| Back to Home Page | Back to
Book Index |
Ezekiel Chapter
Ten
Ezekiel 10
Chapter Contents
A vision of the burning of the city. (1-7) The Divine
glory departing from the temple. (8-22)
Commentary on Ezekiel 10:1-7
(Read Ezekiel 10:1-7)
The fire being taken from between the wheels, under the
cherubim, 13, seems to have signified the wrath of God to
be executed upon Jerusalem. It intimated that the fire of Divine wrath, which
kindles judgment upon a people, is just and holy; and in the great day, the
earth, and all the works that are therein, will be burnt up.
Commentary on Ezekiel 10:8-22
(Read Ezekiel 10:8-22)
Ezekiel sees the working of Divine providence in the
government of the lower world, and the affairs of it. When God is leaving a
people in displeasure, angels above, and all events below, further his
departure. The Spirit of life, the Spirit of God, directs all creatures, in
heaven and on earth, so as to make them serve the Divine purpose. God removes
by degrees from a provoking people; and, when ready to depart, would return to
them, if they were a repenting, praying people. Let this warn sinners to seek
the Lord while he may be found, and to call on him while he is near, and cause
us all to walk humbly and watchfully with our God.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Ezekiel》
Ezekiel 10
Verse 2
[2] And
he spake unto the man clothed with linen, and said, Go in between the wheels,
even under the cherub, and fill thine hand with coals of fire from between the
cherubims, and scatter them over the city. And he went in in my sight.
He — That sat on the
throne.
Scatter —
That it may take fire in all parts, and none may escape.
Verse 3
[3] Now the cherubims stood on the right side of the house, when the man went
in; and the cloud filled the inner court.
The right side —
The north-side, the side towards Babylon, from whence the fire came which
consumed the city.
The man —
Christ, the Lord of angels, who now attend his coming and commands.
The cloud — As
the sign of God's presence.
The inner court —
The court of the priests, who were chief in the apostacy.
Verse 4
[4] Then
the glory of the LORD went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of
the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of
the brightness of the LORD's glory.
The glory —
The visible token of the presence of the God of glory.
Went up — In
token of his departure from the temple.
And stood —
Shewing his unwillingness to leave, and giving them time to return to him, he
stands where he might he seen, both by priests and people, that both might be
moved to repentance.
Verse 5
[5] And
the sound of the cherubims' wings was heard even to the outer court, as the
voice of the Almighty God when he speaketh.
Was heard — As
a mighty and terrible thunder.
Verse 6
[6] And it came to pass, that when he had commanded the man clothed with
linen, saying, Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubims;
then he went in, and stood beside the wheels.
And stood —
Either as one that deferred execution, to try whether the city would repent, or
as one who was to give some farther order to the angels, that were to be the
ministers of his just displeasure.
Verse 7
[7] And
one cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubims unto the fire
that was between the cherubims, and took thereof, and put it into the hands of
him that was clothed with linen: who took it, and went out.
One Cherub —
One of the four.
And took — As
a servant that reaches what his master would have.
Went out —
Out of the temple.
Verse 9
[9] And
when I looked, behold the four wheels by the cherubims, 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.
Looked — Attentively
viewed.
Beryl stone — Of
sea-green.
Verse 10
[10] And
as for their appearances, they four had one likeness, as if a wheel had been in
the midst of a wheel.
They —
The wheels. This intimates the references of providence to each other, and
their dependences on each other: and the joint tendency of all to one common
end, while their motions appear to us intricate and perplexed, yea, seemingly
contrary.
Verse 11
[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.
When —
The wheels moved by the cherubim, or that spirit of life, which moved the
living creatures.
They went —
They were so framed, that they could move on all four sides without the
difficulty and delay of turning.
Head — Of
the living creatures.
Verse 12
[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.
And —
Now he describes both the cherubim and wheels as full of wisdom, and as
governed by an excellent wisdom.
The wheels —
Which the four cherubim had to move, govern, and direct.
Verse 13
[13] As
for the wheels, it was cried unto them in my hearing, O wheel.
The wheels — As
to their frame and motion.
It was cried —
Still there was one who guided, as by vocal direction.
Unto them — To
each of them.
Verse 14
[14] And
every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the
second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the
fourth the face of an eagle.
Every one — Of
the living creatures, chap. 1:6.
Verse 17
[17] When
they stood, these stood; and when they were lifted up, these lifted up
themselves also: for the spirit of the living creature was in them.
For —
There is a perfect harmony between second causes in their dependence on, and
subjection to, the one infinite, wise, good, holy, and just God. The spirit of
God directs all the creatures, upper and lower, so that they shall serve the
divine purpose. Events are not determined by the wheel of fortune, which is
blind, but by the wheels of providence, which are full of eyes.
Verse 18
[18] Then
the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood
over the cherubims.
And stood — On
the right side of the house, where the cherubim were in the inner court.
Verse 19
[19] And
the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight:
when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at
the door of the east gate of the LORD's house; and the glory of the God of
Israel was over them above.
And every one —
The glory, the cherubim, the wheels, all stood, respiting execution, and giving
opportunity of preventing the approaching misery.
The east gate —
The last court, the court of the people.
Verse 20
[20] This
is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river of
Chebar; and I knew that they were the cherubims.
I knew —
Either by special assurance as a prophet, or by comparing them with those which
he had often seen in the temple.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Ezekiel》
10 Chapter 10
Verses 1-22
Verse 2
Fill thy hand with coals of fire from between the cherubims and
scatter them over the city.
Divine forces and human agents is retribution
I. There are in
the economy of God, terrific forces for the destruction of evil. The whirling
globe of fire was but a symbol of the manifold elements that, through processes
of pain, and it may be throes of agony, have punished and will punish sin. And
very often those elements are just those that have been guiltily used by man.
It was true of these Jews “that they had abused fire to maintain their
gluttony, for fulness of bread was one of their sins; they burned incense to
idols, and abused the altar fire which had been the greatest refreshing to
their souls, and now even this fire kindled upon them.” Thus, indeed, is it
clearly taught in the prediction of Christ, “They that take the sword shall
perish by the sword,” that the implements of our evil become the engines of our
punishment. And such engines have terrific force.
1. To avoid sin ourselves.
2. To believe in the final victory of goodness.
II. The great
forces provided against evil will often be used by the instrumentality of man.
A man’s hand was to scatter these coals of retribution. Thus it commonly is. As
man is the tempter, so is man frequently the punisher of man. Chaldean armies
are instruments of Divine righteousness. Human judges are often the swords of
God: human revolutionists the vindicators of liberty against despots. It is for
this hand sometimes to scatter the fires of retribution; but ever to scatter
the fires of purification. The consuming of the sin--sin in thought, sin in
feeling, sin in habit, rather than retribution, on the sinner, may perhaps be
the higher and better teaching of this vision for all of us. (Urijah R.
Thomas.)
Verse 8
And there appeared in the cherubims the form of a man’s hand under
their wings.
The hand and the wing
There are two proofs of our religious life. The first is our great
thoughts of God; the second is our great deeds for God. On the first we soar up
to Him as on a wing; with the second we labour for Him as with a hand. The
Bible, the whole structure of our sacred faith, appeals to the two aspects of
life--divine and human. It has the wing and the hand; it reaches out to heights
we cannot attain; it is suffused in splendours and in mysteries beyond our
endurance. The Trinity and the Godhead, eternal duration, the origin of things,
the eternal love of God to man, His electing and atoning grace--how far off
these things seem. On the other hand, how it sinks down to sympathy, to
fellowship, to suffering, arching them over by visible and invisible majesty.
Thus, while man mourns over his lot, that “his strength is labour and sorrow,”
he finds, as Ruskin has finely said, that “labour and sorrow are his strength”;
and God makes him fit for soaring by sorrowing or by sympathetic doing.
I. See what a
Divine work creation is. Here, in this human hand beneath the angel’s wing, do
we see the procedure of the Divine work. All God’s most beautiful things are
related to use. God does not unfold from His mind beauty alone. Infinite
thought, ah! but infinite manipulation too; this hand, the hand of the Infinite
Artist, tinted every flower and variegated every leaf into loveliness; this
hand, the hand of the Infinite Mechanician--I do not like the word, but let it
go--gave respiration and lustre arid plumage to the wing of every bird; this
hand, the hand of the Infinite Architect, poised every planet in space, and
adapted its measure of force to every grain of sand. I would not preach a gospel
of cold utilitarianism--that word usually represents the hand without the wing;
it is the depravity of logic which it represents, not the Divine reason and
fitness. On the contrary, many know nothing of use. Oh, what wasted lives we
lead! Alas! alas! our most beautiful things are as perishable foam bells, born
and expiring on a wave. Not so God.
II. Then you see
what Divine providence is. Man is the one manifold. In the multiplicity of
Divine operations we see the human hand beneath the angel’s wing. “A little
lower than the angels,” God carries on His great operations. What is this
humanity which everywhere meets us alike, in things above and beneath? “Angels
desiring to look” into the things of men, and all nature striving upward into
manhood. By men surely God carries on some of the greatest affairs of His
providence. From His exalted concealment, God is constantly energising by the
human hand. This in all ages has been. And is not our redemption a hand, the
human hand beneath the Divine wing, a hand stretched out, “the likeness of a
man’s hand beneath the cherubim.” What is the humanity of Jesus but the human
hand beneath the Divine wing? If all things on earth whisper man, and point to
man, and reflect man, and prophesy the reign and the ultimate Christian
perfectibility of man, oh, what a consolation is this! Thus, also, this
thought, this idea, rebukes the many false modern notions of God. See in this
God’s own picture of His providence; and never be it ours to divorce that human
from the Divine in God’s being.
III. See, in the
human hand beneath the wing of the angel, the relation of a life of action to a
life of contemplation. The great Gregory says, “The rule of the Christian life
is first to be joined to an active life in productiveness, and after, to a
contemplative mind in rest.” Thus, when the mind seeks rest in contemplation,
it sees more, but it is less productive in fruit to God; when it betakes itself
to working, it sees less but bears more largely. Hence, then, by the wings of
the creatures we may behold the contemplations of the saints, by which they
soar aloft, and, quitting earthly scenes, poise themselves in the regions of
heaven; as it is written, “They shall mount up as on wings.” And by the hands
understand deeds, they administer even by bodily administration; but the hands
under the wings show how they surpass the deeds of their action by the
excellence of contemplation.
IV. Religion is the
human hand beneath the angel’s wing. It is both. So I may say to you: Has your
religion a hand in it? Has your religion a wing in it? Has it a hand? It is
practical, human, sympathetic. Has it a wing? It is lofty, unselfish,
inclusive, divine. Has it a hand? How does it prove itself? By embracing, and
this hand laying hold upon--by works. Has it a wing? How does it prove itself?
By prayer, by faith, by heaven. I do not know if you have read and are
acquainted with the essay of that eminent man, Richard Owen, “On the Nature of
Limbs”; if so, you did not fail to meditate on that frontispiece, in which the
science of anatomy rises into more than the play of poetry; where that great,
perhaps greatest of all anatomists, does not hesitate to show to us by a
diagram, the human skeleton hand, clothed upon, preening, developing into the
wing of an angel. But faith sees more than science: faith does, indeed, behold
the hand rising into the wing; indeed, sees in the hand only the undeveloped
wing. Without a doubt it shall be so; we are preparing for the hour when our
wings shall burst from their prison and spring into the light. (E. P. Hood.)
The hidden hands of Christlike ministry
Oberlin, the French philanthropist, was once travelling in the
depth of winter amongst the mountains of Alsace. The cold was intense, the snow
lay thickly upon the ground, and ere the half of his journey was over he felt
himself yielding to fatigue and sleep. He knew if he gave way to sleep he would
wake no more; but in spite of this knowledge, desire for sleep overcame him,
and he lost consciousness. When he came to again, a waggoner in blue blouse was
standing over him, urging him to take wine and food. By and by his strength
revived, he was able to walk to the waggon, and was soon driven to the nearest
village. His rescuer refused money, saying it was his duty to assist one in
distress. Oberlin begged to know his name, that he might remember him in his
prayers. “I see,” replied the waggoner, “you are a preacher. Tell me the name
of the Good Samaritan.” “I cannot,” answered Oberlin, “for it is not recorded.”
“Ah, well,” said the waggoner, “when you can tell me his name, I will then tell
you mine.” And so he went away. (The Signal.)
Verse 9
The four wheels by the cherubims.
The Divine government
I. This vision
represents the absolute and universal government of God.
1. That God does possess and wield such a government is indicated by
the reference to the throne--an object which is in itself the symbol of supreme
power. It is indicated also by a reference to the influences emanating from the
throne, and regulating the movement of the cherubim and of the wheels--the
cherubim signifying angelic beings, and the wheels signifying the procedure and
course of mundane affairs, all subordinated to Him and regulated by Him, the
possessor of infinite majesty. While we acknowledge its immensity, let us
endeavour habitually and most profoundly to feel that we ourselves are subject
to the government of God.
2. The peculiar connection in which this government is exhibited. The
prophetic descriptions speak of a human form as being associated with the
manifestation of the Divine glory. Now, from the analogous statements of
inspiration we cannot do otherwise than consider this part of the vision as
introducing to us the Son of God--Him who became incarnate in the fulness of
time, as Mediator uniting in Himself the human and the Divine nature, and in
that complex state effecting the great work of human redemption. What is
pourtrayed can suit none but Him; and to Him, as “Emmanuel, God with us,” “God
manifest in the flesh,” it does emphatically and beautifully answer.
II. This vision
represents the characteristics which the procedure of the Divine government
includes and exemplifies.
1. There is a representation of its intricacy. This is conveyed in
the structure of the cherubim; it is conveyed in the relation between the
cherubim and the wheels; and it is conveyed in what is stated as to the wheels
themselves. We live truly in the midst of mysteries; and as those mysteries
pass, in their dark and shadowy forms, there ever resounds to us the challenge,
“Lo, these are parts of His ways,” etc.
2. There is the characteristic of intelligence. It is stated, with
regard to the agencies which are now introduced for our attention, that “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”; the eyes,
according to the interpretation of Scripture symbols, being known as the signs
and emblems of intelligence. Here, we conceive, we have the fact brought before
us, that the system according to which the course of our world proceeds is not
that of blind mechanism or fate--a dogma which modern infidelity, imitating its
predecessors, has revived and promulgated, but that it proceeds under the
direction of mind, the highest operation by which events can by possibility be
regulated. The infinite mind of Jehovah is constantly occupied in directorial
functions. That infinite mind formed the plan of government, and that infinite
mind, as the course of His government proceeds, is ever active, diffusing
itself to the furthest range, and penetrating to the most minute recesses,
lighting up all as with the radiance of its own emissions, and by knowing all,
prompting and ordering all.
3. There is the characteristic of immense and ever active energy. We
read, for example, of the cherubim and of their movements, that “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,” etc. “And the
living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.”
And as to the wheels it is said, “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.” The agencies which are set in
motion by God never cease and never tire, but pass steadily and uniformly
onward, in order to accomplish the purpose of Him who “worketh all things
according to the counsel of His own will”--their energy being constantly
supplied and fed by the resources of His energy, which is inexhaustible, as the
God who is almighty, the Lord God Omnipotent.
4. There is the characteristic of harmony. We read that the wheels
have one likeness; and we read also that the wheels and the cherubim act and
proceed in entire and in perfect concert. “I looked,” says the prophet, “and
behold the four wheels”--“the spirit of the living creature was in them.” We
learn from this that the agencies employed under the Divine administration are
never disjointed from each other, never contravene or oppose each other, but
blend all their movements and operations as though they were actually,
notwithstanding their multifariousness and variety, one. We may observe that
the procedure of these agencies is also in perfect harmony with the original
plan of the Divine mind, never for a moment deviating from it, but always
answering to that which is designed to be accomplished. We may also observe
that the procedure of these agencies thus harmonising will finally appear so
before the whole intelligent creation, that they may admire, and that God may
receive His highest glory.
III. This vision
represents the tribute which the government of God, so characterised, demands.
1. The government of God, thus characterised, demands our adoration.
It is truly the development of what is great and ineffably majestic; and the
proper tribute for the development of its greatness and majesty is that of
humble and awful reverence.
2. The government of God, so characterised, demands our study.
Intelligent beings were formed with the view that they should become the
students of the government of God. It is made known to them that they might
meditate upon it, so as to apprehend it; and only thus can they offer the other
departments of the tribute which are required from them. The Divine procedure
and government is the noblest theme which can possibly engage our immortal
mind. There is nothing but what is comprehended here. It includes all history,
all the inventions of art, all the discoveries of science--science, whether
confined to matter or mind, whether referring to our own world or to the most
distant tribes that are discoverable in the vast universal of space: all things
that can engage our imagination or reason are comprehended in the government of
God.
3. The government of God, as thus characterised, demands our
submission. “Nay, but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Be still
and know that I am God.”
4. The government of God, thus characterised, demands our confidence.
If for our eternal welfare we are reposing upon the testimony which He has
given us concerning His Son, let us exercise the same confidence with regard to
the interests of nations, and with regard to the wellbeing of the Church; and
let us not doubt that all things now transpiring around us, in the passions of
communities, in the convulsions of nations, and in the events disastrous or
Otherwise, which affect the interests of the Church, are under the management
of the same perfect principle, and are gradually intended to evolve the same
grand and delightful results. And then let us trust also in our anticipations
of the future. (J. Parsons.)
Verse 12
Full of eyes round about.
Divine vigilance
God has been called “All eye.” This is the terrible pain of
living, that there is no privacy, no solitude, no possibility of a man getting
absolutely with himself and by himself. Wherever we are we are in public. We
can, indeed, exclude the vulgar public, the common herd, the thoughtless
multitude; a plain deal door can shut out that kind of world: but what can shut
out the beings who do the will of Heaven, and who are full of eyes, their very
chariot wheels being luminous with eyes, everything round about them looking at
us critically, penetratingly, judicially? We live unwisely when we suppose that
we are not being superintended, observed, criticised, and judged. “Thou God
seest me”; “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth.” We
need not regard this aspect of Divine providence as alarming. The aspect will
be to us what we are to it. Faithful servants are encouraged by the remembrance
of the fact that the taskmaster’s eye is upon them; unfaithful servants will
regard the action of that eye as a judgment. Thus God is to us what we are to
God. If we are humble, He is gracious; if we are froward, He is haughty; if we
are sinful, He is angry; if we are prayerful, He is condescending and
sympathetic. Let the wicked man tremble when he hears that the whole horizon is
starred with gleaming eyes that are looking him through and through; but let
the good man rejoice that all heaven is one eye looking upon him with
complacency, watching all his action that it may come to joy, reward, rest, and
higher power of service in the generations yet to dawn. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The eyes of Providence
“Full of eyes round about.” Here is a difference from that in Ezekiel 1:18. It is said there the rings
were full of eyes; here, that all, even wheels and cherubims, were full of
eyes, and He that sat on the throne, even the Lord, He is full of eyes.
1. The motions of causes and creatures here below are not casual or
disorderly. The wheels and cherubims are full of eyes, they see and know their
way, the work they have to do, the place they are to go unto; the eye of
Providence is in every creature and every motion. When things fall out
contrary, or beside our expectations, you say they are mischances; but you are
mistaken: in sea or land affairs, in martial, magisterial, or ministerial, yea
domestic affairs, whatever falls out is an act of Providence; surprising or
sinking of ships, disappointment of counsels, defeating of armies, escape of
prisoners, interception of letters, firing of towns, drownings,
self-murderings, divisions of brethren, clandestine marriages, abortions,
divorces, the eyes of Providence are in them all, and heaven’s intentions are
accomplished in them.
2. There is much glory and beauty in the works of Divine providence.
All the wheels and cherubims are full of eyes; the wheels have eyes round
about, not in one place, but in every place; the cherubims, their bodies,
backs, hands, and wings are full of eyes; and (Revelation 4:8) they are full of eyes
within, they are inwardly and outwardly glorious, beautiful. Man’s eyes add not
so much beauty and glory to his face, as these eyes do to the works of God in
the world. The peacock’s train, which is full of eyes, how beautiful and
glorious is it! yet far short of the beauty and glory which is in God’s
government of the world. When the queen of Sheba saw so much wisdom in a man,
so much glory and beauty in the order of his house, she admired, and had no
spirit left in her (1 Kings 10:4-5). And could we see
the wisdom which is in God, the glory and beauty which is in His ordering the
wheels, we would be so far from complaining of any wheel’s motion that we would
admire every wheel, the order and motion of it; but oh, how blind are we, who
hardly have an eye to see any of these eyes! When a man is on a high hill,
there are many hedges, ditches, and separations of one piece of land from
another; there are low shrubs and higher trees, here a hill and there a river;
yet all contribute something to make a beautiful and glorious prospect to the
eye: and so it is in the works of providence. If we were lifted up by the
Spirit to view the wheels and their motions, we should find that all these
things that seem grievous to us, our wars, divisions, taxes, burdens, and such
like, do contribute much towards a glorious prospect. (W. Greenhill, M. A.)
Verse 13
O wheel.
The wheel of providence
I take this figure to refer to Divine providence--the actual
dealings of the Creator with His creatures; so various, so complicated, and yet
so harmonious after all.
I. The changes in
God’s providence. The chariot that we see here is not of the old rude type, not
a mere sledge drawn roughly and heavily along the ground; but something more
ingenious and more elaborate. It has its wheels--that beautiful kind of
mechanism, which none of the most recent improvements in locomotion have been
able to supersede; the wheel, with its many spokes and perfect circle, ever
revolving and revolving. Many of us can recollect the time when, as children,
our minds first caught the idea of the motion of a wheel; the higher part
becoming the lower, the spokes that were upward becoming reversed and pointing downward,
whilst from beneath other spokes were ever rising to the top; and so, nothing
continuing at one stage--nothing to be seen but change, change, perpetual
change. And now, no longer children, we see it all in providence; and, seeing
it, look up and cry, “O wheel!”
1. We see it in social life.
2. We see it in national experience. See what our Father is doing in
the earth, what changes--what mighty changes--He is working on every hand. This
is no new aspect of His dealings. There was a time when on the spokes of the
wheel were written the names of Babylon and Persia, of Greece and Rome. And
then the wheel turned round: and each in succession rose to the summit--and was
humbled to the dust. Has it not been the same story ever since? and is it not
the same story now? It matters not what political opinions you may hold. As you
watch the rise and fall of nations, parties, and opinions on the wheel of
Divine providence, you are constrained to cry, “O wheel!”
3. We see it in the history of the professing Church. Ephesus,
Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea--these are the names
of seven famous Churches: Churches to which Christ Himself dictated sacred
letters, and which stood high and conspicuous in the religious history of the
world. Where are they now? The wheel has turned! They are sunk down into the
mire, and lie buried there! So too with the Churches to which Paul wrote. Where
are Corinth, Galatia, Philippi, Colosse, Thessalonica? The mosque rises where
once stood the Christian sanctuary, and the Crescent has displaced the Cross.
But you say, The Church of Rome still stands. It does! But is this the Church
to which Paul wrote? So you may go through the professing Churches of every
name--at home and abroad--near or far, and you will find nothing uniform or
stationary: only change upon change--increase and decrease--advance and decline
until you stand amazed and bewildered, and can only cry, “O wheel!”
II. Progress in the
midst of all these changes. The wheel the prophet saw was not like the wheel we
may see in fireworks,--one which revolves round the axle, leaving the axle
motionless; it was the wheel of a chariot--one which carries the axle with it,
and bears the chariot on with each revolution. And there is something in this
view very cheering in the truth it suggests: that in the midst of so many
changes of God’s providence a real progress is taking place. Bear in mind--the
progress of the chariot is independent of the position of the separate spokes.
Some of them may be rising, some falling; but each moment the chariot goes on.
Nay, some of them may be actually moving backwards--but still the chariot goes
forwards. Just so, all the changes in God’s providence--even those that look
like changes in the wrong direction--are helping on the progress after all.
1. In what sense is this to be understood? In what forward movement
are these changes bearing a part? I answer, in the accomplishment of the
purposes of God. The world is to be converted to God. “All the ends of the
earth shall remember,” “I, if I be lifted up,” etc. The Church is to be
complete in members, purity, and bliss. We read of “a multitude that none can
number, of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues.” We read of saints
“without spot or blemish,” and these are “presented faultless,” etc. The
Redeemer is to have a large and abundant reward. “He shall see of the travail,”
etc.
2. In what way can this progress come to pass? How can changes so
disastrous help forward the accomplishment of purposes so delightful? We have
to do with One who is “wonderful in counsel and excellent in working.” There
may be lions in the path--but He slays the lions, “and out of the eater comes
forth meat, and out of the strong, sweetness.” There may be passions in man’s
heart worse than beasts of prey,--but He so controls their working that in the
end “the wrath of man shall praise Him.” “Is there anything too hard for the
Lord?” (F. Tucker, B. A.)
The mysteries of providence
I. The extent and
universality of its operations. The wide reach of God’s providential government
comprehends what is easy to be understood as well as what is mysterious. The
light and the darkness are often placed together, though in reality they are
both alike to Him. With God there is nothing incomprehensible:--the terms great
and little, easy and difficult, with Him are words of the same meaning. When we
read the account of these wheels, of their rings and their motions, and the
living creatures that accompanied them, we are confounded. Yet it is easy to
conceive of the Son of Man governing the celestial inhabitants according to the
will of His Father, regulating their movements by the agency of His Spirit, and
employing them as instruments in accomplishing His gracious purposes.
II. The complexity
of its movements.
1. Is it not intended to mortify our pride? There is no religion
without humility.
2. Does it not serve to exercise our faith and patience?
3. Is it not designed to check in us a lawless spirit of curiosity?
III. The perpetuity
of its revolutions. The changes that are taking place in the history of
nations, churches, families, and individuals are all tending to the completion
of His designs. Are they not intended to teach us how uncertain and
unsatisfactory are all created things?
IV. The harmony of
their concurrence.
1. They are all directed to one object.
2. They are all acting upon one plan. Here there is nothing casual or
fortuitous. The past has made way for the present, and the present is preparing
for the future.
3. They are all animated by one influence.
V. It is unimpeded
in its progress. We mean not to say that there are no hindrances in the way of
the Divine purposes being accomplished; for ignorance, prejudice, and sin
present most formidable barriers; but as the wheels in the vision are described
as going forward, impelled by a Divine influence, it certainly teaches us that
God’s will is irresistible, and intimates the certain triumph of truth in the
world. (Essex Remembrancer.)
Ezekiel’s vision of the wheel
The cry, “O wheel,” the articulated cry of the universal human
spirit, meant, “O Divine mystery! the intellect cannot comprehend thee, yet the
heart’s aspiration is towards thee.”
1. This exclamation indicates our proper attitude in presence of
these mysteries as one of awe, and not of definition. Modern scientific
investigation tends to reveal to us, more and more humiliatingly, the
narrowness and impotence of our faculty. The very growth of knowledge makes
manifest the limitations and the illusiveness of knowledge. And the danger is
that of a universal scepticism; that men should say, “I cannot know anything as
it is, and therefore I will believe nothing, obey nothing, but the instincts of
my own nature.” It is only the spirit of reverence that can save us. Let us not
spend our intellectual energies and dissipate our spiritual forces in the
pursuit of that which ever eludes us. Let our language be, “Though we cannot
comprehend, we will adore.” And so let our reverence teach us obedience and
love, and our piety be of the life and not of the intellect. Let us not divorce
religion from life, and make it a series of dead abstractions instead of a
living spirit. It is the pursuit of a good that is known, and not speculation,
however dogmatic, upon that which is unknowable, that constitutes practical
religion. It is “in loving our brother whom we have seen” that we attain to the
love of God, “whom we have not seen.”
2. In all this imagery the prophet is describing a vision of God, and
by the emblem of the wheels he describes so much as is understood of the Divine
nature. There is breath in the wheels. It is a living deity. There are eyes
around the peripheries. This points to infinite knowledge and intelligence as
overruling the world. The wheels are four-faced; the faces representing the
different orders of creation, showing the relation of the Divine Spirit to all
the various kingdoms of life. The movements are swift and in all directions,
there being a double motion of the wheels, which are inserted in pairs at right
angles to each other. This suggests the idea of omnipresence. The mischief is,
that so many minds stay in the symbol and suffer it to block out the spiritual
idea, instead of serving as a stepping stone to it The wheel becomes the deity
instead of the symbol of deity; the object of idolatry, instead of simply a
spiritual hieroglypbic to aid our conceptions of the Divine.
3. The wheel which the prophet saw in his vision stands not only for
a representation of the Divine nature, as he conceived it, but also as an
illustration of the Divine method in the universe.
4. I find further suggested by this emblem, the Divine law of
progress. The revolution of the wheels results in transition over space. There
is the motion, not only upon their own several axes, but through the air and
over the ground, according to the will of the informing spirit. They are the
type, not only of motion, but of locomotion, Winter after winter the leaves
fall, and vegetation dies down, and everywhere is apparent decay and death. But
nature is only recovering herself for another effort, and in the spring every
tree shoots forth into a more vigorous growth. Nature dies to live again. Out
of the decomposition of last year’s foliage what new and beauteous forms of
floral life have sprung! And their decay in turn will nourish other forms of
life. “Every atom of the soil is in the universal wheel of things.” Shall this
be true of nature alone? Shall not man rise through seeming dissolution to his
true completion? As one of our modern mystics says, “We call autumn the fall of
the year, and winter the dead past of the year, but they are as really included
in the circuit of the year as spring and summer. Let us learn to contemplate
the fall and the death of man, together with his new birth and resurrection,
his ascension and glorification, as comprehended in the wheel of God.”
5. The prophet is careful to tell us that, complex as were the
wheels, they were not mere dead mechanism. “The spirit of life was in the
wheels.” The immanency of the Divine life in all things was to him a noble and
a helpful conception. And the latest teachings of science and philosophy, God’s
modern priests and prophets, are that all this mighty universe, all the things
that we see and hear and perceive, are the phenomena, the manifestations, of a
hidden but all-pervading life that, through our sensations, is thus in direct,
constant, and vital contact with our consciousness. There is no such thing as
dead matter. It is we who are dead, not to perceive the life that is in all.
6. Think of Ezekiel’s monsters and griffins, and his impossible
machinery careering through the air, as embodying the thought of God; and then
contrast these representations with those of Him who said, “He that hath seen
Me hath seen the Father”; who translated Divine abstractions into living and loving
deeds; who healed the sick, and said, “That is God”; who taught the ignorant,
and said, “That is God”; who forgave injuries, and said, “That is God”; who
laid down His life, and said, “That is God”; who pointed to no grotesque
symbols and spoke in no mystical jargon, but of the ever-serving, the
ever-sacrificing, the ever-present, the ever-loving Father--God. (J. Halsey.)
Wheels
I. The wheel, as a
rule, moves round one central bar of wood or iron, which we call an axis or
axle. It teaches us a lesson in this respect. Our lives should have one strong
principle, about which they should move just as the wheel does round its axle,
and never turn aside in the least.
2. The wheel often bears the burdens of others, and thus hellos the
world to go on. This is true of many kinds of wheels; but I will only speak now
of those which you see every day under all kinds of conveyances on railways and
in our streets. How patiently they turn round and round, often along dirty
roads, in order to carry the heavy burdens laid upon them! I want you children
to be like the wheels, always ready to render a kind service to others: “Bear
ye one another’s burdens, and thus fulfil the law of Christ.”
3. There is many a wheel that is satisfied with working out of sight.
For instance, the wheels of the clock or watch go on doing their work although
most attention is paid to the hands which they turn rather than to themselves.
There are many in the world who could learn a great deal from wheels that work
patiently out of sight. They are willing to be flywheels, which everybody can
see and admire; but not to be little wheels, which do their work unnoticed by
anyone--except by the Great Engineer, who knows them well, and what important
work they are doing. There are others who are satisfied with the thought that
this Divine Engineer is pleased with them because they do just the work He
wishes them to do; and know that He is “no respecter of persons.”
4. The wheel only asks of us a little oil to encourage it to go on.
The other day I heard the wheels of a perambulator crying piteously for just
two drops of oil; but the nursemaid was as deaf as a pest, and did not hear
them, and the poor wheels went on squeaking. There are some good, kind people
who will do all they can for the sake of others; but occasionally they want a
little oil by way of encouragement; a kind word or smile, that is all. (D.
Davies.)
The vision of the wheels
None of all the prophets have set out the providence of God in His
wisdom, power, sovereignty, and superintendency more than this prophet Ezekiel,
nor by more elegant emblems. In the whole verse you have four parts.
I. The crier.
Which though not expressed, yet is necessarily to be understood. “It was
cried”; by whom? By Him that sat upon the throne (verse 1), that is the Lord.
II. You have the
cry itself. “O wheel!”
III. The object of
the cry. To whom it was made; it was to the wheels. “As for the wheels, it was
cried to them.”
IV. Here is the
witness in whose presence the cry was uttered, and that was the prophet. “It was
cried in my hearing.” In speaking of these wheels, it will be necessary to look
into the whole vision. In which vision you may see an excellent subordination
of causes one to another, and all to the supreme cause, in the carrying on the
government in the providential kingdom of Christ.
1. You have the supreme cause set out by the appearance of a man upon
a throne above the firmament (Ezekiel 1:26). Above the firmament was
the likeness of a throne, and upon the throne was the likeness of a man above
upon it. The likeness of a man. Who is this but the Lord Christ in the Person
of the Mediator? But Christ was not as yet come in the flesh, why then is He
here represented in the likeness of a man?
2. Though Christ rules absolutely, yet He doth not rule immediately;
He governs the world by the agency of the Eternal Spirit. As Christ rules for
God, so the Spirit rules for Christ. He is the great Administrator of the
government throughout the mediatory kingdom. He sets all a-going (Ezekiel 1:12). Whither the Spirit was to
go, they went; and again (verse 20), whithersoever the Spirit was to go, they
went; thither was their Spirit to go. All the angels of God are under the
command of the Spirit. And so it is with the wheels, they all move as the
Spirit of God moves them. What great things did the judges in Israel of old!
Why, all was by the Spirit of God. So it is said of Othniel, the Spirit of the
Lord came upon him, and he went out to war, and the Lord delivered his enemies
into his hand ( 3:10). So it is said ( 11:29), The Spirit of the Lord came upon
Jephthah, and he fought against the children of Ammon; and the Lord delivered
them into his hands. So it is said of Samson: The Spirit of the Lord moved him
( 13:25). Princes, armies, navies are all
nothing without the Spirit of God act them. If God dispirits, the men of might
cannot find their hands. The sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them (Leviticus 26:36). And if God spirits men,
one shall chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight (Deuteronomy 32:30). The wheels go which
way soever the Spirit goes. If you see the wheel go over kingdoms, and break
down thrones and sceptres, marvel not at the matter, for the Spirit of God is
in the wheels.
3. Here is another subordination of causes; and that is the living
creatures. In chap. 1:5 you read of four living creatures, every one of which
had four faces (Ezekiel 1:6). He doth not say who or what
these living creatures are in that vision; but in this tenth chapter he tells
you they are the angels (Ezekiel 1:20). The living creatures that
I saw, under the God of Israel, I knew that they were the cherubims; everyone
had four faces apiece (Ezekiel 1:21). The former vision was at
Chebar, this was in the temple. God discovers Himself more in the temple than
at Chebar (Psalms 29:9). And if you look into chap.
1:10, there is a description of their faces. As for the likeness of their
faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, and the face of
an ox, and the face of an eagle. The very same faces with the four beasts
mentioned (Revelation 4:7). These four faces show
four excellent endowments. Wisdom and prudence, typed out by the face of a man.
Courage and boldness, by the face of a lion. Diligence and industry, by the
face of an ox. Expedition and dispatch, by the face of an eagle. These were the
likeness of the four faces of each cherubim, all which is to instruct us in the
wise forecast by which the Providence of God doth dispose of all these lower
events that come to pass in the world. The angels are the great ministers of
Christ in the government of the world, called four here (chap. 1:5), four
living creatures; not because Christ uses that number, and no more, but the
number relates to the object, namely, the world, which is constantly divided
into four parts, east, west, north, and south; and these are called the four
quarters of the earth (Revelation 20:8). And the four quarters
of heaven (Jeremiah 49:36). As there are four parts
of the world, so the angels are said to be four; to show that they have a care
of the whole earth (Revelation 7:1). But otherwise God doth
not use only four angels in the conducting the affairs of the world, but many,
yea multitudes (2 Kings 6:17). Christ hath His
angels in all quarters; as the devil and his angels compass the whole world for
evil, so Christ hath His angels who compass it for good. They are in every
corner and company; especially in every church and assembly. The inward part of
the temple was to be adorned with cherubims, to note the special attendance of
the angels in the assemblies of the saints (1 Corinthians 11:10). If Satan and
fallen angels have a power to influence the affairs of the world for evil, then
surely good angels have as much power as they to influence them for good,
otherwise devils should gain by their fall more than ever they had by their
standing. Great is the influence of angels in the governments of the world;
therefore the wheels are said to follow the motions of the cherubims (Ezekiel 10:16).
4. Here is a further subordination; and that is of the affairs of the
world to the angels. Christ, who rules all, sends His Spirit, the Spirit acts
the angels, the angels rule the world, and therefore you have in the next place
a vision of wheels. By these wheels the world is resembled, and all the affairs
of it (Ezekiel 1:19). 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. And ver.
2. When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood.
Now they which are called here the living creatures are in Ezekiel 10:16 called the cherubims, and
the reason of all is in the next words, for the Spirit of the living creature
is in them, i.e. in the wheels, as it is twice mentioned (Ezekiel 1:20-21). So that here you have a
short view of the whole subordination of causes one to another, and of all to
the supreme cause, in ordering all the affairs of this lower world. God the
Father puts the government of all into the hands of Christ. Christ substitutes
the Spirit to be His Prorex, and sends Him into the world to manage all things.
The Spirit acts the angels, and they all minister to Him. The angels act the
wheels, and they all are governed by them. I must open this part of the vision
a little more distinctly concerning the wheels--
1. As to the nature of them.
2. As to what is ascribed to them.
1. As for the nature of these wheels, they are visional, and
presented by way of emblem. The prophet tells you (chap. 1:1) the heavens were
opened, and I saw visions of God. These wheels were a part of those visions,
and therefore not material wheels, but yet as really represented to the eye of
the prophet in similitude, and as strongly impressed upon his mind in the image
of them as if they had been material. By the wheels we are to understand this
visible world, because of the turnings and changes of all things in it. It is
usual with the Spirit of God to resemble the world to things that are in their
nature most mutable.
2. As to what is ascribed to them. Now, concerning these wheels,
there are several things ascribed to them that are of very great moment.
1. Their going.
2. Their being lifted up.
3. Their returning.
1. Their going. It is said they went; and this going of theirs hath
two circumstances not to be passed by.
2. They are lifted up. The living creatures were lifted up from the
earth (Ezekiel 1:19; Ezekiel 10:17). The expression may be
taken either in an active or a passive sense. Take it actively, the living
creatures lift up themselves from the earth, and the wheels lifted up
themselves also, and then it imports their looking up to heaven for direction
and assistance. So do the angels, and so do the wheels, to teach us that there
is no moving right in the work of God, without direction and assistance from
God; therefore says David, To Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul (Psalms 25:1). Wisdom to guide the
undertaking, help to perfect the performance, and success to crown the service.
If the expression be taken in a passive sense, then this lifting up imports a
Divine power influencing the creatures in a more than ordinary manner, to fit
them for some eminent service. It is said of Jehoshaphat, that his heart was
lifted up in the ways of the Lord (2 Chronicles 17:6), i.e. he
was carried above all discouragements and difficulties; and made strong and
valiant for God and His work. This teaches us that God doth sometimes spirit
second causes in an unwonted manner, and elevates them above themselves. So it
was with David’s worthies; of one of whom it is said, he lifted up his spear
against eight hundred whom he slew at one time (2 Samuel 23:8). There is a notable
promise referring to this in Zechariah 11:8. He that is feeble among
them shall be as David, and the house of David as the angel of the Lord. Let
the Spirit of the Lord but lift up some Zerubbabel to set on foot temple work,
and nothing shall hinder; what though there be a Samaritan faction at home, and
that backed with a foreign confederacy with the Persian court? What great
things did the apostles do in the infancy of the Gospel! Lord, even the devils
are subject to us through Thy name (Luke 10:17).
3. There is the return of the living creatures. So it is said (Ezekiel 1:14). The living creatures ran
and returned; but this seems to contradict the ninth and twelfth verses, for
there it is said, They turned not when they went. But this receives an easy
solution. They turned not from going and doing the work appointed them; but
when that work was done, then they returned. They turned not from executing
their commission, but then they returned to receive new instructions. And hence
they are called watchers (Daniel 4:13). Behold a watcher, and an
holy one, and (verse 17), This matter is by the decree of the watchers. They
watch for God’s orders to execute them for the Church’s good; and this teaches
us two things.
4. Here is another thing ascribed to these wheels, and that is, the
influencing virtue of the same spirit which acted the living creatures (Ezekiel 1:20). The spirit of the living
creature was in the wheels. By the spirit here is meant the Divine Spirit, the
eternal Spirit of God: the same Spirit that acts the living creatures, acts the
wheels also; which in chap. 10:17 is called the Spirit of Life; and this is
that Spirit which guided all their motions; therefore it is said (Ezekiel 1:12), Whither the Spirit was to
go, they went. There is not an angel in heaven, nor a wheel upon earth, but are
all acted and governed by the same Spirit. As the Spirit was concerned in the
framing of the wheels; so He is in the motions of them: as He was in the
creating of all things; so He is in all their operations. Lastly, these wheels
are under the direction of a voice: as there are eyes round about them to guide
them in their way, so there is a voice above them to command their motions. As
for the wheels, it was cried to them, O wheel! This cry is the voice of Him
that sits upon the throne (verse 1). And though it be particularly directed to
Jerusalem, yet in a more general sense it is intended to the whole world, to
all kingdoms, cities, churches, to all people. But why is the cry made to one
wheel, when here is mention of more? It was cried to the wheels, O wheel! It is
to show us that all inferior causes, and instruments, are but as one in the hand
of the Lord. But though all creatures are included in these wheels, yet
rational agents are principally intended; and if so, then to you is this word
cried; and perhaps it is therefore made in the singular number, that everyone
may look on it as his duty to hearken to the voice of God in the cry. As in
giving out the decalogue, it is so directed that everyone may think himself
concerned. Great desires, great joys, great grief, and great love are
frequently thus expressed; and so this “O!” is a servant to the affections.
1. It is an “O” of discipline, by which we are instructed to admire
and adore the wonders of Providence. The voice is from the throne, but it is to
direct us at the footstool; therefore it is said, It was cried in my hearing, O
wheel! (Romans 11:33).
2. It is an “O” of rebuke; and it is to every particular wheel, of
what degree soever. Are magistrates wheels? this O wheel is cried to them. Why
do ye stand still? Why have you acted no more for God? ye are heirs of
restraint ( 18:7). Are ministers wheels? the cry
from the throne is to you. O wheel! why do you not take heed to your ministry
to fulfil it? Why do ye not move with more zeal for God, like the living
creatures, that ran as the appearance of a flash of lightning? Why do ye not
cry aloud against the sins of the times? Are parents and masters wheels? then I
hear a cry to you; why do ye not mind the duty of your places? why move ye not
more exemplarily in your families? Finally, every man is a “wheel” that is to
be in constant motion for God; according to the place wherein God hath set him;
and therefore the cry from the throne is to all of all sorts, rich and poor,
young and old, high and low, male and female; to all, without exception of any.
“O wheel!” why move ye not! why seek ye not after God?
3. It is an “O” of threatening. And this follows the former where no
repentance intervenes to prevent it. Counsel goes first, but if that be
slighted, reproof comes; and if that makes no impression, threatening takes
place, then it is O wheel! O church! O city! O kingdom! Judgment is near at
hand, wrath is coming upon thee. And this seems to be the sense of it here.
Jerusalem had highly provoked the Lord, not only in setting at nought His
counsels.
4. It is an “O” of lamentation, a language full of sorrow and
compassion, and so shows the pity of Christ to a self-undoing world and people.
“O wheel!” What hath sin brought upon thee? O people, O notion, how deplorable
is your case become!
5. It is an “O” of calling, and carries a command in it, which is to
be understood, though not expressed. O wheel! repent and turn yourselves from
your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations (Ezekiel 14:6).
1. Doth He that sits in the throne govern the “wheels”? is it He that
cries to them and commands them? then let us not fear the Church’s enemies, how
many or how great soever they may be. One God is more than all opposers.
2. If He who sits above upon the throne doth command and govern the
“wheels,” then our duty is to commend them to His care. Therefore, in all our
addresses to God, let us make conscience of praying for the “wheels.”
3. Doth He that sits above upon the throne govern the “wheels”? Then
let not us do anything to hinder Him in His work.
4. If He that sits above upon the throne guides the “wheels,” then
commit all into His hands; subscribe to His wisdom, and be resigned to His
will; for He doth all things well and wisely: He is wonderful in counsel, and
excellent in working. Many pretend to bow to His commanding will, who yet
cannot subscribe to His effecting will. Suppose things do not go in the world
as you would have them, yet they go as God orders them: the wheels go right on,
God doth not need to set His sun by your dial. Trust Him with the government of
the world, for He is head over all things to the Church. (Matthew Mead.)
Verse 14
Every one had four faces; the first face was the face of a cherub.
The Christian ministry
The text seems to have a decided reference to the angelic hosts,--those
ministers of God who do His pleasure. To resemble these should be the great
desire of every Christian, that God’s will may be done on earth even as it is
done in heaven. But especially should this be the case with the Christian
minister: his office greatly resembles that of the holy intelligences above; he
is a messenger of God to mankind, an angel of the Church, and therefore well
does it become him to study the character and emulate the holiness of cherubim
and seraphim in heaven.
I. The first face
was that of a cherub. The symbol--
1. Of exalted dignity. Dwelling around the throne of Deity. His
especial ambassadors, etc. No office can be more exalted than that of the
Christian ministry. It is that to which Jehovah appointed His own Son. One writer
quaintly remarks, “God had only one Son, and He made a preacher of Him.”
“Workers together with God,” etc.
2. Of elevated devotion. They are represented as holding great
intimacy and close fellowship with God. How indispensable that the ministers of
Christ live near to the Lord, hold close communion with the skies.
3. Of distinguished holiness. Ye that bear the vessels of the Lord,
etc., as the priests of old. Not only partakers of the ordinary graces of the
Spirit, but adorned with the mature fruits of holiness to the glory of God.
II. The second
symbol is that of a man. With the sanctity of the cherub is to be united the
sympathy of sanctified humanity. As men, Christian ministers are--
1. To be influenced by their relationship to Jesus as Head of the
Church. They should have His meekness, humility, lowliness, desire to labour,
readiness to suffer, etc.
2. To feel for their fellow sinners peculiar compassion. They are
their brethren, of one blood, spirit, and destiny.
3. To know their own insufficiency and entire dependence on God’s
blessing. This treasure in earthen vessels, etc. Paul planteth, etc.
III. The third
emblem was the face of a lion. By this we are to understand the strength and
magnanimity which are necessary to the ministerial office. The Christian
minister must be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus. He must be
strong to resist evil, to stand firm in the conflict, and to conduct himself as
a man of God.
IV. The fourth
symbol is that of the eagle. By this--
1. The true character of the minister’s work is portrayed. He has to
do with spiritual things. He teaches not philosophy, science, economy,
legislation, but the truths of the kingdom of God, the knowledge of the way of
salvation.
2. The symbol of the eagle may be designed also to be expressive of
their ardour and zeal The minister of Jesus is to be instant, earnest,
energetic, zealously affected in every good thing.
3. His soul is to yearn with intense anxiety over perishing sinners.
Application--
1. Let the solemn character of the office ever be cherished, and a
lively sense of its importance be maintained from day to day.
2. Let the glorious results of faithfulness in the Saviour’s service
animate to constancy and perseverance. (J. Burns, D. D.)
The combination of faculties in spiritual life
In the power of this life it does not matter where we are, or
under what conditions we are found, we find a sufficiency of grace. Mr. Ruskin,
in his Love’s Meinie, describes the Phalerope, a strange bird
living out of the way of human beings, in the Polar regions of Greenland,
Norway and Lapland, which he calls “The Arctic Fairy.” It is a central type of
all bird power, but with elf gifts added: it flies like a lark, trips on water
lily leaves like a fairy, swims like a duck, and roves like a seagull, having
been seen sixty miles from land; and finally, though living chiefly in Lapland
and Iceland, it has been seen serenely swimming and catching flies in the hot
water of the geysers, in which a man could not bear his hand. As the above bird
has a combination of faculties, so the gift of Eternal Life as personified in
Christ bestows faculties of grace which enable us to stand in the clear light
of God’s holy throne, which empower us to bear trial’s fiery ordeal, which
equip us for conflict with the great adversary, which endow us with endurance
in treading life’s rough way, which energise with strength in the work of the
Gospel, which environ us with peace and joy in time of persecution, and which
ennoble our whole being, for we are lifted into the realm of God’s dear Son. (Footsteps
of Truth.)
Verse 17
When they stood, these stood; and when they were lifted up, these
lifted up themselves also.
Feet and wings
Flying creatures have wings for the air and feet for the ground.
This touch of nature is put on God’s cherubim. The prophet intends no special
religious lesson here, but the fact he cites may be used to convey such.
I. The subject of
Christian experience, what it is and how to be maintained. We have faculties of
locomotion, feeding, sense, perception, etc., by which we act our parts on
foot, as it were. We have attributes of faith perception, love appropriation,
spiritual imagination, in which we become aerial creatures, resting
suspensively in things above the world. This uplifting produces the
transcendent mystery of experience in Christian conversion. We rise by trust in
God--admitting the full revelation of His truth and friendship. Can the soul
thus lifted stay in that serene element? It has gravitations which pull it all
the while downward, and settle it on its feet, as the flying creatures fold
their wings when they settle. Let us trace some of the instances and ways in
which it ceases to live by faith. When a man of enterprise thinks of
independence, how easily, how insensibly he ceases to hang on Providence as he
did. His prayers lose their fervour. God is far less dear and less consciously
present; and how long will he have the consciousness of His presence at all?
The moment any disciple touches ground with but the tip of his foot, and begins
to rest on earthly props, a mortal weakness takes him, and he goes down. Only a
calm and loving return to his trust will recover him, and God is faithful enough
to be trusted at all times. Let there be this rest by faith, and he will carry
himself more steadily in studies, toils, or engagements. Sometimes obscurations
may occur, but he has only to believe the more strongly and wait till they be
cleared.
II. Many persons
miss ever going above a service on foot, by not conceiving at all the more
ethereal range of experience into which true faith would lift them. Sometimes
they become reformers or philanthropists. They mean business in their religion,
caring little for the fervours that are not fervours of work, The combining and
roiling up of great masses of opinion are the means by which they expect to
carry their projects. Censure and storm and fiery denunciation are close at
hand. They, many times, do not conceive that they are disciples because of
their repentances, or their prayers, or sensing of God by their faith, or any
other grace that separates them from the world. They have much to say of love,
but they visibly hate more strongly than they love. They never go above to
descend upon the reform by inspirations there kindled; they keep on their feet,
and war with the evils on the same level with them. Sometimes they attempt
self-culture in the name of religion. They could mend defects, chasten faults,
put themselves in the charities they have learned from Christ, perhaps, to
admire; but the work is a far more hopeless one than they imagine, if there is
no uplifting help from gracious inspirations. Oh, if they would go up to
Christ, or to God in a true faith culture, faults would fall off, as blasted
flowers from a tree, by the life principle therein. Sometimes they suppose they
are religious because of a certain patronage they give to the Church and the
Word. Not being in the gift of spiritual discernment, their tastes will be the
better; and as there are always a great many reasons why a thing should not be
done to any single reason why it should, they assume to be specially qualified
critics. They contribute these critical powers, while others, less gifted, may contribute
their prayers! Such negatives do not belong to the range of the Spirit, but to
the nether world of fashion or opinion or custom. The critics have feet, but no
wings. If they could give themselves over in trust to the Saviour, instead of
giving their opinions and tastes, their contributions would be of worthier
significance. (H. Bushnell, D. D.)
Verse 18-19
Then the glory of the Lord departed.
Departing glory
1. How unwilling the Lord is to depart, and leave that people He hath
dwelt amongst, and been engaged unto!
2. There is no visible church but may fall, and cease to be. God is
not tied to any place, to any people; but if they corrupt His worship He may
withdraw: He did depart from Jerusalem, from the temple, and they were
unchurched.
3. When the Lord goes from a people, then the protection and benefits
they have by the angels go away. When the sun is gone from us, we have short
days and long nights, little light but much darkness; and when God departs, you
have much night and little day left, your comforts fade suddenly, and miseries
come upon you swiftly. When God and His angels go from a church, the dragon and
his angels get in; when men’s inventions prevail, they are subject to all woes
and miseries (Hosea 9:12).
4. God would have men the notice of His departure. The cherubims
stood at the door of the east gate, and there the glory stood over them; that
gate was so seated in Mount Zion that they might see the entrance by it from
most parts of the city, and here the glory now stood; it was come forth from
the temple, and now exposed to public view, that they might inquire what was
the matter, use all means to recover the glory which was going. (W.
Greenhill, M. A.)
God’s gradual withdrawal
Observe with how many steps and pauses God departs, as loth to go,
as if to see if there be any that will intercede with Him to return. None of the
priests in the inner court between the temple and the altar would court His
stay; therefore He leaves their court and stands at the east gate, which led
into the court of the people, to see if any of them would yet at length stand
in the gap. God removes by degrees from a provoking people; and, when He is
ready to depart in displeasure, would return to them in mercy if they were but
a repenting, praying people. (M. Henry.)
The likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings.
Wing and hand
In two places in Ezekiel we are told there were hands under the
wings: human hands; hands like ours. If this world is ever brought to God, it
will be by appreciation of the fact that supernatural and human agencies are to
go together; that which soars, and that which practically works; that which
ascends the heavens, and that which reaches forth to earth: the joining of the
terrestrial and the celestial, “the hand and the wing.”
1. We see this union in the construction of the Bible. The wing of
inspiration is in every chapter. What realms of the ransomed earth did Isaiah
fly over! Over what battlefields for righteousness; what coronations; what
dominations of gladness; what rainbows around the throne did St. John hover!
But in every book of the Bible you just as certainly see the human hand that
wrote it. Moses, the lawyer, showing the hand in the Ten Commandments, the
foundation of all good legislation; Amos, the herdsman, showing the hand in
similes drawn from fields and flocks: the fishermen Apostles, showing the hand
when writing about Gospel nets; Luke, the physician, showing the hand by giving
especial attention to diseases cured; Paul showing the scholarly hand by quoting
from heathen poets, and making arguments about the Resurrection that stand as
firmly as on the day he wrote them; and St. John shows the hand by taking his
imagery from the appearance of the bright waters spread round the island of
Patmos at the hour of sunset, when he speaks of the sea of glass mingled with
fire; scores of hands writing the parables, the miracles, the promises, the
hosannas, the raptures, the consolations, the woes of ages.
2. Behold this combination of my text in all successful Christian
work. We stand or kneel offering prayer. Now, if anything has wings, it is
prayer. Prayer flies not only across continents, but across centuries. If
prayer had only feet, it might run here and there and do wonders. But it has
wings, and they are as radiant of plume, and as swift to rise, or swoop, or
dart, or circle, as the cherubim’s wings which swept through Ezekiel’s visions.
But, oh, the prayer must have the hand under the wing, or it may amount to
nothing. Stop singing, “Fly abroad, thou mighty Gospel,” unless you are willing
to give something of your own means to make it fly. Have you been praying for
the salvation of a young man’s soul? That is right; but also extend the hand of
invitation to come to a religious meeting. From the very structure of the hand
we might make up our mind as to some of the things it was made for: to hold
fast, to lift, to push, to pull, to help, and to rescue. And endowed with two
hands, we might take the broad hint that for others as well as for ourselves we
were to hold fast, to lift, to push, to pull, to help, to rescue.
3. This idea is combined in Christ. When He rose from Mount Olivet He
took wing. All up and down His life you see the uplifting Divinity. But He was
also very human. It was the hand under the wing that touched the woes of the
world, and took hold of the sympathies of the centuries.
4. There is a kind of religion in our day that my text rebukes. There
are men and women spending their time in delectation over their saved state,
going about from prayer meeting to prayer meeting, and from church to church,
telling how happy they are. But show them a subscription paper, or ask them to
go and visit the sick, or tell them to reclaim a wanderer, or speak out for
some unpopular Christian enterprise, and they have bronchitis, or stitch in the
side, or sudden attack of grippe. Their religion is all wing and no hand. They
can fly heavenward, but they cannot reach out earthward. There was much sense
in that which the robust boatman said when three were in a boat off the coast
in a sudden storm that threatened to sink the boat, and one suggested that they
all kneel down in the boat to pray, and the robust man took hold of the oar and
began to pull, saying: “Let you, the strong, stout fellow, lay hold of the
other oar, and let the weak one who banner pull give himself up to prayer.”
Pray by all means; but at the same time pull with all your might for the
world’s rescue.
5. There is also in my subject the suggestion of rewarded work for
God and righteousness. When the wing went the hand went. When the wing ascended
the hand ascended; and for every useful and Christian hand there will be
elevation celestial and eternal. Expect no human gratitude, for it will not
come. That was a wise thing Fenelon wrote to his friend: “I am very glad, my
dear, good friend, that you are pleased with one of my letters which has been
shown to you. You are right in saying and believing that I ask little of men in
general. I try to do much for them and to expect nothing in return. I find a decided
advantage in these terms. On these terms I defy them to disappoint me.” But the
day cometh when your work, which perhaps no one has noticed, or rewarded, or
honoured, will rise to heavenly recognition. While I have been telling you that
the hand was under the wing of the cherubim, I want you to realise that the
wing was over the hand. Perhaps reward may not come to you at once. But I
promise you victory further on and higher up; if not in this world, then in the
next. Roll on that everlasting rest for all the toiling and misunderstood and
suffering and weary children of God, and know right well that to join your
hand, at last emancipated from the struggle, will be the soft hand, the gentle
hand, the triumphant hand of Him who wipeth away all tears from all faces. That
will be the Palace of the King of which the poet sang in somewhat Scotch
dialect:--
“It’s
a bonnie, bonnie warl’ that we’re livin’ in the noo,
And
sunny is the lan’ we often traivel thro’;
But
in vain we look for something to which oor hearts can cling,
For
its beauty is as naething to the Palace o’ the King.
We
see oor friends await us ower yonder at His gate:
Then
let us a’ be ready, for ye ken it’s gettin’ late;
Let
oor lamps be brichtly burnin’; let’s raise our voice an’ sing:
Soon
we’ll meet, to part nae mair, i’ the Palace o’ the King.”
(T. De Witt Talmage.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》