All right, well we're there in Ezekiel chapter number one and like we've been announcing
we're starting a brand new book of the Bible tonight and it's always good when you are
at the beginning of a study and I want to encourage you to be with us throughout
the entire study of Ezekiel.
It'd be wonderful if you were with us all 48 weeks that we were in the book of
Ezekiel and you'd really learn this book and the truth of the matter is that some
books are easier to read than others. We're talking about books of the Bible.
Some are easier to read, some are easier to study, some are more enjoyable and some
are more neglected and I would definitely say that the book of Ezekiel
is a book that is often neglected. It's not one that is often read by
Christians and it's even less preached by pastors. You can't find a lot of
preaching out of the book of Ezekiel and the reason for it is because the
book of Ezekiel in my opinion and you know many Christians that have studied
the Word of God would agree that it is one of the most difficult if not
the most difficult book in the Bible so when you when we study Ezekiel you
know and as we begin this study and spend the next 48 weeks going one
chapter a week studying through the book you know just realize that we are
probably dealing with the hardest book in the Word of God and after that you
know it's all downhill from there you know it all gets easier after
Ezekiel but what we're going to do is we're going to learn what we can you
know and here's what we're not going to do we're not going to worry about
the parts that we don't understand because I will tell you right now you
know there are definitely parts in the book of Ezekiel that I don't
understand and that it's not that you know you say oh well could we
study that I'm definitely studying it and reading and cross-referencing
and all that I think there are parts of the book of Ezekiel that nobody
can understand that nobody will ever understand until we get to heaven and
God will explain to us and I want to just read a verse for you out of
Deuteronomy as we get started you don't have to turn there I'm going to read
this verse to you but you'll probably end up memorizing it by the
time we're done with the book of Ezekiel because I think it'll kind of
become a theme for us through the book of Ezekiel Deuteronomy 29 and verse
29 says this the secret things belong unto the Lord our God but those
things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever that we
may do all the words of this law and as we study books like Ezekiel or Isaiah
or hard books to understand you know we need to realize that the secret things
belong unto the Lord our God and where people get themselves into
trouble is when they start trying to you know just make stuff up you know
they look at things they don't understand they just start making the
stuff up and look we're there they're gonna be parts of this book that
we're gonna look at and we're gonna say the secret things belong unto the
Lord our God we're gonna worry about those things which are revealed
those things belong unto us the things that we can understand why that we may
do all the words of this law we always study the Bible not just for
knowledge but for application so that we can understand how to apply it and
even in a book like Ezekiel there's much application that can be done so
let's go ahead and just jump right into the into the chapter tonight if
you look at verse 1 there Ezekiel chapter 1 and verse 1 says this now it
came to pass in the 30th year and the fourth month in the fifth day of the
month as I and this of course Ezekiel speaking and I would encourage you to
definitely take notes as we're studying through the book of Ezekiel
and if you don't mind writing in your Bible you can take notes right
in your Bible but here Ezekiel is speaking I want you to notice just
first of all he says as I notice what he says was among the captives by the
river Kibar I want you to notice that Ezekiel was in captivity Ezekiel
himself was among the captives in Babylon notice verse number two he says
in the fifth day of the month which was the fifth year of King Jehoiachin's
captivity he tells us when he went into captivity now keep your place
there in the book of Ezekiel that's obviously our text for tonight but I
want you to go with me just real quickly to 2nd Chronicles chapter number
36 I want to explain to you something about the captivity 2nd Chronicles 36
in the Old Testament you've got all those first and second books they're
all clustered together 1st 2nd Samuel 1st 2nd Kings 1st 2nd Chronicles find
2nd Chronicles 36 and let me show you something about Ezekiel's captivity he
tells us and right at the beginning of the book that he was among the
captives he was one of the captives and he came in and the Bible says in the
fifth year of King Jehoiachin's captivity a lot of people don't
understand but when we talk about the captivity of the children of Israel if
you remember the children of Israel had a kingdom that was divided into two
kingdoms you had the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom the northern
kingdom became known as you know what was the ten tribes of Israel the
southern kingdom became known as the tribe of Judah or the southern kingdom
of Judah many years before Babylon came the Assyrians took the northern kingdom
captive that's where they mingled with them and eventually in the New
Testament we have that people known as the Samaritans the Babylonians would
later on come and they would capture the southern kingdom of Israel that's
where we get of course our stories of Daniel and Shadrach Meshach and Abednego
but what you need to understand is that captivity of Judah happened in three
different stages or three different waves it didn't happen all at once it
happened in three different stages and I want to show that to you just real
quickly in 2nd Chronicles 36 if you look at verse 5 the Bible says this
Jehoiakim now Jehoiakim is the first king that is basically taken
into captivity notice it says Jehoiakim was 20 and 5 years old when he began
to reign he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem and he did that which was
evil in the sight of the Lord is God against him talking about Jehoiakim
came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and bound him in fetters notice
to carry him to Babylon Nebuchadnezzar also carried the vessels of the house
of the Lord to Babylon and put them in the temple at Babylon now the
rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and the abominations which he did and that
which was found in him behold they are written in the book of the kings
of Israel and Judah and notice Jehoiakim his son reigned in his stead now notice
verse 9 Jehoiakim now remember in Ezekiel chapter number one in verse two
we're told that in the fifth day of the month which was the fifth year of
Jehoiakim captivity so Jehoiakim gets taken into Babylon carried into
Babylon and then his son becomes king of the nation of Judah verse 9 says this
Jehoiakim was eight years old when he began to reign and he reigned three
months and ten days in Jerusalem he did that which was evil in the sight
of the Lord and when the year was expired notice the king Nebuchadnezzar
sent and brought him to Babylon so that's the second wave or the second
stage of the captivity with the goodly vessels of the house of Lord and made
Zedekiah his brother King over Judah and Jerusalem so I want you to notice
that Ezekiel goes into captivity during the second wave of that captivity
he didn't go with Jehoiakim but he went with Jehoiakim and here's what
you need to understand is that Ekkiah becomes king and Zedekiah stays in
Israel and there are still people there's yet coming a third wave of
captives and this is where we begin the book of Ezekiel where you have Ezekiel
already in captivity but sometimes people get confused because they say
yeah but he's talking about the fact that you know the nation of
Israel is going to come into captivity is that a contradiction and
it's not a contradiction because of the fact that the captivity happened in
three different waves and he is prophesying of yet a third wave that
will happen with Zedekiah and if you remember the story of Zedekiah he gets his eyes
plucked out and all that look at verse 10 and when the year was expired second
chronicles 36 in verse 10 King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to
Babylon with the goodly vessels of the house of Lord and made Zedekiah his
brother King over Judah and Jerusalem verse 11 Zedekiah was one in 20 years
old when he began to reign and he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem and he
did that which was evil in the sight of Lord is God and humbled on
himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord
and keep in mind also that Jeremiah and Ezekiel are contemporaries one is
prophesying from captivity while one is still prophesying in the southern
kingdom of Judah skip down to verse number 17 second chronicles 36 verse 17
therefore he now the he there is referring to God brought upon them the
king of the Chaldees who slew their young men with the sword in there and
the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion upon the young men or the
maiden old man or him that stooped for age he gave them all into his hand and
all the vessels of the house of God great and small and treasures of the
house of the Lord and the treasures of the king and of his princes notice
all these he brought to Babylon and they burnt the house of God and break
down the wall of Jerusalem and burnt all the palaces there up with fire and
destroyed all the goodly vessels I want you to notice that during this
third way is when the temple actually gets destroyed the walls are destroyed
and we know that 70 years later when Nehemiah and Ezra returned to the land
from captivity they obviously rebuild the temple and rebuild the wall
so I want you to just kind of have some context into the book of Ezekiel
and realize that he is in captivity yet he is prophesying about yet more
captivity because it happened in three different waves with Jehoiakim, Jehoiakim
and Zedekiah go back to the book of Ezekiel and look at verse number one
again want you to show you just one more thing in verse one
Ezekiel chapter one in verse one now it came to pass in the 30th year in
the fourth month in the fifth day of the month as I Ezekiel was among the
captives by the river Kibar that once you notice what it says the heavens
were opened and I saw visions of God and this is really where the book of
Ezekiel begins what we're about to study and the rest of this chapter is
basically a vision that Ezekiel got from God as the heavens were open and
he begins to see these heavenly creatures and he begins to see these
wonderful things that we're going to learn all about tonight look at verse
three the word of the Lord came expressly I don't know but I think that's a
unique phrase in the Word of God I couldn't find anywhere else where it
says that the Word of God came expressly the word expressly means
clearly or specifically unto Ezekiel I want you to notice the priest I want
you to notice that Ezekiel was a priest who became a prophet similar to
Samuel remember Samuel was a priest who became a prophet Ezekiel is the
same thing the Bible tells us the word of the Lord came expressly unto
Ezekiel the priest the son of Buzai in the land of the Chaldeans and I want
you to notice again by the river Kibar and the hand of the Lord was there upon
him now it's interesting that this river is mentioned because there's a
very famous psalm that deals with the Babylonian captivity that also talks
about the rivers of Babylon I just want to show you that to you real
quickly keep your place there in Ezekiel go to Psalm 137 Psalm 137 and
once you get to Psalms do me a favor and put a ribbon or a bookmark
or something there because we're going to leave Psalms and we're going to come
back to it there's going to be several books that we're going to go back and
forth with tonight I hope you're ready to study the Word of God because
you can't read Ezekiel without studying and cross-referencing we're
going to go to the book of Psalms we're going to go to Isaiah we're
going to go to Revelation there's other places we're going to go to but
those are the three primary ones we're going to go to so when you get
there put your place there Psalm 137 look at verse 1 Psalm 137 in verse 1
says this by the rivers of Babylon notice this psalm begins talking about
captivity Psalm 137 verse 1 by the rivers of Babylon there we sat down yay
we wept when we remembered Zion we hanged our harps upon the willows in
the midst thereof for there they that carried us away captive required of us
songs that they wasted us they that wasted us required of us mersing
sing us one of the songs of Zion and they responded how shall we sing
the Lord's song in a strange land so I want you to notice that you got this
Psalm 137 talking about the captives by the rivers of Babylon you know being
asked to sing songs from Zion to sing songs from Israel and they're of
course discouraged because they're in captivity and they're saying how shall
we sing the Lord's songs in a strange land and then when you get to Ezekiel
who is actually one of those captives he talks about the fact that he got a
vision from God and the word of Lord was revealed unto him and it's any and
he brings it up a couple of times that it's by the river Kibar so just
something interesting there a nice cross reference for you to have go
back to Ezekiel chapter 1 look at verse 4 and I look and behold a
whirlwind now a whirlwind is like a tornado he says a whirlwind came out
of the north and remember we're we're getting into his vision now the
heavens have opened and he sees a whirlwind that came out of the north
a great cloud and a fire enfolding itself and a brightness was about it that
means around it so he sees you know let me finish reading and out of the
midst thereof as the color of amber out of the midst of the fire so he
sees the heavens opened you know just try to get this because I think
sometimes people they get confused with these books and they read and
they're like I don't get it we just have to kind of slow down and and put
some flesh you know to the reading just kind of put yourself there you
have Ezekiel by a river the word of the Lord comes expressly to him he sees
visions of God visions that came from God the heavens are open and when the
heavens are open he sees a whirlwind he sees this tornado but it's got a
great cloud around it and it has fire and folding itself it has
brightness all about it all around it he sees fire in the midst thereof
notice verse 5 also out of the midst thereof out of the midst of what out of
the midst of this whirlwind with this cloud with the fire enfolding itself he
says try to get this picture he looks up to have it he sees I don't know
what this looks like I've never seen this before I hope I never see it you
know but he sees a whirlwind on fire with brightness and then in verse 5 he
says also out of the midst thereof out of that whirlwind that's on fire
came the likeness of four living creatures and this was their appearance
that they had the likeness of a man so out of this whirlwind he sees these
four creatures flying out I mean imagine being Ezekiel and having to be
the guy that writes these things down you know you'd probably write something
that none of us would understand also you know and but this is the vision
that he sees you know he the heavens are open whirlwind on fire and folding
itself brightness round about and then from the whirlwind comes these living
creatures now in Ezekiel chapter 1 he refers to them as living creatures we
know that these are cherubim and the reason we know that's because the
Ezekiel tells us this later in the book and let's just look at it real
quickly go to Ezekiel chapter 10 in Ezekiel 1 he calls them living
creatures he doesn't call them cherubim but in Ezekiel chapter 10 and verse
15 if you want to write down a cross reference he says Ezekiel 10 15 and the
cherubims were lifted up notice what he says this is the living creature
that's what he said in Ezekiel 1 and verse 5 now he tells us that the
cherubims this is the living creature that I saw by the river
kebar or some people pronounce it cheebar you know whatever however that's
supposed to be pronounced but he says there in Ezekiel 10 15 we're told
that these creatures that he saw they are cherubims they are cherubims is what
the Bible calls them now the Roman Catholic Church has made you know this
lie that cherubims are like these fat little naked babies with wings but
we're gonna see tonight that that's not what the Bible teaches about
cherubims at all all right so keep your place on Ezekiel go to revelation
just real quickly revelation chapter 4 when you get to revelation do me a
favor put a ribbon or a bookmark there because that's one of the books
that we're gonna go back and forth from you should have your place in
Psalms and Ezekiel and in revelation revelation chapter 4 and verse 5 I want
you to notice that we have the we have living creatures these heavenly
creatures in revelation also now let me just say this and we're gonna look see
this later on in the study in revelation 4 they're not cherubim they
are most likely seraphim and I'll prove that to you and and we'll look
at that but but for now I just want you to notice revelation 4 and verse 5
says this and out of the throne now in revelation 4 we have of course John
who's been caught up in the spirit and he's has a vision of you know the
throne of God and of heavenly places as well and he sees this and out
of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices and there were
seven lamps of fire burning before the throne which are the seven spirits of
God verse 6 and before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto
crystal and in the midst of the throne and round about the throne were four
beasts I want you to notice that word beast they're full of eyes before and
behind now keep your place in revelation we're gonna come back to it
but you can go back to Ezekiel I want you to notice that in revelation
they were called beasts now a word the word beast is basically our word
animal that's what the word beast means you know it's an animal and in
Ezekiel they're called living creatures in revelation they're called beasts or
animals I want you to stand that these creatures are not human these are
angels that are called animals they're called beasts they're living creatures
but they're not human look at verse 5 of Ezekiel chapter 1 and verse 5
also out of the midst thereof came notice these words the likeness of
four living creatures and this was their appearance and what I want you
to stand is that between verses 5 and 24 of the book of Ezekiel chapter 1
he's basically going to spend you know most of this chapter describing to us
the appearance of these four creatures the likeness of these four creatures and
this is probably cherubim are mentioned all throughout the Bible you
can find many references to them but Ezekiel chapter 1 is probably where we
get the most details about these animals these angelic beasts these living
creatures so that's what we're gonna spend most of our time in tonight
just looking at how he describes it now we're gonna cover every verse in this
chapter but we're gonna skip around a little bit because we're gonna he
repeats himself a lot so we're gonna go to all the places kind of by theme
and what he says I want you to notice the first thing he says is that they
look like a man notice again verse 5 there also out of the midst thereof
came the likeness of four living creatures and this was their
appearance first thing he wants to tell us is they had the likeness of a
remember they're not a man they're not human these are not human and you'll
see that as we study it but he says they had the likeness of a man meaning
if you would have seen them afar off you might have you know thought they
were a man and what I believe that he means by that is that these these
animals have the appearance of a man in the sense that they're built like a
human being and what I mean by that is that they probably had a torso they
had a head they had two arms they had two legs their bodies were built in the
likeness of a man look at verse 6 and everyone had four faces and everyone
had four wings we're gonna come back to that and their feet were straight
feet and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot and
they sparkled like the color of burnished brass we're gonna come back
to all that look at verse 8 and they had the hands of a man so I want you
to notice that they had hands of a man he said they had the likeness of a man
so you know they obviously have a head they have arms they have legs that's
what he's referring to now let's look at what he how he begins to describe
these you know angels these are angels these cherubims how he
describes them first he tells us you know they kind of look like men in the
sense that their bodies their head their their shape their torso their
arms or legs but then he begins to give us descriptions that are not human
at all look at verse 6 he says and everyone had four faces we'll come back
to that and everyone knows what he says had four wings all right so usually when
we think of angels or when the world things of angels they think of you
know a man with with wings but you know really when the Bible talks to us
about angels that look like men or angels that were human beings you don't
ever see them described as having wings but these cherubims are the ones
that are described as having wings the seraphims are the ones that are
described as having wings and in Zechariah there's a vision of these
spirits that look like women and they have wings like a stork but you know
really this is the angel when you want to think of an angel you know some
of you have your little angel idol in your house or whatever you know and
you got your little porcelain angel and it's like a woman with long hair
and she's got her wings well you should probably change that to this image
that we're gonna look at now but it might not you know it might like scare
all of your guests if you have this thing on there but I want you to notice
that this thing this cherubim had four wings notice skip down to verse nine
their wings were joined one to another they turned not when they went
they went every one straight forward thus were their verse 11 skip down to
verse 11 thus were their faces and notice we're just focusing on the wings
right now their wings were stretched upward two wings of every one were
joined one to another and two covered their bodies I want you to notice that
these cherubim had four wings but the wings are divided into two different
pairs you've got two pairs that are stretched outward and then you've got
two pair that covered their bodies and by the way let me say this you
will find that anything that is connected to God whether it's human
beings or angelic beings or the Lord Jesus Christ himself God always seems
to go out of his way to express to us that their bodies are covered you know
they're not just running around naked even the angelic angels had these
wings to cover their nakedness and to cover their body that might be a good
thing for you to remember you know during the summer months God wants you
to cover your nakedness look at verse 22 Ezekiel chapter 1 and verse 22 he
says this and the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the
living creatures was as the color of the terrible crystal stretched forth over
their heads above verse 23 and under under the firmament was excuse me were
notice what it says their wings straight and one toward another everyone
had two which covered on this side and everyone had two which covered on
that side their bodies and when they went I heard the noise of their
wings like the noise of great waters as the voice of the Almighty now look it
doesn't say he heard the voice of the Almighty he said when he heard their
wings it was as the voice of the Almighty as the noise of grace great
waters the voice of speech as the noise of an host when they stood notice they
let down their wings so I want you to notice what are we talking about
we're talking about this creature right it's flying to him out of this
you know fiery tornado that he sees and then he sees he tells us that he
sees that they had four wings two were joined together in a pair two were
joined together in a pair when they're flying they stretch out when and you
got two covering their bodies two of the wings spread out to fly and the
other two cover their body so he explains he he shows us there he talks
about their wings but let's go back to their faces look look at verse 6
Ezekiel chapter 1 and verse 6 and everyone had notice what it says four
faces now they've got one head but they have four faces now how does that work
you know I don't know I've never seen one of these if I had to guess and my
opinion based on how they move and we'll see this later on is that
they've got a face on every side of their head you know we've got a head
with four sides well you got a face on the front side of our head these
beasts had four faces they probably have a face on every side of their head
and notice the faces look at verse 10 as the likeness of their as of as for
excuse me as for the likeness of their faces they for had notice he's
gonna tell us the types of faces they had number one the face of a man
so on one side of their head they do have a face that looks like a man it
looks like a human and number two the face of a lion so on one side of their
fate head they have a face that looks like a lion on the right side and they
four had number three the face of an ox on the left side they four also had
number four the face of an eagle so you've got you know an eagle a lion
you've got an ox and you've got a man and it's you know it's
interesting and when I when I look at that and I've heard other people say
this and I would agree with it it's interesting you know why did God pick
those four animals but it seems like you know excuse me three animals in a
human face which the humans are not animals but why would he do that you
know I think that he did that because a lion when you think of a lion you
know a lion's like the king of the wild animals when it comes to wild
animals the lion is the mightiest the strongest and then you've got an
eagle well an eagle is also you know the mightiest and the strongest of the
flying animals of the animals that are flying in the air then you've got an ox
an ox is probably the mightiest and the strongest of the domesticated
animals the ones that humans have brought into their homes and taken care
of and then you've got the face of a man which is the greatest creature
that God ever created you know obviously he gave dominion of all of all
the earth to mankind look at verse 11 thus were their faces so he says this
is what their faces were like they were the face of a man the face of a lion
the face of an ox the face of an eagle I want you I want you to notice
something interesting because in Ezekiel chapter 10 remember in Ezekiel 10 is
where he told us that they were cherubims go back to Ezekiel chapter 10
just real quickly
Ezekiel chapter 10 and look at verse number 14
Ezekiel 10 14 says this now in Ezekiel 10 14 is describing these these
cherubim again but I want you to notice he describes their faces
basically the same way but there's one difference and it's kind of
interesting Ezekiel 10 14 says this and everyone had four faces right the first
face was as the face of a cherub now in Ezekiel 1 he didn't tell us the face
of a cherub he said the face of a man the face of a lion the face of
an ox the face of an eagle in Ezekiel 10 he tells us that one has a
face of a cherub the second face was the face of a man so that matches
Ezekiel 110 the face of a man and the third face of a lion so that matches
Ezekiel 110 the face of a lion and the fourth face the face of an eagle that
matches Ezekiel 110 the face of an eagle but in Ezekiel 110 he tells us
that one had the face of an ox and then here he tells us that one has a
face of a cherub now we're looking at an animal that a creature that is a
cherub so what is you know what is the face of a cherub look like well I
think the Bible's trying to show us here that the face of a cherub looks
like an ox which is why he uses those interchangeably and if I have to guess I
would say that this is his primary face you know the one that's facing
forward is the one that looks like a cherub or the one that looks like an
ox so these angelic beings each had four faces they have four wings they
also have four faces the face of the cherub seems to be the face of the ox
or the primary face which is why it's called the face of a cherub which is
the entire animal we're describing these are similar to another heavenly beast
and another creature that is called a seraphim did you keep your place in
Revelation now in Revelation chapter 4 go there real quickly Revelation
chapter 4 in Revelation chapter 4 remember we have the vision of the
throne room of God there with John and there are four beasts that are
described there too they're described a little differently though and the
reason for that is because they're not the same creature they're very similar
but they're not the same in the same way that like you know on this earth we
have lions and tigers and leopards and you know house cats you know
they're all felines but they're they're they're all different now
they're similar but they're you know a tiger is different than a lion and I
think that these cherubim and also the seraphim that we're gonna look at
right now they're very similar but they're different creatures revelation
chapter 4 and again we don't know a lot about how all this works and one day
we'll get to heaven and figure it all out
revelation chapter 4 and verse 6 says this and before the throne there was
a sea of glass like unto crystal and in the midst of the throne and round
about the throne will four beasts full of eyes before and behind notice
how these four beasts are described verse 7 the first beast was like a
lion now the cherubim are described as having four faces each beast had
these four faces these beasts are described as there's four of them and
each of them has one of these faces now maybe all of them had all four
faces I don't know that's not what described here he tells us that each
had one maybe he was looking at all of them from the front and just saw
the one face on them or maybe just each one of these beasts had one of
these but notice verse 7 the first beast was like a lion the second
beast like a calf the third beast had a face as a man and the fourth beast
was like a flying eagle again all of the faces match as the cherubim you
got the lion you got the man you got the eagle but there's again a problem
remember Ezekiel 1 we had an ox Ezekiel 10 we had the face of a cherub
here we have the second beast was like a calf all right so what's a calf
a calf is a baby ox you know it's that those cows and bulls and ox when
they're young they're called calf so that's what it's referring to there but
look at verse 8 here's where it's different than the cherubim and the
four beasts had each of them notice six wings about him so the cherubims had
four wings these animals have six wings the cherubims had four faces
these are four animals that happen to have the same four faces notice and the
four beasts had each of them six wings about him and they were full of
eyes within and they rest not day and night say holy holy holy Lord God
Almighty which was and is and is to come could you imagine you know one day
when we step into the throne room of heaven and we will see these four
beasts these four angelic creatures with the face of a lion and the face
of an ox or a calf or a cherub or whatever you know the face of a man and
the face of an eagle with these six wings and all they do day and night
notice they rest not day and night all they do day and night for all eternity
is say holy holy holy Lord God Almighty and praising our God and by
the way that's where we get the song holy holy holy Lord God Almighty it's
quoted from Revelation chapter 4 and of course the three holies there are a
reference to the Trinity God the Father God the Son God the Holy Spirit all of
them having praise given to them from these six winged angelic creatures now
Revelation after four is not the only place where these are mentioned
they're also mentioned in the book of Isaiah go to Isaiah with me Isaiah
chapter number six now if you kept your place in Ezekiel if you go
backwards you're going to go past Lamentations past Jeremiah into the
book of Isaiah when you get to Isaiah do me a favor and put a ribbon or a
bookmark there because we're gonna leave it and we're gonna come back to
it all right so you should have your place in Ezekiel you should have
your place in Psalms you should have your place in Revelation and you
should have your place in Isaiah we're gonna go back and forth between those
books for a little bit but let me show you you know why why we call
these beasts seraphims as opposed to cherubims Isaiah chapter 6 verse 1 in
the year that King Uzziah died I was also the Lord sitting excuse me I
saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne I love these words how Isaiah
says this he says that he saw the Lord sitting upon the throne high and lifted
up and his train filled the temple and above it stood the seraphims each one
had six wings remember Revelation 4 8 said that each of them had six wings
about him well here Isaiah tells us that each one had six wings with
twain he covered his face with twain he covered his feet and with twain he
did fly notice verse 3 and one cried into another and said holy holy holy is
the Lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory so I want you to
notice that in Isaiah chapter 6 these these angelic beings with six wings are
referred to as seraphim which is why in Revelation chapter 4 we assume
that the same four beasts with the same six wings that are basically
saying the same thing holy holy holy are also seraphim these are different
than the cherubim that we are studying in Ezekiel chapter 1 but
they're worth mentioning because they're very obviously very similar and it's
just a different type of beast you know different type of angel that's described
in Scripture go back to Ezekiel chapter 1 and I've heard people say
that you know it may just be since these two references are just these four
that are saying holy holy holy it may just be that those are the only four
that exist and you know we don't know if that's true or not but that could
very well be the case Ezekiel chapter 1 look at verse number 7 let's go back
to the description you know he described their faces he described their wings he
kind of described their bodies Ezekiel chapter 1 and verse 7 now he's gonna
describe their feet he says and their feet so like men they've got two
legs two arms two hands you know a head but their feet are different
notice and their feet were straight feet now when he says they're straight
feet what he's talking about is that they their feet do not form an L like
a human foot does you know like our foots are our feet are like an L he's
saying their feet are straight there's nothing sticking out and he explains
more of it he says and the sole of their foot was like the sole of a
calf's foot and they sparkled like the color of burnished pride so when
you look at like a calf or you know that type of animal it has like a
hoof right so it's just a straight foot there's no L shape to it that's
what he's describing so think about this you know you've got this beast it's like
a human being it's got a head and a torso and arms and and legs but its
legs are like hoofs like a cop you know and it's got four wings you know
two covering its body and two that it uses to fly its head has four faces
the face of a ox or a cherub the face of a eagle and a lion and the face
of a man and this is the animal that he's describing and by the way you know
sometimes we will look at these things and they'll say oh this kind of reminds
me like you know Greek mythology where you had like a half horse and a
half human or you had like a lion with wings you know whatever and you
say could it be that the Bible got it from you know Greek mythology and
here's the truth Satan got it from God you know all of these Hercules you
know as obviously a knock of Samson you know everything the world has
it's just Satan trying to mock at or trying to copy the Word of God but this
is not mythology we're gonna get to heaven one day we're gonna look at
these things you know and you know some of us are gonna talk to them some
of us may not I don't know but notice how he describes them look at verse
7 again he gives us another description Ezekiel chapter 1 and verse 7 and their
feet were straight feet and the sole of their foot was like the sole of a
calf's foot and notice they sparkled like the color of burnished brass that
word burnished means polished he said they sparkled like polished brass look
at verse 13 as for the likeness of the living creatures their appearance
was like burning coals you know you're looking at a burning coal they kind of
glow you know they're there they've got that yellow and red to it it says
that's what they look like they look like the appearance of burning coals of
fire and like the appearance of lamps it went up and down among the living
creatures and notice the fire was bright and out of the fire went forth
lightning so these animals also they sparkle they shine they glow like a
coal that's on fire like a bright fire now in verse 14 he begins to give
us another description and to me this is probably the most interesting of the
descriptions look at verse 14 he says and the living creatures ran and
returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning we'll come back to verse
14 actually blue verse 15 now as I beheld the living creatures behold now
he begins to tell us about these wheels nor he says one wheel upon the
earth by the living creature with his four faces verse 16 and the appearance
of the wheels and their work was like unto the color of a barrel and they
four had one likeness and their appearance and their work was as it were
notice a wheel in the middle of a wheel when they went they went upon
their four sides and they turned not when they went as for their rings
they were so high that they were dreadful and the rings were full of
eyes round about them for and when the living creatures went notice verse 19
the wheels went by them and when the living creatures were lifted up from
the earth the wheels were lifted up and whithersoever the spirit was to go
they went hither was their spirit to go and the wheels were lifted up
over against them for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels
and when those went these went and when those stood these stood and when
those were lifted up from the earth the wheels were lifted up over
against them for the spirit of the living creatures was notice these words
in the wheels the Bible tells us that these living creatures had wheels now
I'm gonna give you you know my thoughts on this and here's the honest
truth the secret things belong unto the Lord our God you know we really
don't know or understand you know how these things are or how they can be
but let me just give you some thoughts we're told here that at least these
cherubims maybe not all cherubims but at least these cherubims have wheels
some people describe the wheels especially when it says like in verse
16 a wheel in the middle of a wheel I've heard this taught in many
different ways you know some people describe the wheel in the middle of a
wheel like a gyroscope if you're familiar with a gyroscope you know it's
a wheel in the middle of a wheel some people describe it like a planet with
rings like Saturn or Neptune you know others describe it like those spinner
rims you know that you ghetto people have or whatever some of you have them
you know I don't I don't know you know if I had to guess I would say
that it's probably you know when I envision this and because of the way
these animals move these I I would say this is just totally my opinion
that it's probably like the rings of a planet you know and the other reason
for that is because that's something we see in nature you know but I I envision
that they use these wheels to travel you know I and again this is just my
opinion but I envision that you've got this this wheel that is not really
facing forward or backward it's kind of like a ball like a planet I know
flat earthers are gonna I'm gonna lose them there but I'm like a ball
like a planet with a ring around it and somehow that ring keeps that ball in
place and then that ball just kind of turns in whatever direction it wants to
go and we're gonna see that here in a minute again that's totally my
opinion I don't know nobody knows all right until we get to heaven we're gonna
get to heaven we're gonna look at it we'll be like oh yeah you know turns
out it was like the spinner rims or whatever you know but you know we're
just gonna look at it and it's gonna be it now here's the thing you
know I want to give you an example of this because we do see something
similar the wheels you know I do believe they're wheels but I think you
know it may also be a reference to the rotation because we do so see
something like this in nature you know a year ago or two years ago I don't
remember now I did a whole series on evolution and when we were studying
evolution and I was looking into it I learned about this you know this this
thing in nature it's a bacteria and it's called a flagellum do you guys
remember learning about that when we're talking about the the you know
nature and and how God created things a flagellum is a whip like structure in
cells that allows a cell to move the flagella are able to propel itself by
spinning their tail like a by spinning their tail either in a rotation that is
clockwise or counterclockwise and depending on how they rotate it they'll
propel you know forward or backward or whatever this how they move so it may be
that these wheels are some sort of like helicopter propelling thing you
know again I don't know you don't know none of us know the secret things
belong until our God but you know it's fun to kind of think about it you know
and then of course here's where you lose all the UFO you know fanatics right
and they're like UFOs in the Bible you know or whatever and yeah I'm not
gonna talk about that you know I'm sure that some people have seen
spirits and you know thought they were UFOs I'm also sure that some people
just been on drugs and thought that they saw UFOs but these cherubims have
wheels these cherubims have wheels that are described for us here now I want
to show you something interesting go to Psalm 68 if you kept your place in Psalm
and if you think of wheels you know what would when you think of a wheel
here what do you think of you think of like a car right maybe during the
time of of Ezekiel you think of like a chariot some people have taught and
and I again this is I don't know but that these cherubim are like chariots
for God that they're actually God's mode of transportation and we understand
that God is omnipresent and omnipotent and we get all that you know but let
me show you a verse that kind of might you know be a proof text or
something like that Psalm 68 verse 17 notice what the Bible says the chariots
of God all right so does God have chariots the answer is yes Psalm 68 17
tells us that the chariots of God are 20,000 even thousands notice of angels
so according to Psalm 68 17 does God have chariots the answer is yes what
are his chariots they're angels he says the chariots of God are 20,000
even thousands of angels the Lord is among them as in Sinai in the holy
place so if God uses cherubims like a chariot then it makes sense that they
would have wheels right so we're learning that these cherubim have
wheels we learned in Psalm 68 that God has chariots that are angels or he
uses angels as chariots it might be a reference to these cherubim go to Psalm
18 let me just give you one more kind of cross reference for that Psalm
18 and look at verse number 10 Psalm 18 and verse number 10 Psalm 18 and verse
10 says this and he this is the Lord notice rode upon a cherub and did fly
yea he did fly upon the wings of the wind here we're told that the Lord
rode upon a cherub all right so it you know I don't think it's too out
there to if we got a verse that says God rode a cherub if we got verses say
God has chariots and they're angels and we've got verses that tell us
about angels that have wheels you know these cherubim may be God's chariots
which is why they have wheels now go back to Ezekiel but go to Ezekiel
chapter 28 just real quickly and we're not gonna spend a lot of time in
Ezekiel 28 but I just want to show you something out of Ezekiel 28
obviously I'm gonna preach a whole sermon on Ezekiel 28 when we get there
in 28 weeks all right so make sure you stay tuned but I want you to notice
something you know because because people might think like could you know
would God really put like wheels on a creature like a living creature not a
machine you know or something but what's interesting is that in Ezekiel
28 we also learn about cherubs and we learn about a cherub that has kind
of like a mechanical you know mechanical things in his body now we're
specifically learning about the devil because here's what you need to
understand Satan was an angel and specifically Ezekiel 28 tells us that
he was a cherub so these cherubim were lurking about in Ezekiel chapter
1 this is Satan you know which is interesting because you know all of
these satanic cults always want to worship a calf or a cow or an ox right
which is what a cherub has as a face the Bible tells us that Satan you
know is like a lion seeking whom he may devour which he has a face of a lion
you know so those are all things that are kind of interesting but look at
Ezekiel 28 and look at verse number 13 and again we'll develop all of this
when we get to it but let me just give it to you real quickly
Ezekiel 28 verse 13 he says thou has been in Eden the garden of God now
there was three people that were in the Garden of Eden well four if you
count the Lord of course but you've got Adam you've got Eve and who's our
third the serpent right the devil here we're talking to someone that was in
Eden he says thou has been in Eden the garden of God every precious stone was
thy covering the Sardis topaz and the diamond the barrel the onyx the
Jasper the sapphire the emerald the carbuncle and gold the workmanship of
notice the workmanship of thy tablets and of thy pipes were prepared in thee
in the day that thou was created here God is speaking to Satan and he's
telling him in your body I placed you know pipes and tablets a pipe we're
talking about like an organ that has pipes you know his body was created
with something that you and I would call mechanical you know but it was
created to you know have music which by the way this is one of the reasons
uses music so often to draw people away from God he was created as a musical
being notice last part of verse 13 again he says the workmanship of thy
tablets and of thy pipes were prepared in thee in the day that thou
was created thou art the anointed cherub that cover it and I have set
thee so that was upon the holy mountain of God thou has walked up and
down in the midst of the stones of fire that was perfect in thy ways he was the
anointed cherub he says you were perfect in thy ways from the day that
that was created till iniquity was found in me by the multitude of thy
merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence and now as
sin therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God
and I will destroy thee Oh covering cherub from the midst of the stones of
fire thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty and he goes on and on
talk about it but this of course talking about Satan who was a cherub
who sent but I want you notice that this cherub had you know tablets and
pipes that were created in his body so it's not that you know if he's
putting pipes and tablets in a cherub that is meant to produce music it's
not that absurd that he would put wheels on a cherub that is meant to be
his chariot you know so I don't know these are like hybrid or whatever we
see the flagellum who has rotors and whips and things you know and motors
but it's just all interesting again I'm not gonna sit here and pretend that I
understand how all of this works but some things for you to think about go
back to Ezekiel chapter number 8 excuse me chapter 1 Ezekiel chapter 1 look at
verse 18 let me give you another description
Ezekiel 1 18 as for their rings they were so high that they were dreadful and
their rings notice were full of eyes round about them about them for so
they had these rings and the rings were full of eyes now if you kept your
place in Revelation go back to Revelation chapter 4 just real quickly
and look at verse number 6 Revelation chapter 4 and verse 6 and I apologize
we're gonna go a little longer than we usually do on Wednesday night but
you know there's just so much here let's try to get it all covered
Revelation chapter 4 verse 6 remember these are seraphim but I want you notice
how they're described the same way Ezekiel 1 18 says they were full of
eyes round about them for Revelation 4 6 says and before the throne there
was a sea of glass like unto crystal and in the midst of the
throne around about the throne were four beasts notice full of eyes before
and behind you know so you may not want to pet these things if they're
just filled with eyes and you're gonna poke it in its eye or something I
don't know but the first piece was like a line the second piece like a cap
the third piece had a face as a man the fourth piece like a flying eagle verse
8 and the four beasts had each of them six wings about him notice they
were full of eyes within and they rest not day and night saying holy
holy holy Lord God Almighty which was in his and his to come so we're told
that the seraphims are full of eyes within they're full of eyes you know
these four beasts were full of eyes before and behind and then the the
cherubims are also full of eyes round about them is what Ezekiel 1 18 says go
back to Ezekiel chapter 1 so we basically went through all the
description right I mean that's a again if you had a little porcelain
cherubim on your nightstand or on your fireplace you might freak people
out you know but these are the angelic beings that the Bible talks to
us about now let's talk about their movements just real quickly Ezekiel
chapter 1 look at verse 9 their wings were joined one to another notice they
turned not there's something that's often referred to with these
creatures they turned not when they went they went everyone straight forward
they always only ever go straight they never turn look at verse 12 and
they went everyone straight forward whether the Spirit was to go they went
and they turned not when they went look at verse 17 when they went they
went upon their four sides so they don't go on one side like you and I we go
forward right I got my one side I got I'm going forward if I want to go that
way what I got to do I got to turn around and go that way it's very rare
that people you know are just like oh yeah how you doing and then Oh
brother so-and-so's back there I want to go shake his hand I'm just like how
you doing right we don't do that as human beings we turn and but the
Bible tells us that these animals you know don't turn they go straight all of
the time now here's the thing when you got four faces facing in every
direction and you've got eyes all over your body you can just go and
whatever so they never turn you know however they move they just move this
way and they move that way and they move forward they move back and
and and they're always facing you because you know whatever face is
facing that way they're like hey brother how you doing and then it's like hey
brother how you doing you know whatever and they've got these faces but the
Bible tells us they never turn they only ever go straight and I'm sure there's a
spiritual application there you know as as Christians we should always go
forward you know don't know turning back but look at verse 14 another
another verse about their movement and the living creatures ran and returned as
the appearance notice of a flash of lightning so they're they're they're
supernaturally fast they're fast you know they they go there and they
come back and it happens in a flat like a flash of lightning so they're they
never turned you know they're always going forward whatever direction they're
going and whatever they're doing they're doing it fast like the flash
of lightning of lightning notice Ezekiel chapter 1 and verse 25 we're gonna try
to finish this up we're gonna look at Ezekiel we're gonna go back to
Revelation we're gonna go back to Isaiah and we're gonna go to Exodus 25
if you want to just find Exodus 25 but let me let's finish this chapter up look
at verse 25 I'm sorry Ezekiel chapter 1 verse 25 and there was a voice from
a firmament that was over their heads when they stood and had let down their
wings and above the firmament that was over their heads was once you notice
these words the likeness of a throne the likeness of a throne as the
appearance of a sapphire stone and upon the likeness of the throne was the
likeness of the appearance of a man above upon it he sees a throne and he
sees a man on this throne and I saw as the color of amber as the appearance
of fire round about within it from the appearance of his loins even upward and
from the appearance of his loins even downward I saw as it were the
appearance of fire and it had brightness round about so he sees this
man but he doesn't really see the man he just sees fire you know up and
down his body look at verse 28 as the appearance of the bow that is in the
cloud in the day of rain all right what is that that's a rainbow right he
says that he sees the appearance of a bow in the cloud in the day of rain
so was the appearance of the brightness round about this was the
appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord when I saw it I fell
upon my face and I heard a voice as one that spake just real quickly go to
Revelation chapter 4 remember we've been looking at that scene of the throne in
heaven in Revelation chapter 4 with the seraphim I want you to notice that in
Ezekiel 1 28 he sees his throne and he says I saw the bow that is in the
cloud in the day of rain well that is also mentioned in Revelation chapter
4 verse 1 after this I looked and behold a door was opened in the heavens
and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me
which said come up hither and I will show you things which must be
hereafter and immediately I was in the spirit and behold a throne was set in
heaven right that's what Ezekiel saw a throne was set in heaven and one sat on the
throne and he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone
and there was a don't miss it rainbow round about the throne in sight
like unto an emerald so both John and Revelation saw a rainbow round
about the throne and Ezekiel saw the bow that is in the cloud in the day
of rain around that throne so we're looking into the throne room and
heaven you know it's a shame today that the rainbow has become the symbol of
perversion you know like brother Stuckey says we need to take the
rainbow back all right it's a symbol of God's judgment and you when you see
and walk into the throne room of God you see the rainbow round about the
throne in sight like unto an emerald now I want you to understand this
when we study Ezekiel chapter 1 and we get all this description of this
cherubim it's not about the cherubim it's about the God of these
cherubim go to Exodus 25 just real quickly Exodus 25 we're almost done
Exodus 25 look at verse 16 remember when God had them build a tabernacle had
them build all that furniture remember the Bible tells us that all
these things were done as a shadow everything that was done on earth the
tabernacle the ark the candlesticks all the the tables the sacrifices all
of that was a shadow of heavenly things the tabernacle in heaven and the
mercy seat in heaven well there's the Ark of the Covenant remember in the
Holy of Holies the tabernacle if you remember from our study in Exodus
years and years and years ago you know you've got the tabernacle there
was two sections to it there was a holy section and then there was a holy
of Holies it was separated with a curtain and only the high priest was
allowed to go into the Holy of Holies once a year to make the sacrifice of
atonement and in that Holy of Holies was the Ark of the Covenant some of
you only know about this from you know a movie or something but there's actually
an Ark of the Covenant that God had to make and I want you to notice how he
had to make that in Exodus 25 and verse 16 it says and thou shalt put
into the ark Exodus 25 16 the testimony which I shall give thee and
thou shalt make a mercy seed of pure gold two cubits and a half shall be
the length thereof and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof and thou shalt
make two cherubims of gold a beaten work shall doubt make them in the two
ends of the mercy sea and make one cherub on the one end and the other
cherub on the other end even of the mercy sea shall doubt make the cherubim
on the two ends thereof so God had them build this ark you don't know how
to the Word of God and had Aaron's rod that budded it had manna in there
and the ark represented the presence of God and on the ark there was a mercy
seat there was a seat a throne and on that seat then you had these two cherubs
that covered it with their wings now what's interesting and again this is
just something for you to think about we're not theology or dogmatic at all
but in if you remember in Exodus 28 Satan was called a covering cherub you
know it might have been that there was originally three cherubs that covered this
thing and one fell because he was so close to God he wanted to be like God
and we don't know that for sure but just something to think about but
there's these cherubs and their wings cover the mercy seat verse 20 and the
cherubim shall stretch forth their wings on high covering the mercy seat
with their wings and their faces shall look one to another toward the mercy
seat shall the faces of the cherubim speak and thou shalt put the mercy
seat above upon the ark and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I
shall give thee verse 22 and there I this is God speaking will meet with thee
see God would meet with the high priest on that mercy seat on the day of
atonement and of course they would have sacrificed and they'd sprinkle
blood upon that mercy seat but God would meet there and God had them in
that place that represented his throne his his his seat where he met with
them he had them put these cherubims you say why did God have them do
that because when you look up to heaven and you see the actual throne of God and
the actual mercy seat he's got these cherubims or these seraphim or these
angelic creatures you know that are worshiping him saying holy holy holy
Lord God Almighty go to go back to Ezekiel chapter 1 Ezekiel see this is
not a vision about cherubims primarily it's a vision about God and of course
I'm not saying that he saw God or he saw God the Father or whatever no man
has seen God at any time we understand that but he's getting a vision of you
know the throne room of God and he sees the throne he sees the rainbow
and he sees these animals Exodus 1 28 as the appearance of the bow that
is in the cloud in the day of rain so was the appearance of the
brightness front about this was the appearance of the likeness of the glory
of the Lord now I want you to notice the only response that we ever get when
someone comes into the presence of the glory of God and when I saw it I fell
upon my face and I heard a voice of one that's faith and that's what we're
gonna pick up next week as we continue his vision but I want you to
notice something here's what's interesting to me Ezekiel saw the
heavens were open he saw a whirlwind on fire he saw a whirlwind on fire with
cloud and brightness he didn't run and hide he didn't fall on his face he did
what you and I do when we see a car accident right he's stared sorry take
you know I'm gonna write this down this is gonna get me in the Bible you
know he started writing and then he sees these four creatures flying out of
this whirlwind he didn't run and hide he didn't get scared he said man I
better write all this down look at those things four wings four faces
hopes for feet I mean the eyes everywhere wheels I can't even explain
he explains all that but I want you to notice when he got a vision of God when
he got a vision of the glory of God he couldn't stand there and watch he
had to fall on his face before God because he it's not about the
cherubim it's about the God of the cherubim it's not about the
greatness and power of these beasts it's about the greatness and the power of
God and when anyone ever gets a real view of God there's only one proper
response and it is to humble yourself before that mighty God go to Isaiah
chapter 6 verse 1 we'll finish right here Isaiah chapter 6 verse 1 notice
what he says Isaiah chapter 6 verse 1 Isaiah got a similar vision like
Ezekiel a little different but a similar vision Isaiah chapter 6 and
verse 1 notice what the Bible says in the year of the King Uzziah and the
year that King Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and
lifted up and his train filled the temple above it stood the seraphim each
one had six wings with twain he covered his face and with twain he
covered his feet and with twain he did fly and one cried unto another and
said holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his
glory and the post of the door moved that the voice of him that cried and the
house was filled with smoke then said I notice the only response look whenever
you get a view of God high holy and lifted up you will only have one
proper response you will either fall on your face before him like Peter to the
Lord Jesus Christ when he realized who it was that he spake with or you'll do
like Isaiah then said I woe is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean
lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for mine eyes have seen the
King the Lord of hosts you know as Christians the United States of America
we often deal with pride you'll notice that we're often very proud people we
think we accomplish a lot we think we do a lot because we have nice
buildings and nice vehicles and nice this nice that you know if you ever got a
real vision of God if you ever understood who God really is if we ever
I'm not saying physically like these men did but just in a spiritual sense
got a real view of God and realize that God is high and holy and lifted
up we would all fall on our faces and humbleness to that and serve because
it's not about the cherubim it's about the God someone said that the book of
Isaiah expresses to us the salvation of the Lord the book of Jeremiah expresses
to us the judgment of the Lord book of Daniel expresses to us the kingdom
of the Lord hope you join us for the next 48 weeks as we stay the book of
Ezekiel that expresses to us the glory of the Lord and the glory of the God
that we serve
let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer