his throne chariot

Posted on August 3, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

20220803

Photo by Lloyd Freeman on Pexels.com

his throne chariot

Ezekiel 10:20-22 (JDV)

Ezekiel 10:20 These were the living beings I had seen beneath the God of Israel by the Chebar Canal, and I recognized that they were cherubs.
Ezekiel 10:21 Each had four faces and each had four wings, with what looked something like human hands under their wings.
Ezekiel 10:22 Their faces looked like the same faces I had seen by the Chebar Canal. Each man went straight ahead.

his throne chariot

I have been arguing that these four living beings represent all creatures and that God is working out His sovereign will in the midst of a creation that thinks of itself as independent of outside influence.

Some have argued that these cherubs form a kind of throne chariot and that God is riding it — much like what is described in Psalm 18:10.

The two ideas are not contradictory. Behind the choices and histories of the creatures of our universe is a divine rider who is going somewhere. We are his throne chariot.

LORD, give us the wisdom to aim for a destination in line with your plan.

Posted in freedom, sovereignty of God | Leave a comment

not his

Posted on August 2, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

20220802

Photo by Paula Schmidt on Pexels.com

not his

Ezekiel 10:18-19 (JDV)

Ezekiel 10:18 Then the impressive appearance of Yahveh moved away from the threshold of the house and stopped above the cherubs.
Ezekiel 10:19 The cherubs lifted their wings and rose up from the land right before my eyes; the wheels were beside them as they went. The impressive appearance of the God of Israel was above them, and it stopped at the entrance to the eastern gate of Yahveh’s house.

not his

Matthew Poole commented on this text: “The Jews dreamed that God could not depart from his temple; indeed, whilst it was his, and used as his, he did not, nor would he depart, but he will abandon it when profaned, and thereby made not his.”

Our own lives belong to the LORD, but he will depart from them if we insist on using them for self or in service to Satan. It’s our choice.

LORD, give us the wisdom to use our temples for your holy presence.

Posted in commitment, Holy Spirit | Leave a comment

the capacity of self will

Posted on August 1, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

20220801

Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels.com

the capacity of self will

Ezekiel 10:15-17 (JDV)

Ezekiel 10:15 The cherubs rose up; these were the living beings I had seen by the Chebar Canal.
Ezekiel 10:16 When the cherubs moved, the wheels moved beside them, and when they lifted their wings to rise from the land, even then the wheels did not veer away from them.
Ezekiel 10:17 When the cherubs stopped, the wheels stood still, and when they rose up, the wheels rose up with them, because the breath of the living beings was in them.

the capacity of self will

As a symbol, these cherubs represent all the living beings, and the wheels represent their capacity for voluntary action. They all have received this gift from their creator, to whom they are responsible.

Remember your creator, because you are one of those beings. You have the capacity of self will, but that is not the same as free will. You are not independent of your creator. You are responsible to him.

LORD, give us the wisdom to direct our wills to accomplish yours.

Posted in responsibility, sovereignty of God | Leave a comment

four wheels

Posted on July 31, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

20220731

Photo by Lloyd Freeman on Pexels.com

four wheels

Ezekiel 10:9-14 (JDV)

Ezekiel 10:9 I looked, and noticed four wheels beside the cherubs, one wheel beside each cherub. The appearance of the wheels was like the gleam of beryl.
Ezekiel 10:10 In appearance, all four looked alike, like a wheel within a wheel.
Ezekiel 10:11 When they moved, they would go in any of the four directions, without pivoting as they moved. But wherever the head faced, they would go in that direction, without pivoting as they went.
Ezekiel 10:12 Their entire bodies, including their backs, hands, wings, and the wheels that the four of them had, were full of eyes all around.
Ezekiel 10:13 As I listened the wheels were called “the wheelwork.”
Ezekiel 10:14 Each one had four faces: one was the face of a cherub, the second the face of a human, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

four wheels

The wheels in the wheelwork are a symbol of the ability to go where one wants — as is clear from the phrase “they would go in any of the four directions” in verse 11. The eyes symbolize knowledge and insight. The beryl like gleam symbolizes beauty and glory. The different faces represent the most capable of each order of being: angelic, human, mammal, and bird. Together, the wheelwork showed that all creation depends on a higher power, and is answerable to God.

LORD, help us to live every moment with an awareness of our ultimate dependance on you.

Posted in responsibility | Tagged | Leave a comment

hell comes from a holiness

Posted on July 30, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

20220730

Photo by Engin Akyurt on Pexels.com

hell comes from a holiness

Ezekiel 10:6-8 (JDV)

Ezekiel 10:6 After Yahveh commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, “Take fire from inside the wheelwork, from among the cherubs,” the man went in and stood beside a wheel.
Ezekiel 10:7 Then the cherub reached out his hand to the fire that was among them. He took some and put it into the hands of the man clothed in linen, who took it and went out.
Ezekiel 10:8 The cherubs appeared to have the form of human hands under their wings.

hell comes from a holiness

The fact that this fire Ezekiel saw came from among the cherubs signified that the judgment was from God, not the result of human conflict. Jerusalem’s destruction would be a divine act.

Gehenna Hell is the ultimate divine act of destruction. The lost will go there and suffer the punishment of permanent destruction because God cannot endure their rebellion forever. That is not what many have been taught about hell. But that is what Jesus taught. Hell comes from a holiness that cannot endure perpetual sin.

LORD, purify us by your grace today so that we never have to suffer the destruction we deserve.

Posted in destruction in hell | Tagged | Leave a comment

unchangeable omnipotence

Posted on July 29, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

20220729

Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger on Pexels.com

unchangeable omnipotence

Ezekiel 10:3-5 (JDV)

Ezekiel 10:3 Now the cherubs were standing to the right hand of the house when the man went in, and the cloud filled the inner court.
Ezekiel 10:4 Then the impressive appearance of Yahveh rose from above the cherub to the threshold of the house. The house was filled with the cloud, and the court was filled with the brightness of Yahveh’s impressive appearance.
Ezekiel 10:5 The sound of the cherubs’ wings could be heard as far as the outer court; it was like the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.

unchangeable omnipotence

Why this spectacular sight and sound display if God was in the process of planning to judge his own people? I am thinking that he is showing that the people’s rebellion and idolatry have not limited his power to act.

Sometimes we talk about our faith as if it gives God power. That is never the case. Even if the whole world would reject God, it would not limit his power one bit. He is sovereign.

LORD, thank you for your unchangeable omnipotence.

Posted in sovereignty of God | Tagged | Leave a comment

reassigned

Posted on July 28, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

20220728

Photo by Engin Akyurt on Pexels.com

reassigned

Ezekiel 10:1-2 (JDV)

Ezekiel 10:1 Then I looked, and noticed above the expanse over the heads of the cherubs was something like a throne with the appearance of lapis lazuli.
Ezekiel 10:2 Yahveh spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, “Go inside the wheelwork beneath the cherubs. Fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubs and scatter them over the city.” So he went in as I watched.

reassigned

For the past few days, we have been looking at a vision about a man with a clipboard. He continues to be featured in this vision as it continues from Ezekiel 9. But his purpose has changed. Whereas he was last seen writing peoples’ names down who will be spared from the immanent destruction of Jerusalem, now that time is finished. He has put down his clipboard and is now instructed to pick up some hot coals and scatter them over the city.

Ellicot writes “Hitherto, in Ezekiel 9, he has been employed only in a work of mercy and protection. It is not without significance that now the same person is made the agent of judgment. As God’s love is turned to wrath by man’s impenitence, and as His blessings given to man become curses by their abuse, so those employed by Him as the instruments of His loving-kindness become the very executioners of his “fury.”” (Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers).

Today, God makes his angels available to us as “ministering spirits, sent out to serve those who will inherit salvation” (Hebrews 1:14 NET). But that ministry to human beings is a temporary assignment. One day, the list will be complete, and the protecting angels will be reassigned. Don’t count on a guardian angel to protect you when hell’s flames are ready to destroy. Those flames cannot be extinguished, even by an angel.

LORD, give us the wisdom to seek your grace while it is available in Christ.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

the last box checked

Posted on July 27, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

20220727

Photo by Burst on Pexels.com

the last box checked

Ezekiel 9:9-11 (JDV)

Ezekiel 9:9 He said to me, “The violation of the house of Israel and Judah is extremely great; the land is full of bloodshed, and the city entirely warped, because they say, ‘Yahveh has abandoned the land; he does not see.’
Ezekiel 9:10 But as for me, my eye will not look compassionately on them or spare them. I will bring their conduct down on their own heads.”
Ezekiel 9:11 Then I noticed the man clothed in linen and carrying writing equipment responded back. This is what he said, “I have done all that you commanded me.”

the last box checked

As Ezekiel nine concludes, this dark vision becomes even more terrifying. It is a simple vision of seven “men” — six of them sent to destroy Jerusalem for its sins, and the seventh with something like a clipboard, marking the heads of those who will be spared. Now — get the significance of what the clipboard man says in today’s text. He says “I have done all that you commanded me.” In other words, the remnant has been marked, so now the destruction can begin.

As our generation goes deeper and deeper into the darkness of rebellion against God and his righteousness, one wonders whether we will see (on a planetary level) what Ezekiel saw in this vision. Will this generation see a day when the secretary has no more names to write down — no more boxes to check? When the last box is checked, the destruction will begin.

Hell has been a slow train coming, but when it comes, only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life will avoid it. For everyone else, that fire will be unquenchable, and it will destroy the soul and body.

LORD, we seek your will, and plead for you to put us on your list, and help us to get others to do the same.

Posted in destruction in hell | Tagged | Leave a comment

your conscience may save your life

Posted on July 26, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

20220726

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

your conscience may save your life

Ezekiel 9:3-8 (JDV)

Ezekiel 9:3 Then the impressive appearance of the God of Israel rose from above the cherub where it had been, to the threshold of the house. He called to the man clothed in linen and carrying writing equipment.
Ezekiel 9:4 “Pass throughout the city of Jerusalem,” Yahveh said to him, “and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the repulsive practices committed in it.”
Ezekiel 9:5 He spoke to the others in my hearing: “Pass through the city after him and start killing; do not look compassionately on them or spare them!
Ezekiel 9:6 Slaughter the old men, the young men and women, as well as the children and older women, but do not come near anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were in front of the house.
Ezekiel 9:7 Then he said to them, “Defile the house and fill the courts with the murdered ones. Go!” So they went out killing people in the city.
Ezekiel 9:8 While they were killing, I was left alone. And I fell face-down and cried out, “Oh, Lord God! Are you going to destroy the entire remnant of Israel when you pour out your wrath on Jerusalem?”

your conscience may save your life

In the vision that Ezekiel saw, the man with the clipboard (see yesterday’s post) marked the people who sighed and groaned over the idolatry and hypocrisy that had infested their city. Those acts of conscience were what the clipboard man was looking for. When he saw someone who felt sick over the moral state of Jerusalem, he would mark that person’s forehead. The mark was a sign that this person would be excluded from the judgment. Because they did not ignore the evil present among them, they would be spared when God came to punish it.

My friend, don’t try to close your mind to hypocrisy and injustice and violence and prejudice and other forms of evil. If you can do nothing else, let your voice be heard. That simple act of conscience may save your life. Our God will not stay hidden. When he shows up, he will deal with evil. If you do not say something now, you just might be included in the slaughter.

LORD, give us the wisdom to speak up.

Posted in hypocrisy, justice, wrath of God | Tagged | Leave a comment

the clipboard

Posted on July 25, 2022 by Jefferson Vann

20220725

Photo by Burst on Pexels.com

the clipboard

Ezekiel 9:1-2 (JDV)

Ezekiel 9:1 Then he called loudly in my hearing, “Come near, executioners of the city, each of you with a destructive weapon in his hand.”
Ezekiel 9:2 And I saw six men coming from the direction of the Upper Gate, which faces north, each with a wrecking tool in his hand. There was another man among them, clothed in linen, carrying scribe’s writing equipment. They came and stood beside the bronze altar.

the clipboard

One of the “men” in the vision looks like a scribe. I imagine him with modern equivalent — a clipboard. He is recording the destruction, and making sure that those who will be spared are spared.

Is your name on that clipboard? I pray that it is. You will not be spared by living a “decent” life. None of us are decent enough. There is only one thing that will protect us from the wrecking ball of God’s wrath. Jesus Christ took the punishment we deserve for our personal sins. Come to him if you want your name on the clipboard.

LORD, draw people to yourself through these words.

Posted in Jesus Christ, sin, wrath of God | Tagged | Leave a comment