Ezekiel 1

He had just turned 30 years old, and as a man from the priestly family, would have begun serving in the temple. But he was not in Jerusalem. He was in exile in the land of Babylon, in the Nippur region to be exact, on the Kebar canal or river. Jerusalem had been conquered by Nebuchadnezzar and he, along with ten thousand other inhabitants of Judah and even their king, Jehoiachin, had been taken from their homeland, marched, forever, it seemed, north and east around the Fertile Crescent, to their new home, in 597 B.C.E. And now, just five years later, in 593 B.C.E., something extraordinary happened. He saw God!

In my thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. ² On the fifth of the month—it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin— ³ the word of Yahweh came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, by the Kebar River in the land of the Chaldeans. There the hand of Yahweh was on him. (Ezekiel 1:1-3)

Why was he getting this spectacular, cinematic unveiling? And why now?

⁴ I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north—an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, ⁵ and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was human, ⁶ but each of them had four faces and four wings. ⁷ Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. ⁸ Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. All four of them had faces and wings, ⁹ and the wings of one touched the wings of another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved. (Ezekiel 1:4-9)

Ezekiel struggled to make sense of what he was seeing. From a windstorm came a cloud flashing of lightning and painfully brilliant to behold. In the center of it was an amber glow of fire that contained four living creatures. They looked predominantly like humans, but they had features that were decidedly not human. Each had four faces, and though they had legs, their feet looked like calves feet and they were shiny. And they had wings with hands protruding from them. Their wings touched each other and they were moving in an odd way, in a straight line.

¹⁰ Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a human being, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle. ¹¹ Such were their faces. They each had two wings spreading out upward, each wing touching that of the creature on either side; and each had two other wings covering its body. ¹² Each one went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they went. ¹³ The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forth among the creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it. ¹⁴ The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning. (Ezekiel 1:10-14)

Each living creature had four different faces, human, lion, ox, and eagle, the four dominant and powerful creatures from the realm of humans, wild animals, domesticated animals, and birds. God was demonstrating His power. And the speed with which these glowing, fiery creatures moved was disconcerting.

¹⁵ As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces. ¹⁶ This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like topaz, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel. ¹⁷ As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creatures faced; the wheels did not change direction as the creatures went. ¹⁸ Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around. ¹⁹ When the living creatures moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the living creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose. ²⁰ Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. ²¹ When the creatures moved, they also moved; when the creatures stood still, they also stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. (Ezekiel 1:15-21)

It was as if the creatures were traveling by chariot, only the wheels of this chariot were like shiny golden topaz and had wheels within wheels, changing direction at the whim of the living creatures without having to turn themselves, even rising as desired, however the living creatures determined. It was just the oddest thing to see.

²² Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked something like a vault, sparkling like crystal, and awesome. ²³ Under the vault their wings were stretched out one toward the other, and each had two wings covering its body. ²⁴ When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty,^[b] like the tumult of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings. ²⁵ Then there came a voice from above the vault over their heads as they stood with lowered wings. ²⁶ Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. ²⁷ I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. ²⁸ Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Yahweh. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking. (Ezekiel 1:22-28)

Above the living creatures was a platform that looked like ice or crystal, and the creatures began spreading out their wings toward one another, the sound of which reminded Ezekiel of a roaring river. Then, as they became still, a voice from the platform came from a deep blue crystalline throne on which a man sat, but not a normal man. He shone like fire from the waist up and was surrounded by multicolored light, like a rainbow. And I knew it was Yahweh. He spoke to me.