The Book of the Prophet

EZEKIEL

Chapter 1

"The Vision at Chebar, The Cherubim (first vision)."

This Bible Study is written by Roger Christopherson, and it's transcription/ location
is provided by
http://www.theseason.org/ 

The book of Ezekiel is a complete covering of what will happen to the children of God, in both the House of Judah, the Jews of today; and the House of Israel, the Christian nations scattered around the earth today. In the first twelve chapters of Ezekiel, we focus in on the Desolation that took place in both these houses, but Ezekiel is specifically a prophet to the House of Israel.

We notice that from the dated years in Ezekiel, Ezekiel lived in and covered a period of twenty-one years, from 484-3 B.C., to 463-2 B.C.. This covers the period of the captivity of king Jehoiachin's fifth to his twenty seventh years. The Canonical order of Ezekiel's prophecies is Logical, but not strictly Chronological in order. Later utterances and visions are recorded in their logical connections rather than in their historical sequence. This is given so that we will make no mistake as they appear in Ezekiel's writings. When we keep this in mind the meaning becomes perfectly clear.

Ezekiel addresses the prophets and prophetesses in chapter thirteen, and the elders in fourteen. Then he will prophecy against the land and the city of Jerusalem, and this is the judgments that will fall on the city. God talks about His relationship to Jerusalem in chapter sixteen, and how he raised this unclean child [city] to maturity, and then "put His skirt over her", which is to say, married her [Jerusalem].

Ezekiel will prophecy about both the ancient Babylonian war, as well as the war of "Babylon the Great" of the end times. We will see how the two houses of the whole house of Israel, the House of Judah [Jews], and the House of Israel [Christian nations]; that God will deal with separately, and in the end, upon the return of Jesus Christ at the seventh trumpet, they will come together, and we will have the restoration of Israel.

Ezekiel also addresses those that God assigns to be His shepherds, and watchmen, set in place to warn His people of the sign of the coming end times. We will see that many of the so called shepherds are false shepherds, and God tells us through Ezekiel of His hatred toward them and His punishment that will come upon all of these false shepherds.

This time of the restoration is what we call the Millennium age, the thousand year period of Jesus Christ ruling over the whole world form His Temple in Jerusalem. The book of Ezekiel give the most complete description of what will take place, including the book of Revelation. It tells us exactly what we will be doing during that thousand year period of time. This time is covered in Ezekiel chapters 39-48.

The entire earth will become an desolation for the truth, in the end times, and only the elect of God will have the seal of understanding to know what is taking place. This time is starting now, as the truth is being covered with many false translations, and false teachers, that appear on the surface to of God, however their words are not.

This is the ABC's of the book of Ezekiel, from the desolation of Israel to the restoration in the time when Jesus Christ's kingdom is established on earth. It is written to the ten so-called lost ten tribes, as well as the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The word Ezekiel means, "El [God] is strong", or "El strengthens".

Exekiel 1:1 "Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I was visions of God."

These captives are the people of the House of Judah that were taken captive by Babylon. It is God Himself that will speak to Ezekiel, and reveal Himself to him.

Ezekiel was a priest that was carried away captive eleven years before the destruction of Jerusalem, and the Temple. Thus we see that Ezekiel had input from Jeremiah, [Jeremiah 29:5]. Ezekiel was a married priest, and his wife died in the year when the siege of Jerusalem began. Ezekiel is a link in the prophetic chain, and had doubtless received and has seen the letter sent by Jeremiah, and recorded in Jeremiah 29:1-32.

God will give Ezekiel strength through a vision that he will now receive. The time was about five centuries before Jesus Christ's birth, and he has very little to go on to describe what he is about to see. He will see a vehicle of highly polished bronze land before him, of God, plus many other smaller vehicles that would come forth out of the throne vehicle. So Ezekiel uses the best words that he can, and does an excellent job of it.

Ezekiel 1:2 "In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity,"

Many time there is confusion of this date, and critics place the date in reference to king Jehoiakim, the king that burned the scrolls of God; however this dating is to King Jehoiachin's captivity. It will make an error of about six years in time of what is to happen. Thus if you make this mistake it will make the entire chapter confusing, for Jehoiachin reigned only three months, when his mother and him went into captivity. Yet it happened and is recorded within his reign [II Kings 24:17-20, and 25:1-21].

Ezekiel 1:3 "The word of the Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the Lord was there upon him."

This term, "expressly unto Ezekiel", meant that only Ezekiel could see it. Ezekiel was in Babylon at this time, and while he was standing by the River Chebar, God singled Ezekiel out from the rest.

Ezekiel 1:4 "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,"

This was the whirlwind that Ezekiel was carried away in, a round circular object; a round circular vehicle. In many cases where the Scriptures talks about "horses", it is the same wording in the Hebrew as this whirlwind, and though "UFO's" are strange to men, they are not strange to God. The amount of technology that God uses is still far in advance of where the scientists of the the world are today.

What Ezekiel is saying in the Hebrew, where the translation in English used "colour", should be translated, "What the eye experiences." The word "Amber" in the Hebrew text, "glowing metal". To be precise, Strong's Hebrew dictionary, # 2830 says; "bronze, or polished spectrum metal".

When this round circular vehicle, that is the color of highly polished bronze metal appears, it is "unfolding itself", and we see in the Massorah Hebrew text that means that it is "flashing continually". When it appeared from a cloud is nothing new, for God is hiding it and allowing only those that He intends to see it, to observe it.

Ezekiel 1:5 "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."

They had the shape of a man, and the "living creatures" are "Cherubim", or the "Zoa", which is written of in Revelation chapters four and five. They are the four "living ones", the four that protect the throne of the Living God, and stand on duty for that purpose continually and do not require rest.

Ezekiel 1:6 "And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings."

Keep the symbols simple and don't let it throw you.

Ezekiel 1:7 "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."

These straight feet, means that they were enjoined feet. They appeared to be the same color as their vehicle.

Ezekiel 1:8 "And they had the hands of a man under their wings and their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings."

Ezekiel 1:9 "Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward."

Ezekiel is trying to describe to us what he sees as he views these individuals, and he is seeing them in circular objects. Each of them were part of a formation, and none of them left the formation that they were in. A normal person walking looks in the direction where he is going to walk, however, in a military formation, and the formation that Ezekiel is observing, these cherubim are not doing what is normal. When each of these creatures move, they are in something circular, and as such, when they turn direction, there is nothing by their physical actions and movement to indicate which way they are going to move. They simply did not look which way the were going.

Ezekiel 1:10 "As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they hour had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle."

The first face the face of a man in the Hebrew, is "Adam", and meaning flesh man; while each of the cherubim shows their banners of the lion, the ox and the eagle. This is the view that the "cherubim's" present on the circular vehicles.

Ezekiel 1:11"Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies."

Ezekiel 1:12 "And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went."

In other words, wherever the people in the circular vehicles went, so also went the cherubim's.

These four likenesses that went before them, are the banners or standards that they carried. This is similar to the banners or standards that the children of Israel carried when they were in the wilderness, and placed before their tribes when the camped at night. Each of these, the man, the lion, the ox and the Eagle are the standards of specific tribes of Israel. Each of these four living creatures also wore the very signs and standards of the tribes of Israel.

The "Zoa", are not as the angels, for they do not have the privilege of self determination, for they have no emotions, but were created by God to obey Him to the letter. They do not have free will, but only the will of God. It is their position and duty before the throne of God to not only obey at God's command, but to watch over the specific tribes that they are designated to watch.

The documentation is shown in the sequence that they were named, they are simply the standards of the tribes of Israel, and this identifies each of them by the standards they carry. The standard for man is given in Numbers 2:10, the second standard of the lion is given in Numbers 2:3. The third creature, the ox is found in Numbers 2:18, and the fourth creatures, standard is given in Numbers 2:25. This chapter of Numbers 2, will explain those creatures that are at God's command that will over-see the protection of the tribes assigned to them.

Then these creachers with their standards or banners on their circular vehicles, are the ones at the throne of God to protect, and do the will of God. This is another form of transportation that God is using, and here by the river Chebar, only Ezekiel saw them.

Ezekiel 1:13 "As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning."

The appearance of these creachers, their vehicles, and the people inside them; all shown the glory of the Living God around them. What this is telling us, is that also on board is the Living God. God is present there.

Ezekiel 1:14 "And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning."

Ezekiel 1:15 "Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces."

This is what Ezekiel saw. This highly polished bronze vehicle landed on the earth with these four creatures.

Ezekiel 1:16 "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."

The color of beryl is yellow sapphire. So we see that all four of the creachers looked alike, yet they carried different banners. Have you ever heard of the small ships sent from the mother ship. However it is strange that every time that there is sightings of UFO's, there are a number of vehicles that are also sighted. Over the past forty years these sighting are not uncommon.

As we see in other parts of the Bible, such as Genesis 6, and Jude, the fallen angels came to earth also and not only appeared to man [women], but even married their daughters, and had children by them. They had to arrive in some form of vehicle, of they were not spirit in form, but with physical bodies.

So what we have seen here so far is an assortment of various vehicles. We will also see that God's throne will even be on the main vehicle that the others come from.

Ezekiel 1:17 "When they went, they went upon their four sides:and they turned not when they went."

Ezekiel was used to seen cart wheels that moved and turned to one direction. This description given "they went on their four sides", meant that they had the appearance of floating. When it moved or changed directions, it simply did it, without having a forward and backward motion to part of the vehicle.

Ezekiel 1:18 "As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four."

Their rings are their outer rims, the sound and appearance was loud and fearful to the point of being reverent. These round circular vehicles had porthole all around each of the vehicle. They had windows to see out of, and this is why Ezekiel could see in and see the creatures.

Ezekiel 1:19 "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."

When you are watching an helicopter with the pilot sitting in the pilots seat, then when the helicopter lifts of in flight, don't you see the pilot lifting off with the vehicle. Ezekiel is telling us that when the vehicle went up, the person in the vehicle went up also with the vehicle. This is being described by a man that had never seen even the simplest forms of vehicle flight, and to him, technology was the wheels on a horses cart. He is doing a pretty good job of relating what he is seeing.

Ezekiel 1:20 "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."

The "spirit" is the intellect of the soul, and this is saying that where ever this person decided that he wanted to go, they went. They made the vehicles, those round, polished brass vehicles do exactly what they wanted the vehicles to do, for they were flying inside the things. The identifying of the soul and the spirit of these creatures, means that it was not robots, but live living beings in full control of the vehicle.

Even to this day, if there is a plane crash, the number of persons aboard are identified as the number of souls aboard. A dead body aboard the plane before the crash, is not a lost soul, for their was no soul present in that corps. The life that is important within one's body is his [her] soul, and without the soul, there is no life loss. Identification of the number of persons aboard is considered by, "How many souls on board".

When a plane has three hundred souls on board, and the plane banks to the right, all the souls on board also turn to the right, this is what is being talked about here.

Ezekiel 1:21 "When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels."

These living creachers and all those that were present with the Living God, were in the vehicles that they came in, and they went where ever the vehicles went, and when it sat on the earth, they sat in them on the earth. Then as the vehicles rose to the sky, they went up with the vehicles. If the vehicle moved the people in it did as their vehicle did.

Ezekiel 1:22 "And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above."

This firmament upon their head, is a cloud, there is a cloud around them, so that only Ezekiel could see them. This cloud that was around these vehicles was as awesome as the ship itself.

Ezekiel 1:23 "And under the firmament were their wings straight, and one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies."

Then under this cloud, and with their wings straight, Ezekiel can see God's watchmen sitting there in these vehicles. These were the guards of God's throne.

Ezekiel 1:24 "And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they lit down their wings."

So we see that there is a mother ship, with other smaller ships below, and when these smaller vehicles moved they all moved at the same time. What ever they did the did in uniformity and with a purpose. As they moved there was a great noise that could be heard. God was about to speak, and the hosts of heaven came with Him, to pay tribute to the Almighty. When these vehicles came to earth, "they lit down their wings", that is to say that their landing gear came down.

Imagine how Ezekiel felt when this was taking place right before him, and God was about to speak in person to him. There is nothing new under the sun, and though much of this is treated as a great mystery today, it only touches the surface of the vast knowledge that has always existed in God's vast universe.

Ezekiel 1:25 "And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings."

The voice came from that cloud that was over their vehicles, after these highly polished bronze vehicles sat on their landing gear, resting on the ground.

Ezekiel 1:26 "And above the firmament that was over their heads was 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."

Above these vehicles that now rested on the ground, a throne appeared, and on and around the throne shone a brilliance of a bright shinning sapphire, and on that throne was a man, and in the Hebrew, the word is "Adam". In other words, the person on that throne looked like a man.

If you have ever wondered what God looked like? We were told by Moses in Genesis 1:27; "So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female." However there is the magnificence of this shinning glory that surrounds Him, where ever He is present.

This man that Ezekiel was seeing on the throne over these circular vehicles looked like the adamic man, because God created us to look like Him. Ezekiel is having the same experience that Moses had, he is seeing God, and speaking directly with Him. God is not some force, or charge of electrical current of in space, He is a person, with feelings of love and anger just like we have. We are made in His image, a reflection of what we are.

Ezekiel 1:27 "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 form the appearance of his loins even downward, I was as it were the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about."

Here again is the brightness of this brilliant, highly polished bronze, shinning as a bright sapphire coming from God, and those vehicles below Him.

When we see him, and are living in the Eternal city, we are told that there will be no need of the sun, for his brightness, and beauty will be greater then the sun. Revelation 21:23; "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof."

Ezekiel 1:28 "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 was it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of One That spake."

The bow that is in this brilliant cloud around God, is a "rainbow". We see this rainbow again as John was taken in the spirit to heaven, to behold the throne of God, and the one that sat on the throne. Revelation 4:3; "And He that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone; and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald." John saw the same rainbow that Ezekiel saw here.

When Ezekiel saw the magnificence of God appearing before him, he fell to the ground face down, in awe. Then while Ezekiel was face down on the ground, God spoke to him.

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