Glory of God
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In my first year of teaching in Lodi Unified, I was told that we had received a lot of COVID stimulus money from the State of California or the Federal Government or some place. I wasn’t the only teacher told this, all the special education teachers were told this, and we were told ask for whatever you want for your classroom, whatever would help you teach. It was a blank check.
I saw another blank check this week, a guy was fined $1,500 dollars, 3 months worth of a pretty decent car payments for saying a cuss word, when told he was fined and what that the money would go to a charity he cussed again, because the guys name is Mark Cuban, the multi-millionaire, member of Shark Tank and owner of a basketball team.
As you come into church today, and you write down your burdens do you wish you knew someone who would say to you, how much do you need to fix your problems?
This is what I mean, sometimes people come to me and share what is happening in their life and their problems and I remember this one scene from Big Bang Theory, sticks with me all the time. Here it is.
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Money is very powerful but as anyone who has inherited or been given money knows it doesn’t solve all problems. Some problems are caused by power, or a lack of power, the problems of a lack of security.
I remember this one movie I saw as a kid when a child hired a teenage tough be his bodyguard to beat up the bullies in his life. Today in Ukraine the citizens there fight bravely asking for others to come in and help them with power.
To be the person surrounded by so much devastation as we see today on the news in the war torn regions, in the refugee camps we can get a sense of perspective but also a realization that in our heart, in our mind, we know that there is power that should be able to deal with all of this. All over the world, no matter the color of the person, the gender, or language there is a shared belief from childhood that some glorious power exists that can make a difference.
There is one who has such power, an awesome power, who created everything that we value, who has shown his power, but even greater than all that He has revealed His Glory.
Last Sunday, I began to share with you about a man named Ezekiel, who felt, saw and shared with us about the one who has such Glory.
In ancient times, long before the red cross, paved roads, and even great shoes, when war broke out and people said everything got destroyed, yeah it was similar to today, in that bloody bodies were everywhere, buildings burned down, and then more death and trouble would be soon to follow because all the ways you get stuff, stores, farms, was all destroyed, you know the supply chains that people are talking about today. But in the days of Ezekiel no one was coming to help.
Ezekiel was in a miserable time, and this is when the one who has all the Glory, showed up!
4 I looked, and there was a whirlwind coming from the north, a huge cloud with fire flashing back and forth and brilliant light all around it. In the center of the fire, there was a gleam like amber.
What I am about to share with you is filled with so much color, so much sound, so much amazement, that no Super Bowl halftime show or Olympic ceremony can come close to the colors, no military parade could come close to the power, and no Lady Gaga show could come close to the absolute bizarre amazement that is revealed by the coming of God into Ezekiel’s presence.
Just in this verse we have Amber the color brilliance of the finest sunset, along with fire and brilliant light. It doesn’t stop there does it? The incredible noise of a whirlwind, the fleeing of air blowing all around, if this was the only verse it would be enough of a show to make our minds never forget the Glory of just the first line of the entrance of God into the space.
In all of Ezekiel one we have a key word “like” everything you are about to hear is the description by a guy who tried to describe the indescribable. No one else had seen it, no one else could relate. He had to go with something that others have seen but it isn’t going to be what it actually is. It will be glorious, magnificent, amazing, and he will fail to actually describe it. See Ezekiel only had his life experiences to relate this new majesty to, He could only describe it with the words available.
Ever tried to describe something hard to describe to a young child? You have to use simple words that they know, otherwise they don’t get it but those simple words won’t really describe it.
The color was “like” amber. Because it is a like, it is going to be weird. Every assumption you make next is just that an assumption, do not do as some do and try to figure out what He actually saw because you’ve never seen it either. You would fail to describe the amazing beauty of just the entrance into the presence of GOD!
Jesus told us,
45 It is written in the Prophets: And they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has listened to and learned from the Father comes to me—46 not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God. He has seen the Father.
So give Ezekiel a break and just be amazed. Be amazed at the wonder and the glory and the awe that will be described and worship the God who is better than the like that Ezekiel will be able to tell us.
5 The likeness of four living creatures came from it, and this was their appearance: They looked something like a human, 6 but each of them had four faces and four wings. 7 Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the hooves of a calf, sparkling like the gleam of polished bronze. 8 They had human hands under their wings on their four sides. All four of them had faces and wings. 9 Their wings were touching. The creatures did not turn as they moved; each one went straight ahead. 10 Their faces looked something like the face of a human, and each of the four had the face of a lion on the right, the face of an ox on the left, and the face of an eagle. 11 That is what their faces were like. Their wings were spread upward; each had two wings touching that of another and two wings covering its body. 12 Each creature went straight ahead. Wherever the Spirit wanted to go, they went without turning as they moved.
WOW!! Movement and animals and bronze and what, what? Wow!
God is never alone. The throne of God when encounter by people like Isaiah, like Moses, like John in the book of Revelation do not describe a simple, cutesy, baby faced, human with wings as those in the throne room of God.
They describe animal power, mash-ups, sights, and loud.
John said when he saw the
6 Something like a sea of glass, similar to crystal, was also before the throne.
Four living creatures covered with eyes in front and in back were around the throne on each side. 7 The first living creature was like a lion; the second living creature was like an ox; the third living creature had a face like a man; and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. 8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings; they were covered with eyes around and inside. Day and night they never stop, saying,
Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God, the Almighty,
who was, who is, and who is to come.
It is magnificent and holy. I accept with full faith that the throne room of God is bigger and better than my mind can comprehend and anything that this amazing creator of a platapus, Elephant, and whale can create He will enjoy his ability to create in his throne room. The maker of the ways of sound, will design an amazing playlist.
His glory will shine and it will not and cannot stop. Please be in awe, awe drops the mouth, This is the amazement that Ezekiel is in. It didn’t stop, it just keeps coming with loud, with color, with Glory of the one and only!
13 The likeness of the living creatures was like the appearance of blazing coals of fire or like torches. Fire was moving back and forth between the living creatures; it was bright, with lightning coming out of it. 14 The creatures were darting back and forth like flashes of lightning.
15 When I looked at the living creatures, there was one wheel on the ground beside each of the four-faced creatures. 16 The appearance of the wheels and their craftsmanship was like the gleam of beryl, and all four had the same likeness. Their appearance and craftsmanship was like a wheel within a wheel.
Beryl is what we call in English, Topaz.
The most powerful symbol in the Babylonian army was the chariot, wheels upon wheels, the ultimate in man made power but even better. If you saw a tremendous power would you say it was as powerful as a hundred nuclear blasts? 1,000,000 times brighter than a searchlight?
Ezekiel sees power beyond measure, where mighty jewels are so common they can be used to make wheels?
Do you understand my friends?
Do you understand what this means?
The one who came to save you, to search for you, to die on the cross for you left all of this to come as a baby in Bethlehem to a poor couple in an occupied land.
Of course he can silence the waves, of course he can handle the praises of people waving palm leaves and shouting Hosanna, our God is the God who lives in GLORY.
Yes God can handle what you bring him. The Holy Spirit can move this bizarre, intense power with ease.
17 When they moved, they went in any of the four directions, without turning as they moved. 18 Their four rims were tall and awe-inspiring, completely covered with eyes all around. 19 When the living creatures moved, the wheels moved beside them, and when the creatures rose from the earth, the wheels also rose. 20 Wherever the Spirit wanted to go, the creatures went in the direction the Spirit was moving. The wheels rose alongside them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. 21 When the creatures moved, the wheels moved; when the creatures stopped, the wheels stopped; and when the creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose alongside them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
22 Over the heads of the living creatures the likeness of an expanse was spread out. It gleamed like awe-inspiring crystal,23 and under the expanse their wings extended one toward another. They each also had two wings covering their bodies. 24 When they moved, I heard the sound of their wings like the roar of a huge torrent, like the voice of the Almighty, and a sound of tumult like the noise of an army. When they stopped, they lowered their wings.
Loud, power, expanse. Expanse.
Expanse is a huge space. This huge thing that Ezekiel could barely describe,
Like is used 26 times in the first chapter of Ezekiel
Like is used 26 times in the first chapter of Ezekiel
Even with all that, Ezekiel still hadn’t heard a word. He had only been overwhelmed to take in all of the seeing of the bottom of God’s glory. I say bottom, only because there is no other word in English to describe whatever direction Ezekiel was taking this all in because the next words describe what happened from above.
25 A voice came from above the expanse over their heads; when they stopped, they lowered their wings. 26 Something like a throne with the appearance of lapis lazuli was above the expanse over their heads. On the throne, high above, was someone who looked like a human.
Lapis lazuli is most likely a beautiful purple or blue, likely what we would call a sapphire, is one of 4 colors we have seen. Color is beautiful, Jesus tells us that color shows us where our thoughts should be in our concerns and our worries,
28 And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. 30 If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t he do much more for you—you of little faith?
When anyone in scripture approaches the Glory of God they are overwhelmed by beauty, by power, by brilliance, by the over amount of anything and everything that we find rare or valuable.
How amazing it is that this amazing God, this all powerful, all valuable God. With all this power we can make a mindset change in our life, where we aren’t running after the things that God uses to decorate.
5 Keep your life free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for he himself has said, I will never leave you or abandon you. 6 Therefore, we may boldly say,
The Lord is my helper;
I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?
I am often reminded of the many blessings I have, but the greatest blessing I have is to know that my God can supply all my needs according to his riches in Glory.
Do you realize with all I have read we have not yet heard in the scripture from the voice of God?
26 Something like a throne with the appearance of lapis lazuli was above the expanse over their heads. On the throne, high above, was someone who looked like a human. 27 From what seemed to be his waist up, I saw a gleam like amber, with what looked like fire enclosing it all around. From what seemed to be his waist down, I also saw what looked like fire. There was a brilliant light all around him. 28 The appearance of the brilliant light all around was like that of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day. This was the appearance of the likeness of the Lord’s glory. When I saw it, I fell facedown and heard a voice speaking.
1 He said to me, “Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak with you.”