45 lines
2.3 KiB
Markdown
45 lines
2.3 KiB
Markdown
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title = "Ezekiel 1:15–28"
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date = "2023-03-03"
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### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Ezekiel1.15-28)
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I must have been really tired when I wrote the last entry because I didn't
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discuss the wheels from the latter part of the passage at all. So we're
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overlappingo on the passage a bit today. Ezekiel goes into some detail about
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these wheels that accompany the four living creatures, but it seems like he
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doesn't answer any of the questions we could have about them. Are they alive?
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How does "a wheel within a wheel" actually work? It sounds to me like Ezekiel
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is trying the best he can to describe what he sees, but he doesn't have the
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vocabulary or even the categories for it. In all likelihood, we wouldn't
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either.
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We start to get clues as to what purpose the living creatures and their wheels
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serve in the following verses. Above the heads of the creatures is an expanse
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of crystal, or something very like it. The living creatures appear to be
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holding up this expanse with their wings, and a very loud and awesome voice
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from above the expanse commands the creatures to start and stop. "Like the
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sound of the Almighty" (_v. 24_) is a very big hint.
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Finally in verse 26 Ezekiel tells us there is a throne on the expanse, made
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entirely out of precious jewels. So then, the living creatures are holding up
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the platform of the divine throne and the wheels are the literal wheels of
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God's carriage. Which is a strange thing for God to have when He is present
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everywhere at all times; He doesn't need to travel anywhere. Yet it is a way
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for Him to show His majesty to us and to make statements, as we shall see in
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chapter 10.
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Seated on the throne is Someone who looks like a human, but glowing and
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polished like metal and blazing with glory. Ezekiel calls this the "appearance
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of the likeness of the glory of Yahweh". Within a vision, that's three steps of
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indirection from saying what God looks like, which is entirely appropriate for
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sinners such as us. Moses asked to see God but was allowed only to see the
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afterglow of His passing, because anything more would destroy him. In response
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to catching a glimpse of the Lord, Ezekiel falls on his face, which is the only
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thing any of us can do when confronted with God's infinite holiness.
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* * *
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You are majestic and have total supremacy over everything.
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