Notes
So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees.
Hebrews 12:12
Sometimes we need a refresh - a fresh vision of who God is, what He has said, and how we fit into His plan. Ezekiel was a man who lived in a world that needed a refresh - a new grip. He was a captive in Babylon, and his city and the Temple had been destroyed. The people knew about God and had received blessings from Him, but they had moved away from their relationship with Him. God gave Ezekiel four major visions, and today we’ll look at the first and what we can learn from it.
1) God is Lord and He is mobile
(The Lord gave this message to Ezekiel son of Buzi, a priest, beside the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians, and he felt the hand of the Lord take hold of him.)
As I looked, I saw a great storm coming from the north, driving before it a huge cloud that flashed with lightning and shone with brilliant light. There was fire inside the cloud, and in the middle of the fire glowed something like gleaming amber.
Ezekiel 1:3-4
They went in whatever direction the spirit chose, and they moved straight forward in any direction without turning around.
Ezekiel 1:12
The spirit of the living beings was in the wheels. So wherever the spirit went, the wheels and the living beings also went. When the beings moved, the wheels moved. When the beings stopped, the wheels stopped. When the beings flew upward, the wheels rose up, for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels.
Ezekiel 1:20-21
All around him was a glowing halo, like a rainbow shining in the clouds on a rainy day. This is what the glory of the Lord looked like to me. When I saw it, I fell face down on the ground, and I heard someone’s voice speaking to me.
Ezekiel 1:28
God is not lost in the storm; He is Lord over the storm. He is more powerful than your current situation. God wanted the people to understand that He was not limited to the Temple, but He had absolute authority to do whatever He wants. He transcends time and space; He has authority over every domain.
2) God is multifaceted and multidimensional
From the center of the cloud came four living beings that looked human, except that each had four faces and four wings.
Ezekiel 1:5-6
Each had a human face in the front, the face of a lion on the right side, the face of an ox on the left side, and the face of an eagle at the back. Each had two pairs of outstretched wings—one pair stretched out to touch the wings of the living beings on either side of it, and the other pair covered its body. They went in whatever direction the spirit chose, and they moved straight forward in any direction without turning around.
Ezekiel 1:10-12
God is able to do more than one thing at a time. He can be both lion and lamb, servant and leader, just and merciful, personal and powerful, focused on the bigger picture and on the small details. This is why it takes so many of us to be His body; to represent God properly, the Church must be diverse.
3) God is a rescuer
As I looked, I saw a great storm coming from the north, driving before it a huge cloud that flashed with lightning and shone with brilliant light. There was fire inside the cloud, and in the middle of the fire glowed something like gleaming amber.
Ezekiel 1:4
Ezekiel saw a great storm, but he also saw God’s magnificence in spite of the storm. The people captive in Babylon needed to see a rescuer in a place they thought He could not come to.
God knows exactly where we are. He knows every detail about our lives. The storms of life might be powerful enough to move you, but God is powerful enough to come into the storm and rescue you. Not even the power of death can hold Him back.
Group Questions
- When might we need a new grip?
- What are some of the ways God is diverse or multifaceted?
- Why is diversity within the body of Christ important?
- How does God show that He is powerful over every storm?
Prayer
Thank you for giving us a fresh vision of who you are. Remind us that you are in control over every domain, and that you are powerful over every storm.