Bible Studies: Worldnet Grace Ministries

EZEKIEL 1

God Manifests Himself To Man

By Johnny Tatum

PART 3: BREAKING A NATURAL LAW!

Ezekiel continues to look, and as he looks he sees more of God. Remember that he is talking about that big flash of light.

5 Within it there were figures resembling four living beings. And this was their appearance: they had human form.

Within it

Ezekiel's description is from out to in.

there were figures resembling four living beings. And this was their appearance: they had human form.

Hold that thought about the human form. We are going to see this later; however, it is very important.

For now, let us look at the four living beings. Ezekiel is seeing something like a big circle, and in the center he sees four living beings. He focuses in to get a clearer picture of each of the four living beings…

6 Each of them had four faces and four wings.

7 Their legs were straight and their feet were like a calf's hoof, and they gleamed like burnished bronze.

As we will see later, their wings were stretched out so Ezekiel can see what is under the wings…

8 Under their wings on their four sides were human hands.

Although it says human hands, the word can be used for the entire arm and hand.

As for the faces and wings of the four of them,

9 their wings touched one another;

We are going to see something about their movement later on…

their faces did not turn when they moved, each went straight forward.

That is saying something more than what it may appear.

Each of them had four faces and four wings.

There are four beings, each has four faces (a total of 16 faces) and each has four wings (a total of 16 wings). Let us pause for a moment and think about:

The Wings: [Obviously] A picture of activity, motion, and movement.

Picture: The Godhead is always doing something.

The Faces: These living beings are cherubs. (It is not said here that they are cherubs; later on it will.)

Cherubs

Figures of the cherubs were on the top of the Ark of the Covenant (see Exodus 25:10-22). Also, angelic cherubs guarded the way to the tree of life at the Garden of Eden (see Genesis 3:24). Satan was an anointed cherub (a cherub that covers), meaning that he was a cherub but he was higher ranking than the cherubs in Ezekiel's vision.

Satan was a head cherub, called the "HCIC" — a theological abbreviation meaning Head Cherub in Charge…sic!

These living beings are doing two things that are paradoxical:

They are guarding the presence of God. All of the faces symbolically mean they are looking for intruders, for undesirables. Of course, there is NO danger of someone slipping in; it is symbolic.

They are showing the way for anybody who wants to come.

It is the same paradox. God is unapproachable, but He is approachable. The faces are:

Keeping Away

and:

Showing the Way.

Application: Basically, these living beings are saying that God is unapproachable by human beings, but at the same time, God is approachable.

Their legs were straight and their feet were like a calf's hoof,

The Calf's Hoof: What would someone of Ezekiel's day associate with a calf? A calf was used for sacrifice, for trade (for money), and for food (considered the choicest of all meats).

Pointing To: The way to God is through sacrifice, through death.

Their faces did not turn when they moved, each went straight forward.

They Way the Cherub's Move: Ezekiel is describing a kind of motion that is IMPOSSIBLE.

A Picture for Us: Let us assume that we have four beings, and let us put a north, south, east, and west directional just for our picture. Arbitrarily, let us put the eagle on the north, the man on the south, the lion on the west, and the bull-calf on the east as follows:

North
Eagle
West	Lion	Bull-Calf	East
Man
South

He is NOT saying that when they move north that the eagle faced forward, and when they moved south the man faced forward. That is NOT the kind of motion he is describing. That would make sense, and the Scripture shows a motion that does NOT make sense.

Let us look at verse 12 to learn more about their movements…

12 Each went straight forward; wherever the spirit was about to go, they would go, without turning as they went.

Each of them went straightforward at the same time. We can see a motion he is describing that is impossible!

Look at verse 17…

17 Whenever they moved, they moved in any of their four directions without turning as they moved.

So you see, the reason Ezekiel keeps repeating this is that he did not understand how this was happening.

Once more, let us look at verse 20…

20 Wherever the spirit was about to go, they would go in that direction.

Ezekiel is having a hard time explaining the movements; we would too! But do you see what he is saying? Ezekiel is saying:

There are four beings in different locations. Each one is facing forward and none of them ever turns his head. But in whatever direction the four beings go, all of them are facing the same way!

This is impossible, is it not?

It would be one thing if Ezekiel said Whichever way they moved that particular one was facing that way. That would make sense. Or if he said Whichever way one of them went, the others would turn their heads so that they were all facing the same direction. Then the movements would have made sense to Ezekiel -- and to us.

The reason Ezekiel said it over and over (he repeated the same thing four times) is that he was verbalizing:

I am seeing this thing move all different directions, but I cannot catch on of them NOT looking the right way.

The anomaly (deviation from the norm) of this seems to be more strongly emphasized in the original text. Obviously, this perplexes Ezekiel! And I am sure you agree by now, it is perplexing to us as well.

A Little Grammar May Help:

All 16 Faces

As for the faces and wings of the four of them, their wings touched one another; their faces did not turn when they moved, each went straightforward. (Ezekiel 1:8b-9)

The word each in verse 9 can grammatically agree only with faces in verse 8. The editor added faces (their faces did not turn) in verse 9; [unbelievably] he made the right choice. Grammatically, the word each can only refer to faces, because wings is feminine, and each and face are both masculine. This refers to ALL 16 of the faces.

Let us look at the four faces of each of the four living beings.

We know the cherub is a picture of a Person -- a lion, bull-calf, man, and eagle -- a picture of Messiah Jesus. And Jesus of Nazareth is represented in the four Gospels:

The Gospel	Picture In The Gospel
Matthew	Jesus is the King
Mark	Jesus is the Servant
Luke	Jesus is the Perfect Man
John	Jesus is God

The Key to the Gospels Appropriating Jesus of Nazareth in Four Roles:

Jesus is ONE Person; He is NOT Four Persons.

The Key to the Four Beings Picturing One Person, Jesus [The same applies here as well.]:

The living beings are all moving in one wheel, even though it breaks the laws of three-dimensional nature that we know. Tough! Jesus is God and He can break any natural law He wants. That means:

He is four, but He is one, and His will directs Him wherever He wants to go.

Picture In The Gospels: Simultaneously, Jesus of Nazareth is King, Servant, Man and God.

That is why in the Gospels you see that Jesus is the King, but He is also the Servant. How can you be King and Servant at the same time? It is contradictory, but He is. And Jesus is also God. How can you be a King, a Servant, and God at the same time? And He is also Man. He cannot be, but He is. And Jesus does NOT go back and forth. He is not King yesterday, God today, Servant tomorrow, and Man next week. At all times He is all four, although it seemed impossible. But He is.

Picture In The Book Of Ezekiel: There are four living beings (literal cherubs) symbolizing one Person, Jesus of Nazareth.

The wills of the four beings are united in some way that Ezekiel can not understand. I am sure he has mirrors and everything else trying to catch at least one of the four looking -- to catch them turning. But at any time he looks, whatever way they are going, 16 faces are headed that way and they are not turning! Of course, Ezekiel wanted to know How can this be?

Application: Do we want to have Messiah Jesus as Someone we can understand? [Yes, that would be nice; I would like that, yes!]

If you appropriate Jesus in any one of the four ways (King, Servant, perfect Man, and God) you have Him in totality. If you understand that He came as a Servant to serve me, to die for my sins, then you have grasped Him as the perfect Man, as God, as Servant, and as King.

Next: Ezekiel 1, PART 4: WHAT IS ALL THE BUZZ ABOUT?

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