Kansas City, Missouri, United States - Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - “God is on the Move” – Tuesday, 27 May 2014 - Scripture: Ezekiel 1:10-21

Kansas City, Missouri, United States - Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - “God is on the Move” – Tuesday, 27 May 2014 - Scripture: Ezekiel 1:10 As for the likeness of their faces, they had the face of a man; and the four of them had the face of a lion on the right side; and the four of them had the face of an ox on the left side; the four of them also had the face of an eagle. 11 Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out above. Two wings of each one touched another, and two covered their bodies. 12 Each one went straight forward: where the spirit was to go, they went; they didn’t turn when they went. 13 As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches: the fire went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and lightning went out of the fire. 14 The living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning. 15 Now as I saw the living creatures, behold, one wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, for each of the four faces of it. 16 The appearance of the wheels and their work was like a beryl: and the four of them had one likeness; and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel within a wheel. 17 When they went, they went in their four directions: they didn’t turn when they went. 18 As for their rims, they were high and dreadful; and the four of them had their rims full of eyes all around. 19 When the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. 20 Wherever the spirit was to go, they went; there was the spirit to go: and the wheels were lifted up beside them; for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. 21 When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up beside them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
“God is on the Move” by Duane C. Brush
It is easy to get lost in the details of Ezekiel’s vision. How did the creatures with four different faces and four wings appear? What were the rims of the wheels with “eyes all around”? The purpose of the vision, as with all divine revelation, is to convey truth about God. God is powerful and unbound, nothing escapes His notice, and He acts swiftly, in accordance with His purposes. John Wesley commented on Ezekiel’s vision, “How fitly do the wheels, their motion, their height, and eyes, signify the height, unsearchableness, wisdom, and vigilance of Divine Providence.”*
A fundamental question we need to continually ask of the Bible is, “What is this particular passage teaching me about God?” For Ezekiel the vision is clear: God was not confined to the temple, His power was not limited to the boundaries of Judah or even Israel, His knowledge encompasses the whole earth, His servants rush to and fro; as swift as lightning and guided by His will. God will accomplish His purposes--and His purposes, whether they entail discipline or delivrance, are always redemptive.

*John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765), Vol. III, 2285. (Schmul Publishers: Salem, OH; Reprint 1975.)

Hymn for Today:

“O Worship the King” by Robert Grant
1. O worship the King all-glorious above,
O gratefully sing his power and his love:
our shield and defender, the Ancient of Days,
pavilioned in splendor and girded with praise.
2. O tell of his might and sing of his grace,
whose robe is the light, whose canopy space.
His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form,
and dark is his path on the wings of the storm.
3. Your bountiful care, what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air, it shines in the light;
it streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,
and sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.
4. Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,
in you do we trust, nor find you to fail.
Your mercies, how tender, how firm to the end,
our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend!
5 O measureless Might, unchangeable Love,
whom angels delight to worship above!
Your ransomed creation, with glory ablaze,
in true adoration shall sing to your praise!
Thought for Today:
“God powers finds us wherever we are and can turn our places of exile and forsakenness into places of His beauty and transformation”(Scott Daniels).
Prayer Needs:
Developing Christian leaders in Angola!
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