Ezekiel 10:8 - Meaning and Application

This is a further account of the vision of God’s glory that Ezekiel saw. It is meant to prepare us for the sad sign that God’s glory was leaving, which would open the way for ruin to come in.

Ezekiel sees God’s glory shining in the sanctuary, as he had seen it by the Kebar River. He describes it so that those who had driven God away by their sin might know what they had lost. They should mourn after the Lord and cry out like Ichabod, meaning, “Where is the glory?”

He also sees God’s rule over this lower world shown by the four wheels, and the perfection of the holy angels, the beings of the upper world, shown by the four living creatures, each with four faces. The close link between the living creatures and the wheels shows that angels are active in directing events in this world. The wheels moved under their guidance, as a chariot moves under the hand of its driver.

Yet the same Spirit was in both the living creatures and the wheels. This shows the endless wisdom of God, who uses angels and all the events of this world to carry out his purposes. So this vision gives faith a view of the throne the Lord has set in heaven, and of the kingdom that rules over all (Psalm 103:19).

The prophet says this was the same vision he had seen by the Kebar River (Ezekiel 10:15, Ezekiel 10:22). Still, there seems to be one important difference. In the earlier vision, one of the faces was the face of an ox, and it was on the left side (Ezekiel 1:10). Here it is called the face of a cherub, and it is the first face (Ezekiel 10:14). Some have thought this means the special face of a cherub was that of an ox, which may connect with the golden calf. I think it more likely that in this later vision, the first face was the proper form of a cherub.

Ezekiel, being a priest, had likely seen the temple carvings of cherubim and knew their form well (1 Kings 6:29). We do not know their exact form now. By this later vision, Ezekiel knew for certain, where before he had only guessed, that these were all cherubim, though they had different faces (Ezekiel 10:20). Since the vision now showed the true face of a cherub, and yet still kept the number four, the face of the ox was left out. That makes sense, because the face of the cherub had been badly abused by being linked with ox worship.

As God once rode on a cherub to deliver his people, so now he rides on a cherub to leave them in judgment. This teaches several things. First, this world is always changing. Its course is shown by wheels (Ezekiel 10:9). One spoke is on top for a time, then another. Things rise and fall like the sea and wax and wane like the moon (1 Samuel 2:4).

The image of a wheel within a wheel (Ezekiel 10:10) shows how God’s providence, his wise rule over events, connects one thing to another. These events depend on each other and all move toward one common end. To us, their movement often seems tangled and hard to follow, even contrary.

Second, there is a wonderful harmony in all the events of providence (Ezekiel 10:13). Though the wheels moved in different ways, they were all called one wheel. They were guided by one Spirit toward one end. God works everything according to the counsel of his own will, which is one, for his own glory, which is one. That is what makes providence so amazing.

As the parts of creation were good by themselves, but very good together, so the wheels of providence are wonderful by themselves, and even more wonderful together. “O wheel!” is the cry of astonishment.

Third, God’s movements in providence are steady and ordered. Whatever the Lord wants, he does. He is never forced to think up new plans. The wheels did not turn as they went (Ezekiel 10:11), and the living creatures went straight ahead (Ezekiel 10:22). Whatever stood in their way, they passed over it. They never had to stop, turn aside, or go back. God knows all his works so fully that he never needs to revise his counsel.

Fourth, God uses the ministry of angels in the rule of this lower world more than we realize. The four wheels were beside the cherubim, one wheel beside one cherub and another beside another cherub (Ezekiel 10:9). Some have imagined that each sphere above has an intelligence to guide it. Here something like that is suggested for the wheels below, each wheel having a cherub to guide it.

We may be glad if, under God, wise people are used to manage the affairs of kingdoms and churches. Whether that is always so or not, this vision shows that wise angels are at work, one cherub for each wheel. Fifth, all the motions of providence and all the work of angels are under the rule of the great God. They are all full of eyes, those eyes of the Lord that run to and fro through the earth, and the angels always look to them (Ezekiel 10:12).

The living creatures and the wheels moved and stopped together (Ezekiel 10:17), because the Spirit of life, or the spirit of the living creatures, was in the wheels. The Spirit of God directs both heavenly beings and earthly events so that they serve his purpose. Events are not controlled by blind luck, but by the wheels of providence, which are full of eyes.

Ezekiel then sees the glory of God moving out of the sanctuary, the place where God’s honor had long rested. That sight was as sad as the other was joyful. It was pleasant to know that God had not left the earth, as the idolaters claimed (Ezekiel 9:9). But it was painful to see him leaving his sanctuary.

The glory of the Lord stood over the threshold after giving the needed orders for the city’s destruction. Then it stood over the cherubim, not the cherubim in the most holy place, but those Ezekiel saw in the vision (Ezekiel 10:18). It rose into that majestic chariot, like a judge leaving the courtroom and getting into his coach.

At once the cherubim spread their wings (Ezekiel 10:19), as they were told, and rose from the earth like birds in flight. When they went out, the wheels of the chariot did not need to be pulled. They moved beside them of themselves, which showed that the Spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. So when God leaves a people in anger, the angels above and every event below will work together to speed his departure.

But notice this: in the temple courts, where Israel had dishonored God, thrown off his yoke, and pulled away from his rule, holy angels are shown ready to serve him. They draw his chariot and rise with it. God had already shown the prophet how people on earth disobeyed his will in chapter 8. Now he shows how willingly angels and lesser creatures obey it. That is a comfort when we grieve over the wickedness around us. God’s angels do what he commands, listening to his word (Psalm 103:20).

Now let us look at this chariot in which the glory of the God of Israel moves in triumph. The God of Israel is also the God of heaven and earth, with authority over all the powers of both. Faithful Israelites should take comfort in this. The one who is their God is above the cherubim, and their Redeemer is there too (1 Peter 3:22). He has the sole and sovereign control of all events. The living creatures and the wheels all work to serve him, so he is head over all things to the church. The rabbis called this vision of Ezekiel the *Mercabah*, meaning the vision of the chariot. From that, they called the deeper study of God and spirits the “work of the chariot,” while they called the clearer and more familiar part of teaching the “work of creation.”

Now pay attention to the movement of this chariot. The cherubim, with the glory of God above them, stood at the door of the east gate of the Lord’s house (Ezekiel 10:19). Notice how God leaves by stages, with pauses, as one reluctant to go, as if he were waiting to see whether anyone would plead for his return. None of the priests in the inner court, between the temple and the altar, asked him to stay. So he leaves their court and stands at the east gate, which led into the people’s court, to see whether anyone there would finally stand in the gap.

The lesson is clear. God withdraws little by little from a people who keep provoking him. And when he is ready to depart in anger, he would return in mercy if only they became a people who repented and prayed.