Part 10 - The Throne of God and The Four Living Creatures

"Preach the gospel at all times...
when necessary use words."
- St. Francis of Assisi


Part 10 - The Throne of God and The Four Living Creatures

Summary:


God’s Great Attributes

This apocalyptic vision presents
God’s greatness and majesty.
Three fundamental truths are taught
about the nature and the attributes of God:
1. He can bring judgment. He has the power—
omnipotence—to do this,
as represented by the four living creatures.
2. He can bring about righteous judgment.
He has the knowledge—
omniscience—to do this,
as represented by the wheels and the eyes
(see Ecclesiastes. 12:13, 14).
(3) He will bring about universal judgment.
Because of His ability to be everywhere—omnipresence—


His power is not limited to Judea,
and no man can escape justice

11Then I saw a great white throne
and Him who sat upon it,
from whose presence earth and heaven fled away,
and no place was found for them.
12And I saw the dead, the great and the small,
standing before the throne, and books were opened;
and another book was opened, which is the book of life;
and the dead were judged
from the things which were written in the books,
according to their deeds.
13And the sea gave up the dead which were in it,
and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them;
and they were judged, every one of them
according to their deeds.
14Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire
This is the second death, the lake of fire.
Revelation. 20:11–14 NASB

The rainbow reminds us of God’s mercy.
God made the rainbow as a sign of His covenant with Noah.
Though we are sinful,
God has shown us mercy.
His new covenant offers hope for salvation
by grace, through Jesus’ blood

Ezekiel preached in a Difficult Time

We each as Christ’s ambassadors,
should observe the kind of prophet Ezekiel was:

1. Ezekiel was a unique prophet

for a unique and extreme time in history.
We each live in a unique time
for the ministry for the Gospel of Jesus Christ-
it is no mistake that we are born and live in the time we do,
God has a specific ministry for each of us
as we relate to the people around us.
Our effectiveness in this calling
depends upon our intimacy with God.
Our highest calling is to be in the presence of God
where we will find the visions
that He has for us to share with others.
We must be a people who are lead by His Presence…
by the Word of the Lord and
by the Spirit within “our wheels”.
Exodus 33:14-15; Deuteronomy 10:12; Hebrews 12:2; Luke 11:9-13; John 10:1-18; 2 Corinthians 5:18-21; Revelation 12:11

2. Ezekiel was called to change the world around him.

13"The LORD will make you the head and not the tail,
and you only will be above, and you will not be underneath,
if you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God,
which I charge you today, to observe them carefully,
Deuteronomy 28:13 NASB

Christian teacher, author and motivational speaker Lance Wallnau
Denotes that there are seven mountains
that the church is responsible to occupy;
just as the children of Israel were called to occupy
the territories of the heathen nations of the Promise Land.

This teaching originated,
in a simultaneous supernatural message,
given to Loren Cunningham and Bill Bright.
They both saw images of seven mountains or “mind molders”
that shape the culture of every nation.
God revealed to each of them,
that if these mountains were captured
by the people of God
that it would reap a huge harvest of nations.

These seven mountains include,
the family
the church,
the government,
education,
the arts and entertainment,
business and finance
and the media

Much of the church today is in the “Great Escape” mode
when they have been called by the Lord to be involved
with the enactment of the Great Commission.

18"Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth
shall have been bound in heaven;
and whatever you loose on earth
shall have been loosed in heaven.
19"Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth
about anything that they may ask,
it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.
20"For where two or three have gathered together in My name,
I am there in their midst."
Matthew 18:18-20 NASB

8but you will receive power
when the Holy Spirit has come upon you;
and you shall be My witnesses
both in Jerusalem,
and in all Judea and Samaria,
and even to the remotest part of the earth."
Acts 1:8 NASB

We must live beyond ourselves
for the purposes of God’s will

24Then Jesus said to His disciples,
"If anyone wishes to come after Me,
he must deny himself,
and take up his cross and follow Me.
Matthew 16:24 NASB

We are called to co-labor with the Lord

17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—
heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ,
if indeed we share in his sufferings
in order that we may also share in his glory.
Romans 8:17 NASB

Therefore, my beloved brethren,
be steadfast, immovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord,
knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
1 Corinthians 15:38 NASB

3. Ezekiel had a divine ministry.

He had a word from God.
Through him, God was going to reveal
His message to the people in captivity.

In the same manner God continues to speak
of His love and grace to us today.
His message continues to be,

“I will be their God,
they will be My people
and I will dwell among them,”

He is still speaking
to a lost and rebellious people
who need to come to the place
of repentance and restoration
in the Lord Jesus Christ.

All of God’s people are called to minister.
We are called to first minister to the Lord.
Mark 3:14
Then from the overflow of His Presence
we are called to minister
to those in Jerusalem- (our intimate sphere of influence),
Those in Judea- (those in our culture)
and those in Samaria-
(those in captivity and/or who are opposed to the Gospel )
and the uttermost parts of the world.
Acts 1:8

We are called to greater works

12"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me,
the works that I do, he will do also;
and greater works than these he will do;
because I go to the Father.
John 14:12 NASB

to bring glory to the Father
and release to those
lost in the darkness,
in spiritual captivity,
and in sickness.

The Greek word “sozo” ,
found in the New Testament more than one hundred times,
means to be saved out from under the enemies power
and restored into wholeness of God’s order
and well-being through the power of the Holy Spirit.
It means to be saved.
It means to be healed.
It means to be delivered from evil.
Sozo means all three of these things at the same time.
It is an action word, a verb!
Sozo is also used to describe
the raising of the dead in Luke 8:50,
and cleansing the lepers in Luke 17:19.
The three primary uses of sozo, however,
are salvation deliverance and healing.

Concept of Salvation = Greek Sozo: (4982 Strongs)
Greek: “sotair” – Savior (the Messiah)
– comes from Sozo (sodzo)
Meaning to:
Deliver (redeem), Protect, Heal, Preserve, Do well, Make whole
Sozo : “salvation” –
1- Redemption from our sins
2- Deliverance from the enemies attacks
3- Walking in divine health and healing

Sozo means salvation.

And there is salvation (sozo) in and through no one else,
for there is no other name under heaven given among men
by and in which we must be saved.
Acts 4:12 Amplified Bible

Because if you acknowledge and confess with your lips
that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe
(adhere to, trust in, and rely on the truth)
that God raised Him from the dead,
you will be saved.(sozo)
Romans 10:9 Amplified Bible

For it is by free grace (God's unmerited favor)
that you are saved (sozo)
(delivered from judgment
and made partakers of Christ's salvation)
through [your] faith.
And this [salvation] is not of yourselves
[of your own doing, it came not through your own striving],
but it is the gift of God;
Ephesians 2:8 Amplified Bible

Sozo means Healing:

Jesus turned around and, seeing her, He said,
Take courage, daughter! Your faith has made you well.(sozo)
And at once the woman was restored to health.
Matthew 9:22 Amplified Bible

And wherever He came into villages or cities or the country,
they would lay the sick in the marketplaces
and beg Him that they might touch
even the fringe of His outer garment,
and as many as touched Him were restored to health.(sozo)
Mark 6:56 Amplified Bible

And Jesus said to him,
Go your way; your faith has healed (sozo) you.
And at once he received his sight
and accompanied Jesus on the road.
Mark 10:52 Amplified Bible

Sozo means Deliverance:

And those [also] who had seen it told them how
he who had been possessed with demons
was restored (sozo)[to health].
Luke 8:36 Amplified Bible

[And indeed] the Lord will certainly deliver (sozo)
and draw me to Himself from every assault of evil.
He will preserve and bring me safe unto His heavenly kingdom.
To Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen (so be it).
2 Timothy 4:18 Amplified Bible

Now I want to remind you,
though you were fully informed once for all,
that though the Lord [at one time] delivered (sozo) a people
out of the land of Egypt,
He subsequently destroyed those [of them]
who did not believe
[who refused to adhere to, trust in, and rely upon Him].
Jude 1:5 Amplified Bible

God wants us to
walk in His glorious freedom as His children in fellowship
so that we can be implements of
His kingdom being established and maintained
upon the earth, in this age.

21that the creation itself
also will be set free from its slavery to corruption
into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Romans 8:21

1Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass,
you who are spiritual, restore such a one
in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself,
so that you too will not be tempted.
Galatians 6:1

4. Ezekiel had a relevant ministry.

Ezekiel was placed among the people.
You and I have a relevant ministry
placed among a particular people
many of whom are being daily
carried off into “Babylonian captivity.”
He would not be sending them a letter,
but he would give out God’s message
from the midst of them, as one of them
He was taken into captivity with the people
not because of his sinful state,
but to be the mouthpiece of God.
Ezekiel lived in the settled confidence
that his God was able and desiring
to bring restoration
no matter how dire the circumstances seemed.
He knew that with God all things were possible.

Great is our Lord and abundant in strength;
His understanding is infinite.
Psalm 147:5 NASB

22And Jesus answered saying to them,
"Have faith in God.”
Mark 11:22

28"It will come about after this
That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind;
And your sons and daughters will prophesy,
Your old men will dream dreams,
Your young men will see visions.
29"Even on the male and female servants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
30"I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth,
Joel 2:28-30a

4Gathering them together, He commanded them
not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait
for what the Father had promised,
"Which," He said, "you heard of from Me;
5for John baptized with water,
but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit
not many days from now."
6So when they had come together,
they were asking Him, saying,
"Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?"
7He said to them, "It is not for you to know times
or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;
8but you will receive power
when the Holy Spirit has come upon you;
and you shall be My witnesses
both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea
and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."
Acts 1:4-8 NASB

5. Ezekiel (like Christ) had a compassionate ministry.

Ezekiel stood with God’s message at a stressful time.
From the viewpoint of Judah,
These were the worst of times.

They had been driven from their land (their inheritance)
and had received the sentence (judgment of God)
of living in a foreign land
(as the consequence of their sin and rebellion)..
but God’s mercy was still extended to them.
Even in God’s judgment His mercy and compassion are demonstrated.

Likewise we live among
the sinful and rebellious
to whom God extends His hand
of mercy and compassion.

If you ask most people to describe God
they will most likely tell you that God is Love.
It is true that God is Love, the Word proclaims it,
but if you look in the Scriptures carefully
you might be surprised
that God Himself describes Himself as merciful
far more often than loving.
“Mercy is the heart and the character of God.
Mercy is the passionate love of the Father’s heart
meeting the desperate need of man.”
Turn Toward Mercy p.40: Tom Gardner,
Bridge Logos, Orlando Florida
God’s mercy is greater than His judgment
as symbolized in the tabernacle
where the mercy seat of God
was above the ark of the covenant
where the Law of God was contained.

God does not delight in death,
but in the restoration of His people,

30 "Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you,
each one according to his ways, declares the Sovereign LORD.
Repent! Turn away from all your offenses;
then sin will not be your downfall.
31 Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed,
and get a new heart and a new spirit.
Why will you die, O house of Israel? 32
For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone,
declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!
Ezekiel 18:30-32

and covenant relationship

5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant,
then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.
Although the whole earth is mine,
Exodus 19:5 NASB

1"Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments
which I am teaching you to perform,
so that you may live and go in and take possession of the land
which the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.
2"You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you,
nor take away from it,
that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God
which I command you.
Deuteronomy 4:1-2 NASB

15Remember His covenant forever,
The word which He commanded to a thousand generations,
1 Chronicles 16:15 NASB

25In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying,
"This cup is the new covenant in My blood;
do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me."
1 Corinthians 11:25 NASB

24This is allegorically speaking,
for these women are two covenants:
one proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children
who are to be slaves; she is Hagar.
Galatians 4:24 NASB

15For this reason
He is the mediator of a new covenant,
so that, since a death has taken place
for the redemption of the transgressions
that were committed under the first covenant,
those who have been called
may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
Hebrews 9:15 NASB

from generation to generation

In the fourth chapter of Joshua
We see the children of Israel
as they enter into the Promised Land
across the Jordan River.
The river is miraculously dried up
to allow them to cross.
The Lord instructed them to take twelve stones
and make a monument in the bed of the river
and another pile on the bank as a monument
of where they camped the first night in the Promised Land.
They were then instructed to bring their children back to this spot to show them the stones.

21He said to the sons of Israel,
"When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying,
'What are these stones?'
22then you shall inform your children, saying,
'Israel crossed this Jordan on dry ground.'
23"For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan
before you until you had crossed,
just as the LORD your God had done to the Red Sea,
which He dried up before us until we had crossed;
24that all the peoples of the earth may know
that the hand of the LORD is mighty,
so that you may fear the LORD your God forever."
Joshua 4:21-24 NASB

In this manner their children
and their children’s children
and all generations to follow
would learn about the awesomeness of their God
and His faithfulness to deliver and provide
for all those who love and fear Him

2The things which you have heard from me
in the presence of many witnesses,
entrust these to faithful men
who will be able to teach others also.
2 Timothy 2:2

that leads to life and life abundant.

10"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;
I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
John 10:10 NASB

Ezekiel’s Vision of God (1:4–22)
What does this vision tell us about God?
Ezekiel saw God in a representative way,
as he had never seen Him before.
Although God is the same yesterday, today and forever,

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Hebrews 13:8

First, we are reminded
that God had not forgotten His people.

We often give up on ourselves before God does.

Second, God is glorious
and beyond our ability to picture.
He is still a creative God
whose thoughts and ways are infinite in expression
and often beyond our comprehension
with out His revelation.
Isaiah 55:8-9

These revelatory symbols may
leave our minds spinning
with wonder and amazement,
but they are no less true
in providing a window of understanding
(as limited as that may be)
into the glory of the heavenly realm
to which we are destined to experience
because of the finished work of Christ Jesus

Third, God is almighty and omnipresent.
The vision suggests God’s greatness
and His eternal nature.
We should fall on our knees with those great men and women of God who have gone before us in reverence and respect for
God’s mercy and compassion expressed toward us in Christ.
In the presence of the true and living God, Ezekiel’s heart
quaked with the solemn reverence that is due Him.

The wheels of Ezekiel 1
have received much attention
and spark the imagination to ponder
what they looked like
and what purposes they served.
Did they look like ancient chariot wheels?
Many contend today that they were UFO’s
although there is clearly
no Scriptural evidence of any such fancy.

One must approach prophetic studies responsibly.
While an eager literalist can easily
misinterpret the symbolism found in Ezekiel,
another reader believers included
may have an aversion
to the difficult to interpret passages found in the Scriptures.

These people may erroneously conclude
that the Books such as
Ezekiel, Daniel and Revelation
are not worth the effort to read.

What we must recognize is
that apocalyptic literature,
although both sensational and difficult,
has its own unique beauty
and inward blessing just for the reading.

6And he said to me,
"These words are faithful and true";
and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel
to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place.
7"And behold, I am coming quickly
Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book."
Revelation 22:6-7

Try to imagine the exiled Jews’ situation.
They were displaced and suffering
the pains of a foreign military’s occupation
and the destruction of their way of life,
but they also were learning
how to live in a new culture
and speak a new language.
The gods of Babylonia
seemed to be the victors of this terrible battle;
and the Jews’ own conception of Yahweh,
who allowed these things to happen.
Their very foundational beliefs were being challenged.
As a people defeated, displaced, and distressed,
they needed theological answers for their plight.

Are we not today engaged in a similar battle
against the forces of darkness
that attempt to silence the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Have not many been carried off
by the gods of our own Babylonian captivity…
the god of self …
the god of materialism…
the god of position and fame…
the god of knowledge…
the god of performance-based Christianity
the god of lust…
the god of abortion…
please feel free to complete the list.

How appropriate were the wheels of God’s transport!
At a time when they needed Him the most,
the message Ezekiel delivered from his vision
reassured them of God’s universal presence.
Indeed, even though the nation of Israel
had rebelled against their Lord,
He continued to move among them—
no matter where they were—
and to provide another opportunity for their deliverance.

This message is as relevant today
as it was in the days of Ezekiel’s ministry.
God’s heart was, and continues in this age,
one of compassion and longsuffering.
He is patiently waiting for
the repentance, return and restoration
of His people to the Promised Land
( the fullness of our inheritance in Christ Jesus.)

In verses 24 and 25 we see two references to a voice.
One sound was “like the voice of the Almighty,”
and another was the “voice” from the throne of the Lord.

This theophany
(Theophany, from the Greek, theophaneia
(meaning "appearance/showing of God"),
refers to the appearance of a deity to a human,
or to a divine disclosure.)
must have been
an amazing and fearful experience

In several places in Scripture,
God’s powerful voice is compared
to earthshaking thunder.

In Exodus 20, when God announced the Ten Commandments,
we read that “the people perceived the thunder and the
lightning flashes and . . . when they saw it, they trembled and
stood at a distance” (v. 18).
When God interrogated Job from the whirlwind, He asked,
“Do you have an arm like God, and can you thunder with a
voice like His?” (Job 40:9).

Psalm 29 is perhaps one of the most elaborate depictions
of God’s voice as thunder in the Bible.
In this psalm God is represented as a thunderstorm
moving across Palestine,
and “the voice of the LORD” serves as a metaphor for thunder.
As we read “the voice of the LORD is powerful”
and “the voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness,”
we are to imagine His presence and
might as awesome as this severe weather
wreaking havoc in the wilderness.
The Almighty knows how to capture our attention.
When His Word is brought before us,
the question we must ask ourselves
is whether or not we are ready and willing to obey.

We have a God who is the Good Shepherd
And He desires that we know him in an intimate way,
that we lean upon His chest like John,
soaking in His presence and listening to His voice.

3"To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice,
and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
4"When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them,
and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.
5"A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him,
because they do not know the voice of strangers."
John 10:3-5
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