Departing, that is the vision Ezekiel has of God in this chapter. Why? Because the people have defiled the temple and abandon the covenant. He won’t stay where He isn’t wanted. First though, He has more orders for the angel who marked all the faithful. I think maybe it’s a cleaning assignment. After all, slaughter happened before this so there was a huge mess to clean up.
Let’s pray:
Lord Jesus, help me understand. Help me know that You remain with us even though here we see God departing. Guard my heart, Lord. Keep me faithful. Thank You, Lord. Please Lead. In Your holy and precious Name, I pray. Amen.
Please read Ezekiel 10:1-2
Vision of God’s Glory Departing from the Temple
1 Then I looked, and behold, in the expanse (firmament) that was over the heads of the cherubim there appeared something [glorious and brilliant] above them looking like a [huge] sapphire stone, formed to resemble a throne. 2 And the Lord spoke to the man (seventh angel) clothed in linen and said, “Go between the whirling wheels under the cherubim; fill your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim and scatter them over the city.” And he entered as I watched.
Immediately obeyed. Still, can you imagine this huge sapphire throne? Glorious and Brilliant is He who sits upon it. It’s so sad to me that this vision is of God departing. It took me a few days to get ready to write this because it’s so hurts my heart. Yet I know, Jesus is with me. And He will never let loose of me.
Please read Ezekiel 10:3-4
3 Now the cherubim were standing on the right side of the temple when the man entered; and a cloud [the Shekinah glory of God] filled the inner courtyard. 4 Then the glory and brilliance of the Lord moved upward from the cherubim to [rest over] the threshold of the temple; and the temple was filled with the cloud and the courtyard was filled with the brightness of the Lord’s glory. 5 And the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard [even] as far as the outer courtyard, like the voice of [a]God Almighty when He speaks.
God is moving. Can you imagine the sound? Can you imagine the sight? O Lord. Help us see.
Receive & Obey
Please read Ezekiel 10:6-8
6 It came about when He commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, “Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim,” the man entered and stood beside a wheel. 7 Then a cherub stretched out his hand from between the cherubim to the fire that was between [the four of] them, and took some [of it] and put it into the hands of the man clothed in linen, who took it and departed. 8 Beneath their wings the cherubim seemed to have [something in] the form of a man’s hand.
Not so much take, but go so you can receive. That’s what he had to do. The cherub handed him coals. As if God himself handed him the coals.
He received the coals and departed to do what God told him to do. Burn the city. Basically clean up the mess left by the slaughter.
The Wheels are Departing
Please read Ezekiel 10:9-14
9 Then I looked and behold, [there were] four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside one cherub and another wheel beside each other cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was like a sparkling Tarshish stone (beryl). 10 As for their appearance, all four looked alike, as if one wheel were within another wheel. 11 When they moved, they went in any of their four directions without turning as they went; but they followed in the direction which they faced, without turning as they went. 12 Their whole body, their backs, their hands, their wings, and the wheels were full of eyes all around, even the wheels belonging to all four of them. 13 Regarding the wheels [attached to them], I heard them called, “the whirling (rolling, revolving) wheels.” 14 And each one had four faces: the first face was the face of the [b]cherub, the second the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
The wheels sparkle. The wheels as described in a different vision are filled with eyes. And look, a wheel within a wheel. Reminds me of a song on the Muppet Show, probably because our daughter loves the Muppets. Yet that song is more about probably ADD than it is about this vision of God’s throne and the cherubim.
Departing
Please read Ezekiel 10:15-19
15 Then the cherubim rose upward. They are the [same four] living beings [regarded as one] that I saw by the River Chebar [in Babylonia]. 16 Now when the cherubim moved, the wheels would go beside them; and when the cherubim lifted up their wings to rise from the earth, the wheels would remain beside them. 17 When the cherubim stood still, the wheels would stand still; and when they rose upward, the wheels would rise with them, for the spirit of the living beings was in these [wheels].
18 Then the [Shekinah] glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple and rested over the cherubim. 19 As I looked at them, the cherubim lifted up their wings and rose up from the earth, they departed with the wheels beside them; and they stood still at the entrance of the east gate of the house of the Lord, and the glory and brilliance of the God of Israel hovered over them.
I wonder if He would have been asked to stay, He would have stayed. Probably not in the temple the way it was, but He could have cleansed it as well. Yet the people had for the most part, abandon the covenant. And while only the remnant was living at this point, even they must have struggled to stay faithful.
Please read Ezekiel 10:20-22
20 These are the living beings that I saw beneath the God of Israel by the River Chebar; and I knew that they were cherubim. 21 Each one had four faces and each one had four wings, and beneath their wings was the form of human hands. 22 As for the likeness of their faces, they were the same faces whose appearance I had seen by the River Chebar. Each one went straight forward.
Consistency. I love that about Scripture. I love that about God.
Stay faithful. Grow your faith.
Footnotes[a] Ezekiel 10:5 – God Almighty – Heb El Shaddai.
[b] Ezekiel 10:14 In 1:10, – cherub – this face was described as that of an ox.