{"id":9934,"date":"2020-06-25T20:00:50","date_gmt":"2020-06-26T03:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=9934"},"modified":"2020-06-25T21:34:50","modified_gmt":"2020-06-26T04:34:50","slug":"ezekiel-1_1-28","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/ezekiel-1_1-28\/","title":{"rendered":"Heaven Ain\u2019t No Boring Place"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ezekiel 1:1-28\u00a0 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today we start the book of Ezekiel, a book written by the prophet Ezekiel in approximately 593 B.C.\u00a0 Though written approximately 700 years apart from one another, the book of Ezekiel and the book of Revelation contain some powerful and overlapping images of who God is and what heaven is like.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Ezekiel 1:1-28.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Ezekiel 1:1-3 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0On the fifth of the month–it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin–
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0the word of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, by the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians. There the hand of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0was upon him.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-3:\u00a0 Ezekiel is a priest at a time when the Jewish people have been ousted from their own land by the Babylonians and are living as exiles in Babylon.\u00a0 It is during this time that Ezekiel begins to hear from God in a prophetic way.\u00a0 Ezekiel even specifies the day, the month and the year this started happening.\u00a0 \u201cIn the thirtieth year\u201d may mean that Ezekiel was 30 years old when he started seeing the visions that are recorded in this book.\u00a0 Since Ezekiel says that his prophesying ministry began in the fifth year after King Jehoiachin was captured by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and deported to Babylon, some scholars have narrowed down the beginning of his ministry to July 31, 593 B.C.<\/p>\n

Ezekiel 1:4-14 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north–an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal,
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was that of a man,
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0but each of them had four faces and four wings.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze.
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Under their wings on their four sides they had the hands of a man. All four of them had faces and wings,
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and their wings touched one another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved.
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a man, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle.
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out upward; each had two wings, one touching the wing of another creature on either side, and two wings covering its body.
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Each one went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they went.
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forth among the creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it.
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning.
\n<\/em>
\nOn verses 4-14:\u00a0\u00a0If ever you thought heaven was going to be a boring place, a place where we\u2019re going to just sit on some clouds and play harps, Ezekiel\u2019s vision blows that misconception out of the water.\u00a0 Heaven ain\u2019t no boring place.<\/p>\n

For those of you who like animals and wildlife, you\u2019ve got wildest creatures you can imagine in the four living creatures.\u00a0 Each of these four living creatures has four faces \u2013 one like a man, one like a lion, one like an ox and one like an eagle (v10). Some scholars think that these four faces represent the four most dominant animals in their own category (the lion is king of the jungle, the ox is the strongest of domesticated animals, the eagle rules the skies, and man is in a category all his own).\u00a0 These living creatures are winged (v11).\u00a0 They can travel anywhere without needing to turn their heads, since each of them has four faces (v12).\u00a0 They look like they\u2019re on fire as they move in an atmosphere of fire and lightning (v13).\u00a0 They travel at the speed of lightning (v14).\u00a0 Later we\u2019ll learn that when these living creatures move their wings, the sound is like the roar of rushing waters, like an army proceeding, like the voice of God Himself (v24).\u00a0 These living creatures are absolutely awesome.<\/p>\n

Yet these living creatures are not brute beasts.\u00a0 They are highly intelligent and sensitive.\u00a0 The fact that their wings touch each other shows that they are somehow very much in tune with one another, always moving together (v9).\u00a0 What\u2019s more, they are spiritually sensitive \u2013 \u201cWherever the spirit would go, they would go\u201d \u2013 in other words, these living creatures can sense the movement of the Holy Spirit and move in His direction (v12b).\u00a0 These living creatures are amazing.\u00a0 They are the same living creatures that John will see centuries later and talk about in Revelation 4.<\/p>\n

In case you\u2019re wondering, these living creatures are actually angels, and a special order of angels at that, called cherubim (Ezekiel 10:20). \u00a0While it\u2019s hard to tell from the first 14 verses alone, that immense cloud that Ezekiel sees with flashing lightning and brilliant light with a fiery centre that looks like glowing metal (v4) \u2013 that is where the throne of God is.<\/p>\n

So delete that boring image you have in your mind of an angel wearing a choir gown and carrying a harp.\u00a0 God\u2019s angels, the ones that are closest to Him, are the wildest, most powerful living creatures you\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\n

Ezekiel 1:15-21 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like chrysolite, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel.
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creatures faced; the wheels did not turn about as the creatures went.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around.
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When the living creatures moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the living creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When the creatures moved, they also moved; when the creatures stood still, they also stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
\n<\/em>
\nOn verses 15-21:\u00a0 For those of you who like gadgets, you\u2019ll love heaven and in particular the wheels that run beside the four living creatures.\u00a0 Like a scene from Star Wars where people are accompanied by incredibly smart druids, each of the four living creatures is accompanied by its own wheel.\u00a0 Each wheel is sparkly like chrysolite (v16) and moves in any one of four directions that the living creatures move in (v17).\u00a0 Each wheel appears to have another wheel inside of it so that it can effectively move in any direction without turning (v16).\u00a0 Each wheel is tall, full of eyes and could move not just horizontally but vertically as well, rising whenever its living creature rises (v18-20).\u00a0 Highly intelligent and seemingly sentient, each wheel would follow its living creature wherever the living creature went.\u00a0 In fact, verse 21 says that somehow each wheel is filled with the spirit of its living creature (v20-21).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 Some scholars think that the wheels reflect certain aspects of God\u2019s nature.\u00a0 For example, the fact that these wheels can go anywhere speaks to God\u2019s omnipresence (He is everywhere).\u00a0 The fact that these wheels are full of eyes speaks to God\u2019s omniscience (He sees everything).\u00a0 The fact that these wheels are \u201chigh and awesome\u201d (v18) speaks to God\u2019s omnipotence (He is all powerful).\u00a0 For me, I just think these wheels are really cool.<\/p>\n

Ezekiel 1:22-25 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked like an expanse, sparkling like ice, and awesome.
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Under the expanse their wings were stretched out one toward the other, and each had two wings covering its body.
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty, like the tumult of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings.
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then there came a voice from above the expanse over their heads as they stood with lowered wings.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 22-25:\u00a0 Above these amazing living creatures and their really cool wheels is what Ezekiel calls an awesome expanse, sparkling like ice (v22).\u00a0 This expanse seems to act like a platform for God\u2019s throne.\u00a0 For those of you who like art and architecture, you\u2019ll never see anything like what you\u2019ll see in heaven. Also, when God\u2019s voice speaks above that expanse (v25), these awesome living creatures stand still with lowered wings, showing humility and reverence for God.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 \u00a0Those living creatures are awesome, but notice that they show a tremendous reverence and humility before God.\u00a0 Similarly, you are an awesome living creature yourself, maybe not awesome the way that these cherubim are awesome, but even more awesome and in your own way — you are made in God\u2019s image and will in fact rule over angels the Bible says (1 Corinthians 6:3)!\u00a0 So, awesome creature, like the four living creatures, be reverent and humble before your Creator God.\u00a0 When He speaks, be still and humble before Him.<\/p>\n

Ezekiel 1:26-28 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Above the expanse over their heads was what looked like a throne of sapphire, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man.
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him.
\n28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him.\u00a0This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the\u00a0LORD. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking.
\n<\/em>
\nOn verses 26-28:\u00a0 Here, after seeing the awesome living creatures and their amazing wheels, Ezekiel catches a glimpse of the most awesome one of all: the Lord Himself.\u00a0 He can be seen high above the expanse on what looks like a throne of sapphire (v26a).\u00a0 He has an appearance similar to that of a man (v26b), except just the brightest, most brilliant, most fiery and most lit man you\u2019ve ever seen (v27).\u00a0 The radiance around Him is like a rainbow (v28).\u00a0 John in the book of Revelation sees a similar picture of the Lord (Revelation 4:1-16).\u00a0 What Ezekiel is seeing is so awesome that he falls facedown as he hears God\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. There are no words that can fully describe just how beautiful, glorious, and awesome God is.\u00a0\u00a0As awesome as the living creatures and the wheels are, God the Creator is incomparably more awesome, more interesting, more intelligent and more powerful.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
    1. Given how much Ezekiel\u2019s vision of heaven matches John\u2019s vision of heaven in Revelation, we can know that the God of the Old Testament is the same as the God of the New Testament.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Awesome God, the world has no idea just how amazing, exciting, and awesome You are and how amazing, exciting, and awesome heaven is.\u00a0 Be exalted, O God, above everything else in heaven, on earth, and in my life.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

      Today we start the book of Ezekiel, a book written by the prophet Ezekiel in approximately 593 B.C.\u00a0 Though written approximately 700 years apart from one another, the book of Ezekiel and the book of Revelation contain some powerful and overlapping images of who God is and what heaven is like.<\/p>\n

      Today\u2019s passage is Ezekiel 1:1-28.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

      Ezekiel 1:1-3 (NIV)\u00a0
      \n1\u00a0\u00a0In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.\u00a0
      \n2\u00a0\u00a0On the fifth of the month–it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin–\u00a0
      \n3\u00a0\u00a0the word of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, by the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians. There the hand of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0was upon him.
      \n\u00a0
      \nOn verses 1-3:\u00a0 Ezekiel is a priest at a time when the Jewish people have been ousted from their own land by the Babylonians and are living as exiles in Babylon.\u00a0 It is during this time that Ezekiel begins to hear from God in a prophetic way.\u00a0 Ezekiel even specifies the day, the month and the year this started happening.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9935,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9934"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9937,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9934\/revisions\/9937"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}