Ezekiel 1:15

Ezekiel 1:15 says, Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.  Ezekiel now has a second vision concerning the things on the earth as opposed to heavenly things that he had been seeing, according to Matthew Henry.  We need to understand that even with all the trouble in the world, as followers of Jesus Christ, we are already living our everlasting life as a part of God’s family.   

Verse sixteen adds, The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.  Ezekiel said that the wheels and the work of the four living creatures were as though they were one.  Matthew Henry says that those who make good use of the discoveries of God will be blessed to make other discoveries about Him.  He also said that we often think of glorious things as existing only in the upper world, or heaven, but that glorious things exist in the lower world, or the earth.  Of course, we must establish a spiritual relationship with God by putting our faith in Jesus Christ in order to see this.   

Verse seventeen continues, When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went.  Wheels, unlike the living creatures, do not move on their own but must be moved by some outside force.  As Christians, we do not move spiritually on our own, but must be moved by an outside force, the Holy Spirit.  We might say that He isn’t an outside force if He dwells in us, but He is still outside of our spiritual self.  Wheels are also made to be moved and are steady in bearing their load.  We as Christians should be ready to move as the Holy Spirit directs us, and we should be willing to bear any burden that our faith puts on us.  Like the four living creatures and the wheels moved together and didn’t turn away from the direction they were moving in, we as Christians must work together and should not turn away from the way that God leads us.   

Verse eighteen states, As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.  Ezekiel then stated that the rings of the wheels had eyes that were up so high that they were dreadful.   Ezekiel was even afraid to look at the wheel because it was so large.  Matthew Henry says this represents God being able to look everywhere at once and our limited ability to understand His greatness.   

Verse nineteen adds, And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.  Ezekiel said that when the living creatures went somewhere that the wheels went with them and when they were lifted up from the earth, so were the wheels.  I believe this would represent the fact that God sees everything that the living creatures, or angels, do, and He sees everything that we do as well.  Matthew Henry says the wheels represent secondary causes of the work of the living creatures, but this would put them in charge of what was seen, I believe, so I am not sure I agree with him on this point.   

Verse twenty continues, Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither 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.  This verse seems to state that the Spirit, and I interpret this to refer to the Holy Spirit, lifted up the spirit of the living creatures, and it is added that the spirit of the living creature was in the wheel.   My understanding of this would be that we are to be directed by God’s Holy Spirit, which goes with us whenever we go and sees all the obstacles that might be in the way of our accomplishing His will.   

Ezekiel 1:26 says, And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.  Matthew Henry says that all the things that Ezekiel saw before this was to point him to seeing God on His glorious throne.  God will do all that he can to get us to acknowledge Him and accept His gift of salvation, but everything that He does to do so becomes unimportant once we hear Him and acknowledge Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord.  How we come to accept Him is unimportant, but the fact that we do makes all the difference.  Ezekiel also saw the likeness of the appearance of a man on the throne.  This would be a reference to Jesus Christ, Who even in heaven is unashamed to identify with mankind, though without sin. 

Verse twenty-seven adds, And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.  Though the One on the throne had the appearance of a man, He was so much more.  He was the Light of the world, Who appeared as a bright fire.  We know that our works will be tried by fire, even after we accept the Light of Christ into our life.   

Verse twenty-eight continues, As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.  Ezekiel said the appearence of the brightness all around was like a rainbow after the rain.  It brings beauty where before there had only bee gloom, and when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, He will bring a spiritual beauty where before there had only been darkness.  Ezekiel said he then fell on his face and heard the Voice of the One Who spoke, or the Voice of God speaking to Him.  No matter how bad or how glorious things around us may be, the important thing is that we hear the voice of God when He speaks to us.

Ezekiel 1:4

Ezekiel 1:4 says, And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.  Ezekiel said the first vision that he saw was a whirlwind from the north that was like a cloud of fire enfolding in on itself.  From the midst of the fire, he saw a brightness the color of amber.  It was one of the purposes of the prophets to see visions from God, and we as followers of Jesus Christ today should still have visions of Who God is.  Matthew Henry says the purpose of this whirlwind was to allow Ezekiel to see into heaven, but whether he physically saw into heaven and its glory, I cannot say.  I do know that he realized it was a great vision from God.  We will never see God face to face in this lifetime, but we need to have a clear vision of Who He is.  Of course, some of Ezekiel’s visions were not all that clear as to their meaning.  I believe we can also say that our vision of God will never be totally clear.   

Verse five adds, Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.  Ezekiel said that out of this this whirlwind of fire came the likeness of four living creatures who had the appearance of men, though it wasn’t the creatures themselves. Matthew Henry says they were like hieroglyphics that represented the angels since the angels themselves are spirits that cannot be seen, but we know of several instances when we are told of angels appearing to different people, so I am not sure I can agree that they cannot be seen.  Of course, I know angels can have different appearances since we are told sometimes, we may entertain angles unaware that we are doing so. 

Verse six adds, And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.  Ezekiel had said they had an appearance like unto men, but this doesn’t sound like any man I have ever seen.  Matthew Henry says there were four to represent the four faces they had and the four winds of heaven or the skies.  He says that unlike what some people that he doesn't think they represented four particular angels, whom some name as Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel.  As we go through the book of Ezekiel, we will find that there are different interpretations as to what these visions represent, but we do know that God gave Ezekiel the visions for a purpose.  In John’s vision, which in some ways parallels Ezekiel’s here, each of the four living creatures had one of the faces and here, each of the four had all four faces.  Matthew Henry says that in Ezekiel’s vision this means that they were all equally qualified to do the overall work of God and in John’s it may mean that some were more qualified to do a particular task.  In the church today, we are all equally qualified to  carryout the overall mission of God, but we also have different areas that we are more qualified in,   

Verse seven continues, And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass.  Their feet were straight and strong, ready to go in any direction they were sent and to bear any burden put on them.  We need to be the same way as followers of Christ today.  We should willing go anywhere God tells us to go and be willing to bear any burden serving Him might bring.