Bible Study: March 20, 2024

Okay, so tonight we will start. We're going to begin the Book of Ezekiel. The last time we were together a couple weeks ago, we almost finished the Book of Nehemiah. We closed with a discussion on the Sabbath and the people who were gathered together there, that Nehemiah closed the gates and did not let people in to buy their wares and goods on the Sabbath. And we had a very good discussion on that, I might say. And I hope that we can have more discussions, open discussions, on things that people are concerned about, have questions about. That's what this is for, so that we can talk and we look back into the Bible and let God lead us to what He wants us to know.

We didn't read the last few verses of Nehemiah, but before we moved to Ezekiel, I just wanted to kind of recap us on that, because Nehemiah is a significant book and it teaches us many lessons. The last part of the last chapter of Nehemiah, he goes and he talks to the people who have intermarried, intermarried with the people of the land. In that section, he talks about how the children who have been born to them, the people are not even speaking the language of the Hebrews, they are speaking the language of the foreign land there. And Nehemiah reminds them of that.

You'll remember in that last part that even Tobiah, the enemies, I guess, or the adversaries of Nehemiah during the rebuilding of the wall, was sand ballad, sand ballad, and Tobiah. And you'll remember that the high priest, Eliasib, had a room to Tobiah, which was something just amazed Nehemiah that that could be done. And as you close in the Nehemiah 13, it's about one of the people who had married sand ballads' daughters, one of the priests as well. So you have all this going on. The people in that time, when sin was brought to their attention, what we remember of them is willingly, they willingly repented and turned back to God. They were willing, they didn't fight Nehemiah, they didn't try to run him out of time because of what he was saying, they recognized what they had done, and they committed to God. They didn't have the Holy Spirit. And so when Nehemiah was absent for that time, they went right back into their sinful ways. And it's a lesson for us that when things are brought to our attention from the Bible of what we need to be doing, we need to turn to God with all our hearts. God has given us His Holy Spirit that we can understand the things of Him. And when things are brought to our attention where we may be living or have drifted in a way that we shouldn't have, either individually as a church, you know, we should readily go back to God. And with His Holy Spirit, repent, turn to Him with all our hearts, minds, and souls, and live His way of life. Following the example that's there, being out of the world, being separate, drawing the walls around us between us and the world, and living God's way of life because He has called us into His way of life. He's called us to live the way of His kingdom now, not just to learn it now and to be able to recite it now, but actually be applying those things into our lives because we are citizens of His kingdom. He does see us as children. He is, we are, of His household, the household of the saints, if you will, the household of the people of God. And we live His way of life just as we would in our Father's house, our physical Father's house. He's our spiritual Father, and we do things His way. So I kind of wanted to just wrap Nehemiah up, in that way. And just let's remember the lessons of Nehemiah as we move forward toward the time of Jesus Christ's return, and life becomes a little more difficult. And we see the generation around us and society around us descending further and further into a time of immorality, further and further away from God, doing things more and more opposite of the way of God. We need to even look more closely at what we're doing, and especially as we're looking toward Passover to be examining ourselves to make sure we are of the faith and doing things God's way. So any last thoughts before we move to Nehemiah? And then we'll begin with Ezekiel here.

Okay, then let's begin with Ezekiel. Begin in verse, we'll begin in chapter one, if you haven't already turned there. Let me just give you a little bit of history of Ezekiel as we open the book. In fact, let me pull up a PowerPoint here. I'm gonna...

since Ezekiel 1 is such a descriptive chapter, I thought we should have at least some artists rendering so that you can see the beautiful vision that... no, you won't see the beautiful vision that God gave Ezekiel. He saw it in the way that God did it, but as we put just some artists rendering to the scriptures, I'm gonna put some together things on the PowerPoint. But let me begin with just some things about Ezekiel himself from current slide. Okay.

Okay, hold on, hold on just a minute. Okay, I'm gonna stop the video for just a second.

My wife needed to exit for a moment. Is this PowerPoint still on? Is it still up there on your screen?

Okay, let's listen first a little bit about...

or you heard a little bit about Ezekiel. Okay, I thought I had already started that slide. Let me begin. Okay, Ezekiel, we're gonna... we'll find this in the first few verses here as we go through Ezekiel 1. Ezekiel was a priest, right? He was called to be a prophet, and God called him in a very dramatic way as we're gonna see in Ezekiel 1, giving him the vision. And really, the vision that God gives Ezekiel in chapter 1 here, while Isaiah and John in Revelation also had visions of God's throne room and what it was like in heaven, Ezekiel has a very complete detailed description of what the vision that he had that God gave him was. As God gave him that vision, we're gonna see through the book of Ezekiel that many times he goes back into... he goes back and recounts that vision because it stimulated it, it spurred him on, it helped him to become the person that he would become. He was a very effective instrument in God's hands, as God called him. But he was a priest called to be a prophet. He began, you know, as we see there in the first verse, he began his prophetic work, or the ministry, if you can say it, at age 30. And that happens to be a significant age. Jesus Christ began his ministry at age 30. John the Baptist began his ministry at age 30. If you look back in Numbers 4, as I had noted there, in verses 2 and 3, that was when the priest began serving at age 30. There's something about that age that God... there's a maturity level that begins at that time that you are committed to God and you are doing his work and your life is devoted to it. So Ezekiel was a young man at age 30, as Jesus Christ was.

He had some contemporaries. Ezekiel is one of the major prophets. Jeremiah is one of the major prophets. Jeremiah was a little bit older than Ezekiel. Daniel was alive at the same time. They were in different parts. They were in different areas where God was prophesying to his people. Jeremiah was preaching to Judah before it went into captivity. Ezekiel was there as part of the second exile or deportation of Jews out of Judea as the Nebuchadnezzar found them.

Daniel was part of those exiles as well, and he found himself actually in Babylon. You remember as part of the part of Nebuchadnezzar's court there. Each one of them had a significant part in God's plan. Each one of them really sacrificed their lives to do what God wanted to do.

They encountered things along the way that they wouldn't have expected in their life. It wasn't the pleasant, wonderful life that they had. There were tests that they passed and things that God put them through. As we go through the book of Ezekiel, we'll see some of the things that Ezekiel did, even losing his wife nine years into his captivity as part of the test that God gave. He just continued doing what God had said to do. In Ezekiel, we're going to see the depravity of the people.

God is going to show in the early chapters some of the evil that's going on behind the scenes in Israel. Much of Ezekiel's prophecies are toward the house of Israel. As we read through Ezekiel, we remember that the house of Israel had fallen and was taken into captivity 130 years before Ezekiel lived. When God is speaking to the house of Israel through Ezekiel in this book that we have recorded for us, it is very much a time and a prophecy for us as he's talking to us in the end time.

There are a lot of dual prophecies. We will talk about those during the time as well. But the book is going to go behind the scenes and show the evil. Ezekiel is going to see in chapter 8 and 9 the evil that is going on. There it is, Israel. I'm probably getting a little bit ahead of myself. As we live in a time where we know a lot of not so great things are going on, if God took us behind the scenes to see what was going on in our country and with some of our people, not our people, church people, and the land around us, we too would be amazed at the evil that is going on behind the scenes in our land as Ezekiel was.

As I was looking at some of the commentaries, because as the first part of Ezekiel, he has the warnings to Israel. But then Ezekiel finishes with hope, the hope of the return of Jesus Christ, the resurrection of Israel, the combining together, the unification of Israel after the return of Jesus Christ, the temple, the temple that will be built that is a heat for healing of all the nations.

I like the way that one of the commentaries put it, because it is a way that God speaks to us. We know that in prophecy there are tough times that come, but there's always the hope of Jesus Christ. There's always the hope of the kingdom. It's the thing that drives us. It's the thing that keeps us moving. It's the thing when we realize the world cannot survive without God. That keeps us alive and moving forward.

Let me just read what it says here for the Barnes notes on their summary of Ezekiel. They say, the captivity was not simply a divine judgment where God is saying, look at everything that they've done wrong, but a preparation for a better state, an awakening of higher hopes. And so that is what God is doing with us. He will tell us we are doing things wrong. We will know the problems in the world around us. We will mourn because of what goes on in here. We will sigh and cry, as it will read later on in Ezekiel.

But we always have the hope, and we remember that God is preparing us for a better time for all the people who will live, and the time when everyone will have a chance to know God and appreciate Him and come to love Him and have the opportunity to repent and to have eternal life as well.

So we look forward to that time at Ezekiel, and that's what we need to keep in mind. I hear some of our young people will say, where is the hope? The hope is in Jesus Christ. The hope is in Jesus Christ. That's the hope we hold on to. The hope is not in the world today. The hope is in Him, or what God has called our minds to see.

So let me see. Okay, I guess I'm looking through my list here. The name Ezekiel means God will strengthen. God will strengthen, and God did strengthen Ezekiel, as we will see, you know, through this book. So let's, anything anyone wants to add where we get going with Ezekiel here?

Okay, then I'm going to go ahead. I think I have many of the scriptures listed on here.

I can get it to advance.

Yeah, okay. Yeah, I'm going to read from the Bible. I see when I copied some of this, I was using the New Living Translation here, but let me read it from the New King James, and you can go along. The picture that you have up there is actually a picture of the river Kaibar, right?

What they believe is the river Kaibar today. So you can kind of see the river that Ezekiel is by at the time that the opening of his book begins. It says in verse 1, Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, that would be the year of his life, came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river Kaibar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. Now visions is a mistranslation. The original transcript is just vision. So the translators put visions, but it is a vision that God gave to Ezekiel. And it's a very notable way for him to begin the book as he's beginning to call Ezekiel to his service.

God gives all of us a vision. If we don't have a vision of the kingdom of God, we will perish. We will, you know, just as the Proverbs say, we have to keep that vision in front of us and have that alive and well as God leads us, guides us, and His Holy Spirit gives us that vision. And as we read in the Bible of what life will be like when every man, woman, and child knows God and is living His way of life and the joy, the harmony, the peace, and everything that will result from it, God gives that is that Ezekiel right at the beginning here of Ezekiel 1. And you see that, and as I said before, we will see that vision carry and inspire Ezekiel. He will come back to it in chapter 10 and chapter 43, and we'll see visions of what we've seen here, him talking about some of these things. So God calls him and He opens His mind to a vision. Verse 2, on the fifth day of the month, which was in the fifth year of King Jehoiakim's captivity, King Jehoiakim was a king in Judah near the time when Judah fell. During that time, the word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel the priest. And it doesn't say that in the new living translation that I have up there, but the King James correctly says that he expressly came to Ezekiel. And I mentioned in a sermon recently, you know, when God uses adverbs and adjectives, we should pay attention to it. He had his eyes on Ezekiel. I'm calling you. And he went directly to Ezekiel and intended to give him this vision because he was calling him to a work. And Ezekiel needed to see this vision so that he could serve God in the way and be in awe of God and develop the fear of God. You know, we see these things, you know, because at the end of the vision, at the end of chapter one, as Ezekiel just literally fell to his face, just fell on his face because he was in a form of God and he's in fear of God. We read that of John. We read that of Daniel when they recognize God. We read that back in Exodus when Israel heard the voice of God thundering and they said, No, Moses. No, Moses. We don't want God speaking to us. Let him speak to you and you speak to us because they had that fear, but it was a reverential fear that we need to have too, that awe and that respect that we do what God says to do and want to do what God has us do. So the word of the Lord, verse 3, came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi in the land of the Chaldeans—that's Babylon—by the river Kebar. So this is kind of the location where he was by the river when this vision came upon him. And the hand of the Lord was upon him there. God was with him there. He gave him that. He paused Ezekiel to have him see what he was about to reveal to him.

So now this is an artist's surrendering here. This is by no means a photograph of what it was like. As we get into some of the descriptive things that Ezekiel talks about that he saw as he was in this vision that God gave him. Says, I looked and behold a whirlwind coming from the north. And I think this is where I realized I was copying from Bible Gateway from the wrong translation. But should be, you can do King James from here or not. When I looked, I saw a whirlwind coming from the north. A great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself. And brightness was all around it and radiating out of its midst like the color of amber out of the midst of the fire.

And so you have this vision that he's having that is unlike anything he sees on earth, kind of, and just again as an artist would render that and that type thing where it was something he had never seen on earth before. It's interesting that the commentaries talk about the word amber. This is the first time in the Bible it's used. The only time it's used is in Ezekiel. And it's defining a color and an image, if you will, that Ezekiel had to put in. It was colored like there was metal. It was so bright. It was like metal. It was like color. It was like fire. It was like anything he had ever seen. So when the prophets had these visions, they had to use the language that was at their disposal to describe what they seen because it was unlike anything they had seen before. And so we have this image. And as we look at whirlwinds, there's some things in there. If we look at a whirlwind, I saw a whirlwind coming from the north, the fire that's there. And all these things that are coming as God introduces Ezekiel into this vision and things that we can relate to God and we see in other places in the Bible as well. So let's just pause for a moment and look at a few of those. You don't have to turn in your Bible, but I've listed a few other places where we see whirlwinds in the Bible. In 2 Kings 2 and verse 1, I think it's also in verse 10, you remember what Elijah was going to be taken away and replaced by Elisha. That the chariot came down and it was in a whirlwind. Let me actually get back to 2 Kings and read that to you.

You are hearing exactly what God wrote rather than my paraphrase of it. 2 Kings 2 and verse 1, it came to pass when the eternal was about to take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. And then again in verse 11, it happened as they continued on to talk that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire and separated the two of them and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. So you see, God, this whirlwind that He takes the people away from. And or, you know, I guess people recognize this that comes down that's of God. Job talks of it as well in Job 37.

Job 37.9.

Should have just had a slide and put these on there as well. Job 37.9.

From the chamber of the south comes the whirlwind and cold from the scattering winds of the north. And then in verse 1 of chapter 38, the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? So we see God using this whirlwind. And then as Elijah is entering into the vision, the first thing he records is this whirlwind with fire and amber and metallic and a vision that was so inspiring to him and enlightening to him. And in it he felt power. And he felt the weakness that would come when we're faced with such dramatic power that there's no way we could face it. In Psalm 77 verse 18, and there's many more places than I have listed here, the voice of your thunder. In a few verses we're going to talk about God's voice and what it sounds like. The voice of your thunder was in the whirlwind.

The lightnings lit up the world. The earth trembled and shook. And we'll read about lightnings and some of the angels that appear as if they're lightnings going back and forth. Proverbs 10.

Proverbs 10 and verse 25.

Proverbs 10 verse 25. When the whirlwind.

I'm going to read for 23 and 24 as well, just to get the whole context. Verse 23 of Proverbs 10. To do evil is like sport to a fool, but a man of understanding has wisdom.

The fear of the wicked will come upon him, and the desire of the righteous will be granted. When the whirlwind passes by, the wicked is no more, but the righteous have an everlasting foundation. And then finally, you know, we're in the book of Isaiah, the very last chapter there.

Talked about a whirlwind as well. Isaiah 66 verse 15 says, So we see God working in this way. We see the whirlwind, and he uses that analogy as he talks about his interaction with people on earth. Whirlwind itself is a strong rueok. Those of you who are familiar with the Hebrew, rueok is the wind. It's the same word for breath or wind that God used in Genesis 1 and verse 2. So there is the wind. The wind is associated with God.

We see that continuing throughout Scripture as well in Acts 2 verses 1 to 4. When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they heard the sound of a rushing, mighty wind, as God was about to put his Spirit on the 120 that were assembled there that day in tribute and in submission to him. And then in that verse 4, you know, we have the whirlwind, and we have the fire. We talked about that in a few of the verses, but we also have the north. We have the north, right, to say the whirlwind was coming from the north. And there are scriptures that talk about the north, as in God dwelling, if you will. If we can put a direction on it, he is everywhere. He's on the present. But a few verses that talk about that as well. In Job 20, well, we got Psalm 75 listed there first, Psalm 75. And verse 6. Oh, verse 6. For exaltation, exaltation comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south, but God is the judge. It doesn't come from the east, it doesn't come from the west, it doesn't come from the south, it comes from the north, it comes from the north, is what the scripture is implying there. Again in Isaiah 14, we were in that. This would be the chapter that talks about Lucifer, who became Satan, Isaiah 14. Verse 12 says, How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weaken to the nations! For you have said in your heart, I, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north, on the farthest sides of the north. And then in Job 26, verse 7. As God talks about these things, verse 7, He stretches out the north over empty space, He hangs the earth on nothing. And so we have these images of the north, and God in the north, associated with that, also from the east, as we remember talking about the gates of the gates of the Abiah, and that Jesus Christ would enter from the east gate. As we look at the Palestinians, we know that they boarded up what they think is the east gate to try to prevent the return of Jesus Christ, as if any human could prevent the return of Jesus Christ. But they, I guess, they hope that they can. So here in these introductory verses in Ezekiel, we have God referring to a number of things that we read in other places in Scripture as well. And I think it's notable that in this first recorded thing that God had Ezekiel record about the vision that God gave him, here's this whirlwind with fire, with lightning, with noise—well, the noise comes later—and from the north, and from the north. So let's go on. And again, I am not going to be able—well, if you actually raise your hand with the thing, I might be able to see you raise your hand. But if you have a comment, just feel free to break in. Just just start talking, and that'll be fine, because I can't see everyone like I normally see on my screen here in front of me. So, okay, going on in verse 5.

Also, also from within it, that whirlwind, as he was looking in that whirlwind, also from within it, came the likeness of four living creatures, and this was their appearance. They had the likeness of a man. When they had the likeness of a man, what does that mean? They were standing up. They stand like you, and I stand. They stand as when we see the depictions of God, the likeness of—we're going to see the likeness later on as we get into the chapter a little more—that God has the appearance, that we have the appearance of God. He stands. And what God said in Genesis 1, 26, and 27, that He said, let us make man in our image. In our image, let us make him. So, man, while we're physical creatures and we are mortal creatures, and when we die, we die. God did create us in His image, and so when Jesus Christ was on earth, He was in the image of a man, and we see God. Later on, we're going to talk about hands, and it's going to talk about legs, and it's going to talk about Him sitting and what He appeared like from the waist down. So, the image is there. God created us in Him's image, and notable that when Ezekiel sees these four living creatures who have some pretty distinct characteristics, he said they had a likeness of a man. They were standing. They had feet. They had hands. They had faces. Each one had four faces, and each one had four wings.

He also notices, then, that they also had hands underneath those wings. So, as he's looking at these things, that they look like us, but they aren't us. They are different creatures, but they have the same general appearance, if I can put it in that way. But, as I was looking at this and thinking about it, Ezekiel seeing the whirlwind of these four living creatures moving through that whirlwind, just as part of it, that you would think nothing could live in that power, in that fire, in that majesty that you're seeing there, kind of reminded me of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. When they were walking through the fire, and as Nebuchadnezzar and the people stood, by the way, they could see them passing through the fire, and the fire didn't touch them.

There was someone who had the appearance of a fourth man leading them through that fire.

So, just like they were seen walking through the fire, led by the fourth being that was with them, so, as Ezekiel sees these living creatures in that whirlwind, in that fire, he sees that fire doesn't touch them. That whirlwind doesn't touch them. They just move forward, but they have the appearance. They have the appearance of a man in the way they stand and present themselves. And then he goes into some descriptions, descriptions of what he saw. As he sees these four angels with four faces on them, he notices their feet. Says their legs were straight.

You know, maybe they didn't have knees. I see the artists they're rendering here, as he puts this on. There's a bent knee, but it says their legs were straight. And when you look at some of the commentaries, it says they, you know, they may have just moved. They may have just moved. They may not have walked exactly like us with bent knee. Now, no one knows. No one knows. So, I'm not making anything. I'm just talking about some of the things. But their legs were straight, it says. Maybe he's just referring to the fact that they stood just like you and I stand. Well, we stand, our legs are straight. Their legs were straight. Their feet were like the calf's hoofs and sparkled with polished bronze. And so, they didn't have five toes on each foot, like you and I have, but they had a foot like a calf. And, you know, I think as you go through what Ezekiel writes here, he, of course, remember, is recording things the way God inspired him, using the language and the likenesses of the world around us today. But we see many things in heaven that he's depicting that are like the things on earth, like the things on earth, just like man is made in the image of God. Other things that we see are like some of the things that are represented in heaven as well. And it only stands to reason, as God created heaven, and it's a wonderful place to be, and the joy and the harmony that's there when he says, you know, my kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, to bring that joy, harmony, peace, and everything to earth. But earth, you know, he fashioned it in a physical way. As we see some of these images in Ezekiel and John and elsewhere in the Bible, we see some of those representations are there. But here, their feet were like a cap's hooves. They sparkled like polished bronze. And then he notes, says, you can get these creatures. Their hand, their hand was, figure out how to put this person in here.

Their hands, their hands of a man were under, the hands of a man were under their wings on their four sides. So you have the four sides. Remember, they have four faces. We'll get to that here in verse 10 in a minute. The hands of a man. So they had legs, they had legs, but their feet were like cap's hooves. They had faces, but they had four of them. They stood, they stood straight like a man does. They have hands, just like a man does. Their hands were under the wings on their four sides.

And each of the four had faces and wings. Their wings touched one another. Now, you can imagine, here there are four in one, their wings touched one another. The living creatures didn't turn when they moved, but each one went straight forward. I think there's a spiritual lesson in that for us. What God created in heaven and the things and the way the beings around him move are lessons for us on what he is looking for us to do.

When we follow God, we move straight ahead. We follow the straight and narrow path that he has set us on. We keep our eyes forward and focused on the kingdom of God and what he's leading us to. We don't get deterred by the distractions of life or the things around us that would take any of us off the path. We keep moving forward. It's notable even in Exodus, as the people were coming out of Egypt and they were there by the Red Sea. Pharaoh's army was bearing down on them.

Of course, there would be panic set in at that point, as that was about to happen to them. They could see what the result of their human frailty would be. God said, stand still. First of all, be quiet. Stand still. See the salvation of the Lord. Then he told Moses, tell the people of Israel to go forward. Keep moving forward. God will open that door. Here in heaven, we see these four living creatures. The way they're programmed, they went straight forward. They didn't turn to the right and they didn't turn to the left. As Ezekiel is seeing this, maybe not as he's seeing it then. But I dare say, as God led him to understand and us to understand, as this vision came about, he was teaching us some lessons about how we live our lives.

Keep moving forward. Don't go backwards. Don't descend into what I have.

That's what I was saying. Another thing that predates creation.

I just referenced Romans 1.20 because it says, the invisible things of God are clearly seen by us in creation. God created a creation for us.

Who knows? We may be very surprised one day when we see how much on earth is like what's in heaven.

And we can't deny it. We can't deny it. The world around us wants to deny God at every step and turn.

But you and I can't. We have to. We just have to keep moving forward.

So in verse 10, then, we begin seeing what the faces look like. Their faces look like this.

Each living creature had a human face and the face of a lion. You have a human face. We don't know what that looks like. Had the face of a lion on the right side, the face of an ox on the left side, and each one also had the face of an eagle. So you have four heads that are there, all facing in one direction. They looked straight ahead. And you had these four faces of these four creatures that we're familiar with as we look at these faces that are there. Verse 11, that was what their faces looked like. Their wings were spread out above. Each had two wings that touched one of the other living creatures and two wings that covered its body. Now, you can picture that. The face, I've got an artist's representation of it here in a minute. You had the faces. You have the two wings above. You had the two wings below. And you had the hands that are underneath those wings that they could see. Each one went straight ahead. So whatever direction, whatever direction, one of those four faces, God was moving him, that they went straight ahead. So when it was a lion's face, he went straight ahead. But when it was a man's face, of course, it was the one creature that went in the direction of the man, or the direction of the ox, or the direction of the eagle. They had those characteristics, but they moved forward. But they had those characteristics. Each went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit would go, the living creatures would go also without turning. There again is another spiritual lesson. Wherever God's spirit leads us, we go. If we are yielded to him, if we really are following him, if we really are committed to following him, if he says go, we go. If he says go in that direction, we go in that direction, and we don't look back. We're going to look at a few verses here in a few minutes about how many times God tells us, don't look back. Look straight ahead. One of the things when Egypt came or Israel came out of Egypt was they were always looking back in Egypt. Oh, life was so much better back then. If we could just go back to the way things were then. No, go forward. God is always leading us forward to his kingdom and leading us forward in our lives to what he wants us to do next. Always moving us forward. Wherever the spirit would go, the living creatures would go without turning. So let's look at these four faces. We have the face of a man.

You and I have the faces of men and women. One of those four faces, Genesis 1, 26, God gave dominion over the earth, gave dominion over the earth and animals. A lion is a fearful creature. He's regarded as the king of the jungle. Christ is referred to as the lion of Judah. In another, I guess, negative sense. Satan presents himself as a lion, ready to devour God's people if we yield to him.

But Christ is the lion of Judah, it says in Revelation 5.5. Ox, oxen, right? They were domestic animals. Today we have tractors and all the machinery of agriculture, but they were notable creatures that just worked and worked and worked and just plodded along and were absolutely the workhorses they needed to be. Patient, enduring, they endured the yoke and they went wherever their masters did and they were almost just tireless in getting the job done. And the eagle with his eyes and his focus is considered the king of the fowls.

I'm not going to turn to all those scriptures there if you want to write them down. You can see where God refers to these animals and likens things to those animals in other places of the Bible. And I know as we're even talking about it, scriptures are jumping into your mind about the oxen and the eagles and the wings of an eagle and all that means. Those are all characteristics of God manifested in these animals and in these faces.

Beyond that, the Matthew Henry commentary I think did a pretty good job of talking about these beings and what their being and it says the four living creatures derive their being and power from God. And so I thought he did a pretty good job on that.

They have the understanding of a man. This is the spirit in man, right? Everyone is built with spirit in man. You and I also have the spirit in God. Mankind himself is incomplete until he has the spirit of God in him. We know the Bible tells us how you receive the spirit of God is upon repentance, genuine repentance, turning to God with all your heart, mind, and soul, living his way of life, being baptized, having hands laid on you, and then he imparts the spirit upon those who he has yielded themselves to him.

They have the understanding of a man and far more. We have the spirit in men. God has given us all gifts and things that we do, everything that he has given us he can use in his work. We have the understanding and we have God's spirit that leads us to guide us to what he wants done as he builds his house, and we are all part of that building process.

A lion excels in strength and boldness. He is fearful. He is the king of the jungle. God has given him that, and God has given us not the spirit of fear to middity, but he's given us the spirit of power and love and a sound mind. His spirit imparts that to us. Ox excels in diligence and patience and unweary discharge of the work he has to do.

God gives us his spirit. He gives us the energy. He gives us the zeal when we are close to him and when we are looking to do his will and when we are energized by through prayer, through meditation, through being with one another, through the unity that comes through his spirit that God wants us to have. The more that we do and build into our lives, the things that he wants us to develop, truthfully develop and not just say them, but actually are working on them, the more zeal, the more energy we have to get the work that he wants done.

He gives us the patience. We wait for him. We read that over and over in the book of Isaiah. Wait for God. He is in charge. He will do what he said he will do. We just need to be patient and look to him and he will answer prayers.

He will provide healing. He will provide deliverance. He will return Son Jesus Christ to this earth. When all things look bleak, Jesus Christ will be there to save man from the disaster and the destruction that mankind would bring upon themselves.

Eagle excels in quickness and piercing his sight. God gives us discernment. He gives us discernment. We can see things. With his spirit and asking for his spirit and asking him for that discernment, we can see things that may be are undiscernable to other people. Eagle excels in quickness and piercing sight and in soaring high.

The angels, he says, who excel man in all these respects, put on these appearances. Notable in Hebrews 1 and 2, it says, today God has created us a little lower than the angels. A little lower than the angels. They do have these features as we read about here, as they are today. One day God says mankind is destined, as children of God will be to be superior to the angels. That's what we look forward to as we yield to God. These faces of the angels are notable things.

Again, we go on and look back to Ezekiel. I picked out three verses here where God repeats things about going forward and doing things in his order. As we come to verse 12 and 20, I'm not going to repeat it again. You do notice from time to time that God will repeat the things that are very important. Three times here in this chapter, he talks about the spirit. Go where the spirit leaves. Verse 11, we read, they didn't turn, but each one went straightforward. Verse 12, each one went straightforward. They went wherever the spirit wanted to go, and they did not turn when they went. There's a lesson and a direction for us. Go forward to what God leads you to. Verse 20, wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went because there the spirit went. And the wheels will come to them, were lifted together with them, for the spirit of the creature was in the wheels.

It was in the wheels. Romans 8, 14 says, as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. Where he leads, where he leads, he goes, or we go. And as Ezekiel sees these creatures, he sees those things happening in them and is notable. Three times, as mentioned, they go wherever the spirit leads them. So then, as we go to verse 13, again, Ezekiel is seeing all these things. We're looking at it in pieces as he has inspired him to record it. But here in verse 13, then, he sees this other vision. And here's just an artist's kind of rendering of what that vision might have looked somewhat like when Ezekiel saw it. The living creatures looked like burning coals of fire or like torches. And so you see these lights there that he's depicting. This is as he sees these things. Remember, as they're coming out of the cloud, and they're in the cloud, the living... Okay, let me turn this off. The living creatures looked like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire went back and forth among the living creatures. It was bright, and lightning flashed from it. The living creatures ran back and forth like bolts of lightning.

Again, you can kind of imagine in your mind, to the extent that, you know, with our physical limitations, what that must have been like as Ezekiel was seeing this and realizing those are creatures moving back and forth in this vision that he has. And he is in awe at the creation. He's in awe at what he is seeing and seeing the majesty of what heaven is like and what God imbues with his power. Go ahead, go ahead, someone. That's right. Going back to that, they had the understanding of a man. Yeah. Can you expand on that a little more? What do you think that means? Well, the understanding of a man. We know... What am I going the wrong way here? Sorry about that. See if I can go backwards. Yeah, the understanding of a man. Yeah. Now, you know, the thing is, I'm not sure what Matthew comment... what Matthew Henry meant. I think the understanding of a man where you and I are concerned, right? The people of God who have God's Holy Spirit. I mean, Psalm 111 verse 10 tells us, a good understanding, a good understanding of those who keep his commandments. And when I read the word understanding in the Bible, that's kind of what I think of. We understand more of God's plan. We understand more of who he wants us to be. We understand more about God as we live and apply his commandments. And that's kind of what I read in that. He puts in their spirit and man, but they have the understanding of a man. Remember, these are spirit beings that are with God. And that's kind of where I am. So, but God, he put a spirit in man, too. We live in a time where we have tremendous inventions that we live with. The internet, the fact that we can all be together from two or three or four different countries that we represent here tonight as we're on this Bible study, as we watch TV, as we have an internet that spans around the world. And I just think, for the first time, we had, you know, as YouTube, right? Ten people subscribed to the YouTube channel from South Korea. Never had any subscription from anything, or request from anything from South Korea before. But as these things go out around the world, we see God beginning to work. But anyway, we live in a marvelous time. So, God has given man an understanding to unlock these things that he has built into the earth. He made them possible. And man has an understanding of the physical universe. So, I think that's kind of what he's talking about there.

Does that make sense?

Frank, I guess it does. Okay. Yeah, that's fine. I'll get it. Okay.

Okay, let's go to verse 15 then. Verse 15. Here we have this kind of wheel, this kind of gyroscope type looking thing that Ezekiel sees. It says, as I looked at the living creatures, as I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel, a wheel on the ground by each of the living creatures, by each of the living creatures with its four faces. I saw a wheel on the ground, five living creatures with its four faces. The wheels and the way they were made were like this.

They looked like sparkling chrysalite. All four of them looked the same, like one wheel crossways inside another wheel. So here again is an artist's depiction of something like Ezekiel saw, far more magnificent than that picture, but just kind of an idea of what he saw. There's these wheels inside of another wheel and then eyes, eyes all around it. The wheels and the way they were made were like this. Oh, I already read that. Verse 17. When they moved, they went in any one of the four directions.

Notice you got northeast, southwest, four directions. It would move, but it would move without turning as they went. So whatever side was moving forward, again, the same thing. They always moved forward. They never veered off to the left. They never veered off to the right. If God said, move to the right, they moved to the right, but they were always going forward. Again, another lesson for us. Always move forward in the direction that God says. The rims of the wheels were high, and the actual Bible word there is awesome. So again, when we use the word awesome, it's like we can't even describe it. It's beyond what we have the ability to describe in the English language. The rims of the wheels were high and awesome, and were full of eyes all around.

Seeing everything in all directions, God is an omniscient God, and omnipresent God. He is there, and he sees. We read in other parts of the Bible about the eyes that go to and fro around the earth. Actually, I should have been reading from the Bible because I have some notes in it that I've just been overlooking here as I read on the screen here, but that's okay. I don't think we've missed anything major, but again, we see this. So now we see this wheel, but again, this wheel can move in any one of four directions, but it always moves straightforward.

When the living creatures moved, the meals moved beside them. When the living creatures were lifted up from the ground, the wheels also were lifted up. So again, there's something in those wheels. The living creatures moved as those wheels moved. Wherever, verse 20, we've read this verse before, wherever the spirit would go, the living creatures would go, and the wheels were lifted up beside them because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. Now, that's a fascinating thing to contemplate. The wheels were there. They would move in direction. They had four directions. Remember, four faces on the angels, and wherever face they went, they always moved straightforward. They didn't go ahead northwest or southeast. They always moved straight north, south, east, west, whatever direction God would have. But these wheels, whatever they are with their eyes all around them, wherever the spirit would go, the living creatures would go because the spirit was in the wheels. The spirit was in the wheels. There's something to contemplate.

Don't know exactly what that means. One day, one day we will. Verse 21, when the living creatures moved, the wheels moved. When the living creatures stopped, the wheels stopped. And when the living creatures were lifted from the ground, the wheels were lifted beside them because the spirit of the living creature, the creatures, was in the wheels.

God says that. God says that twice. There's some meaning to that. The spirit was in the wheels, wherever they went, the spirit went. The only analogy I can think is that we live, we live, and we need to move where the spirit leads us to move. And wherever it leads, we go.

It's God's spirit in us. If anyone else has a thought on that?

Mr. Shavey? Yes, sir. Go right ahead. Good evening. Hi.

Yeah, I just wondered about unity, too. You know, page 4 talks about all parts of the body being needful and all working together, hopefully.

It just reminded me of unity, too, as well, that the wheels and the other, all parts working together, more or less. Yeah, that is a very good thought. And that may be exactly what God is showing. Everything works together in the direction that God wants.

I know as we move closer and closer to Passover, we're thinking more and more about unity, how God, that we all need to be unified and we'll all be moving in the same direction. So, yeah, that's a very good observation. And you see that happening in the decision that God has given Ezekiel. So when we move into verse 22, then, we have this likeness of the permanent, right? The likeness of the permanent above the heads of the living creatures. So they're kind of like, we're on earth and there's a permanent above and there's a part above them, there's a space above them. Well, it's like the color of an awesome crystal, it says, stretched out over their heads. And under the permanent, their wings spread out straight one toward one another. Each one had two, which covered one side and each one...oh, two, top toe, I guess, Bible Gateway didn't do something right there. And each one had two, which covered the other side of the body. So, again, we have these wings that they have. And remember, go back. They had the appearance of a man, the likeness of a man. They had a head, they had hands, they had feet. Their feet, you know, look different, but, you know, now they're there and then there's this firmament above them, just like there's a permanent above us here on earth. We have the firmament, you know, the first, second and third day God created all those things. When they went, when these living creatures went, they heard the sound of their wings.

The sound was like the noise of many waters, like the voice of the Almighty, like the voice of the Almighty, a tumult like the noise of an army. Now, when they stood still, they let down their wings.

So, here we have kind of the sounds of in heaven. I heard the sound of their wings, like the noise of many waters, like the voice of the Almighty, a tumult like the noise of an army. And so, you know, as we, I mentioned that, you know, as we go through Ezekiel, we're going to come back and we're going to see where Ezekiel remembers this vision. It inspires him, it directs him, he, and things come back into his mind with this vision as he's working through it. But let's go to Ezekiel 43 for a moment.

Brother Shubbe. Yes, sir. Go ahead. As we turn there, that expanse that was above their head, it reminds me of what is in Exodus 24 when our Lord came down on Mount Sinai and he says, under his feet, it says in verse 10, it says, a work of sapphire stone as clear as the heavens and clear like a platform. Interesting. These may be like a type of transportation. Makes you wonder, doesn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the longest. Yeah, we see these things that are represented in heaven and in other places of the Bible. That's very good, yeah. So, you know, if we look at Ezekiel 43, we'll be there in a few months, I guess. But in Ezekiel 43, he references back to this vision he's having right here. In verse 1, he says, afterward—and this is the millennial time. This is when the third temple is built. When people are flowing to it, let us go up to the house, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord. There he will teach us his ways, as we read in Isaiah 2, and the whole world. Jesus Christ has returned at this time. And it says afterward, he brought me to the gate, the gate that faces toward the east. We read about the east gate in Nehemiah. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. His voice was like the sound of many waters and the earth shone with his glory. So, as Ezekiel was writing that, I'm sure he was thinking back to this noise that he heard, which was like the voice of the Almighty. In Revelation 1, it talks about God's voice as well and uses that same analogy. Revelation 1, verse 15, says, his feet were like fine brass. Now, we've already seen feet. Remember the calves' foots that were like polished bronze? I may as well go ahead and read verse 14. We were talking about the likeness of a man. His head—this is John, the apostle John—his head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like a flame of fire, speaking of what he saw in his vision. His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, like polished bronze, and his voice as the sound of many waters. The sound of many waters. So, you know, you see these analogies throughout the Bible as God gave prophets and his apostles those visions that he wanted him to have. It's the same likeness. So, we get a feel for what it's like as we think about God and we think about heaven. He gives us these little glimpses into who he is and what life up there is. In verse 24, we have this vision. In verse 25, then, it says, a voice came from above the firmament over the heads of the living creatures. So, again, we have this part above those angels. Whenever they stood, they let down their wings. It's like they're almost standing at attention, right? They move, they move, they move, but when they come to the when the voice when the voice speaks, they stop and they listen. They don't keep moving. They leave. Whenever they stood, they let down their wings. We are just standing still to hear what God has to say. And in our lives, we have to take the time to stand still, right? Again, going back to what God told Moses to tell the people of Israel, stand still. Be quiet. Stand still. See the salvation of the Lord and tell the children of Israel to move forward. Listen to me. Take the time. Meditate. Be still. Listen. Listen. And the angels did that. They let down their wings and they stopped moving when they heard the voice of God. Same thing that we can learn to do.

Verse 26. Now, I'm going to apologize in advance. I looked and looked and looked for something that would look like I couldn't find anything. And I didn't want anyone on the throne. I just wanted a throne there. I didn't know how to white it out. So don't think that I'm trying to do anything with depicting God. That is not at all. I'm just trying to show the brightness of what Ezekiel was saying in his human form as I could find. Some of the images that people are just absolutely goofy, I will say. So you try to stay away with some to just kind of give the appearance here of what's going on. So in verse 26, above the firmament, above the heads of these angels was like the likeness of a throne. So Ezekiel is like, he's kind of looking. He says, it looks like a throne. He doesn't have a clear vision, it would appear to be on that. But he sees something. There was a likeness of a throne, an appearance like a sapphire stone, blue. You know, Savior just mentioned the sapphire back in Exodus and that. And you see the color blue, and it has a special meaning in the Bible when you look at the color of blue. So it's notable that when he sees this, it has an appearance like a sapphire stone. It has this blue hue to it. On the likeness of the throne, on the likeness of the throne, was the likeness with the appearance of a man high above it. This man is sitting on a throne, but again, he sees there's a form of a man around this throne. Also from the appearance of his waist and upward, I saw, as it were, here's that color of amber. We talked about that, the only place in the Bible this is used and only in Ezekiel, trying to describe the color that's there, that has a brightness to it, has an energy. It's kind of like metal flashing, but it's also got this golden hue to it as they talk about what Ezekiel was trying to talk about. When you look back at the old King James and some of the other translations, they'll talk about shiny metal, and it's like it's burning, and it's got this unique color to it that Ezekiel hasn't seen before. One of the translators, they use this word amber to to talk about it. The color of amber with the appearance of fire. Fire all around it. When you see God, you see fire. Hebrews 12 near the end of the chapter there, it says, our God is a consuming fire. We see him in the appearance of fire. He's on fire. He's energy. There's a power to him. There's a heat to him, and he imparts that to us through his Holy Spirit that we get on fire and have the energy to do things. Fires rage. Fires consume what's in their way, and the way of God should consume us. We put ourselves, our old selves, to death that allow God to live through us. Anyway, the appearance of fire all around within it. Downward I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around.

Yeah, actually, I'm gonna—what time do we have here? I'm gonna just give you—I've got rid of that. Hebrews 12, 29, our God is a consuming fire, says the same thing in Deuteronomy 4 verse 24. And of course, we talked earlier about Acts 2, and when the Holy Spirit came upon those assembled there on the day of Pentecost, we had the sounds of the rushing mighty wind we talked about, but also the Spirit descended upon them like cloves of fire. God was going to put his Spirit into those assembled there that day. And then we have something, you know, it says like the appearance of a rainbow in the cloud, in a cloud on a rainy day. You know, clouds—we've talked before about clouds, and God appears in clouds, be led Israel by a pillar of cloud by day. And I think the rainbow is a beautiful, beautiful thing. We all know what the rainbow is on its rainy day. When we see a rainbow in the sky, we know it's of God. It's a sign that he gave, a covenant that he would not flood the earth again. They're in heaven. It's notable that there's this rainbow. What a slap in God's face that the rainbow has become a symbol of sexual depravity, right? Just like the world and Satan to use something symbolic of God, and that's in heaven, and then to pervert it into something that is so anti-anything that God says for and perverts what he created man to be and the potential that is in man. So we get this picture as Ezekiel is continuing to see this vision. And you can imagine if it was you, and if God led you into a vision like that, how you would feel, and you would want to get up and write about it as well, but it would stimulate you the rest of your life. Just like when God calls us and our minds are open to the Bible, it should stimulate us, and we remember that, and it drives us forward. So the chapter closes here, and it says, so was the appearance of brightness all around what Ezekiel was saying as he looked above that firmament and saw the throne, the rainbow, the colors that were there, so was the appearance of brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Eternal, a beautiful, inspiring thing, and it so moved Ezekiel when he saw the power, when he saw the unity, as it was pointed out earlier, of how everything in heaven worked so perfectly united together, all in God's purpose, that this was it. So when I saw it, he says, I fell on my face. I fell on my face. He was in awe, and he had the fear of God, and I heard a voice of one speaking. I see a couple of hands up here. Kim, Kimberly J. Fid.

Hello, sir. I just wanted to come at the other day. I listened online.

Scientists had decided that they would record various birds and butterflies taking off in mass to record that sound of rushing water. You can find it online if you want to get an audio version of that, but I thought that was interesting that they found it to be exactly true. It sounds exactly like waterfalls. That is interesting. Yeah, that sounds very interesting to hear that sound. Yeah, thank you. That sounds good. Hey, Bill? Yes, sir. My wife and I, I don't know if we misunderstood Ezekiel 1. I always thought, and I thought my wife did too, that the heavens opened, but that God came down, and that was a method of conveyance.

It was a vision. When you're talking about, he came down to Ezekiel?

He came to Ezekiel, yeah. No, no, it clearly says here, the heavens were opened, and I saw the vision of God. God unveiled those things to him. Ezekiel was there, kind of like the Transfiguration, right? That was a vision when Christ took Peter, James, and John, and they were in a vision in heaven, and they saw what was going on up there. They too fell down on their faces when they saw the majesty of what was going on up there and the unity that they could feel of everyone. Well, to me, it kind of sounds like the vision they saw, you know, came out of the West or whichever way and came down to where they were. But, I mean, that's, I don't know. Well, I mean, that was a means of conveyance. Okay. Well, we dream. We can dream we're somewhere else, right? But we're still here. So, yeah, see, I mean, it wasn't like I took him up to heaven. I know that. Yeah, okay. Mr. Shaby? Yes, yes, go ahead.

In chapter 10, verse 20, it tells us the four living creatures are cherubim, and the four faces represent the four divisions of Israel. You, myself.

The lion for Judah, the man for Reuben, the unicorn for Joseph, and the eagle for Dan.

And that gives you the four camps of around the tabernacle, and the four marching orders, Judah going first from the east. Very good. You are exactly right. You are exactly right. That is exactly what those things. That's a very good analogy of what God is showing. You're right. And God works in those orders, right? So, yes, what you said is exactly right. Also, there's a, in Solomon's temple, there was four cherubim, two on the mercy seat, and two large ones that covered the whole of the throne. And they were made with olive trees and covered with gold. But there's four cherubim over God's throne.

Okay, very good. Four living creatures. Yep, very good. Okay, excellent. Are you Alex Preston?

Yes, I'm sorry. Okay, very good. We'll see you in a little room with two. Very good. Yes.

See you, firstly. Yeah, hi Alex. Hi. Hi. Yeah, Fred.

Uh, yeah, Mr. Shabio. My screen went all crazy here, I don't know. But there are people who pull Ezekiel one out to prove, if I can be carnal here for a few minutes, that there are flying saucers. Yeah, yeah. They pull it out of, they pull those scriptures out to help prove that there are flying saucers. And I don't know if my, if my memory is exact, but they have seen things in the skies that don't turn. They just, they just go forward, and then they go forward, and then they don't turn. And I heard this sermon recently, I can't remember who it was by, but he, he talked about that, that he suggested that they could be demons, right? So. Satan, Satan, we'll try to counterfeit any way you can, right, to make people, yeah. Right. Yeah. That's the thing, I hadn't heard that. Although, I guess I have heard about how people see things, and they just move forward, and they just sort of disappear. So yeah, that would, that would, that would, that's interesting that that's happening.

Okay. Yeah, hey Xavier. Have you ever heard that, because when you look at the Hebrew word for the word eagle, some people may translate it as a Griffin vulture. And then when you look at the the flight height of both creatures, one is like 3,000 meters, and the Griffin vulture is like 36,000 meters.

And it's way bigger than the other one, too. And so if you look at the Hebrew, you'll see, either way, it says eagle, and that's, and that's what, that's what we usually go with. So is, but that's interesting, though. I hadn't really, so this gulf in vulture, is that, is that actually alive today?

Yeah, the, the group, the groupells. Okay. Groupells, Griffin vultures, or yeah, Griffin vultures still exists. Okay, gonna have to look those up. I haven't heard, I haven't heard of those before, but that's very interesting. 36,000, you said? Yes. That's less than 10,000 meters. That's like seven miles. That's like impressive, very impressive. So that's like airplanes. Yeah, I mean, that's like airplanes go up to 35,000 feet. Yeah, wow. Okay. Interesting. Okay. How do you spell that? Was it Griffin or Griffin?

Griffin, yes, it's I, it's O-N, G-R-I-F-F-O-N vulture. Thank you. Okay. Herb, did you, or Laramie, you gotta, you gotta comment? I was just gonna say about the four faces. I listened to a sermon a while ago that described like the, like Matthew, the book of Matthew, those four faces also are characteristics of Christ. And like Matthew lines up with the lion, which is, you know, the tribe of Christ came, you know, the tribe of Judah. And then Mark, ox, and ox is a servant. Christ came as the servant of God and a servant of us, of mankind.

Then Luke represents the face of man, that Christ came as fully as a man. He emptied himself.

And then John represents the eagle, and the eagle as being like a king, you know, like having that the height of view over everything. So I think everyone's like input of what those four faces has been really interesting in adding to what I've heard in other sermons. But, and also I was gonna say, Mr. Shavey, I did send you the link, emailed you the link to Glenn Beck's message. I thought it was so fascinating. You're like, hey, I just turned this, you know, I listened to what you said. Well, he came out a couple days later with his own own comments about it. And like, that's just really, really interesting. So anyways, that's all I had. I think people will be watching what goes on in Jerusalem in a month and see what happens there. But that's very interesting. I mean, Mr. Preston talked about the four, the four in the Bible, the four cherubim, and here the four Gospels and the faces. Yeah, it's very interesting how God works in these numbers and these patterns. And you can, you can see that's very, very interesting. Another proof of the Bible, how it all fits together so perfectly.

Now, I saw Herb Switzer's name. Herb, did you have something you wanted to say?

Mr. Shavey? Yes. I don't have my yellow hand up.

Okay, we can hear you, though. Just my observation of that passage, I go through, it's, it strikes me that it is a expose of a spiritual surveillance system that watches every direction and every way.

Here's everything and can read lips in secret places. And so he offers this vision to the prophet to make sure that the prophet is confident in the fact that this is coming from God, because God surveils this whole earth. And I think that surveillance system, spiritual thing, whatever you call it, that we're reading about here, is very descriptive of something that catches everything. Satan, he comes down and walks on the earth and he just walks. But God knows everything. And so he offers this to his prophets.

And I think it happens even in our day. I did a little study on a thought on a prophet that prophesied. He grew up here in southern Alberta, in Raymond, Alberta, and then moved to the United States. And after doing a stint with the CIA, he got a job working for the John Burke Society and prophesied throughout the entire country that Russia or USSR was going to take the United States down by several different means. And he had about 11 or 12 things. So I did a study on him. But the fact is, is that his prophecy is faulty. So I went to scripture and we find that scripture is not faulty. All of the prophets here saw everything. And we see that Jacob, Ephraim, Manasseh, and Judah are the ones that take down their own country, just like Russia fell under its own weight. So will the United States and Great Britain fall under their own errors? So that man turns out to be a false prophet. Right. And so this is what I think it is, a great surround system operates today. And I think it's still working. That's an interesting observation, but you're right. It talks about the eyes that go to and fro on the earth, right? Even the Zachariah, that God knows what's going on. But that's interesting. And you're right, false prophets, right? Their prophecies aren't there, they're a false prophet. It's only the prophecies of God that are sure. So very good. Sherry? Hey, Sherry. This may sound sort of trivial, but the man mentioned unicorn. And we're three of us sitting here trying to find it in the Bible. We found the word unicorn, but it meant ox. So we just want to know for sure what this means. It's a King James version as unicorn. The King James version has unicorn, the new King James has ox.

The King James version. Yes, King James. Was it a unicorn as we think of a unicorn?

Yeah, King James has a unicorn of Joseph or Ephraim. Okay, but was it a unicorn as we think of a unicorn with the horn, one horn, a little animal? On the British coat of arms you'll see it.

Yes, I've seen that. But it was a real animal?

They say that it extinct? No.

Oh, okay. Okay. It just kind of threw us off there. We started looking it up through different versions of the Bible, so we weren't sure. All right, thank you. Okay, thanks. I didn't know the unicorn was a real animal either, so somewhere along it was extinct. Okay. Okay.

Anything else you want to talk about? We got someone joining us a little late. They must not have known we're on daylight savings time, so hey, Randy and Elaine.

Let's stay on the time change. Hey, Randy, did you have your hand up? Randy or Elaine?

You're muted if you're talking, Randy. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, can you hear me now? I can hear you, yes. Yeah, I wanted to bring up that part when you were talking about that shelf looking like a crystal. That's actually a representation of the sea of glass, because when you go into Revelation 4, it said, after these things, I looked and behold the door open in heaven, and the first voice that I heard was a trumpet were speaking and saying, come up here, and I'll show you things that must take place after these things.

And immediately, I was in the sphere, and behold the throne was set in heaven, and one was sitting on the throne, and he who was sitting was in appearance like a jasper stone and a starter stone, and a rainbow was around the throne like an emerald in its appearance. And around the throne were 24 thrones, and on the thrones I saw 24 elders clothed in white garments, and they had their heads golden crowns.

It says, and proceeding from the throne were lightnings and thunders and voices, and seven lamps of fire that were seven spirits burning before the throne. And before the throne was the sea of glass like crystal. All around the throne and over the throne were four living creatures full of eyes before and behind. And then in Revelation 15, then I saw another sign in heaven great and awesome, seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is filled up. And I saw the sea of glass mingled with fire and those who had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name standing on the sea of glass having the liars of God.

They were singing the song of Moses, the servant of God. So basically, that was a vision of what God's throne room looks like up in heaven. And even what Xavier brought out at Mount Sinai, when that firmament came down, it was like crystal, like the sea of glass. And then he called those 70 elders up there, and they had like a marriage supper. It was a forerunner of what God's future events were going to be for us.

So I thought that was interesting, that crystal. And then when you look into it further, it's basically talking about to see a glass God's throne up there, even with all the eyes of the creatures around the throne. Yep, yep. That Ezekiel is describing just what he saw, right?

He described it a little different, but the crystal is clear like glass. Yeah, it's very interesting when you compare Isaiah and John in Revelation and Ezekiel. And then you want to take some time. We probably could have spent several studies because several things have been brought out here in Ezekiel 1. I don't know. I'm thinking about having a Bible study next week. We're going to be away, so I'm going to doubt it.

But watch your email. If I feel that the time isn't so bad, we may have it. I'll just do it from overseas. It'll be late my time, but still seven o'clock your time. But watch your email. If you don't get an email from me, there's just too much going on that Wednesday night. But maybe what you want to do next week is go back and actually look at John in Revelation 4 and what Randy just brought up and what Xavier brought up and look at those things and compare because they are very similar.

The wording is a little different, but you can see where God led these people with the visions. Hey, Ken Murray, how are you doing? Yeah, fine. Thanks, Mr. Shavey. I'm calling from Australia. Yes, from Australia. Very good. So what time is it in Australia? It's about 9.30 a.m. on 1st morning. Okay, very good. Okay. I'd just like to briefly say something about the Sea of Glass. Okay. There is a preacher from another church of God who makes quite a deal about this, but he's in error. And it's quite right what Randy said that in Revelation 4, before the throne of God is a sea of glass.

And people, including this preacher, tend to think it's a platform or a sea of glass. But in actual fact, it is actually a sea or like a huge laver. And we know in Hebrews 8 verse 5 that the physical is a type of the heavenly. And the temple that Solomon built had a huge laver. You probably know there was this great bronze laver.

It was born by 12 oxen and had spigots from it. And the water in that laver was used by the priests to wash themselves. So this sea that's described in Revelation 4 is the heavenly type of that bronze great laver. And when you look at Revelation 15, the one thing that this preacher of this other church of God doesn't quote is that the sea is mingled with fire, whereas the sea of glass in Revelation 4 is not mingled with fire.

The reason why it's mingled with fire, this huge sea, and because the saints are standing beside this sea before the throne of God, we are not standing on a sea mingled with fire. That is ridiculous. God would not have his resurrected saints standing on a sea of glass mingled with fire. That is this huge laver, mingled with fire. And the reason why it's mingled with fire is because Revelation 16 points out that God is about to pour out his seven last flags. You know, the boils and the sea turning to blood, the freshwater turning to blood, and the scorching heat and the darkness, and the river Euphrates drying up, and the huge armies from the east traveling across the Euphrates.

So, and God's about to pour out his vengeance. So, the sea is symbolic of that with fire. Symbolic of God about to pour out his vengeance. And also, the preposition that is standing on the sea of glass is P-E-P. Sometimes it's spelled E-P-I or E-P double E. And it can mean on, but it also can mean at or beside. So, we are standing beside this sea of glass mingled with fire before the throne of God.

So, you have to take it in context. Very good. Reading that first. That's interesting. I hadn't heard that before about the mingled with fire, but the thing with labors and sea of glass. That's why I would talk about sea of glass and the typology of what we see the labors in the temple. Yeah, very good. Very interesting. Mr. Bob Fay. If you look at Mr. Bob Fay's Bible study on New C-G of Revelation 15, he explains that. It's worth knowing because there is this other preacher. He's fairly popular, by the way, on the internet, the search of God preacher. He goes on about the sea of glass, but it's not true what he says. Okay, okay. Mr. Shaby. Hi, Debbie. Hi, Debbie. Hi, Debbie. Hi. Hi. What about Exodus 24.9, when Moses and Aaron and Nadab and Abhiq and 70 of the elders, and they saw the God of Israel, which we know, of course, is the word, and there was under his feet, as it were, a paved work of sapphire stones, and it was like the various heavens in its clarity. And they actually had a meal there, the 70, I think it's the 70 elders.

So, I mean, that was a sapphire stone, but it was not sea of glass, and it's something wasn't stated. Well, it could be equated to it, because, you know, they have different wording for different, for the same thing. So, I mean, there's so many similarities there, and taking revelation as well. So, I'm just throwing it out there, just a thought. Yeah, I mean, it's just the other preacher I mentioned mentions that one in Exodus, and he tries to make it to be the same, but it's not, speaking of like an emerald sapphire. Yep, and in Ezekiel, we read about the throne appearing like a sapphire stone. So then that wasn't the sea of glass. Yep. Hey Sheldon, how are you today?

Hi, Mr. Shaby, doing well, thanks. Hey, I missed a part of the study, so I apologize if you talked about this already, but I love these passages that describe the spirit realm, because we read in the New Testament that everything that's visible was created by that which is invisible, and that we also that we should be focusing on that which we do not see, because that's what's permanent, whereas what we see is temporary. And so it really brings out that concept that we live in, there's a spirit realm all around us that we do not see, but that's where our spiritual focus should really be. And I just wanted to mention, you know, that concept, I think it was he mentioned the Hebrews 8 verse 5. I think that's what it is, but I was going to mention as well that this physical realm is a type of the spiritual realm. Everything is kind of patterned after that, and when we look at these animals, or these, I'm sorry, angels that we see that say have the face of a lion, obviously we know the angels existed long before the physical realm, because they sang for joy when the earth was created. So I think it's kind of cool to, in our minds, try to think of it as there's not an angel with the face of a lion, but there's an animal with the face of an angel. The animals that we see have the face of an angel, because those angels existed maybe for millions of years before, and now the animals are a type of that. And it makes you kind of wonder what, you know, with us being in the image of God, the only thing that was made in the image of God was us, but the animals were made after their kind, each after their own kind. So it kind of makes you think about this pattern, this type that we see in the physical world, and maybe also our relationship with animals, and maybe angels, and what is that whole relationship like? So I just thought I'd throw that out there. I like to sometimes, in the sermon mention, that we have animals that have the face of an angel as opposed to the other way around. Just thought I'd throw those thoughts out there. I think that's very good. And you know, as you even look at animals, you can kind of see characteristics in them that it would be good for us to emulate, right? So we learned that patterns of animals not build something in there, and I think the more we understand our physical creation, the more we understand of God. And I think you're exactly right in pointing that out, and we all need to to spend the time appreciating what God has given us, and where we live, and the wonders that he has created that we take for granted every day. So very good point.

Okay, anything else anyone? I have a quick thing. Very quick. For what Sherry was asking, I haven't read it yet, but it caught my ear as well. I was glad she asked about the word unicorn. There is an article on ucg.org called The Lion and the Uniform. And it talks about, I haven't read, I've just kind of been skimming it as we're talking, but it talks about it being a symbol of Britain and the origins. So it's really interesting. Okay. Whatever. Thank you. We'll have to dig that out and put it on our home page. So okay, okay, very good. Okay, hey, wonderful Bible study tonight. Thank you for all your comments. They have all been very enlightening and very appreciated. So I, you know, everyone, I guess, Rebuild, did you have one more thing you want to say? Yes. As far as the face of an eagle, right? Right. Doesn't it say face as an eagle? No, I'm pretty sure it says face up. Pretty sure it says face up.

Bernie Kohl's, it's the reverse 10. Each of the four had the face of an ox on the left side.

Okay, okay, all right. Okay, very good. Okay, well, watch if you don't get an email from me Tuesday or Wednesday. No Bible study. If I am up to doing one much later where we are next Wednesday and I have time, we'll do one, but just watch it. So anyway, everyone have a good Sabbath and we'll see if we don't see you next Wednesday. We'll see you two weeks from today, okay? Okay. Thank you. Have a safe trip. Good night, everybody. Good night, Mr. Stavey. Okay, bye-bye.