Ezekiel (Program #8) – A Sky as Clear as the Terrible Crystal

The final few verses of Ezekiel chapter 1 are very deep and very profound. They speak of the sky or the expanse above the heads of the four living creatures being so clear and limitless that the Bible itself uses the term “awesome crystal” to describe it. Now the Biblical usage of the term or word “awesome” is nothing like today’s common vernacular especially among the young people. The spiritual application of this clear crystalline expanse above us truly is awesome. And it portrays a spiritual condition that God would have us all experience day by day.

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Ezekiel (Program #7) – The High and Dreadful Wheels

Ezekiel chapter 1 with its detailed description of the four living creatures is arranged marvelously. Once we begin to see the spiritual application of all of the details associated with the four living creatures, we realize how significant this sequence is. For example, it begins with the wind, the cloud, the fire and the electrum – all figures or pictures of our progressive experience of God. Then out of these four come the four living creatures, each with four faces depicting aspects of Christ from His humanity, to His kingship, to His being a slave to come to serve God and man, and finally, to His divine transcendency. From this point, we progress to the coordination between and among the four living creatures. A coordination very much necessary if we are to enter into the next main point of God’s move on the earth for the accomplishment of His purpose.

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Ezekiel (Program #6) – The Coordination of the Four Living Creatures (1)

The spiritual application of the mysterious vision in Ezekiel chapter 1 of the four living creatures is marvelous on many levels. First, it portrays Christ in various aspects; but more than just revealing aspects of Christ in this vision, we can see ourselves in God’s economy and how the various aspects of Christ become the genuine aspects of our experience of Him. Ultimately, God’s purpose and His move on earth are revealed in this vision. A vital key in our entering into God’s move is revealed in Ezekiel is the matter of the coordination typified by the four living creatures.

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Ezekiel (Program #5) – Eagle’s Wings, Man’s Hands, and Calf’s Hoofs

Ezekiel, like the books of Daniel which is also in the Old Testament and Revelation in the New Testament, is a book of signs and figures typifying important spiritual realities. It begins with a storm wind and a cloud with a fire out from which is a golden silver glowing called the electrum. And out of these four comes an indelible image – an image of four living creatures joined together to produce one corporate expression. The details of these four living creatures occupy much of Ezekiel chapter 1; and each of the details is worth our examination because each aspect of this mysterious image reveals much about God’s purpose as well as about our genuine experience of Him in the Christian walk and life. Let’s remember from our previous program that in each of these four living creatures itself has four faces – here’s Ezekiel 1:10 “As for the likeness of their faces, they had the face of a man; and the four of them had the face of a lion on the right side, and the four of them had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four of them had the face of an eagle.”

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Ezekiel (Program #4) – The Four Living Creatures

Ezekiel is a book of figures or pictures that portrays spiritual things. For example in the beginning of the book, in the first 4 verses it says, “The word of Jehovah came expressly to Ezekiel the priest…And I looked, and there came a storm wind from the north, a great cloud and a fire flashing incessantly; and there was a brightness around it, and from the midst of it, there was something like the sight of electrum, from the midst of the fire.” These four items, the wind, the cloud, the fire and the electrum actually depict various aspects of how we experience God. God is like a wind to us, He overshadows and broods over us like a cloud; At times He’s a burning refining fire to purify us; and He’s also like a shining glowing electrum of gold and silver depicting His divine nature and Christ’s redemption. But if we genuinely experience God in these aspects, it will also produce something which we also come to today in verse 5, “And from the midst of it there came a likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: They had the likeness of a man.”

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Ezekiel (Program #3) – The Wind, the Cloud, the Fire, and the Electrum

At the beginning of the book of Ezekiel, there are some very striking verses that talks about the heavens being opened and Ezekiel seeing visions of God. And then in verse 3 it talks about the word of God coming expressly to Ezekiel. And then, the hand of Jehovah was upon him.

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Ezekiel (Program #2) – Introduction (2)

Ezekiel is a book of visions. The prophet Ezekiel was a young man, just 30 years old and having just concluded his apprenticeship to the priest when he received these visions. We also need a vision from God concerning His divine plan and His eternal purpose. And like Ezekiel, it’s critical to pay attention to three things if we are to receive such a vision. First, is the place that we are in. Second, the kind of person that we are. And third, the conditions necessary to receive these visions.

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Ezekiel (Program #1) – Introduction (1)

One book in the Bible that always seem to stir interest is the book of Revelation. This book gives the account of the apostle John receiving the revelation from God. This revelation actually came as John saw vision after vision, prophetically revealing the key elements of God’s eternal plan. But if one is really to understand the book of Revelation, it is equally important to know the parallel Old Testament book, the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel and Revelation go together in many critical aspects as you’ll see in the coming weeks.

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Lamentations (Program #5) – Conclusion

The emphasis on this life study was very New Testament in flavor. In both Jeremiah and Lamentations, there are some real gems of New Testament divine thought and revelations that come through. And we touch some of these early on in this life studies. So we’d thought that it will be interesting today to pull together three portions of those earlier programs as we review these high points.

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Lamentations (Program #4) – God’s Eternal Being and His Throne

The book of Lamentations has often been praised for its rich poetic expression of the human suffering and anguish that was experienced by the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah. And from this perspective, it is an astonishing work. But recall that Jeremiah, more than any other Old Testament figure, has seen much and experienced much of God in the principle of God’s New Testament economy. Even in the midst of His lamentation, he offers a very new testament encouragement in 3:22-24, “It is Jehovah’s lovingkindness”, he wrote, “that we are not consumed, For His compassions do not fail; They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. Jehovah is my portion, says my soul; Therefore I hope in Him.” It is Jeremiah’s realization and expressions of God’s New Testament economy that should leave the deepest and most profound impression on us in reading his two Old Testament books.

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