Old Sandals

And when I looked, there were four wheels by the cherubim, one wheel by one cherub and another wheel by each other cherub; the wheels appeared to have the color of a beryl stone.  As for their appearance, all four looked alike—as it were, a wheel in the middle of a wheel.   Ezekiel 10:9-10

Heaven, God’s throne—how beyond all description!  And to think that we are the temple of the living God, by His grace!

And He called to the [angel] clothed with linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn at his side, and the Lord said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.”   Ezekiel 9:3-4

The true prophet is the one who not only denounces wickedness in the public square, but who also weeps over it in his private room.

Alone in his chambers, God wipes the tears from his eyes.  Then he dons the judge’s robe and stepts out into the courtroom.

Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it a trivial thing to the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they commit here?   Ezekiel 8:17

Life is short, but it is not trivial.  Today is a lifetime.  Tomorrow is untouched…

My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity; I will repay you according to your ways, and your abominations will be in your midst. Then you shall know that I  am  the Lord who strikes.   Ezekiel 7:9

What extremity of emotion is indicated by the Lord’s words,  “…nor will I have pity.”  He is the longsuffering God, the gracious God, the God who takes pity.  Yet He takes pity on those who fear Him.  When Israel lost the fear of God, they lost everything.

Yet I will leave a remnant, so that you may have some who escape the sword among the nations, when you are scattered through the countries.  Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations where they are carried captive, because I was crushed by their adulterous heart which has departed from Me, and by their eyes which play the harlot after their idols.   Ezekiel 6:8-9

The Lord in His fury brought judgemnt upon Israel, but He did so with a broken heart.  His heart was crushed…

Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Because you have multiplied disobedience more than the nations that are all around you, have not walked in My statutes nor kept My judgments, nor even done according to the judgments of the nations that are all around you’—therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Indeed I, even I, am against you and will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations. And I will do among you what I have never done, and the like of which I will never do again, because of all your abominations. Therefore fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments among you, and all of you who remain I will scatter to all the winds.   Ezekiel 5:7-10

It was bad enough the land of Israel was full of iniquity, but here the Lord is saying that their iniquity exceeded that of the pagan nations around them!  Perhaps their deeds were more wicked than those of their pagan neighbors.  Or perhaps, darkness is all the more dark if it is allowed to snuff out the light.

Son of man, surely I will cut off the supply of bread in Jerusalem; they shall eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and shall drink water by measure and with dread,  that they may lack bread and water, and be dismayed with one another, and waste away because of their iniquity.   Ezekiel 4:16-17

There is no free ride.  Sin is a serious matter.  God is a serious judge.

For you  are  not sent to a people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language,  but  to the house of Israel, not to many people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, had I sent you to them, they would have listened to you. But the house of Israel will not listen to you, because they will not listen to Me; for all the house of Israel  are  impudent and hard-hearted.   Ezekiel 3:5-7

The Lord did not send Ezekiel (or, apparently any prophet with the exception of Jonah) to preach to any foreign people. It was no doubt the Lord’s desire that the whole nation of Israel fulfill a prophetic role, “…your sons and daughters will prophesy.”

You shall speak My words to them, whether they hear or whether they refuse, for they are rebellious.   Ezekiel 2:7

Ezekiel was not responsible for their response to his words, which the Lord woud give him to speak. Ezekiel was called to be a faithful and fearless messenger. 

We, too, are called to preach the gospel to those around us, whether they hear or whether they refuse.  May God grant us more faithfulness.  More fearlessness.

The appearance of the wheels and their workings  was  like the color of beryl, and all four had the same likeness. The appearance of their workings  was,as it were, a wheel in the middle of a wheel. When they moved, they went toward any one of four directions; they did not turn aside when they went.   Ezekiel 1:16-17

“Ezekiel saw the wheel, way up in the middle of the air.”  A glorious vision, very hard to picture, but certainly signifying the sovereign workings of Israel’s God.