Ezekiel 1:1-28
Ezekiel the priest was in the land of the Babylonians, and it seems that he was meditating on the things of God as he was by the river of Kebar. Suddenly he was aware of an enormous cloud, a windstorm with lightning flashing through it coming from the northerly direction….
Ezekiel now tried to describe the indescribable for his readers, as he watched this cloud getting closer and closer. He could see that there were living beings in this cloud, they were sort of like human beings, and yet they were different. They gleamed with a great light from within and they had wings as well as hands and legs. They were able to move quickly like flashes of lightning, and they all moved in unison having wheels within wheels, and as they moved they made a sound like that of a rushing stream.
As we read this description in the context of modern inventions, we can almost imagine what Ezekiel was seeing was some sort of heavenly machine….was it some sort of helicopter or drone that he saw? It was definitely a vision from God, and Ezekiel now saw that there was a Great Being there and he could hear a Voice speaking to him. But the overall impression that he got, was one of tremendous light, and a brilliant rainbow which dazzled him so much that he threw himself face downwards on the ground.
For others who have seen a vision from God, there is always this great light, and we have Paul’s description of his experience on the road to Damascus. He too, fell face downwards onto the ground in the face of this great light, while the men with him saw the light and heard a voice but couldn’t pick what was being said. Paul though, was in no doubt as to what was said and Who was speaking to him, and he was blinded by this intense light for three days (Acts 9:3-9)
We hear of people today say in their ignorance and unbelief of Who God really is, that they are going to say this or that to God if they ever see Him, but they do not realise that they will be totally speechless in that day. They will see what they really are in the light of God’s holiness and purity, and will know His justice and that they will get what they deserve.
Ezekiel heard a voice speaking to him and he was ready to listen, just as Paul too listened to what God had to tell him. We don’t have these visions today, but we DO have God’s Word in our hands which clearly tells us the way of salvation….all we have to do is to humble ourselves to listen and obey what He tells us to do. We don’t have to WORK for our salvation because Jesus Christ has done it all, but we DO have to humble ourselves to accept what He has done.
God’s men of old heard God’s word, And wrote down what they heard, We must follow what we read, Obey it all and take good heed.