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Ezekiel’s Inaugural Vision 1  In my 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 the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, by the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians.[a] There the hand of the Lord was on 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, 5 and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was human, 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. 8 Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. All four of them had faces and wings, 9 and the wings of one touched the wings of another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved. 10 Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a human being, 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. They each had two wings spreading out upward, each wing touching that of the creature on either side; and each had two other wings covering its body. 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. 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 topaz, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel. 17 As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creatures faced; the wheels did not change direction 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. 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. 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,[b] like the tumult of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings. 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. 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. Footnotes Ezekiel 1:3 Or Chaldeans Ezekiel 1:24 Hebrew Shaddai New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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‘As birthday treats go, Ezekiel’s 30th birthday experience is unsurpassed.’2 Ezekiel may have been thinking he had reached the age when he should have been starting his service as a priest but, instead, he was in exile far from the temple in Jerusalem. He may even, along with some of the exiles, have wondered, ‘Has Israel’s God been defeated by the Babylonian gods?’ Rather than the heavens declaring the glory of God,3 they seemed to proclaim his defeat.

It was the traditional Old Testament view that no one could see God and live, but prophets often had some kind of visionary experience of God to authenticate their ministry. All Ezekiel could bring himself to write about his vision was ‘This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord’ (v. 28). He was about to learn God’s new mission for him.

Rather than wondering about the detail of the vision, or why Ezekiel’s ‘living creatures’ (v. 5) had only four wings while Isaiah’s ‘seraphim’ had six,4 we should concentrate on what the vision meant to Ezekiel. The description reads like an account by an eyewitness struggling to describe the indescribable—note phrases like ‘The appearance of’ (v. 13), ‘what looked something like’ (v. 22). The climax of his vision is the ‘figure like that of a man’ (v. 26) on a throne, whom he describes as ‘the likeness of the glory of the Lord’ (v. 28). Awestruck, Ezekiel realizes that the figure is none other than God! God is right here with him by the river Kebar. God is still on the throne, reigning in power.

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