Good intentions turned into sun on beach waves that overpowered the computer screen. (Please excuse typos, etc. as I’m writing Friday afternoon at home after vacation!)
Last week we observed a cleansing as a result of Israel’s wickedness, although God preserved for Himself a remnant.
“I looked, and I saw beside the cherubim four wheels, one beside each of the cherubim; the wheels sparkled like topaz. As for their appearance, the four of them looked alike; each was like a wheel intersecting a wheel” (Ezekiel 10:9-10).
- When we first encountered Ezekiel’s description of cherubim at the beginning of the book, we learned through study that cherubim are angelic beings that guard Eden as well as the glory of the Lord.1
- The four wheels are beside the cherubim.
- The wheels have the appearance of gyroscopes, with a wheel intersecting a wheel.
- They moved in accordance with the perspective and direction of the cherubim.
*What is the significance of cherubim appearing in Ezekiel’s vision(s)?
“As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the cherubim faced; the wheels did not turn about as the cherubim went. The cherubim went in whatever direction the head faced, without turning as they went. Their entire bodies, including their backs, their hands and their wings, were completely full of eyes, as were their four wheels. I heard the wheels being called ‘the whirling wheels.’ Each of the cherubim had four faces: One face was that of a cherub, the second the face of a human being, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle” (Ezekiel 10:11-14).
- The cherubim faced the same direction as the head, or commander.2
- This is the head of _______
- They did not turn and remained focused in one direction.
- The cherubim’s entire being was full of eyes.
- The wheels are named or declared “the whirling wheels.”
*Why is it important that the cherubim went in the same direction as the head and did not turn?
*Why did Ezekiel specify what the wheels were called?
*How does the description of the cherubim here differ from that in chapter 1? Why?
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
*What would it look like to focus on God, look straight ahead, and follow in His direction?
“Then the cherubim rose upward. These were the living creatures I had seen by the Kebar River. When the cherubim moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the cherubim spread their wings to rise from the ground, the wheels did not leave their side. When the cherubim stood still, they also stood still, and when the cherubim rose, they rose with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in them” (Ezekiel 10:15-17).
- The cherubim rose upward, as they did before.
- The wheels matched the exact movements of the cherubim.
- The spirit of the living creatures was in the cherubim.
Ezekiel specified these were indeed the same living creatures he saw at the Kebar River, which is puzzling since he was at the Kebar River in the thirtieth year (Ezekiel 1:1). He sat in his house with the elders in the sixth year (Ezekiel 8:1), and between chapter 8 and chapter 10, no shift in time was recorded. There’s no way to know for sure when Ezekiel saw the vision described in this chapter.
Speaking to His disciples, Jesus said,
“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. … But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. … On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you” (John 14:15-17, 20).
*Why is it significant that the wheels matched the movements of the cherubim?
*What does it mean for our lives to realize God’s Spirit lives in us?
“Then the glory of the Lord departed from over the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim. While I watched, the cherubim spread their wings and rose from the ground, and as they went, the wheels went with them. They stopped at the entrance of the east gate of the Lord’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them” 
(Ezekiel 10:18-19).
- In this first vision, the vision introduced silence and then the Voice of the Lord Almighty.
- In this scene, the cherubim and their movements introduce a pivotal moment:
- The glory of the Lord departed from the entrance to the temple.
- This is a picture of Israel leaving their homeland to depart into exile.3
- The glory of the Lord stopped above the cherubim at the east gate of the temple.
*Why did the glory of the Lord leave the temple entrance?
*Why did the Lord’s glory stop above the cherubim?
“These were the living creatures I had seen beneath the God of Israel by the Kebar River, and I realized that they were cherubim. Each had four faces and four wings, and under their wings was what looked like human hands. Their faces had the same appearance as those I had seen by the Kebar River. Each one went straight ahead” (Ezekiel 10:20-22).
- Ezekiel made the connection that the living creatures were the cherubim.
- The living creatures he saw in his first vision protected and guarded the Lord’s sacred space.
- This seems an abrupt place to end a passage, but a sneak peek indicates a new scene ahead as the Spirit moves Ezekiel.
Why did the Lord show Ezekiel this vision (again)?
What is the significance of Ezekiel’s description of cherubim for those of us who read this as history?
What do we learn about the Spirit of the Lord in this passage?
- Warren Baker, D.R.E., General Editor. The Complete Word Study Old Testament (King James Version). (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 1994) 524
- Ibid., 1025
- Ibid., 462