Scripture: Ezekiel 1: 4-28
Sermon: Visions of Glory
Topics: visions, hope, strangeness, fear, exhilaration
Preached: September 20, 2020
Rev. Mike Abma
Preamble: People who have visions are often considered a little strange.
Barbara Bradley Hagerty knows this.
She is, after all, a professional journalist.
She is a writer for The New York Times.
She is a reporter for NPR (National Public Radio).
She has a solid reputation in her field.
But Barbara had an experience –
She had a vision of God’s reality.
She had an experience of His presence.
This experience left her both terrified yet also exhilarated.
However, she was reluctant to tell anyone about it.
She writes about this in her book, The Fingerprints of God.
She writes that she was afraid that telling of her experience
might “ruin her reputation.”[1]
So it is now.
And so it was in 593 BC when Ezekiel was an exile in Babylon
on the banks of the Chebar river
and was given his vision.
What did people think of Ezekiel’s vision back then?
Perhaps, more importantly for today,
what will we think right now?
a) will we dismiss his vision as the product of someone with emotional problems?
b) will we be neutral, refusing to either confirm or deny that these visions even
took place?
c) or will we take these visions to heart – that they were, in fact, a revelation from
God?
We are about to read of Ezekiel’s visions,
and yes, they are strange, and complicated, and other-worldly.
For that reason, I would like to read this opening chapter in Ezekiel slowly,
and to do so, section by section
so that we can first of all begin to understand what Ezekiel saw in his vision.
After that, we will ask the question why – why was this vision given to Ezekiel?
And lastly, we will ask the question, so what? What does Ezekiel’s vision mean
for us today?
FOUR LIVING CREATURES
So let’s start our reading of Ezekiel chapter 1, and we will start at verse 4.
4 As I looked, a stormy wind came out of the north: a great cloud with brightness around it and fire flashing forth continually, and in the middle of the fire, something like gleaming amber. 5 In the middle of it was something like four living creatures. This was their appearance: they were of human form. 6 Each had four faces, and each of them had four wings. 7 Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf’s foot; and they sparkled like burnished bronze. 8 Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. And the four had their faces and their wings thus: 9 their wings touched one another; each of them moved straight ahead, without turning as they moved. 10 As for the appearance of their faces: the four had the face of a human being, the face of a lion on the right side, the face of an ox on the left side, and the face of an eagle; 11 such were their faces. Their wings were spread out above; each creature had two wings, each of which touched the wing of another, while two covered their bodies. 12 Each moved straight ahead; wherever the spirit would go, they went, without turning as they went. 13 In the middle of the living creatures there was something that looked like burning coals of fire, like torches moving to and fro among the living creatures; the fire was bright, and lightning issued from the fire. 14 The living creatures darted to and fro, like a flash of lightning.
FOUR LIVING CREATURES
In the wind and flashes of light, the first thing Ezekiel sees are these Four Living Creatures.
They are a little hard to visualize, but it seems that they have 4 of most things:
They have 4 different wings;
They have 4 different faces: the faces of a human, a lion, an ox, and an
eagle.
They even seem to have 4 hands.
We might ask, why 4,
and why the faces of a human, a lion, an ox, and an eagle?
Do these 4 represent something,
like the 4 seasons,
or the 4 directions of a compass – north, south, east and west,
or something else?
There is much speculation on what these 4 Living Creatures represent.
But what we do know is that, centuries later, when the disciple John found himself on the island of Patmos, he also has a heavenly vision.
And he also sees these 4 Living Creatures,
and describes them in a very similar way to Ezekiel,
with the same human, lion, ox, and eagle faces.
So what do these 4 Living Creatures mean for Ezekiel and for John?
These 4 Living Creatures seem to represent all Living Things in Creation,
and that they worship God in heaven on behalf of all Creation.
THE WHEELS
So let’s keep reading at verse 15
15 As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them. 16 As for the appearance of the wheels and their construction: their appearance was like the gleaming of beryl; and the four had the same form, their construction being something like a wheel within a wheel. 17 When they moved, they moved in any of the four directions without veering as they moved. 18 Their rims were tall and awesome, for the rims of all four were full of eyes all around. 19 When the living creatures moved, the wheels moved beside them; and when the living creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose. 20 Wherever the spirit would go, they went, and the wheels rose along with them; for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. 21 When they moved, the others moved; when they stopped, the others stopped; and when they rose from the earth, the wheels rose along with them; for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
Ezekiel first sees the 4 Living Creatures, and then he sees these wheels.
I know the song goes, “Ezekiel saw the wheel way up in the middle of the sky.”
But actually, the text says the wheels are on the earth.
And, like the 4 Living Creatures, these are complicated wheels, because they are wheels within wheels that are able to travel in any direction.
Somehow these wheels are connected to the Living Creatures, almost like chariots.
And we are told it is the spirit of these Living Creatures that drive the wheels and steer the wheels, up, down, left, right — everywhere.
THE DOME
Now we come to a point where we lift our eyes up, at verse 22.
22 Over the heads of the living creatures there was something like a dome, shining like crystal, spread out above their heads. 23 Under the dome their wings were stretched out straight, one toward another; and each of the creatures had two wings covering its body. 24 When they moved, I heard the sound of their wings like the sound of mighty waters, like the thunder of the Almighty, a sound of tumult like the sound of an army; when they stopped, they let down their wings.
So far, we have the 4 Living Creatures, the Wheels, and now we have the Dome.
In other places in the Bible, this Dome is called the Firmament.
It is the division between earth below and heaven above.
It is described as looking like “crystal.”
Again, centuries later, in John’s vision in Revelation 4, John also sees this Dome.
But he calls it a Sea — a sea of glass, or a sea of crystal.
THE THRONE
And now the final part of the vision, the climax of the vision.
25 And there came a voice from above the dome over their heads; when they stopped, they let down their wings. 26 And above the dome over their heads there was something like a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was something that seemed like a human form. 27 Upward from what appeared like the loins I saw something like gleaming amber, something that looked like fire enclosed all around; and downward from what looked like the loins I saw something that looked like fire, and there was a splendor all around. 28 Like the bow in a cloud on a rainy day, such was the appearance of the splendor all around. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.
When I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of someone speaking.
This is the Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
THRONE OF HEAVEN
Above the Living Creatures and the Wheels, and the Dome,
Ezekiel sees this throne – the throne of heaven.
It is blazing, it is brilliant, it shines with the colors of the rainbow.
And there on the throne, Ezekiel sees something that looks like a person – a human form on the throne.
That “human form on the throne” so unnerved Jewish interpreters
that for centuries they were not even allowed to comment on it.
But for the Christian Church, we see in that “human form on the throne” a
description of none other than Jesus in his pre-incarnation form.
But all of this is so overwhelming for Ezekiel,
so mind-blowing and awe-inspiring,
all he can do is fall flat on his face
in worship of God.
As we have slowly read through this passage,
you may have noticed that Ezekiel often writes things like
“it was something like…
Or it looked something like….
Or it appeared to be something like…”
Ezekiel clearly had a hard time putting into words what he saw.
And so, it is only right that we also have a hard time in making sense of what he
saw.
Anyone who thinks they have this vision all figured out — well, probably they
don’t.
This Vision is not meant to inform our reason,
or to satisfy our logic.
This Vision is meant to overwhelm us,
to emotionally move us,
to hit us right in our “gut.”
We can say, with the journalist Barbara Bradley Hagerty,
that this vision both terrifies us and exhilarates us.
II. WHY DOES EZEKIEL RECEIVE THIS VISION?
But now to our next big question – Why Ezekiel?
Of all people, why did Ezekiel receive this vision where he did and when he did?
Truthfully, Ezekiel was probably the last person expecting this kind of vision.
For one, he was unemployed.
He was a Priest without a Temple.
For another, he was displaced.
He was an Israelite in exile,
a person without a country.
And third, he was in despair.
Sure, he belonged to the People of God,
but by all appearances,
God had abandoned his people.
He had left them.
So now there was Ezekiel, alone and isolated,
wondering if his faith had any future.
Let me mention John, the author of the Book of Revelation once again,
because he found himself in a remarkably similar situation centuries later.
John also found himself alone and isolated,
having been exiled to the island of Patmos.
John also found himself unemployed – a pastor without a congregation.
And John also found himself wondering about the future of his faith.
All the followers of Jesus were being rounded up and persecuted.
It looked like the church was about to be snuffed out.
So both Ezekiel, in the Old Testament,
and John, in the New Testament,
were people who felt
their life was over,
their hope was gone,
and that their faith was finished.
To both these men,
the heavens opened
and God revealed himself in a dramatic way,
allowing both Ezekiel and John to catch a glimpse
of the throne of heaven
in a mind-blowing vision of glory.
And both these men received their visions for a similar reason and purpose.
For Ezekiel,
it was to hold the exiles together,
to keep them faithful,
even when they felt so isolated, so alone, and so hopeless
in the Babylonian Empire.
And for John
his vision was to hold the young and fragile church together
and to keep them faithful
even as they felt they were about to be stamped out
by the Roman Empire.
Both Ezekiel and John
received visions that
lifted their eyes,
and lifted their minds
and lifted their hearts
above the hardships of their world
to the awesome reality of the Almighty God
who sits upon His Throne.
Their visions were terrifying –
for they were catching glimpses of the Almighty God.
But their visions were also exhilarating – for this Mighty God
was their God and their Heavenly Father.
III. WHAT DOES THIS VISION MEAN FOR ME?
And now the last question – so what?
What does Ezekiel’s vision mean for me today?
Hopefully you can sense that this vision was given to Ezekiel as a gift —
a gift to an isolated, lonely person who was weary of hearing bad news
and who was beginning to lose all hope.
Perhaps we, too, can receive this vision as a gift,
For isn’t it true that
we are pandemic weary,
we are politically exhausted,
we are socially starved,
and that, for us too, hope is wearing thin?
A vision like the one given to Ezekiel,
gives us a glimpse of the BIG PICTURE.
It gives us a glimpse of history’s ultimate end,
and our ultimate destination.
Right now, in this moment, our vision of God is blurry.
Right now, our understanding of God is only limited.
But then, in the end, we will know God fully.
In the end, we will see him clearly.
As the Apostle Paul says,
in the end we will see him face to face.
How is that possible?
It is possible because the brilliant human form sitting on the heavenly throne
that Ezekiel caught a glimpse of,
was willing to leave that throne,
was willing to come down below that Dome,
was willing to become one of us,
to live for us,
to die for us
to rise again for us,
all so that we might be able to see our heavenly Father
face to face;
all so that we might be able to join that myriad in number
praising the Lord
and reigning with the Lamb.
CONCLUSION
It was twelve years ago that I received the phone call.
My mother had a massive heart attack
and was in the University hospital in London Ontario.
When I got there,
I found my mother hooked up to a ventilator
and lots of other beeping machines.
Over the course of that day
my siblings arrived – from Vancouver, Calgary, other parts of Ontario.
There we were,
all around her bed.
We knew it was the end of her life.
We knew that they would be unplugging the ventilator soon,
and she would breathe her last.
So what did we do?
We sang a hymn.
We sang a hymn we had probably sung hundreds of times,
because it was a hymn that ended hundreds of church services.
It was the hymn, “Unto God Almighty, Sitting on the Throne”.
We sang all three stanzas by memory.
Yes, we were terrified by death.
But we were also exhilarated by the promise
and the Vision – the Glorious Vision – that this hymn voiced.
People of God
the end is not catastrophe.
The end is not misery.
The end is not empty, or hopeless.
The end is the Beatific Vision.
The End is seeing God face to face.
The end is praising the Almighty on his throne.
The end is what our wholes lives have been pointing towards.
The end is what our hearts have always ached for –
the glorious vision – for me and for you.
Amen
PRAYER
O Lord, we may never have received such a dramatic vision
Of these living creatures,
Or of your glorious throne room.
And yet, may the testimony of Ezekiel,
May the testimony of John
Strengthen our hearts, and lift our spirits
With the knowledge that you are the mighty God,
And you are also, our Heavenly Father.
Amen
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Barbara Bradley Hagerty, The Fingerprints of God: The Search for the Science of Spirituality, chapter 1. ↑
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