Ezekiel 1:4-28 - Vision of Heaven

⁴ As I looked, behold, a storm wind was coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing forth continually and a bright light around it, and in its midst something like glowing metal in the midst of the fire. ⁵ Within it there were figures resembling four living beings. And this was their appearance: they had human form. ⁶ Each of them had four faces and four wings…. ¹⁰ As for the form of their faces, each had the face of a man; all four had the face of a lion on the right and the face of a bull on the left, and all four had the face of an eagle. ¹¹ Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out above; each had two touching another being, and two covering their bodies. ¹⁵ Now as I looked at the living beings, behold, there was one wheel on the earth beside the living beings, for each of the four of them. ¹⁶ The appearance of the wheels and their workmanship was like sparkling beryl…. ²⁴ I also heard the sound of their wings like the sound of abundant waters as they went, like the voice of the Almighty, a sound of tumult like the sound of an army camp; whenever they stood still, they dropped their wings…..
Ezekiel 1:4-28

Ezekiel’s vision of these heavenly beings can be compared to the similar visions of Isaiah and the Apostle John in Revelation. One of the questions when approaching the Bible should always be, what can we learn from this passage? It might be hard to sit down and read because the whole description sounds so incredibly out of this world. Indeed it is a picture of living beings which are apparently angels or some other form of creature in the Spiritual world. One thing we should remember is there is a very real spiritual realm.

Each of the creatures had four faces which I find fascinating. The face of an eagle, an ox, a man, and a lion are seen on each creature. Now we know that the Messiah is also known as the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He is also seen as a suffering servant which would be seen as the ox. We learn from the new Testament as well that Jesus Christ is also fully God and fully man. We can take the eagle to be the symbol for God as it is the only bird who can fly directly into the sunlight. These idioms being in place create a fourfold picture of Jesus Christ as presented by the creatures and also the four gospel books.

Ezekiel is being prepared for a call which will change his life. He has already been separated from his home by a forced exile of his nation. Now he waits along with the rest of the Jewish nation wondering if there is any hope left, any reason to praise God or if they should just give up and turn to the Babylonian idols. The message is going to be clear that God desires for His people to come to Him. Ezekiel is told no matter what to stick with the call and tell the people about the God who is King over all.