Ezekiel 10 – Vision and Description of God in Heaven

10:1. Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubims there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.

As in chapter one, Ezekiel sees God’s glory yet again. In his original vision, he describes the Rock of Heaven that was amid the four cherubim: “out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire” (Ezek. 1:4). And as he spoke before of God’s glory sits upon the sapphire stone (Ezek. 1:26) here he speaks about it again and gives reference to the known traditions at the time among the Jews.

10:2. And he spake unto the man clothed with linen, and said, Go in between the wheels, even under the cherub, and fill thine hand with coals of fire from between the cherubims, and scatter them over the city. And he went in in my sight.

Same images from chapter one with a different context. Ezekiel again makes mention of the three wheels and the lights of the cherub on them as they interact and then descend to earth to form heaven man with his hands stretched out. The celestial planets from the heavens reflected the sun’s light giving the appearance of a crescent, and when heaven man descended out of heaven, one of the traditions is that they appeared as wings.

Ezekiel mentions the imagery of the inner circle descending into the altar of coals below the throne or the crescent. As with John, so with Ezekiel, who associates this with the descent of heaven man as the sign to initiate judgment against the wicked as he stands in the sun, fills his hand with coals, and casts them down to the earth.

And like then, so in the last days as John prophesies! These catastrophes are preliminary to Christ’s return. Only when these things happen will the sign appear as we commanded to “look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh (Luke 21:27-28). The scriptures testify of these things, and it is man that distorts the truth of them.

10:3. Now the cherubims stood on the right side of the house, when the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court.

The Cherubim come to the inner court, which faces east (Ezek. 46:1), and God’s glory fills the temple in preparation for its destruction. This is the literal view on earth. The divine image is that of the Lion coming into view (Ezekiel 1:7-10). Ezekiel shows heaven as a figurative expression of what was seen and how the heathens adopted images on earth. Ezekiel uses this image because Israel is worshipping it instead of God. The Lord has all power, and judgment has been given to him alone (John 5:22).

10:4. Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord's glory.

In the likeness of things in the heavens, Ezekiel sees the same vision as his predecessor (see Isaiah 6). As God descended from heaven, he would manifest himself upon the mercy seat, but he is not there and is moved outside the temple into the inner court of the temple. As God accepted the Temple (1 Kings 8:10-11), he left the house and rejected the temple and the people as he promised Solomon he would reject if they turned and worshipped other gods (1 Kings 9:6-7).

10:5. And the sound of the cherubims' wings was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God when he speaketh.

In referencing back to Ezek. 1:24-25, the heavens sound, and the departure of God’s covering over Jerusalem beings to leave the temple.

10:6. And it came to pass, that when he had commanded the man clothed with linen, saying, Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubims; then he went in, and stood beside the wheels.

Ezekiel uses narrative in the symbol of God’s judgment, fire, smoke, and coal against Jerusalem, showing to the idolaters his use of meteors as his instrument to judge the nations as it testifies throughout the scriptures:

“And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly” (Exodus 19:18).

Again, from the Exodus account:

“the hail shall come down upon them, and they shall die… so there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation” (Ex. 9:19, 24).

From Joshua’s account: “… And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel…that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them…” (Joshua 10:11).

From Isaiah, “Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand” (Is. 28:2).

And Ezekiel: “Therefore thus saith the Lord God; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in my fury to consume it.” (Ezek. 13:11-13).

And John: “And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great” (Revelation 16:21).

10:7-8. And one cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubims unto the fire that was between the cherubims, and took thereof, and put it into the hands of him that was clothed with linen: who took it, and went out. And there appeared in the cherubims the form of a man's hand under their wings.

Reference back to Ezek: 1:8 and the figurative expressions associated with it to represent the heavenly hosts. The heavenly images moved within the fire or the light from one phase image to another. This has reference to the burning bush Moses sees and to which the children of Israel see on Sinai (Ex. 3:2; 19:18), to the pillar of fire by night (Ex. 13:22); of the “fire of the Lord” (Numbers 11:1-3), and the “fire of God” (2 Kings 1:12). It is a light of fire that does not consume in the heavens to represent the eternal glory of God!

10:9. And when I looked, behold the four wheels by the cherubims, one wheel by one cherub, and another wheel by another cherub: and the appearance of the wheels was as the colour of a beryl stone. And as for their appearances, they four had one likeness, as if a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel.

Again, this is the same vision of a wheel within a wheel. We cannot take this in a literal sense, as Ezekiel was speaking of the cultural traditions of how they viewed God’s throne and chariot. As he saw it before (Ezek. 1:15-16), it is the same description.

10:11. When they went, they went upon their four sides; they turned not as they went, but to the place whither the head looked they followed it; they turned not as they went.

No matter where man was, if they looked into the heavens, the sign of the images would turn as well, exactly like a rainbow does while moving in a car. This is the expression, but he explains it by saying they “turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.” Seen from the earth, there was no movement besides rotating through the heavens, and they moved based on the position a person was moving.

10:12. And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that they four had.

What Ezekiel saw are the same things many prophets saw in vision. John the Revelator testified, “before the throne (heaven) there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind… And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him…” (Rev. 4:6-8).

Daniel also saw the same thing, but he changes living creatures to four winds: “I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea diverse one from another” (Daniel 7:2-3). He states they were a lion, bear, eagle, and calf.

These are universal cultural symbols that man assigned to the astrological signs from the heavens. Each one of the prophets throughout the Bible sees these things. They use symbols to teach within figurative expressions. The number four is always associated with the following symbols throughout the Bible:

·            Beast

·            Corners

·            Elements

·            Living Creatures

·            Cherub

·            Quarters

·            Rivers

·            Seasons

·            Streams

And the expressions with four when associated with things on earth that have a form of a man are the same (Rev. 1:20). Each adopts the images but associates four figures with the images. They take these and associate things on earth to give descriptions of them:

·            Lion

·            Calf

·            Man

·            Flying Eagle

·            Bear

·            Baboon

All symbols associated with the number four are used as figurative expressions to represent the description of heaven and the paradise of God. They represent the same thing: Heaven!

10:13. As for the wheels, it was cried unto them in my hearing, O wheel.

This was the chariot upon which the King of the universe sat. He sees it as before and cries to God to hear him. The wheel is whirling around and around as Ezekiel states, “O wheel.” And in Hebrew, it would be הַגַּלְגַּ֖ל (hag·gal·gal), which is a plural form, wheel within a wheel. And the wheels whirl about in the heavens enclosing themselves into one another.

As stated before, whirlwinds to biblical scholars are tornadoes representing God’s judgment upon His enemies. They then cite two passages in Jeremiah to come to this conclusion 1:14-15 and 3:18. Then they state Ezekiel’s vision and description of God are unusual. Ezekiel portrays the whirlwind or a spiral as a cloud (a figurative expression that used to be taken literally) with fire (light from the heavens) infolding or turning inwards upon itself. To teach the pagan background and descriptions known throughout the Nations.

Ezekiel explains the ancient star or sun symbol known throughout the region as Shamash to the Babylonians and Asherah to Israel (see the symbols at the end of the chapter). A whirlwind infolds on itself is the symbol of circles in the heavens, in other words, planets, stars, heavenly bodies. These all interacted, creating cloud rings, whirlwinds, stairways, etc.

To Ezekiel, his vision is represented by a snake eating itself until it disappears and shows a different sign stating that brightness was shining from it. It symbolizes the ancient sun gods: Utu to the Sumerians, Shamash to the Babylonians, Asherah and Tammuz to Mesopotamia, Amun Ra to Egypt, etc. This is the great wheel found in the heavens.

10:14. And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

Again every Cherub has a face. It is figurative expressions that describe heaven. It is not that they exist as living beings but as a description of what was seen. Ezekiel again uses the images to explain and describe them because Israel is worshipping them instead of God. The four images are the head of a man, lion, ox, and eagle. These are the idol gods Israel adopted from the nations and Egypt, which they refused to leave alone when God took them out of Egypt.

10:15. And the cherubims were lifted up. This is the living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar.

Testifying this image is the same as he saw in his first vision, God in heaven.

10:16. And when the cherubims went, the wheels went by them: and when the cherubims lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also turned not from beside them.

See commentary in Ezek. 10:11 and also Ezek. 1:7-10.

10:17. When they stood, these stood; and when they were lifted up, these lifted up themselves also: for the spirit of the living creature was in them.

The creatures went up when the wheels/rings went up. When they came down, the creatures came down. This is the rotation of the day and night cycle in ancient days. Ezekiel is describing the ancient order of the sun which man experienced.

10:18. Then the glory of the Lord departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims.

As Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven, so too does the glory of God (2 Kings 2:11). The chariot comes to earth into the inner court to ‘pick up God’ like a chauffeur who waits outside the house for their passenger. The glory of God departs the holy of holies to the threshold of the house, leaves the building, and comes into the inner court where his chariot awaits him.

10:19. And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the east gate of the Lord's house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.

God and the Cherubim mount up from the earth and move to the east gate of the Lord’s house, to the outer court. As the glory entered, it took the same route to depart the temple and Jerusalem altogether. The last time Ezekiel mentioned this direction was in Ezekiel 8:16 where the high priests were facing east and worshiping the sun, they do not notice God’s glory because they are blinded as they worshipped the created.

10:20-22. This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river of Chebar; and I knew that they were the cherubims. Every one had four faces apiece, and every one four wings; and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings. And the likeness of their faces was the same faces which I saw by the river of Chebar, their appearances and themselves: they went every one straight forward.

Again, Ezekiel testifies that this is the same image he saw in his initial vision of God and His glory in the heavens. As he came to Israel to be their God and give them his protection, he departs as they forsake him and turn to worship false idols.