. This must have been his recollection of the cherubim of Exodus 25 that were at the two ends over the mercy seat. Exodus specifically states that their wings were spread out over the mercy seat.
The vision of the cherubim in Ezekiel however, is much more informative. They each had the face of a human, a face of an ox, a face of a lion and a face of an eagle. From other scripture we find that the symbolism of a lion is used in connection with Jesus, the lion of the tribe of Judah. the ox as animal of toil, depicting Jesus as the suffering servant, the face of a human speaks of Son of God who became flesh and dwelt among us and the eagle an expression of God’s eternal power.
Exodus describes that the Lord met with Israel between the cherubim, but Ezekiel’s vision adds a whole other dimension to the presence of the Lord. No longer is presence contained to the ark between the cherubim, but is always moving.
It reads wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went, and the wheels rose along with it, and the spirit of the living creatures was within them, when those went, they went, when those stood, they stood and when those rose, they rose.
Experientially, Ezekiel did not known that the presence of God is everywhere. Solomon, being the wisest man that ever lived ask the same question at the dedication of the temple. “ Will God indeed dwell on earth ? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain Him, how much less the house that I build “(1 Kings 8:27).
The vision, in “exodus” manner starts with “Behold, a stormy wind came out of the north and a great cloud and fire flashing forth continually."
Ezekiel calls this vision, visions of the glory of God. Now, having the New Testament, we can confirm who or what this vision was. Hebrews 9:5 reads that Jesus is the glory of God and Hebrews 1:13 that Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory.
This is further confirmed in John’s vision on the isle of Patmos. Revelation 1:15 describes the voice of Jesus as the roar of many waters. The sound of the wings of the cherubim was the sound of many waters, like the voice of the Almighty in Ezekiel.
The wheels within the wheels speaks of something without beginning or end and Jesus says in Revelation 1 :8. I am the Alpha and the Omega, He who was and is and is to come. Jesus confirms this to John in Rev 1:17 : Fear not, I am the first and the last, the living one, I died, and behold I am alive forever more.
Another confirmation is the description of the throne of God in Ezekiel. The cherubim were between the throne and the earth. This is picture of Jesus being the mediator between God and man.
Hebrews 9: 15 reads “Therefor, he (Jesus) is the mediator of the new covenant so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance."
God is the same today, yesterday and forever. He always had a mediator to ensure that man can be saved. He calls Moses to mediate for Israel in the Old Testament , and Jesus died on the cross being THE mediator and He is still interceding for us.
Ezekiel could from this vision understand that God is the God of the universe. It does not matter if it is in freedom in his own country or in bondage in another.
