Sunday
Sunday
The Glory of God
This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.
Ezekiel 1:28
Ezekiel’s prophecy is clearly structured around three visions of the glory of God. In the first the glory arrives in Babylon (1:1–28). In the second it departs from Jerusalem (chaps. 8–11), and in the third it returns to Jerusalem (chap. 43).
Firstly, the glory arrives in Babylon. It seems to have been on Ezekiel’s thirtieth birthday that he was granted his vision—transcendent and magnificent—of the glory of God. It began with a ferocious storm from the north and then focused on four living winged creatures, each with four faces (representing the creation) and each with its own wheel. It is hard to visualize the construction of wheels within wheels darting to and fro in all directions. Above the living creatures (later identified as cherubim) there was a shining dome; above it was something like a throne, rainbow-circled; and above that something like a human was seated in splendor. “This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD” (1:28). The astonishing thing was that when Ezekiel received his vision, he was among the exiles in Babylonia. God had not abandoned his people.
Secondly, the glory departs from Jerusalem. Ezekiel was now transported in his vision to the temple, and “the glory of the God of Israel” was there (8:4). But the prophet was horrified by the rampant idolatry he saw, provoking God to anger. So Ezekiel saw the glory of the Lord rise up from the earth, then stop, then move out, then stop again stage by stage as if reluctant to go (10:4, 16–19), and finally leave the city and stop on the mountain to the east (11:23). It must have filled Ezekiel with anguish to watch God’s glory gradually but steadily leave the temple to which it rightly belonged.
Thirdly, the glory returns to Jerusalem. Perhaps the most moving feature of Ezekiel’s final vision occurs in chapter 43, verses 1–5, in which in his vision he is brought to the temple gate facing east. And there “the glory of the LORD entered the temple through the gate facing east…. And the glory of the LORD filled the temple” (vv. 4–5). At last God had returned to his home among his worshiping and obedient people.
For further reading: Ezekiel 1:22–28