God's Holiness
To be effective witnesses,
we must grow consistently
in our experiential knowledge
of God's awesome majesty and holiness.
Here's Gene:
Let's remember that Ezekiel was
only thirty years old when he was called
to engage in an awesome responsibility
to confront sin among those people
who were deported--
that community of 10,000 plus.
And let's also remember that he was a priest
from Jerusalem before he came into captivity.
Which means that he had seen some
awful, horrible things in Jerusalem as a priest.
And so God knew that
even though he had a teachable heart,
that he needed to learn a lot about God Himself.
About God's holiness.
Because God is going to call him
to preach a message of holiness,
about the awesome God.
And so God gives him this incredible vision.
Now I found somewhat of an
artistic point of view here
on what this may have been like for him
to have this incredible experience--
this incredible vision.
Here's what we read in this
opening chapter in terms of this vision:
I looked and I saw a windstorm
coming out of the north--
an immense cloud with flashing lightning
and surrounded by brilliant light.
The center of the fire
looked like glowing metal,
and in the fire was what looked like
four living creatures.
In appearance their form was human,
but each of them
had four faces and four wings.
Their legs were straight;
their feet were like those of a calf
and gleamed like burnished bronze.
Under their wings on their four sides
they had human hands.
All four of them had faces and wings,
and the wings of one
touched the wings of another.
Each one went straight ahead;
they did not turn as they moved.
Their faces looked like this:
Each of the four had the face
of a human being, and on the right side
each had the face of a lion,
and on the left the face of an ox;
each also had the face of an eagle.
Such were their faces.
They each had two wings spreading out upward,
each wing touching that of the creature
on either side; and each had
two other wings covering its body.
Each one went straight ahead.
Wherever the Spirit would go,
they would go, without turning as they went.
The appearance of the living creatures was like
burning coals of fire or like torches.
Fire moved back and forth among the creatures;
it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it.
The creatures sped back and forth
like flashes of lightning.
As I looked at the living creatures,
I saw a wheel on the ground
beside each creature with its four faces.
This was the appearance
and structure of the wheels:
They sparkled like topaz,
and all four looked alike.
Each appeared to be made
like a wheel intersecting a wheel.
As they moved, they would go
in any one of the four directions
the creatures faced;
the wheels did not change direction
as the creatures went.
Their rims were high and awesome,
and all four rims were
full of eyes all around.
When the living creatures moved,
the wheels beside them moved;
and when the living creatures
rose from the ground, the wheels also rose.
Wherever the Spirit would go,
they would go,
and the wheels would rise along with them,
because the spirit of the
living creatures was in the wheels.
When the creatures moved,
they also moved;
when the creatures stood still,
they also stood still;
and when the creatures rose from the ground,
the wheels rose along with them,
because the spirit of the
living creatures was in the wheels.
Spread out above the heads
of the living creatures was
what looks something like a vault,
sparkling like crystal, and awesome.
Under the vault their wings were
stretched out one toward the other,
and each had two wings covering its body.
When the creatures moved,
I heard the sound of their wings,
like the roar of rushing waters,
like the voice of the Almighty,
like the tumult of an army.
When they stood still,
they lowered their wings.
Then there came a voice
from above the vault over their heads
as they stood with lowered wings.
Above the vault over their heads
was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli,
and high above on the throne
was a figure like that of a man.
I saw that from what appeared
to be his waist up
he looked like glowing metal,
as if full of fire,
and [that] from there down he looked like fire;
and brilliant light surrounded him.
Like the appearance of a rainbow
in the clouds on a rainy day,
so was radiance around him.
This was the appearance of the
likeness of the glory of the LORD.
When I saw it, I fell face down,
and I heard the voice of one speaking.
When I was preparing for
this presentation, I woke up
in the middle of night and I was
sitting in the game room and I opened
my Bible and I began to read that.
And all of a sudden, I just felt like
wow, this is God.
His omniscience Illustrated with the eyes.
The ever-present moving everywhere.
Omniscient. Omnipresent. Omnipotent.
And in the middle of all this
appears the man Christ Jesus.
And you know, when you think about that,
you also think about John's experience
on the Isle of Patmos.
In the book of Revelation,
we read these words [Jn 1:9-14]:
I, John, your brother and
partner in the tribulation [affliction],
kingdom, and endurance that are in Jesus,
I was on the island called Patmos
because of God's word
and the testimony about Jesus.
I was in the Spirit...
Or more specifically, he was filled with the Spirit.
...on the Lord's day,
and I heard a loud voice
behind me like a trumpet. . . .
And he says: I turned to see
whose voice it was that spoke to me.
[And] when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands,
and among the lampstands
was One like the Son of Man,
dressed in a long robe and with a gold sash
wrapped around His chest.
His head and His hair were white
like wool--white as snow.
and His eyes like a fiery flame.
I remember hearing a message one time
at graduation at Dallas Seminary.
Dr. Duane Litfin was speaking
who was at that time president
of Wheaton College.
And one of the things he said
that I'll never forget:
This description here is the real Jesus.
This is the real Jesus.
And by that, he simply meant
He was not just the gentle shepherd
that walked this earth for 33 years.
This is the eternal Christ
and all of His holiness.
I'll never forget that.
We read on [Jn 1:15- ]:
...His feet were like fine bronze
as it is fired in a furnace,
and his voice like the sound
of cascading waters. ...
Does that sound like what Ezekiel saw?
Absolutely.
Different symbolism.
Very similar.
...He had seven stars in his right hand;
a sharp double-edged sword
came from his mouth, and his face
was shining like the sun at [midday]. ...
And notice what happened
as far as this experience.
We read on in John's vision:
When I saw Him, I fell at His feet
like a dead man. ...
That sound like Ezekiel?
...He laid His right hand on me and said,
"Don't be afraid!
I am the First and the Last, and the Living One. ...
This is the real Jesus.
The one who was in the beginning with God.
...I was dead, [Jesus said]
but look--I am alive forever and ever,
and I hold the keys of death and Hades.
Therefore, write what you have seen,
what is, [and] what will take place after this.
So here you have a New Testament
illustration of a very similar experience
that Ezekiel had centuries before.
Now when we think about this
and we think about the Principle
that comes from this.
Obviously, these are unique experiences.
Because very few of us will ever have
an experience like that.
Even Paul's experience on the Damascus Road
wasn't as dramatic as this--
when Jesus spoke to him.
But the fact of the matter is that all of us
should live day by day as believers.
Comprehending more and more of
who Jesus Christ really is.
His glory.
His awesomeness.
And Paul talked about that
when he wrote to the Corinthians.
I've called this Reflecting God's Glory--
2nd Corinthians 3:18:
We all, with unveiled faces,
are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord
and are being transformed into the
same image from glory to glory;
this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.
And of course, the question I think we need
to ask ourselves as believers today is:
Why are we not more and more
becoming like the glory of Jesus Christ?
Perhaps one answer to that question
is that we don't really contemplate
who He really is.
And really understand who He really is.
He's made a way for us to enter
the very presence--
Jesus has opened a way for us
to enter the very presence of the holy God:
the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit.
Three persons. One God.
So here's the question:
How should our experiential
knowledge of God's eternal glory
and holiness be reflected
in the way we live as Christians?
Let me just share what the apostle Peter wrote.
2nd Peter 1, verses 3 and 4:
His divine power has given us
everything required for life
and godliness through the knowledge of Him
who called us by His own glory and goodness.
By these He has given us
very great and precious promises,
so that through them
you may share in the divine nature...
Think about that.
God has made it possible for us
to share in the divine nature of the holy God
through the coming of Jesus Christ.
Know what they said about Jesus?
We beheld His glory, the glory
of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth.
...[to] share in [His] divine nature...
The divine nature.
...escaping the corruption that is
in the world because of evil desires.
And then Peter goes on and he says:
For this very reason, make every effort
to supplement your faith: ...
And he gives us a list here,
which is not necessarily chronological
or sequential.
It's interrelated.
All of these concepts are interrelated.
It's all happening, as it were,
at the same time.
But at the same time, to get a handle on it,
he gives us a sequential outline:
...supplement your faith with
goodness, goodness with knowledge,
knowledge with self-control,
self-control with endurance,
endurance with godliness,
godliness with brotherly affection,
and brotherly affection with love.
Which of course, Paul said
is the greatest of these--love.
And God is love.
We are to reflect His glory as believers.
And so here's the Principle that I think
grows out of Ezekiel's experience
as well as the whole biblical story:
To be effective witnesses,
we must grow consistently in our
experiential knowledge
of God's awesome majesty and holiness.
Father, help us to be this kind of people.
Your people.
Reflecting who You are to those
who do not know You.
For we pray this in the name
of the awesome Son of God, Jesus Christ,
in whose name we pray. Amen.