Ezekiel had an incredible responsibility ahead of him. His job ultimately would be for him to serve as God’s representative among the captive Israelites in Babylon itself. His work would place him among the people who were having to suffer the worst of the worst through the next seventy years. But what message would Ezekiel be able to carry with him among such a despondent group of people as the captive of Israel? It was in answer to that question that God displayed His glory in Ezekiel 1 to help Ezekiel illustrate to Israel just how great their God was!
The scene opens with Ezekiel tending to some business at his home by the Chebar river in Babylon. All of a sudden God began to display a vision before Ezekiel that would serve as a symbolic gesture of His great glory. A whirlwind came from the north encompassed by a great cloud of fire. As that whirlwind came blowing toward him he suddenly noticed four extraordinary creatures traveling in the whirlwind. These creatures were unlike anything Ezekiel or anybody else had ever seen before. Verse 5 says that they had the general likeness of a man, but at the same time were incredibly different.
These four living creatures were each said to have four faces and four wings. They had the feet of a calf, the hands of a man, and the inability to turn as they traveled. They were limited to traveling in a single direction at any given time. As for the four faces themselves each was different from the other. In the middle was the face of a man. To the right was the face of a lion. To the left there was the face of an ox. Then each of them also had the face of an eagle. Most Bible students agree that these four faces are symbolic of certain qualities exemplified in these creatures. For example, the face of the man indicated wisdom and intelligence. The face of the lion indicated power and authority. The face of the ox indicated strength and service. The face of the eagle indicated speed and discernment. These are some of the most valued qualities that were now unified in each of these creatures.
Later as Ezekiel continued to behold these creatures he noticed that each of them sat upon a wheel within a wheel. This would have been one wheel sitting perpendicular within another allowing them to travel swiftly in whatever direction they may have needed at any given time. But their movements were obviously not limited to the earth. With their wings they had the additional ability to fly wherever they may have needed.
Every specific quality mentioned was intended to make known the fact that these were absolutely amazing, jaw-dropping creatures that had the capability to do anything God needed them to do any time and any where. But while they had incredible supernatural powers they were not all powerful because they were not God. But wasn’t this supposed to be a chapter about the greatness of God? What does any of this have to do with His glory?
Take a moment and try to digest just how glorious these creatures would have been. Take in their appearance, their capability, their power. Because it is with the glory of these creatures in mind that Ezekiel then looks up, above these creatures. And in the firmament above them he said there was the likeness of a throne with the likeness as the appearance of a man above it (vs. 26). Then the last few words of the chapter tell us “this was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord” (vs. 28). You see, as great, glorious, powerful, and amazing as those four living creatures might have been the vision proved to Ezekiel that they were still subject to the God of heaven who is full of glory and all powerful. And when Ezekiel realized this was a vision illustrating the glory of God he had no other choice but to fall upon his face in awe and worship.
How great is our God? How great is our God!
-Andy Brewer