Reading
SAA Notes
Ezekiel stirs us with powerful word pictures. His vision of the Lord is one source of John’s vision of Christ in Revelation 1. Sense the Majesty and the Glory of God our Father.
SJA Notes
* Mighty God, please shine Your light into our hearts today as we come to Your word.
“And above the expanse over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance.”
What a strange beginning to a book!
Visions of lightning and fire, four living creatures with four faces each, wheels for the creatures.
Ezekiel was someone living in Babylon, not long after the final exile of Judah undertaken by King Nebuchadnezzar.
You can imagine he would have been wrestling with where God had put him, perhaps hearing of Jeremiah’s preaching – The command to work for the welfare/good of the city they were living in.
Into this environment the Lord places His hand upon Ezekiel.
THE HAND OF THE LORD WAS UPON EZEKIEL.
This experience is not something you can brush aside, not something to make light of.
The last segment of the vision describes one on the throne with a human appearance, gleaming like metal, appearance of fire, brightness all around.
We see Ezekiel completely and totally overwhelmed in the presence of this being.
Who is this person?
The first chapter of Revelation tells us, it is Jesus!
Ezekiel’s response is a question for us today.
When confronted with the true reality of who Jesus is, what is our response?
Do we respond as Ezekiel did, faced with the awesome and terrible reality of who Jesus is?
Have we ever faced up to that reality?
What else have we to do then but to understand better who Jesus is – He is the crux of time, the pivot of history, the corner- and the cap-stone of the house we are being built up into.
Jesus is the good news that all of God’s word points to!
* Father God,
Please help us to see Jesus today, and onwards, as we continue to walk through Your word.
Day by day please grow us in our understanding of the King of kings.
Refine us today, please Lord God.
Amen.