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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