2. In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. 2 On the fifth of the month--it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin—

3. 3 the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, by the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians. There the hand of the Lord was upon him. 4 I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north--an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal,

4. 5 and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was that of a man, 6 but each of them had four faces and four wings. 7 Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze.

5. 8 Under their wings on their four sides they had the hands of a man. All four of them had faces and wings, 9 and their wings touched one another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved.

6. 10 Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a man, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle. 11 Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out upward; each had two wings, one touching the wing of another creature on either side, and two wings covering its body.

7. 12 Each one went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they went. 13 The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forth among the creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it. 14 The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning.

8. 15 As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces. 16 This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like chrysolite, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel.

9. 17 As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creatures faced; the wheels did not turn about as the creatures went. 18 Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around. 19 When the living creatures moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the living creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose.

10. 20 Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. 21 When the creatures moved, they also moved; when the creatures stood still, they also stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

11. 22 Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked something like a vault, sparkling like crystal, and awesome. 23 Under the vault their wings were stretched out one toward the other, and each had two wings covering its body. 24 When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty, like the tumult of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings

12. 25 Then there came a voice from above the vault over their heads as they stood with lowered wings. 26 Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. 27 I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him.

13. 28 Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking Ezekiel 1

14. SYMBOLS Windstorms Lighting surrounded by light Fire of glowing metal The fire contains 4 living creatures Human forms with 4 faces

15. SYMBOLS Straight legs Bronzed Calves feet Straight forward wings that don’t waver with movement Four Faces: Human, Ox, Lion, and Eagle

16. SYMBOLS Fire of burning coals Speeding back and forth the like lightning Wheels within wheels (revolving thing; eye) Their rims were high and awesome (The edge of the wheel; an eyebrow) Wheels and creature sync their movement

17. SYMBOLS Awesome crystal vaults Rushing water = Voice of the Almighty = the tumult of an army A throne of lapis lazuli Another man of fire and glowing metal with a halo of color prisms around him

18. HISTORY 1. This is the 2 nd of 3 exiles to Babylon— Johoiakim, Johoiachin, Zedekiah 2. Ezekiel is a priest. This is Ezekiel’s 30 th year. 3. Ezekiel’s dad is also a priest.

19. HISTORY 4.As an exile, what would have Ezekiel lost?....job, temple, wife, family, purpose, and he would have been castrated. 5.In this story, he is sitting with the other exiles…. His position is less pronounced. 6.In a priest’s world, God operates very predictably

20. HISTORY 7. Spirituality was oriented around geography.

21. The Lord said to Moses: “Give Aaron and his sons this command: ‘These are the regulations for the burnt offering: Leviticus 6:9 This phrase occurs 20 different times. Priests were the masters of regulations….the rules for how God always acts.

22. HISTORY 7. Spirituality was oriented around geography. 8. Nebuchadnezzar has decimated all of this.

23. At that time the officers of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon advanced on Jerusalem and laid siege to it, and Nebuchadnezzar himself came up to the city while his officers were besieging it. Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his attendants, his nobles and his officials all surrendered to him.

24. In the eighth year of the reign of the king of Babylon, he took Jehoiachin prisoner. As the Lord had declared, Nebuchadnezzar removed the treasures from the temple of the Lord and from the royal palace, and cut up the gold articles that Solomon king of Israel had made for the temple of the Lord 2 Kings 24:10-14

25. HISTORY 7. Spirituality was oriented around geography. Remember John 4 and the discussion about which mountain God lives on. 8. Nebuchadnezzar has decimated all of this. 9. The Kebar river was in the Babylonian Empire which was under the religious rule of Ishtar at that time.

26. OBSERVATIONS 1.Sometimes God bypasses our mind and self-imposed limits on God. 2.God doesn’t explain how this is possible theologically (it would have been outside the boundaries of the Torah). He just shows up in power. 3.In the face of great suffering, our mind has to be bypassed and our heart ministered to.

27. OBSERVATIONS 4. Ezekiel’s vision sounds crazy until you consider how God has ministered to you in great pain. How many of us have said…I have no words, but God gave me a picture of ________ and I had peace? 5. In Ezekiel’s world, no temple = no presence. In this story, Ezekiel’s world just got bigger. God is just as present in Babylon as in Jerusalem.

28. OBSERVATIONS 6.Ezekiel gets completely surprised by hope outside of the normal formulas of Leviticus. 7.In this experience, God shows up in Ishtar’s house. 8.This motivates Ezekiel to take on the status quo of many things: where is God; generational curses, and the location of the Holy place.

29. OBSERVATIONS 9. Disasters are not meant to destroy you, but to reveal a part of God you haven’t yet known. 10. In this story, God is present in the most unexpected place. Where else do we see this pattern?

30. APPLICATION 1.Have we drawn lines around God that excludes where we are?....I’m just a delivery driver, a corporate executive, a grocery store clerk, etc….. 2.Where do we need to be surprised by hope and develop a deep understanding that God is present in my now?

31. APPLICATION 3. In Ezekiel’s experience, God can survive even the religion that supports Him getting burned to the ground. Where have we limited God to our words, theology, view of the Bible, denomination, and philosophy of ministry? 4. Do we really believe that God is God even when our language, theology, view of the Bible, or philosophy of ministry gets holes in it?

32. APPLICATION 5. On the other side of devastation, can we still embrace the one whose rims are high and awesome……He remains when it all burns to the ground? 6.Some things you can only learn in exile. What is your story of how your world got bigger when it appeared to get smaller?

33. APPLICATION 7. If God is in the business of surprising people with hope in suffering, shouldn’t we be? Where have we done that recently?