Ezekiel-Vision-of-the-Throne-of-God-Part-2

Ezekiel Vision of the Throne of God, Part 2

In keeping with the study of timing revelation, end times and prophecies, as explained in the “about TimingRevelation.com” web site, I continue here with Part 2 of the article series on the Ezekiel Vision of the Throne of God.

As explained before, this is an expounding of the vision of the throne of God that John encountered according to his writing in the book of Revelation. It follows the three-part article dealing with the judgments of the end times in the timing of the book of Revelation that I wrote back in December 2022.

In this article today I expound further on the vision of Ezekiel Part 1 and continue to focus on the magnificence and awesomeness of the throne of God going on in heaven.

This is a real revelation of the awesome view, understanding and reality of the majestic throne of God, which, as I said earlier refutes the misinterpretation of some skeptics that say the vision was about UFO's and Aliens. No, I don't think so...

(Please note that scriptures throughout these articles are from the King James Version. I have inserted, here and there, some words in brackets to facilitate the understanding of some of the old English language.)

The significance of the number 4, continued

In part 1 of this article, we ended with the significance of the number 4 which represents universality and read the scriptures in Revelation 7 verses 1 to 3:

v.1, “And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.

v.2, “And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,

v,3, “Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.

Now these are not cherubim, these are regular angels (angelos) or messengers, envoys of God – in the Greek the word for cherubim would be “cherub” (pronounced kerub), but as we can see in this verse the Greek word is angelos.

Just an interesting observation because I have seen some teachers to liken these 4 cherubim to the angels of Revelation 7, and we'll see this a little further down... the importance right here is not the type of angels, but it is in reference to the number 4 that we have discussed earlier.

We also saw in the last article that cherubim are always seen to be close to the throne of God.

Seraphim also found in heaven

And while we're on the subjects of cherubim, we learn from the Word of God that there are also seraphim in heaven around the throne of God. We read that in the book of Isaiah in chapter 6:

verse 1, "In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

v.2, "Above it stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.

v.3, "And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

v.4, "And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke."

This is awesome... and I could go on with this chapter further but it would take us too far from the focus of this vision of Ezekiel... however I add it here because it is in further support and illustration of what the throne of God looks like.

This was quite a sight to behold. So much so that Isaiah felt totally unclean, ”Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”

Interestingly the word in the Greek for seraphim is “śārāp̄” (pronounced “saw-rawf” as in 'saraph'). It means “serpent, fiery serpent”. It is used seven times in the Old Testament.

And surprisingly, this is the same word we read of the deadly serpents that bit God's people in the wilderness, when Moses made the fiery serpent and set it upon a pole, so that the people who were bitten would look onto it and live. (Number 21:8).

But here, they fly around the throne of God crying out His holiness. There is a lot more to decipher out of this passage of scripture but this of course would be beyond the scope of this article.

For now, let's get back to our present topic of the vision of Ezekiel, where we were just about to look at the four wings of the cherubim Ezekiel encountered around the throne of God.

Let's go back to Ezekiel, Chapter 1, v. 11...

We touched on the faces of the cherubim in Part 1 of this article series, how they each had four faces – one of a man, one of a lion, an ox and an eagle.

“As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.”

We also read in these scriptures that their four faces allow them to see everything around them at all times within any direction they go. We also read about their feet and their hands, and their intricate movements, etc... all in chapter 1, from verses 5 to 10, which you can read further upon.

But for now we will move on to read about their wings:

The 4 wings of the cherubim

Let's get back to our present topic of the vision of Ezekiel, where we were just about to look at the four wings of the cherubim Ezekiel encountered around the throne of God.
Let's go back to Ezekiel, Chapter 1, v. 11...

We touched on the faces of the cherubim in Part 1 of this article series, how they each had four faces – one of a man, one of a lion, an ox and an eagle.

But for now we will move on to read about their wings:

v. 11, “... and their wings were stretched (pāraḏ -- paw-rad' = separated, divided) upward (maʿal -- mah'al = upper part); two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered (clothed) their bodies.

Here the word 'stretched' means separated, divided at the upper part -- not extended.

And the word 'covered' means clothed... and here too I have heard some teach that the cherubim covered their bodies in shame or respect as if one would cover themselves with their hands... but it means two wings clothed their bodies... and we can only try to imagine how impressive that would be as part of their clothing.

The movements of the living creatures

Let's look now at the way the living creatures moved about, carrying out the command of the voice of God.

Chapter 1, v. 9 and 12 :

9, “Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.

12, “And they went every one straight forward: whither (wherever) the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.”

As we saw earlier, they had no need to turn because of the four faces side to side and forward and backward that saw simultaneously in every direction.

And as for further characteristics, we are told In Chapter 10, v. 12, that these creatures also are full of eyes...

“And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that they four had.”

Full of eyes

I read in one particular teaching about this that the eyes represent understanding as per Ephesians 1:18 -- “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened...”

and in another description it says that it represents understanding because the sight of the body corresponds to the sight of its spirit which is where we have spiritual understanding. This corroborates in the Bible with many scriptures where it speaks of spiritual enlightenment, as in the book of Matthew chapter 6 and v. 22:

“The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” The word single means, whole, without confusion.

So the living creatures were covered with understanding from top to bottom, forward and backward and side to side -- no need for AI's there in heaven !

Their appearance

Ezekiel 1, vs 13:14,

13, “As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.

14, “And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.

So how fast did they perform – quickly as lightning. They are identified with clouds, fire and wind.

Now here's another amazing process of these living creatures – they move the wheels of the chariot of God...

Ezekiel 1, vs 15-18:

v.15, “Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.

v.16, “The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: (green, precious stone) and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel. -- notice “one” likeness—they were in perfect harmony as one.

I have heard this “wheel in the middle of a wheel” explained to mean that at each of the corners of God's throne, there would be some kind of wheels at right angles to each other, which could go backward and forward and side to side in perfect concurrence. The idea being that God's throne, or chariot, can move in any direction instantly as God commands.

v.17, “When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went”. In other words, they did that without turning.

v.18, “As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.”

The rings

The rings actually translated mean a rim of convex surface, a curved surface, an arch... and as we can see again these things are also full of eyes... in other words, they were smart rings – you know, as we have down here today smart cars and smart phones, and smart TVs -- except much smarter yet!

And we read some more about a description of what Ezekiel is watching in this vision in chapter 10 and vs.15-16:

15, “And the cherubim were lifted up. This is the living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar. (ke-bar).

16, “And when the cherubim went, the wheels went by them: and when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also turned not from beside them.”

In other words, the living creatures and the wheels are in perfect tandem as they actually move the wheels of God's chariot.

Verses 9 to 12 of chapter 10 corroborates with what we read in chapter 1:

v. 9, “And when I looked, behold the four wheels by the cherubim, one wheel by one cherub, and another wheel by another cherub: and the appearance of the wheels was as the colour of a beryl stone.

v. 10, “And as for their appearances, they four had one likeness, as if a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel.

v. 11, “When they went, they went upon their four sides; they turned not as they went, but to the place whither the head looked they followed it; they turned not as they went.

v. 12, “And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that they four had.”

In other words this whole process takes place with perfect wisdom.

Commanded by someone else

Something else to notice about the wheels... these 4 living creatures are doing this not by their own power, but they are doing it through the orders or commands of someone else...

Let's take a look at verses 8 and 21 of Ezekiel chapter 10, for some further very interesting details:

8, “And there appeared in the cherubim the form of a man's hand under their wings.”

21, “Every one had four faces apiece, and every one four wings; and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings.”

In other words some man's hand is guiding this whole process. Who is that man?

Ezekiel chapter 10, verse 2 reads:

2, “And he spake (spoke) unto the man clothed with linen, and said, Go in between the wheels, even (that is) under the cherub, and fill thine hand with coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city. And he went in my sight.”

Who is “he” speaking unto the man clothed with linen?

For this we need to read the verse just prior to v. 2...

v.1, “Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubim there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.”

It is “he” who is on the throne, i.e.: God.

How do we know this?

For this we go further back to the conversation going on between Ezekiel and God in chapter 9. Remember there were no chapter divisions in the original writings. This is a scroll or a book we're reading.

In chapter 9 Ezekiel tells of what God is showing him about the abominations of his people and God's judgment upon them. It was a terrible vision that Ezekiel was receiving. You can read it in its fullness later on.

But in verse 8, it says: “And it came to pass, while they were slaying them, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord God! wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel in thy pouring out of thy fury upon Jerusalem?”

The words “Lord God” here are: “Adonay Jehovah”.

“And he (Adonay Jehovah – Lord God) spoke unto the man clothed with linen, and said, Go in between the wheels, even (that is) under the cherub, and fill thine hand with coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city. And he went in my sight.” (Verse 2 of chapter 10).

v.6 of chapter 10: “And it came to pass, that when he (Adonay Jehovah) had commanded the man clothed with linen, saying, Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubim; then he went in, and stood beside the wheels.”

Something else guides the living creatures...

Back to chapter 1 of Ezekiel, verses vs. 12, 20 and 21:

12, “And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.

20, “Whithersoever (wherever) the spirit was to go, they went, thither (there) was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels."

(Remember this line... “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 over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

So, who else is guiding the living creatures?

We will find out in Part 3 of this article on The Vision of Ezekiel, where I will expand some more on the mysteries that are going on in heaven around the throne of God and ultimately the chain of divine command taking place in heaven.

\DMH

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