The Opened Heavens — Chapter 1
AS we have seen, Ezekiel was one of the three prophets of the period of the captivity. Jeremiah had been left in Jerusalem amongst the poor of the land, where in vain he sought to bow their rebellious hearts under the governmental chastening of Jehovah, and was eventually carried by them into Egypt (Jer. 43:6).
Daniel was taken to Babylon, where in the king’s court he maintained a faithful testimony, and was inspired of God to reveal the rise, course, and final judgment of the great Gentile powers.
But Ezekiel finds himself at the same peril of time under far different circumstances: “I was among the captives by the river of Chebar.”
All three were faithful men of God — none more so, we may truly say, and yet they shared in different ways in the results of the unfaithfulness of the people as a whole. At the same time, special marks of God’s favor were vouchsafed to each.
To Ezekiel “the heavens were opened.”
Nowhere else does this occur in the Old Testament, and here the purpose is entirely different to what we find in the New. There, the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ on earth was the object of the Father’s delight when “the heavens were opened unto Him” at His baptism by John (Matt. 3:16,17). Then again was He the object in heaven when Stephen, the first Christian martyr, looked up and saw through those opened heavens “the Son of man standing on the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56); and it will be the same blessed One who in a coming day will issue forth from those opened heavens as the Son of man to execute judgment (Rev. 19:11-17).
These are the three occasions where in the New Testament we are shown the heavens opened. But here in Ezekiel it has to do with “visions of God,” connected with the judgment upon Israel in general, upon Jerusalem in particular, as well as upon the nations around.
The divisions of the book may here be noted. The first chapter serves as a kind of introduction to the whole, and shows us in a symbolic manner what are the varied attributes of God, who was about to interfere in judgment. Then to the end of chapter 24 there follows in chronological order a series of prophecies that had in view the rebellious people, city, and king. Next (chapters 25-32), the nations surrounding the faithless people are mentioned as objects of divine judgment. From chapters 33 to the end, Israel once more becomes the subject — their restoration morally, as well as actually, to their own land, the re-establishment of their religious life in that land, and many other matters of the deepest interest. The judgment of Gog and all his mighty hosts is likewise described in chapters 38 and 39. But all this will come before us in due course as, with God’s help, we advance through the book.
The book, then, is one of judgment introductory to full millennial blessing on the earth, when, with temple rebuilt, Israel and Judah reunited, the glory of the God of Israel will return and fill the earth with its brightness (Ezek. 43). Jehovah will be there (chap. 48:35).
But we must observe that Jehovah’s throne is not here seen in Jerusalem. The palmy days of Solomon are passed away, those days when he sat as king on the throne of the Lord in Zion and prophesied (1 Chron. 29:23). Now everything was going wrong in Israel. Unfaithfulness to the Lord, idolatry, and disobedience had brought down the wrath of the Lord upon their guilty heads, “till there was no remedy” (2 Chron. 36:16); and in Ezekiel’s vision that throne is seen “above the firmament,” — outside the city, and separate from its wickedness; above it, too, and judging it for the very sins which had driven it from its midst. The captivity of the chosen but guilty people had already commenced (Ezek. 1:2), when our prophet beholds in vision the approach of overwhelming judgment from the north (ver. 4); this was the complete destruction of the city by Nebuchadnezzar in the days of Zedekiah, “who humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet, speaking from the mouth of the Lord,” but, on the contrary, added to all his other sins that of breaking the solemn oath which he had sworn to the Gentile monarch (2 Chron. 36:12, 13). It is this descent of Babylon’s power upon Palestine that is seen in vision as the whirlwind “out of the north.” From that day to this, Jerusalem has been trodden under foot of the Gentiles, and will remain so until the time of its great tribulation is over, and Christ, the rightful King, David’s Son and David’s Lord, shall take His great power and reign.
Every feature in that which follows, suggests the thought of divine judgment and government. The cloud and the fire, the well-known Old Testament symbols of Jehovah’s presence, are alluded to in verse 4; and “out of the midst thereof” are seen to come the likeness of four living creatures. These living creatures are shown to be the cherubim of chapter 10. They are the executors of God’s government in human affairs.
The Living Creatures — Chapter 1:5-15
Without going into great detail, we may notice some features connected with these cherubim. That they are the instruments of God’s government of man upon the earth, is clear from Genesis 3:24. We need not speculate as to what character at any particular time they may have, whether angelic or human. The great and important truth we learn from this chapter is, that God’s throne is the source whence all this government proceeds, and that all this is executed according to the attributes here symbolically represented.
The living creatures are four in number, like the beasts or living creatures in the Apocalypse, which doubtless point to the same cherubic instruments of divine government. If Ezekiel 1 and Revelation 4 be read together, we cannot help being struck with the many points of resemblance.
One great feature that must strike the reader of our chapter is, that when God directs human affairs, even by indirect means, all is done with perfect intelligence, for He knows the end from the beginning (Isa. 46:10). “They had the likeness of a man,” we are told, “and every one had four faces”; amidst all classes of the animal creation man stands out prominent in intelligence, and the face is that which expresses it.
But not only were there faces, “every one had four wings”; they were marked by swiftness to accomplish, as well as by intelligence to understand. Further, “they had the hands of a man under their wings,” a symbol which denotes aptness and cleverness in execution. “They went every one straight forward”: nothing can turn God aside from accomplishing His plans; He works all things after the counsel of His own will; and though man may be rebellious and kick against the pricks, yet everything moves onward surely and certainly towards the end that God has designed, and long since foretold, — “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure” (Isa. 46:10).
Further characteristics are now added in connection with the faces of the living creatures (ver. 10). Each manifested the intelligence of man, the strength of the lion, the endurance and patience of the ox, and the rapidity of the eagle. But more than this, all moved in perfect conformity to the will of God: “whither the spirit was to go, they went” (ver. 12); and that will was carried out without any hesitation or delay, “the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning” (ver. 14). Again, the appearance of the living creatures was “like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps” (ver. 13), the very image under which God had made known to Abraham the character of His dealings with the patriarch’s seed throughout the long years of their servitude (Gen. 15.); while passing through the furnace of His chastisement, the hearts of those that feared the Lord would be sustained by the bright lamp of prophetic encouragement.
The Moving Wheels — Chapter 1:5-26.
Next we are given to see the perfect ease with which everything moved towards the accomplishment of heaven’s decrees. No figure could more forcibly present this idea to the mind than that which is here used by the Spirit of God: “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. 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 creatures was in the wheels. When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood... for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels” (vers. 19-21).
The affairs of nations and the changes in human fortunes may appear to be accidental, but with God nothing is a matter of chance, all is working towards the fulfillment of His purpose. Though the wheels of His government may to us sometimes appear to move slowly, yet all that happens “under the firmament” is in direct accord with what is “above the firmament.” Though man in the foolish pride of his puny will may seek to defy the Most High, yet God is sovereign Lord of all, and the authority of His throne is supreme, and that oftentimes where men least expect it.
With adoring heart the believer prostrates himself before Him and exclaims, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counselor? Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed to him again? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen” (Rom. 11:33-36).