Hi folks,
Many years ago I spent a week with a team working as a missionary on a beach in South Wales. We'd spend our days taking kids on the beach, playing games with them, having a lot of fun, sharing the Gospel with them, but generally giving their parents an hours break here and there. I remember that time fondly, and the friends and relationships I made there were something very special. I picked up a Bible today that I had at that time, and in the last pages my friends had signed a little something each to remember them by. Some of the quotes go a little like:
"Don't play your guitar after 10pm in Grange Mount" ... from a neighbour of mine..
"I'll always remember the shaving foam" ... prefer not to explain that one
But one person had dropped in a reference to Ezekiel that I looked up again today and wanted to share with you all:
Ezekiel 1:25-28
New International Version (NIV)
25 Then there came a voice from above the vault over their heads as they stood with lowered wings. 26 Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. 27 I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. 28 Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him.
This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking.
This was how Ezekiel saw the Lord as revealed to him. The imagery is stunning, but I wondered how you folks "see" the Lord when you imagine him? We know that God is spirit and has no body, and does not look like a man, such as in Ezekiel's vision. What aspects of God are revealed in this imagery? What should our response be to it?
My initial thoughts are of the upper half of the man in the vision, the part that looks like glowing metal, full of fire. I picture a furnace, in perhaps a metalwork factory, with glowing metal being passed from place to place. One cannot approach this glowing metal at all, since it will burn and destroy flesh that approaches it. Then after this, his lower half is of fire itself and we all know how that burns us when we get close. But after this, Ezekiel states that despite this, his appearance was like a rainbow on a rainy day. I don't know about you, but for me there are few more beautiful sights than a rainbow in the sky as the rain falls!
I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this passage
Many years ago I spent a week with a team working as a missionary on a beach in South Wales. We'd spend our days taking kids on the beach, playing games with them, having a lot of fun, sharing the Gospel with them, but generally giving their parents an hours break here and there. I remember that time fondly, and the friends and relationships I made there were something very special. I picked up a Bible today that I had at that time, and in the last pages my friends had signed a little something each to remember them by. Some of the quotes go a little like:
"Don't play your guitar after 10pm in Grange Mount" ... from a neighbour of mine..
"I'll always remember the shaving foam" ... prefer not to explain that one
But one person had dropped in a reference to Ezekiel that I looked up again today and wanted to share with you all:
Ezekiel 1:25-28
New International Version (NIV)
25 Then there came a voice from above the vault over their heads as they stood with lowered wings. 26 Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. 27 I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. 28 Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him.
This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking.
This was how Ezekiel saw the Lord as revealed to him. The imagery is stunning, but I wondered how you folks "see" the Lord when you imagine him? We know that God is spirit and has no body, and does not look like a man, such as in Ezekiel's vision. What aspects of God are revealed in this imagery? What should our response be to it?
My initial thoughts are of the upper half of the man in the vision, the part that looks like glowing metal, full of fire. I picture a furnace, in perhaps a metalwork factory, with glowing metal being passed from place to place. One cannot approach this glowing metal at all, since it will burn and destroy flesh that approaches it. Then after this, his lower half is of fire itself and we all know how that burns us when we get close. But after this, Ezekiel states that despite this, his appearance was like a rainbow on a rainy day. I don't know about you, but for me there are few more beautiful sights than a rainbow in the sky as the rain falls!
I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this passage
