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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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[<A HREF="MHC26000.HTM">Previous</A>]
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>E Z E K I E L.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. I.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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In this chapter we have,
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I. The common circumstances of the prophecy now to be delivered, the
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time when it was delivered
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:1">ver. 1</A>),
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the place where
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:2">ver. 2</A>),
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and the person by whom,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:3">ver. 3</A>.
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II. The uncommon introduction to it by a vision of the glory of God,
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1. In his attendance and retinue in the upper world, where his throne
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is surrounded with angels, here called "living creatures,"
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:4-14">ver. 4-14</A>.
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2. In his providences concerning the lower world, represented by the
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wheels and their motions,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:15-25">ver. 15-25</A>.
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3. In the face of Jesus Christ sitting upon the throne,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:26-28">ver. 26-28</A>.
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And the more we are acquainted, and the more intimately we converse,
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with the glory of God in these three branches of it, the more
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commanding influence will divine revelation have upon us and the more
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ready shall we be to submit to it, which is the thing aimed at in
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prefacing the prophecies of this book with these visions. When such a
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God of glory speaks, it concerns us to hear with attention and
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reverence; it is at our peril if we do not.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Eze1_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Eze1_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Eze1_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Ezekiel's First Vision by the River Chebar.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 595.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth
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<I>month,</I> in the fifth <I>day</I> of the month, as I <I>was</I> among the
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captives by the river of Chebar, <I>that</I> the heavens were opened,
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and I saw visions of God.
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2 In the fifth <I>day</I> of the month, which <I>was</I> the fifth year
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of king Jehoiachin's captivity,
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3 The word of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest,
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the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river
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Chebar; and the hand of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> was there upon him.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The circumstances of the vision which Ezekiel saw, and in which he
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received his commission and instructions, are here very particularly
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set down, that the narrative may appear to be authentic and not
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romantic. It may be of use to keep an account when and where God has
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been pleased to manifest himself to our souls in a peculiar manner,
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that the <I>return of the day,</I> and our return to <I>the place of
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the altar</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+13:4">Gen. xiii. 4</A>),
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may revive the pleasing grateful remembrance of God's favour to us.
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"Remember, O my soul! and never forget what communications of divine
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love thou didst receive at such a time, at such a place; tell others
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what God did for thee."</P>
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<P>
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I. The time when Ezekiel had this vision is here recorded. It was <I>in
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the thirtieth year,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
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Some make it the thirtieth year of the prophet's age; being a priest,
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he was at that age to enter upon the full execution of the priestly
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office, but being debarred from that by the iniquity and calamity of
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the times, now that they had neither temple nor altar, God at that age
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called him to the dignity of a prophet. Others make it to be the
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thirtieth year from the beginning of the reign of Nabopolassar, the
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father of Nebuchadnezzar, from which the Chaldeans began a new
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computation of time, as they had done from Nabonassar 123 years before.
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Nabopolassar reigned nineteen years, and this was the eleventh of his
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son, which makes the thirty. And it was proper enough for Ezekiel, when
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he was in Babylon, to use the computation they there used, as we in
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foreign countries date by the new style; and he afterwards uses the
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melancholy computation of his own country, observing
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>)
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that it was the fifth year of Jehoiachin's captivity. But the Chaldee
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paraphrase fixes upon another era, and says that this was the thirtieth
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year after <I>Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law in the house
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of the sanctuary, at midnight, after the setting of the moon, in the
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days of Josiah the king.</I> And it is true that this was just thirty
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years from that time; and that was an event so remarkable (as it put
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the Jewish state upon a new trial) that it was proper enough to date
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form it; and perhaps therefore the prophet speaks indefinitely of
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thirty years, as having an eye both to that event and to the Chaldean
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computation, which were coincident. It was in the <I>fourth month,</I>
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answering to our June, and in the <I>fifth day of the month,</I> that
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Ezekiel had this vision,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
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It is probably that it was on the sabbath day, because we read
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+3:16"><I>ch.</I> iii. 16</A>)
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that <I>at the end of seven days,</I> which we may well suppose to be
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the next sabbath, the word of the Lord came to him again. Thus <I>John
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was in the Spirit on the Lord's day,</I> when he <I>saw the visions of
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the Almighty,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+1:10">Rev. i. 10</A>.
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God would hereby put an honour upon his sabbaths, when <I>the enemies
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mocked at them,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+1:7">Lam. i. 7</A>.
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And he would thus encourage his people to keep up their attendance on
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the ministry of his prophets every sabbath day, by the extraordinary
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manifestations of himself on some sabbath days.</P>
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<P>
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II. The melancholy circumstances he was in when God honoured him, and
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thereby favoured his people, with this vision. He was <I>in the land of
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the Chaldeans, among the captives, by the river of Chebar, and it was
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in the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity.</I> Observe,</P>
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<P>
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1. The people of God were now, some of them, <I>captives in the land of
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the Chaldeans.</I> The body of the Jewish nation yet remained in their
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own land, but these were the first-fruits of the captivity, and they
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were some of the best; for in Jeremiah's vision these were the <I>good
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figs,</I> whom God had <I>sent into the land of the Chaldeans for their
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good</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+24:5">Jer. xxiv. 5</A>);
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and, that it might be for their good, God raised up a prophet among
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them, to <I>teach them out of the law,</I> then when he chastened them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+94:12">Ps. xciv. 12</A>.
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Note, It is a great mercy to have the word of God brought to us, and a
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great duty to attend to it diligently, when we are in affliction. The
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word of instruction and the rod of correction may be of great service
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to us, in concert and concurrence with each other, the word to explain
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the rod and the rod to enforce the word: both together give wisdom. It
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is happy for a man, when he is sick and in pain, to have a messenger
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with him, an interpreter, <I>one among a thousand,</I> if he have but
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his <I>ear open to discipline,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+23:23">Job xxiii. 23</A>.
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One of the quarrels God had with the Jews, when he sent them into
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captivity, we for <I>mocking his messengers</I> and <I>misusing his
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prophets;</I> and yet, when they were suffering for this sin, he
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favoured them with this forfeited mercy. It were ill with us if God did
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not sometimes graciously thrust upon us those means of grace and
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salvation which we have foolishly thrust from us. In their captivity
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they were destitute of ordinary helps for their souls, and therefore
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God raised them up these extraordinary ones; for God's children, if
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they be hindered in their education one way, shall have it made up
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another way. But observe, <I>It was in the fifth year of the
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captivity</I> that Ezekiel was raised up amongst them, and not before.
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So long God left them without any prophet, till they began to <I>lament
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after the Lord</I> and to complain that they <I>saw not their signs</I>
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and there was none to <I>tell them how long</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+74:9">Ps. lxxiv. 9</A>),
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and then they would know how to value a prophet, and God's discoveries
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of himself to them by him would be the more acceptable and comfortable.
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The Jews that remained in their own land had Jeremiah with them, those
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that had gone into captivity had Ezekiel with them; for wherever the
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children of God are scattered abroad he will find out tutors for
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them.</P>
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<P>
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2. The prophet was himself among the captives, those of them that were
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posted by <I>the river Chebar;</I> for it was <I>by the rivers of
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Babylon</I> that they <I>sat down,</I> and on the willow-trees by the
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river's side that they <I>hanged their harps,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+137:1,2">Ps. cxxxvii. 1, 2</A>.
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The planters in America keep along by the sides of the rivers, and
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perhaps those captives were employed by their masters in improving some
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parts of the country by the rivers' sides that were uncultivated, the
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natives being generally employed in war; or they employed them in
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manufactures, and therefore chose to fix them by the sides of rivers,
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that the good they made might the more easily be conveyed by
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water-carriage. Interpreters agree not what river this of Chebar was,
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but <I>among the captives</I> by that river Ezekiel was, and himself a
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captive. Observe here,
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(1.) The best men, and those that are dearest to God, often share, not
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only in the common calamities of this life, but in the public and
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national judgments that are inflicted for sin; those feel the smart who
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contributed nothing to the guilt, by which it appears that the
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difference between good and bad arises not from the events that befal
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them, but from the temper and disposition of their spirits under them.
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And since not only righteous men, but prophets, share with the worst in
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present punishments, we may infer thence, with the greatest assurance,
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that there are rewards reserved for them in the future state.
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(2.) Words of conviction, counsel, and comfort, come best to those who
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are in affliction from their fellow sufferers. The captives will be
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best instructed by one who is a captive among them and experimentally
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knows their sorrows.
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(3.) The spirit of prophecy was not confined to the land of Israel, but
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some of the brightest of divine revelations were revealed <I>in the
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land of the Chaldeans,</I> which was a happy presage of the carrying of
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the church, with that divine revelation upon which it is built, into
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the Gentile world; and, as now, so afterwards, when the gospel kingdom
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was to be set up, the dispersion of the Jews contributed to the
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spreading of the knowledge of God.
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(4.) Wherever we are we may keep up our communion with God. <I>Undique
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ad cœlos tantundem est viæ--From the remotest corners of the
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earth we may find a way open heavenward.</I>
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(5.) When God's ministers are bound <I>the word of the Lord is not
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bound,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ti+2:9">2 Tim. ii. 9</A>.
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When St. Paul was a prisoner the gospel had a free course. When St.
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John was banished into the Isle of Patmos Christ visited him there.
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Nay, God's suffering servants have generally been treated as
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favourites, and their consolations have much more abounded when
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affliction has abounded,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+1:5">2 Cor. i. 5</A>.</P>
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<P>
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III. The discovery which God was pleased to make of himself to the
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prophet when he was in these circumstances, to be by him communicated
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to his people. He here tells us what he saw, what he heard, and what he
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felt.
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1. He <I>saw visions of God,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
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No man can <I>see God and live;</I> but many have seen visions of God,
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such displays of the divine glory as have both instructed and affected
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them; and commonly, when God first revealed himself to any prophet, he
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did it by an extraordinary vision, as to Isaiah
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+6:1-13"><I>ch.</I> vi.</A>),
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to Jeremiah
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+1:1-19"><I>ch.</I> i.</A>),
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to Abraham
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+7:2">Acts vii. 2</A>),
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to settle a correspondence and a satisfactory way of intercourse, so
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that there needed not afterwards a vision upon ever revelation. Ezekiel
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was employed in turning the hearts of the people to the Lord their God,
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and therefore he must himself see the visions of God. Note, It concerns
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those to be well acquainted with God themselves, and much affected with
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what they know of him, whose business it is to bring others to the
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knowledge and love of him. That he might see the <I>visions of God the
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heavens were opened;</I> the darkness and distance which hindered his
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visions were conquered, and he was let into the light of the glories of
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the upper world, as near and clear as if heaven had been opened to him.
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2. He heard the voice of God
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
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<I>The word of the Lord came expressly</I> to him, and what he saw was
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designed to prepare him for what he was to hear. The expression is
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emphatic. <I>Essendo fuit verbum Dei</I>--<I>The word of the Lord was a
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really it was to him.</I> There was no mistake in it; it came to him in
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the fulness of its light and power, in the evidence and demonstration
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of the Spirit; it came close to him, nay, it came into him, took
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possession of him and dwelt in him richly. It <I>came expressly,</I> or
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accurately, to him; he did himself clearly understand what he said and
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was abundantly satisfied f the truth of it. <I>The essential Word</I>
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(so we may take it), <I>the Word who is, who is what he is, came to
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Ezekiel,</I> to send him on his errand.
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3. He felt the power of God opening his eyes to see the visions,
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opening his ear to hear the voice, and opening his heart to receive
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both: <I>The hand of the Lord was there upon him.</I> Note, <I>The hand
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of the Lord</I> goes along with <I>the word f the Lord,</I> and so it
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becomes effectual; those only understand and <I>believe the report to
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whom the arm of the Lord is revealed. The hand of God was upon him,</I>
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as upon Moses, to cover him, that he should not be overcome by the
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dazzling light and lustre of the visions he saw,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+33:22">Exod. xxxiii. 22</A>.
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It <I>was upon him</I> (as upon St. John,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+1:17">Rev. i. 17</A>),
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to revive and support him, that he might bear up, and not faint, under
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these discoveries, that he might neither be lifted up nor cast down
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with the abundance of the revelations. God's <I>grace is sufficient for
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him,</I> and, in token of that, his <I>hand is upon him.</I></P>
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<A NAME="Eze1_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Eze1_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Eze1_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Eze1_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Eze1_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Eze1_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Eze1_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Eze1_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Eze1_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Eze1_13"> </A>
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<A NAME="Eze1_14"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Vision of the Four Living Creatures.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 595.</TD></TR>
|
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
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</TABLE>
|
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<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+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
|
|
<I>was</I> about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of
|
|
amber, out of the midst of the fire.
|
|
5 Also out of the midst thereof <I>came</I> the likeness of four
|
|
living creatures. And this <I>was</I> their appearance; they had the
|
|
likeness of a man.
|
|
6 And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.
|
|
7 And their feet <I>were</I> straight feet; and the sole of their
|
|
feet <I>was</I> like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like
|
|
the colour of burnished brass.
|
|
8 And <I>they had</I> the hands of a man under their wings on their
|
|
four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.
|
|
9 Their wings <I>were</I> joined one to another; they turned not
|
|
when they went; they went every one straight forward.
|
|
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
|
|
four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had
|
|
the face of an eagle.
|
|
11 Thus <I>were</I> their faces: and their wings <I>were</I> stretched
|
|
upward; two <I>wings</I> of every one <I>were</I> joined one to another,
|
|
and two covered their bodies.
|
|
12 And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit
|
|
was to go, they went; <I>and</I> they turned not when they went.
|
|
13 As for the likeness of the living creatures, their
|
|
appearance <I>was</I> like burning coals of fire, <I>and</I> 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.
|
|
14 And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance
|
|
of a flash of lightning.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
The visions of God which Ezekiel here saw were very glorious, and had
|
|
more particulars than those which other prophets saw. It is the scope
|
|
and intention of these vision,
|
|
|
|
1. To possess the prophet's mind with very great, and high, and
|
|
honourable thoughts of that God by whom he was commissioned and for
|
|
whom he was employed. It is <I>the likeness of the glory of the
|
|
Lord</I> that he sees
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:28"><I>v.</I> 28</A>),
|
|
|
|
and hence he may infer that it is his honour to serve him, for he is
|
|
one whom angels serve. He may serve him with safety, for he has power
|
|
sufficient to bear him out in his work. It is at his peril to draw
|
|
back from his service, for he has power to pursue him, as he did Jonah.
|
|
So great a God as this must be served <I>with reverence and godly
|
|
fear;</I> and with assurance may Ezekiel foretel what this God will do,
|
|
for he is able to make his words good.
|
|
|
|
2. To strike a terror upon the sinners who remained in Zion, and those
|
|
who had already come to Babylon, who were secure, and bade defiance to
|
|
the threatenings of Jerusalem's ruin, as we have found in Jeremiah's
|
|
prophecy, and shall find in this, many did. "Let those who said, <I>We
|
|
shall have peace though we go on,</I> know that <I>our God is a
|
|
consuming fire,</I> whom they cannot stand before." That this vision
|
|
had a reference to the destruction of Jerusalem seems plain from
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+43:3"><I>ch.</I> xliii. 3</A>,
|
|
|
|
where he says that it was <I>the vision which he saw when he came to
|
|
destroy the city,</I> that is, to prophesy the destruction of it.
|
|
|
|
3. To speak comfort to those that feared God, and trembled at his word,
|
|
and humbled themselves under his mighty hand. "Let them know that,
|
|
though they are captives in Babylon, yet they have God nigh unto them;
|
|
though they have not <I>the place of the sanctuary</I> to be their
|
|
glorious high throne, they have the God of the sanctuary." Dr.
|
|
Lightfoot observes, "Now that the church is to be planted for a long
|
|
time in another country, the Lord shows a glory in the midst of them,
|
|
as he had done at their first constituting into a church in the
|
|
wilderness; and out of <I>a cloud and fire,</I> as he had done there,
|
|
he showed himself; and from between <I>living creatures,</I> as from
|
|
between the cherubim, he gives his oracles." This put an honour upon
|
|
them, by which they might value themselves when the Chaldeans insulted
|
|
over them, and this might encourage their hopes of deliverance in due
|
|
time.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Now, to answer these ends, we have in
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:4-14">these verses</A>
|
|
|
|
the first part of the vision, which represents God as attended and
|
|
served by an innumerable company of angels, who are all his messengers,
|
|
his ministers, <I>doing his commandments</I> and <I>hearkening to the
|
|
voice of his word.</I> This denotes his grandeur, as it magnifies an
|
|
earthly prince to have a splendid retinue and numerous armies at his
|
|
command, which engages his allies to trust him and his enemies to fear
|
|
him.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. The introduction to this vision of the angels is very magnificent
|
|
and awakening,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
The prophet, observing the heavens to open, <I>looked,</I> looked up
|
|
(as it was time), to see what discoveries God would make to him. Note,
|
|
When the heavens are opened it concerns us to have our eyes open. To
|
|
clear the way, <I>behold, a whirlwind came out of the north,</I> which
|
|
would drive away the interposing mists of this lower region. Fair
|
|
weather <I>comes out of the north,</I> and thence <I>the wind</I> comes
|
|
that <I>drives away rain.</I> God can by a whirlwind clear the sky and
|
|
air, and produce that serenity of mind which is necessary to our
|
|
communion with Heaven. Yet this whirlwind was attended with <I>a great
|
|
cloud.</I> When we think that the clouds which arise from this earth
|
|
are dispelled and we can see beyond them, yet still there is a cloud
|
|
which heavenly things are wrapped in, a cloud from above, so that <I>we
|
|
cannot order our speech</I> concerning them <I>by reason of
|
|
darkness.</I> Christ here descended, as he ascended, <I>in a cloud.</I>
|
|
Some by this <I>whirlwind and cloud</I> understand the Chaldean army
|
|
coming <I>out of the north</I> against the land of Judah, bearing down
|
|
all before them as a tempest; and so it agrees with that which was
|
|
signified by one of the first of Jeremiah's visions
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+1:14">Jer. i. 14</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>Out of the north an evil shall break forth</I>); but I take it here
|
|
as an introduction rather to the vision than to the sermons. This
|
|
whirlwind came to Ezekiel (as that to Elijah,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ki+19:11">1 Kings xix. 11</A>),
|
|
|
|
to <I>prepare the way of the Lord,</I> and to demand attention.
|
|
<I>He</I> that has eyes, <I>that has ears,</I> let him see, <I>let him
|
|
hear.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The vision itself. <I>A great cloud</I> was the vehicle of this
|
|
vision, in which it was conveyed to the prophet; for God's pavilion in
|
|
which he rests, his chariot in which he rides, is <I>darkness and thick
|
|
clouds,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+18:11,104:3">Ps. xviii. 11; civ. 3</A>.
|
|
|
|
Thus he <I>holds back the face of his throne,</I> lest its dazzling
|
|
light and lustre should overpower us, by <I>spreading a cloud upon
|
|
it.</I> Now,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. The cloud is accompanied with <I>a fire,</I> as upon Mount Sinai,
|
|
where God resided in a <I>thick cloud;</I> but <I>the sight of his
|
|
glory was like a devouring fire</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+24:16,17">Exod. xxiv. 16, 17</A>),
|
|
|
|
and his first appearance to Moses was <I>in a flame of fire in the
|
|
bush;</I> for <I>our God is a consuming fire.</I> This was <I>a fire
|
|
enfolding itself,</I> a globe, or orb, or wheel of fire. God being his
|
|
own cause, his own rule, and his own end, if he be as <I>a fire,</I> he
|
|
is as <I>a fire enfolding itself,</I> or (as some read it) <I>kindled
|
|
by itself.</I> The fire of God's glory shines forth, but it quickly
|
|
enfolds itself; for he lets us know but part of his ways; the fire of
|
|
God's wrath breaks forth, but it also quickly enfolds itself, for the
|
|
divine patience suffers not all his wrath to be stirred up. If it were
|
|
not a fire thus enfolding itself, <I>O Lord! who shall stand?</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The fire is surrounded with a glory: <I>A brightness was about
|
|
it,</I> in which it enfolded itself, yet it made some discovery of
|
|
itself. Though we cannot see into the fire, cannot by searching find
|
|
out God to perfection, yet we see the brightness that is round about
|
|
it, the reflection of this fire from the thick cloud. Moses might see
|
|
God's back parts, but not his face. We have some light concerning the
|
|
nature of God, from the brightness which encompasses it, though we have
|
|
not an insight into it, by reason of the cloud spread upon it. Nothing
|
|
is more easy than to determine that God is, nothing more difficult than
|
|
to describe what he is. When God displays his wrath as fire, yet there
|
|
is a brightness about it; for his holiness and justice appear very
|
|
illustrious in the punishment of sin and sinners: even about the
|
|
devouring fire there is a brightness, which glorified saints will for
|
|
ever admire.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. Out of this fire there shines <I>the colour of amber.</I> We are not
|
|
told who or what it was that had this colour of amber, and therefore I
|
|
take it to be the whole frame of the following vision, which came into
|
|
Ezekiel's view <I>out of the midst of the fire and brightness;</I> and
|
|
the first thing he took notice of before he viewed the particulars was
|
|
that it was <I>of the colour of amber,</I> or <I>the eye of amber;</I>
|
|
that is, it looked as amber does to the eye, of a bright flaming fiery
|
|
colour, the colour of <I>a burning coal;</I> so some think it should be
|
|
read. The <I>living creatures</I> which he saw coming <I>out of the
|
|
midst of the fire</I> were <I>seraphim</I>--<I>burners;</I> for <I>he
|
|
maketh his angels spirits, his ministers a flaming fire.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
4. That which comes out of the fire, of a fiery amber colour, when it
|
|
comes to be distinctly viewed, is <I>the likeness of four living
|
|
creatures;</I> not the <I>living creatures</I> themselves (angels are
|
|
spirits, and cannot be seen), but <I>the likeness</I> of them, such a
|
|
hieroglyphic, or representation, as God saw fit to make use of for the
|
|
leading of the prophet, and us with him, into some acquaintance with
|
|
the world of angels (a matter purely of divine revelation), so far as
|
|
is requisite to possess us with an awful sense of the greatness of that
|
|
God who has angels for his attendants, and the goodness of that God who
|
|
has appointed them to be attendants on his people. <I>The likeness of
|
|
these living creatures came out of the midst of the fire;</I> for
|
|
angels derive their being and power from God; they are in themselves,
|
|
and to us, what he is pleased to make them; their glory is a ray of
|
|
his. The prophet himself explains this vision
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+10:20"><I>ch.</I> x. 20</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>I knew that the living creatures were the cherubim,</I> which is one
|
|
of the names by which the angels are known in scripture. To Daniel was
|
|
made known their number, <I>ten thousand times ten thousand,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+7:10">Dan. vii. 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
But, though they are many, yet they are one, and that is made known to
|
|
Ezekiel here; they are one in nature and operation, as an army,
|
|
consisting of thousands, is yet called a body of men. We have here an
|
|
account of,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) Their nature. They are living creatures; they are the creatures of
|
|
God, the work of his hands; their being is derived; they have not life
|
|
in and of themselves, but receive it from him who is <I>the fountain of
|
|
life.</I> As much as the living creatures of this lower world excel the
|
|
vegetables that are the ornaments of earth, so much do the angels, the
|
|
living creatures of the upper world, excel the sun, moon, and stars,
|
|
the ornaments of the heavens. The sun (say some) is a flame of <I>fire
|
|
enfolding itself,</I> but it is not a living creature, as angels, those
|
|
flames of fire, are. Angels are living creatures, living beings,
|
|
emphatically so. Men on earth are dying creatures, dying daily (<I>in
|
|
the midst of life we are in death</I>), but angels in heaven are living
|
|
creatures; they live indeed, live to good purpose; and, when saints
|
|
come to be <I>equal unto the angels,</I> they shall not <I>die any
|
|
more,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+20:36">Luke xx. 36</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) Their number. They are four; so they appear here, though they are
|
|
innumerable; not as if these were four particular angels set up above
|
|
the rest, as some have fondly imagined, Michael and Gabriel, Raphael
|
|
and Uriel, but for the sake of the four faces they put on, and to
|
|
intimate their being sent forth towards <I>the four winds of
|
|
heaven,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+24:31">Matt. xxiv. 31</A>.
|
|
|
|
Zechariah saw them as four chariots going forth east, west, north, and
|
|
south,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+6:1">Zech. vi. 1</A>.
|
|
|
|
God has messengers to send every way; for his kingdom is universal, and
|
|
reaches to all parts of the world.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(3.) Their qualifications, by which they are fitted for the service of
|
|
their Maker and Master. These are set forth figuratively and by
|
|
similitude, as is proper in visions, which are parables to the eye.
|
|
Their description here is such, and so expressed, that I think it is
|
|
not possible by it to form an exact idea of them in our fancies, or
|
|
with the pencil, for that would be a temptation to worship them; but
|
|
the several instances of their fitness for the work they are employed
|
|
in are intended in the several parts of this description. Note, It is
|
|
the greatest honour of God's creatures to be in a capacity of answering
|
|
the end of their creation; and the more ready we are to every good work
|
|
the nearer we approach to the dignity of angels. These living creatures
|
|
are described here,
|
|
|
|
[1.] By their general appearance: <I>They had the likeness of a
|
|
man;</I> they appeared, for the main, in a human shape, <I>First,</I>
|
|
To signify that these living creatures are reasonable creatures,
|
|
intelligent beings, who have the <I>spirit of a man</I> which is the
|
|
<I>candle of the Lord. Secondly,</I> To put an honour upon the nature
|
|
of man, who is made lower, yet but <I>a little lower, than the
|
|
angels,</I> in the very next rank of beings below them. When the
|
|
invisible intelligences of the upper world would make themselves
|
|
visible, it is in <I>the likeness of man. Thirdly,</I> To intimate that
|
|
their <I>delights are with the sons of men,</I> as their Master's are
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+8:31">Prov. viii. 31</A>),
|
|
|
|
that they do service to men, and men may have spiritual communion with
|
|
them by faith, hope, and holy love. <I>Fourthly,</I> The angels of God
|
|
appear in <I>the likeness of man</I> because in <I>the fulness of
|
|
time</I> the Son of God was not only to appear in that likeness, but to
|
|
assume that nature; they therefore show this love to it.
|
|
|
|
[2.] By their faces: <I>Every one had four faces,</I> looking four
|
|
several ways. In St. John's vision, which has a near affinity with
|
|
this, each of the four living creatures has one of these faces here
|
|
mentioned
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+4:7">Rev. iv. 7</A>);
|
|
|
|
here each of them has all four, to intimate that they have all the same
|
|
qualifications for service; though, perhaps, among the angels of
|
|
heaven, as among the angels of the churches, some excel in one gift and
|
|
others in another, but all for the common service. Let us contemplate
|
|
their faces till we be in some measure changed into the same image,
|
|
that we may do the will of God as the angels do it in heaven. They
|
|
<I>all four had the face of a man</I> (for in that likeness they
|
|
appeared,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>),
|
|
|
|
but, besides that, they had <I>the face of a lion, an ox,</I> and <I>an
|
|
eagle,</I> each masterly in its kind, <I>the lion</I> among <I>wild</I>
|
|
beasts, <I>the ox</I> among <I>tame</I> ones, and <I>the eagle</I>
|
|
among fowls,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
Does God make use of them for the executing of judgments upon his
|
|
enemies? They are fierce and strong as the lion and the eagle in
|
|
tearing their prey. Does he make use of them for the good of his
|
|
people? They are as <I>oxen strong for labour</I> and inclined to
|
|
serve. And in both they have <I>the understanding of a man.</I> The
|
|
scattered perfections of the living creatures on earth meet in the
|
|
angels of heaven. They have <I>the likeness of man;</I> but, because
|
|
there are some things in which man is excelled even by the inferior
|
|
creatures, they are therefore compared to some of them. They have
|
|
<I>the understanding of a man,</I> and such as far exceeds it; they
|
|
also resemble man in tenderness and humanity. But, <I>First, A lion</I>
|
|
excels man in strength and boldness, and is much more formidable;
|
|
therefore the angels, who in this resemble them, put on the <I>face of
|
|
a lion. Secondly, An ox</I> excels man in diligence, and patience, and
|
|
painstaking, and an unwearied discharge of the work he has to do;
|
|
therefore the angels, who are constantly employed in the service of God
|
|
and the church, put on <I>the face of an ox. Thirdly, An eagle</I>
|
|
excels man in quickness and piercingness of sight, and in soaring high;
|
|
and therefore the angels, who seek things above, and see far into
|
|
divine mysteries, put on <I>the face of a flying eagle.</I>
|
|
|
|
[3.] By their wings: <I>Every one had four wings,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
In the vision Isaiah had of them they appeared with six, now with four;
|
|
for they appeared above the throne, and had occasion for two to cover
|
|
their faces with. The angels are fitted with wings to fly swiftly on
|
|
God's errands; whatever business God sends them upon they lose no time.
|
|
Faith and hope are the soul's wings, upon which it soars upward; pious
|
|
and devout affections are its wings on which it is carried forward with
|
|
vigour and alacrity. The prophet observes here, concerning their wings,
|
|
<I>First,</I> That they were <I>joined one to another,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>
|
|
|
|
and again
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
They did not make use of their wings for fighting, as some birds do;
|
|
there is no contest among the angels. God makes <I>peace,</I> perfect
|
|
peace, <I>in his high places.</I> But their wings were joined, in token
|
|
of their perfect unity and unanimity and the universal agreement there
|
|
is among them. <I>Secondly,</I> That <I>they were stretched upward,</I>
|
|
extended, and ready for use, not folded up, or flagging. Let an angel
|
|
receive the least intimation of the divine will, and he has nothing to
|
|
seek, but is upon the wings immediately; while our poor dull souls are
|
|
like the ostrich, that with much difficulty lifts up herself on high.
|
|
<I>Thirdly,</I> That two of their wings were made use of in covering
|
|
their bodies, the spiritual bodies they assumed. The clothes that cover
|
|
us are our hindrance in work; angels need no other covering than their
|
|
own wings, which are their furtherance. They cover their bodies from
|
|
us, so forbidding us needless enquiries concerning them. Ask not after
|
|
them, for they are wonderful,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+13:18">Judg. xiii. 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
They cover them before God, so directing us, when we approach to God,
|
|
to see to it that we be so clothed with Christ's righteousness <I>that
|
|
the shame of our nakedness may not appear.</I>
|
|
|
|
[4.] By their feet, including their legs and thighs: They were
|
|
<I>straight feet</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>);
|
|
|
|
they stood straight, and firm, and steady; no burden of service could
|
|
make their legs to bend under them. The spouse makes this part of the
|
|
description of her beloved, that <I>his legs</I> were <I>as pillars of
|
|
marble set upon sockets of fine gold</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=So+5:15">Cant. v. 15</A>);
|
|
|
|
such are the angels' legs. <I>The sole of their feet was like</I> that
|
|
<I>of a calf's foot,</I> which divides the hoof and is therefore clean:
|
|
<I>as it were the sole of a round foot</I> (as the Chaldee words it);
|
|
they were ready for motion any way. <I>Their feet were winged</I> (so
|
|
the LXX.); they went so swiftly that it was as if they flew. And their
|
|
very feet <I>sparkled like the colour of burnished brass;</I> not only
|
|
the faces, but the very feet, of those are beautiful whom God sends on
|
|
his errands
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+52:7">Isa. lii. 7</A>);
|
|
|
|
every step the angels take is glorious. In the vision John had of
|
|
Christ it is said, <I>His feet were like unto fine brass, as if they
|
|
burned in a furnace,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+1:15">Rev. i. 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
[5.] By their hands
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>They had the hands of a man under their wings on their four
|
|
sides,</I> an arm and a hand under every wing. They had not only wings
|
|
for motion, but hands for action. Many are quick who are not active;
|
|
they hurry about a great deal, but do nothing to purpose, bring nothing
|
|
to pass; they have wings, but no hands: whereas God's servants, the
|
|
angels, not only go when he sends them and come when he calls them, but
|
|
do what he bids them. They are <I>the hands of a man,</I> which are
|
|
wonderfully made and fitted for service, which are guided by reason and
|
|
understanding; for what angles do they do intelligently and with
|
|
judgment. They have calves' feet; this denotes the swiftness of their
|
|
motion (the cedars of Lebanon are said to <I>skip like a calf,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+29:6">Ps. xxix. 6</A>);
|
|
|
|
but they have a man's hand, which denotes the niceness and exactness of
|
|
their performances, as the heavens are said to be the work of God's
|
|
fingers. Their hands were <I>under their wings,</I> which concealed
|
|
them, as they did the rest of their bodies. Note, The agency of angels
|
|
is a secret thing and their work is carried on in an invisible way. In
|
|
working for God, though we must not, with <I>the sluggard, hide our
|
|
hand in our bosom,</I> yet we must, with the humble, <I>not let our
|
|
left hand know what our right hand doeth.</I> We may observe that where
|
|
these wings were their hands were <I>under their wings;</I> wherever
|
|
their wings carried them they carried hands along with them, to be
|
|
still doing something suitable something that the duty of the place
|
|
requires.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(4.) Their motions. The living creatures are moving. Angels are active
|
|
beings; it is not their happiness to sit still and do nothing, but to
|
|
be always well employed; and we must reckon ourselves then best when we
|
|
are doing good, doing it as the angels do it, or whom it is here
|
|
observed,
|
|
|
|
[1.] That whatever service they went about <I>they went every one
|
|
straight forward</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:9,12"><I>v.</I> 9, 12</A>),
|
|
|
|
which intimates, <I>First,</I> That they sincerely aimed at the glory
|
|
of God, and had a single eye to that, in all they did. Their going
|
|
<I>straight forward</I> supposes that they looked straight forward, and
|
|
never had any sinister intentions in what they did. And, if thus <I>our
|
|
eye be single,</I> our <I>whole body will be full of light.</I> The
|
|
singleness of the eye is the sincerity of the heart. <I>Secondly,</I>
|
|
That they were intent upon the service they were employed in, and did
|
|
it with a close application of mind. They went forward with their work;
|
|
for what their hand found to do they did <I>with all their might</I>
|
|
and did not loiter in it. <I>Thirdly,</I> That they were unanimous in
|
|
it: <I>They went straight forward,</I> every one about his own work;
|
|
they did not thwart or jostle one another, did not stand in one
|
|
another's light, in one another's way. <I>Fourthly,</I> That they
|
|
perfectly understood their business, and were thoroughly apprised of
|
|
it, so that they needed not to stand still, to pause of hesitate, but
|
|
pursue their work with readiness, as those that knew what they had to
|
|
do and how to do it. <I>Fifthly,</I> They were steady and constant in
|
|
their work. They did not fluctuate, did not tire, did not vary, but
|
|
were of a piece with themselves. They moved in a direct line, and so
|
|
went the nearest way to work in all they did and lost no time. When we
|
|
go straight we go forward; when we serve God with one heart we rid
|
|
ground, we rid work.
|
|
|
|
[2.] <I>They turned not when they went,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:9,12"><I>v.</I> 9, 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>First,</I> They made no blunders or mistakes, which would give them
|
|
occasion to turn back to rectify them; their work needed no correction,
|
|
and therefore needed not to be gone over again. <I>Secondly,</I> They
|
|
minded no diversions; as they turned not back, so they turned not
|
|
aside, to trifle with any thing that was foreign to their business.
|
|
|
|
[3.] <I>They went whither the Spirit was to go</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>),
|
|
|
|
either, <I>First, Whither</I> their own <I>spirit was</I> disposed
|
|
<I>to go;</I> thither <I>they went,</I> having no bodies, as we have,
|
|
to clog or hinder them. It is our infelicity and daily burden that,
|
|
when <I>the spirit if willing,</I> yet <I>the flesh is weak</I> and
|
|
cannot keep pace with it, so that <I>the good which we would do we do
|
|
it not;</I> but angels and glorified saints labour under no such
|
|
impotency; whatever they incline or intend to do they do it, and never
|
|
come short of it. Or, rather, <I>Secondly,</I> Whithersoever <I>the
|
|
Spirit</I> of God would have them <I>go,</I> thither <I>they went.</I>
|
|
Though they had so much wisdom of their own, yet in all their motions
|
|
and actions they subjected themselves to the guidance and government of
|
|
the divine will. Whithersoever the divine Providence <I>was to go they
|
|
went,</I> to serve its purposes and to execute its orders. The Spirit
|
|
of God (says Mr. Greenhill) is the great agent that sets angels to
|
|
work, and it is their honour that they are led, they are easily <I>led,
|
|
by the Spirit.</I> See how tractable and obsequious these noble
|
|
creatures are. Whithersoever <I>the Spirit</I> is <I>to go</I> they go
|
|
immediately, with all possible alacrity. Note, Those that <I>walk after
|
|
the Spirit</I> do the will of God as the angels do it.
|
|
|
|
[4.] They <I>ran and returned like a flash of lightning,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
This intimates, <I>First,</I> That they made haste; they were quick in
|
|
their motions, as quick as lightning. Whatever business they went about
|
|
they despatched it immediately, in a moment, in the twinkling of an
|
|
eye. Happy they that have no bodies to retard their motion in holy
|
|
exercises. And happy shall we be when we come to have spiritual bodies
|
|
for spiritual work. Satan <I>falls like lightning</I> into his own
|
|
ruin,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+10:18">Luke x. 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
Angels fly <I>like lightning</I> in their Master's work. The angel
|
|
Gabriel flew swiftly. <I>Secondly,</I> That they made haste back: They
|
|
<I>ran and returned;</I> ran to do their work and execute their orders,
|
|
and then returned to give an account of what they had done and receive
|
|
new instructions, that they might be always doing. They <I>ran</I>
|
|
into the lower world, to do what was to be done there; but, when they
|
|
had done it, they <I>returned like flash of lightning</I> to the upper
|
|
world again, to the beatific vision of their God, which they could not
|
|
with any patience be longer from than their service did require. Thus
|
|
we should be in the affairs of this world as out of our element. Though
|
|
we run into them, we must not repose in them, but our souls must
|
|
quickly return like lightning to God their rest and centre.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
5. We have an account of the light by which the prophet saw these
|
|
living creatures, or the looking-glass in which he saw them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
(1.) He saw them by their own light, for <I>their appearance was like
|
|
burning coals of fire;</I> they are <I>seraphim-burners,</I> denoting
|
|
the ardour of their love to God, their fervent zeal in his service,
|
|
their splendour and brightness, and their terror against God's enemies.
|
|
When God employs them to fight his battles they are as <I>coals of
|
|
fire</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+18:12">Ps. xviii. 12</A>)
|
|
|
|
to <I>devour the adversaries,</I> as lightnings shot out to discomfit
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
(2.) He saw them by the light of some <I>lamps,</I> which <I>went up
|
|
and down among</I> them, the shining whereof <I>was</I> very
|
|
<I>bright.</I> Satan's works are works of darkness; he is <I>the ruler
|
|
of the darkness of this world.</I> But the angels of light are in the
|
|
light, and, though they conceal their working, they show their work,
|
|
for it will bear the light. But we see them and their works only by
|
|
candle-light, but the dim light <I>of lamps</I> that go <I>up and down
|
|
among</I> them; when <I>the day breaks, and the shadows flee away,</I>
|
|
we shall see them clearly. Some make the <I>appearance</I> of these
|
|
<I>burning coals,</I> and of the <I>lightning</I> that issues <I>out of
|
|
the fire,</I> to signify the wrath of God, and his judgments, that were
|
|
now to be executed upon Judah and Jerusalem for their sins, in which
|
|
angels were to be employed; and accordingly we find afterwards <I>coals
|
|
of fire scattered upon the city</I> to consume it, which were
|
|
<I>fetched from between the cherubim,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+10:2"><I>ch.</I> x. 2</A>.
|
|
|
|
But by <I>the appearance of the lamps</I> then we may understand the
|
|
light of comfort which shone forth to the people of God in the darkness
|
|
of this present trouble. If the ministry of the angels is as a
|
|
consuming fire to God's enemies, it is as a rejoicing light to his own
|
|
children. To the one this <I>fire</I> is <I>bright,</I> it is very
|
|
reviving and refreshing; to the other, <I>out of the fire</I> comes
|
|
fresh <I>lightning</I> to destroy them. Note, Good angels are our
|
|
friends, or enemies, according as God is.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Eze1_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze1_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze1_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze1_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze1_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze1_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze1_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze1_22"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze1_23"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze1_24"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze1_25"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Vision of the Wheels.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 595.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>15 Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon
|
|
the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.
|
|
16 The appearance of the wheels and their work <I>was</I> like unto
|
|
the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their
|
|
appearance and their work <I>was</I> as it were a wheel in the middle
|
|
of a wheel.
|
|
17 When they went, they went upon their four sides: <I>and</I> they
|
|
turned not when they went.
|
|
18 As for their rings, they were so high that they were
|
|
dreadful; and their rings <I>were</I> full of eyes round about them
|
|
four.
|
|
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.
|
|
20 Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither <I>was
|
|
their</I> spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against
|
|
them: for the spirit of the living creature <I>was</I> in the wheels.
|
|
21 When those went, <I>these</I> went; and when those stood, <I>these</I>
|
|
stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels
|
|
were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living
|
|
creatures <I>was</I> in the wheels.
|
|
22 And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the
|
|
living creature <I>was</I> as the colour of the terrible crystal,
|
|
stretched forth over their heads above.
|
|
23 And under the firmament <I>were</I> their wings straight, the 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.
|
|
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 a host: when they stood, they
|
|
let down their wings.
|
|
25 And there was a voice from the firmament that <I>was</I> over
|
|
their heads, when they stood, <I>and</I> had let down their wings.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
The prophet is very exact in making and recording his observations
|
|
concerning this vision. And here we have,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. The notice he took of the <I>wheels,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:15-21"><I>v.</I> 15-21</A>.
|
|
|
|
The glory of God appears not only in the splendour of his retinue in
|
|
the upper world, but in the steadiness of his government here in this
|
|
lower world. Having seen how God does according to his will in the
|
|
armies of heaven, let us now see how he does according to it among the
|
|
inhabitants of the earth; for there, <I>on the earth,</I> the prophet
|
|
saw the <I>wheels,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>As he beheld the living creatures,</I> and was contemplating the
|
|
glory of that vision and receiving instruction from it, this other
|
|
vision presented itself to his view. Note, Those who make a good use
|
|
of the discoveries God has favoured them with may expect further
|
|
discoveries; for <I>to him that hath shall be given.</I> We are
|
|
sometimes tempted to think there is nothing glorious but what is in the
|
|
upper world, whereas, could we with an eye of faith discern the beauty
|
|
of Providence and the wisdom, power, and goodness, which shine in the
|
|
administration of that kingdom, we should see, and say, <I>Verily he is
|
|
a God that judgeth in the earth</I> and acts like himself. There are
|
|
many things in this vision which give us some light concerning the
|
|
divine Providence.
|
|
|
|
1. The dispensations of Providence are compared to <I>wheels,</I>
|
|
either the wheels of a chariot, in which the conqueror rides in
|
|
triumph, or rather the wheels of a clock or watch, which all contribute
|
|
to the regular motion of the machine. We read of <I>the course</I> or
|
|
<I>wheel of nature</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+3:6">James iii. 6</A>),
|
|
|
|
which is here set before us as under the direction of the God of
|
|
nature. <I>Wheels,</I> though they move not of themselves, as <I>the
|
|
living creatures</I> do, are yet made movable and are almost
|
|
continually kept in action. Providence, represented by these
|
|
<I>wheels,</I> produces changes; sometimes one spoke of the wheel is
|
|
uppermost and sometimes another; but the motion of the wheel on its own
|
|
axletree, like that of the orbs above, is very regular and steady. The
|
|
motion of the wheels is circular; by the revolutions of Providence
|
|
things are brought to the same posture and pass which they were in
|
|
formerly; for <I>the thing that is is that which has been, and there is
|
|
no new thing under the sun,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+1:9,10">Eccl. i. 9, 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
2. The wheel is said to be <I>by the living creatures,</I> who attended
|
|
it to direct its motion; for the angels are employed as the ministers
|
|
of God's providence, and have a greater hand in directing the motions
|
|
of second causes to serve the divine purpose than we think they have.
|
|
Such a close connexion is there between <I>the living creatures</I> and
|
|
the <I>wheels</I> that they moved and rested together. Were angels
|
|
busily employed? Men were busily employed as instruments in their hand,
|
|
whether of mercy or judgment, though they themselves were not aware of
|
|
it. Or, Are men active to compass their designs? Angels at the same
|
|
time are acting to control and overrule them. This is much insisted on
|
|
here
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>When the living creatures went,</I> to bring about any business,
|
|
<I>the wheels went by them;</I> when God has work to do by the ministry
|
|
of angels second causes are all found, or made, ready to concur in it;
|
|
and
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>)
|
|
|
|
<I>when those stood these stood;</I> when the angels had done their
|
|
work the second causes had done theirs. If <I>the living creatures were
|
|
lifted up from the earth,</I> were elevated to any service above the
|
|
common course of nature and out of the ordinary road (as suppose in the
|
|
working of miracles, the dividing of the water, the standing still of
|
|
the sun), <I>the wheels,</I> contrary to their own natural tendency,
|
|
which is towards the earth, move in concert with them, and <I>are
|
|
lifted up over against them;</I> this is thrice mentioned,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:19-21"><I>v.</I> 19-21</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note, All inferior creatures are, and move, and act, as the Creator, by
|
|
the ministration of angels, directs and influences them. Visible
|
|
effects are managed and governed by invisible causes. The reason given
|
|
of this is because <I>the spirit of the living creatures was in the
|
|
wheels;</I> the same wisdom, power, and holiness of God, the same will
|
|
and counsel of his, that guides and governs the angels and all their
|
|
performances, does, by them, order and dispose of all the motions of
|
|
the creatures in this lower world and the events and issues of them.
|
|
God is the soul of the world, and animates the whole, both that above
|
|
and that beneath, so that they move in perfect harmony, as the upper
|
|
and lower parts of the natural body do, so that <I>whithersoever the
|
|
Spirit is to go</I> (whatever God wills and purposes to be done and
|
|
brought to pass) <I>thither their spirit is to go;</I> that is, the
|
|
angels, knowingly and designedly, set themselves to bring it about. And
|
|
<I>their spirit is in the wheels,</I> which are therefore <I>lifted up
|
|
over against them;</I> that is, both the powers of nature and the wills
|
|
of men are all made to serve the intention, which they infallibly and
|
|
irresistibly effect, though perhaps <I>they mean not so, neither doth
|
|
their heart think so,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+10:7,Mic+4:11,12">Isa. x. 7; Mic. iv. 11, 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
Thus, though the will of God's precept be not <I>done on earth as it is
|
|
done in heaven,</I> yet the will of his purpose and counsel is, and
|
|
shall be.
|
|
|
|
3. The wheel is said to have four <I>faces,</I> looking four several
|
|
ways
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>),
|
|
|
|
denoting that the providence of God exerts itself in all parts of the
|
|
world, east, west, north, and south, and extends itself to the remotest
|
|
corners of it. Look which way you will upon the wheel of Providence,
|
|
and it has a face towards you, a beautiful one, which you may admire
|
|
the features and complexion of; it looks upon you as ready to speak to
|
|
you, if you be but ready to hear the voice of it; like a well-drawn
|
|
picture, it has an eye upon all that have an eye upon it. The wheel
|
|
had so four <I>faces</I> that it had in it four <I>wheels,</I> which
|
|
<I>went upon their four sides,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
At first Ezekiel saw it as <I>one wheel</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>),
|
|
|
|
one sphere; but afterwards he saw it was four, but <I>they</I> four
|
|
<I>had one likeness</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>);
|
|
|
|
not only they were like one another, but they were as if they had been
|
|
one. This intimates,
|
|
|
|
(1.) That one event of providence is like another; what happens to us
|
|
is <I>that which is common to men</I> and what we are not to think
|
|
strange.
|
|
|
|
(2.) That various events have a tendency to the same issue and concur
|
|
to answer the same intention.
|
|
|
|
4. <I>Their appearance and their work</I> are said to be <I>like the
|
|
colour of a beryl</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>the colour of Tarshish</I> (so the word is), that is, of the sea;
|
|
the beryl is of that colour, sea-green; <I>blue Neptune</I> we call it.
|
|
The nature of things in this world is like that of the sea, which is in
|
|
a continual flux and yet there is a constant coherence and succession
|
|
of its parts. There is a chain of events which is always drawing one
|
|
way or other. The sea ebbs and flows, so does Providence in its
|
|
disposals, but always in the stated appointed times and measures. The
|
|
sea looks blue, as the air does, because of the shortness and
|
|
feebleness of our sight, which can see but a little way of either; to
|
|
that colour therefore are <I>the appearance and work</I> of Providence
|
|
fitly compared, because we cannot find out that which God does <I>from
|
|
the beginning to the end,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+3:11">Eccl. iii. 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
We see but <I>parts of his ways</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+26:14">Job xxvi. 14</A>),
|
|
|
|
and all beyond looks blue, which gives us to understand no more
|
|
concerning it but that in truth we know it not; it is <I>far above out
|
|
of our sight.</I>
|
|
|
|
5. <I>Their appearance and their work</I> are likewise said to be
|
|
<I>as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.</I> Observe here again,
|
|
Their <I>appearance</I> to the prophet is designed to set forth what
|
|
<I>their work</I> really is. Men's appearance and their work often
|
|
differ, but the appearance of God's providence and its work agree; if
|
|
they seem to differ, it is through our ignorance and mistake. Now both
|
|
<I>were as a wheel in a wheel,</I> a less wheel moved by a greater. We
|
|
pretend not to give a mathematical description of it. The meaning is
|
|
that the disposals of Providence seem to us intricate, perplexed, and
|
|
unaccountable, and yet that they will appear in the issue to have been
|
|
all wisely ordered for the best; so that though <I>what God does we
|
|
know not now,</I> yet <I>we shall know hereafter,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+13:7">John xiii. 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
6. The motion of these wheels, like that of the living creatures, was
|
|
steady, regular, and constant: <I>They returned not when they went</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>),
|
|
|
|
because they never went amiss, nor otherwise than they should do. God,
|
|
in his providence, takes his work before him, and he will have it
|
|
forward; and it is going on even when it seems to us to be going
|
|
backward. <I>They went</I> as the Spirit directed them, and therefore
|
|
<I>returned not.</I> We should not have occasion to return back as we
|
|
have, and to undo that by repentance which we have done amiss, and to
|
|
do it over again, if we were but <I>led by the Spirit</I> and followed
|
|
his direction. <I>The Spirit of life</I> (so some read it) <I>was in
|
|
the wheels,</I> which carried them on with ease and evenness, and then
|
|
<I>they returned not when they went.</I>
|
|
|
|
7. The <I>rings,</I> or rims, <I>of the wheels were so high that they
|
|
were dreadful,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
They were of a vast circumference, so that when they were reared, and
|
|
put in motion, the prophet was even afraid to look upon them. Note, The
|
|
vast compass of God's thought, and the vast reach of his design, are
|
|
really astonishing; when we go about to describe the circle of
|
|
Providence we are struck with amazement and are even swallowed up. O
|
|
the height and depth of God's councils! The consideration of them
|
|
should strike an awe upon us.
|
|
|
|
8. They were <I>full of eyes round about.</I> This circumstance of the
|
|
vision is most surprising of all, and yet most significant, plainly
|
|
denoting that the motions of Providence are all directed by infinite
|
|
wisdom. The issues of things are not determined by a blind fortune, but
|
|
by those <I>eyes of the Lord</I> which <I>run to and fro through the
|
|
earth,</I> and <I>are in every place, beholding the evil and the
|
|
good.</I> Note, It is a great satisfaction to us, and ought to be so,
|
|
that, though we cannot account for the springs and tendencies of
|
|
events, yet they are all under the cognizance and direction of an
|
|
all-wise all-seeing God.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The notice he took of <I>the firmament</I> above <I>over the heads
|
|
of the living creatures.</I> When he saw <I>the living creatures</I>
|
|
moving, and <I>the wheels by</I> them, he looked up, as it is proper
|
|
for us to do when we observe the various motions of providence in this
|
|
lower world; looking up, he saw <I>the firmament stretched forth over
|
|
the heads of the living creatures,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
What is done on earth is done under the heaven (as the scripture often
|
|
speaks), under its inspection and influence. Observe,
|
|
|
|
1. What he saw: <I>The firmament was as the colour of the terrible
|
|
crystal,</I> truly glorious, but terribly so; the vastness and
|
|
brightness of it put the prophet into an amazement and struck him with
|
|
an awful reverence. <I>The terrible ice,</I> or <I>frost</I> (so it may
|
|
be read), the colour of snow congealed, or as mountains of ice in the
|
|
northern seas, which are very frightful. Daring sinners ask, <I>Can God
|
|
judge through the dark cloud?</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+22:13">Job xxii. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
But that which we take to be a dark cloud is to him transparent as
|
|
crystal, through which, <I>from the place of his habitation, he looks
|
|
upon all the inhabitants of the earth,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+33:14">Ps. xxxiii. 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Under the firmament</I> he saw <I>the wings of the living
|
|
creatures</I> erect,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>.
|
|
|
|
When they pleased they used them either for flight or for covering.
|
|
God is on high, <I>above the firmament;</I> the angels are <I>under the
|
|
firmament,</I> which denotes their subjection to God's dominion and
|
|
their readiness to fly on his errands <I>in the open firmament of
|
|
heaven,</I> and to serve him unanimously.
|
|
|
|
2. What he heard.
|
|
|
|
(1.) He heard the <I>noise of the angels' wings,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>.
|
|
|
|
Bees and other insects make a great noise with the vibration of their
|
|
wings; here the angels do so, to awaken the attention of the prophet to
|
|
that which God was about to say to him from <I>the firmament,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>.
|
|
|
|
Angels, by the providences they are employed in, sound God's alarms to
|
|
the children of men and stir them up to <I>hear his voice;</I> for that
|
|
is it that <I>cries in the city</I> and is heard and understood by
|
|
<I>the men of wisdom. The noise of their wings</I> was loud and
|
|
terrible, <I>as the noise of great waters</I> (like the rout or roaring
|
|
of the sea), and <I>as the noise of a host,</I> the noise of war; but
|
|
it was articulate and intelligible, and did not <I>give an uncertain
|
|
sound;</I> for it was <I>the voice of speech;</I> nay, it was <I>as the
|
|
voice of the Almighty,</I> for <I>God,</I> by his providences,
|
|
<I>speaks once, yea, twice,</I> if we could by <I>perceive it,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+33:14">Job xxxiii. 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
The <I>Lord's voice cries,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+6:9">Mic. vi. 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
(2.) He heard a <I>voice from the firmament,</I> from him that sits
|
|
upon the throne there,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>.
|
|
|
|
When the angels moved they <I>made a noise with their wings;</I> but,
|
|
when with that they had roused a careless world, they stood still, and
|
|
<I>let down their wings,</I> that there might be a profound silence,
|
|
and so God's voice might be the better heard. The voice of Providence
|
|
is designed to open men's ears to the voice of the word, to do the
|
|
office of the crier, who with a loud voice charges silence while the
|
|
judge passes sentence. <I>He that has ears to hear, let him hear.</I>
|
|
Note, Noises on earth should awaken our attention to the <I>voice from
|
|
the firmament;</I> for <I>how shall we escape if we turn away from him
|
|
that speaks from heaven!</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Eze1_26"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze1_27"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze1_28"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec4"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Vision of the Divine Throne.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 595.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>26 And above the firmament that <I>was</I> over their heads <I>was</I>
|
|
the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone:
|
|
and upon the likeness of the throne <I>was</I> the likeness as the
|
|
appearance of a man above upon it.
|
|
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 from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw
|
|
as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round
|
|
about.
|
|
28 As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day
|
|
of rain, so <I>was</I> the appearance of the brightness round about.
|
|
This <I>was</I> the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the
|
|
L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>. And when I saw <I>it,</I> I fell upon my face, and I heard a
|
|
voice of one that spake.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
All the other parts of this vision were but a preface and introduction
|
|
to this. God in them had made himself known as Lord of angels and
|
|
supreme director of all the affairs of this lower world, whence it is
|
|
easy to infer that whatever God by his prophets either promises or
|
|
threatens to do he is able to effect it. Angels are his servants; men
|
|
are his tools. But now that a divine revelation is to be given to a
|
|
prophet, and by him to the church, we must look higher than the living
|
|
creatures or the wheels, and must expect that from the eternal Word, of
|
|
whom we have an account in these verses. Ezekiel, hearing a voice from
|
|
the firmament, looked up, as John did, to <I>see the voice that spoke
|
|
with him,</I> and he <I>saw one like unto the Son of man,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+1:12,13">Rev. i. 12, 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
The second person sometimes tried the <I>fashion of a man</I>
|
|
occasionally before he clothed himself with it for good and all; and
|
|
the Spirit of prophecy is called the <I>Spirit of Christ</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Pe+1:11">1 Pet. i. 11</A>)
|
|
|
|
and the <I>testimony of Jesus,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+19:10">Rev. xix. 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
1. This glory of Christ that the prophet saw <I>was above the
|
|
firmament</I> that was <I>over the heads</I> of the living creatures,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:26"><I>v.</I> 26</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note, The heads of angels themselves are under the feet of the Lord
|
|
Jesus; for the firmament that is over their heads is under his feet.
|
|
<I>Angels, principalities, and powers are made subject to him,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Pe+3:22">1 Pet. iii. 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
This dignity and dominion of the Redeemer before his incarnation
|
|
magnify his condescension in his incarnation, when he was <I>made a
|
|
little lower than the angels,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+2:9">Heb. ii. 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
2. The first thing he observed was a <I>throne;</I> for divine
|
|
revelation comes backed and supported with a royal authority. We must
|
|
have an eye of faith to God and Christ as upon a throne. The first
|
|
thing that John discovered in his visions was <I>a throne set in
|
|
heaven</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+4:2">Rev. iv. 2</A>),
|
|
|
|
which commands reverence and subjection. It is a throne of glory, a
|
|
throne of grace, a throne of triumph, a throne of government, a throne
|
|
of judgment. <I>The Lord has prepared his throne in the heavens,</I>
|
|
has prepared it for his Son, whom he has set <I>King on his holy hill
|
|
of Zion.</I>
|
|
|
|
3. On the throne he saw <I>the appearance of a man.</I> This is good
|
|
new to the children of men, that the throne above the firmament is
|
|
filled with one that is not ashamed to appear, even there, in the
|
|
likeness of man. Daniel, in vision, saw the kingdom and dominion given
|
|
to one <I>like the Son of man,</I> who <I>therefore</I> has
|
|
<I>authority given him to execute judgment because he is the Son of
|
|
man</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+5:27">John v. 27</A>),
|
|
|
|
so appearing in these visions.
|
|
|
|
4. He saw him as a prince and judge upon this throne. Though he
|
|
appeared <I>in fashion as a man,</I> yet he appeared in more than human
|
|
glory,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:27"><I>v.</I> 27</A>.
|
|
|
|
(1.) Is God a <I>shining light?</I> So is he: when the prophet saw him
|
|
he saw <I>as the colour of amber,</I> that is, a <I>brightness round
|
|
about;</I> for God dwells in light, and <I>covers himself with light as
|
|
with a garment.</I> How low did the Redeemer stoop for us when, to
|
|
bring about our salvation, he suffered his glory to be eclipsed by the
|
|
veil of his humanity!
|
|
|
|
(2.) Is God a <I>consuming fire?</I> So is he: from his loins, both
|
|
upward and downward, there was the <I>appearance of fire.</I> The fire
|
|
above the loins was <I>round about within the amber;</I> it was inward
|
|
and involved. That below the loins was more outward and open, and yet
|
|
that also had <I>brightness round about.</I> Some make the former to
|
|
signify Christ's divine nature, the glory and virtue of which are
|
|
hidden within the <I>colour of amber;</I> it is what no man has seen
|
|
nor can see. The latter they suppose to be his human nature, the glory
|
|
of which there were those who saw; the glory as of <I>the only begotten
|
|
of the Father, full of grace and truth,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+1:14">John i. 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
He had <I>rays coming out of his hand, and yet there was the hiding of
|
|
his power,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+3:4">Hab. iii. 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
The fire in which the Son of man appeared here might be intended to
|
|
signify the judgments that were ready to be executed upon Judah and
|
|
Jerusalem, coming form that <I>fiery indignation</I> of the Almighty
|
|
which <I>devours the adversaries.</I> Nothing is more dreadful to the
|
|
most daring sinners than <I>the wrath of him that sits upon the throne,
|
|
and of the Lamb,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+6:16">Rev. vi. 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
The day is coming when <I>the Lord Jesus shall be revealed in flaming
|
|
fire,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Th+1:7,8">2 Thess. i. 7, 8</A>.
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It concerns us therefore <I>to kiss the Son lest he be angry.</I>
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5. The throne is surrounded with a rainbow,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+1:28"><I>v.</I> 28</A>.
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It is so in St. John's vision,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+4:3">Rev. iv. 3</A>.
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The brightness about it was of divers colours, <I>as the bow that is in
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the cloud in the day of rain,</I> which, as it is a display of majesty,
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and looks very great, so it is a pledge of mercy, and looks very kind;
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for it is a confirmation of that gracious promise God has made that he
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will not drown the world again, and he has said, <I>I will look upon
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the bow and remember the covenant,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+9:16">Gen. ix. 16</A>.
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This intimates that he who <I>sits upon the throne</I> is the
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<I>Mediator of the covenant,</I> that his dominion is for our
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protection, not our destruction, that he interposes between us and the
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judgments our sins have deserved, and that <I>all the promises of God
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are in him yea and amen.</I> Now that the fire of God's wrath was
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breaking out against Jerusalem bounds should be set to it, and he would
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not make an utter destruction of it, for he would <I>look upon the bow
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and remember the covenant,</I> as he promised in such a case,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+26:42">Lev. xxvi. 42</A>.</P>
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<P>
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<I>Lastly,</I> We have the conclusion of this vision. Observe,
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1. What notion the prophet himself had of it: <I>This was the
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appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.</I> Here, as all
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along, he is careful to guard against all gross corporeal thoughts of
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God, which might derogate from the transcendent purity of his nature.
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he does not say, <I>This was the Lord</I> (for he is invisible), but,
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<I>This was the glory of the Lord,</I> in which he was pleased to
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manifest himself a glorious being; yet it is not <I>the glory of the
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Lord,</I> but <I>the likeness of that glory,</I> some faint resemblance
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of it; nor is it any adequate likeness of that glory, but only <I>the
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appearance of that likeness,</I> a shadow of it, and not the very
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<I>image of the thing,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+10:1">Heb. x. 1</A>.
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2. What impressions it made upon him: <I>When I saw it, I fell upon my
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face.</I>
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(1.) He was overpowered by it; the dazzling lustre of it conquered him
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and threw him upon his face; for <I>who is able to stand before this
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holy Lord God?</I> Or, rather,
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(2.) He prostrated himself in a humble sense of his own unworthiness of
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the honour now done him, and of the infinite distance which he now,
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more than ever, perceived to be between him and God; he fell upon his
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face in token of that holy awe and reverence of God with which his mind
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was possessed and filled. Note, The more God is pleased to make known
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of himself to us the more low we should be before him. He <I>fell upon
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his face</I> to adore the majesty of God, to implore his mercy and to
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deprecate the wrath he saw ready to break out against the children of
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his people.
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3. What instructions he had from it. All he saw was only to prepare him
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for that which he was to hear; for <I>faith comes by hearing.</I> He
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therefore <I>heard a voice of one that spoke;</I> for we are taught by
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words, not merely by hieroglyphics. When <I>he fell on his face,</I>
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ready to received the word, then he <I>heard the voice of one that
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spoke;</I> for God delights to teach the humble.</P>
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