◄ Ezekiel 1:15 ►
When I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces.
Study Bible
When I looked
This phrase indicates a moment of divine revelation. Ezekiel, a prophet during the Babylonian exile, is granted a vision that transcends ordinary sight. The Hebrew root for "looked" is "ra'ah," which implies not just seeing but perceiving with understanding. This suggests that Ezekiel's vision is not merely visual but deeply spiritual, offering insight into God's majesty and sovereignty.

at the living creatures
The "living creatures" are later identified as cherubim, angelic beings that serve as attendants to God. In Hebrew, "chayot" is used, which can mean living beings or animals, emphasizing their vitality and divine purpose. These creatures symbolize God's omnipresence and omnipotence, as they are described with features that suggest strength, speed, and intelligence.

I saw a wheel
The "wheel" is a significant symbol in Ezekiel's vision, representing the complexity and interconnectedness of God's creation. The Hebrew word "ofan" is used, which can mean wheel or cycle, suggesting the perpetual motion and divine order of the universe. The wheel's presence beside each creature indicates that God's plans and purposes are dynamic and ever-moving.

on the ground
This phrase grounds the vision in reality, suggesting that God's divine presence and activity are not confined to the heavens but are also manifest on earth. The Hebrew word "eretz" for ground or earth emphasizes the connection between the divine and the terrestrial, reminding believers of God's immanence and involvement in the world.

beside each creature
The positioning of the wheel "beside each creature" signifies the intimate relationship between God's messengers and His divine will. The Hebrew preposition "etzel" implies proximity and association, indicating that the creatures and the wheels work in harmony to fulfill God's purposes. This reflects the unity and order within God's creation.

with its four faces
The "four faces" of the creatures symbolize completeness and universality. In Hebrew, the word "panim" for faces can also mean presence, suggesting that these creatures represent the fullness of God's presence. The number four often signifies universality in Scripture, pointing to the creatures' ability to move in any direction, reflecting God's omnipresence and omniscience.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Ezekiel
A prophet and priest during the Babylonian exile, Ezekiel is the recipient of divine visions, including the one described in this passage.

2. Living Creatures
These are cherubim, angelic beings that serve as attendants to God’s throne, each with four faces and four wings.

3. Wheels
Symbolic elements in Ezekiel's vision, representing the mobility and omnipresence of God's divine chariot.

4. Babylon
The place of exile for the Israelites, where Ezekiel receives his visions.

5. Vision of God’s Glory
The broader context of Ezekiel 1, where God reveals His majesty and sovereignty through a vivid and symbolic vision.
Teaching Points
God’s Omnipresence and Omniscience
The wheels beside the living creatures symbolize God’s ability to be everywhere and see everything. This reminds us that God is always present in our lives, aware of our circumstances and needs.

The Majesty and Mystery of God
The complex imagery in Ezekiel’s vision points to the majesty and mystery of God. We are called to approach God with reverence and awe, acknowledging that His ways are higher than ours.

God’s Sovereignty in Exile
Even in Babylon, a place of exile and despair, God reveals His glory to Ezekiel. This teaches us that God’s sovereignty extends over all places and situations, offering hope and assurance in times of trial.

The Role of Angels
The living creatures, or cherubim, serve as a reminder of the spiritual realm and the role of angels as God’s messengers and servants. We are encouraged to be aware of the spiritual realities that surround us.

Vision as a Call to Action
Ezekiel’s vision is not just for contemplation but serves as a call to action and obedience. We are challenged to respond to God’s revelations in our lives with faithfulness and commitment.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the imagery of the wheels beside the living creatures enhance your understanding of God’s omnipresence?

2. In what ways can the vision of God’s glory in Ezekiel 1 inspire you to worship Him more deeply?

3. How can the concept of God’s sovereignty in exile encourage you in your current life circumstances?

4. What role do you believe angels play in the world today, and how does this influence your spiritual life?

5. How can you apply the lessons from Ezekiel’s vision to respond to God’s call in your own life?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Revelation 4
The vision of the throne room of God, where similar living creatures are described, highlighting the continuity of God’s majesty and the heavenly realm.

Isaiah 6
Isaiah’s vision of the Lord, which also includes angelic beings, emphasizing the holiness and glory of God.

Psalm 18:10
Describes God riding on a cherub, connecting to the imagery of divine mobility and presence.
Sermons
God's ProvidenceCharles Haddon Spurgeon Ezekiel 1:15
The Glory of the EternalVarious Authors Ezekiel 1:4-25
The Providential Government of GodW. Jones Ezekiel 1:4-28
No Stability in the WorldW. Greenhill, M. A.Ezekiel 1:15-16
Symbols of Divine ProvidenceJ. Trapp.Ezekiel 1:15-16
Nature's Material Forces are the Active Servants of the ChurchJ.D. Davies Ezekiel 1:15-21
People
Babylonians, Buzi, Ezekiel, Jehoiachin
Places
Chebar
Topics
Beheld, Behold, Beings, Beside, Bottom, Creature, Creatures, Faces, Ground, Thereof, Wheel
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Ezekiel 1:1-28

     8474   seeing God

Ezekiel 1:3-28

     7775   prophets, lives

Ezekiel 1:4-18

     1454   theophany

Ezekiel 1:4-28

     1090   God, majesty of
     1469   visions

Ezekiel 1:5-25

     4627   creatures

Ezekiel 1:15-21

     5252   chariots
     5621   wheel

Library
God's Providence
"Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces. The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were 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 their rings were full of eyes round …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 54: 1908

The Noble Results of this Species of Prayer
The Noble Results of this Species of Prayer Some persons, when they hear of the prayer of silence, falsely imagine, that the soul remains stupid, dead, and inactive. But, unquestionably, it acteth therein, more nobly and more extensively than it had ever done before; for God Himself is the mover, and the soul now acteth by the agency of His Spirit. When S. Paul speaks of our being led by the Spirit of God, it is not meant that we should cease from action; but that we should act through the internal …
Madame Guyon—A Short and Easy Method of Prayer

'Deliver us from Evil'
'But deliver us from evil.'--MATT. vi. 13. The two halves of this prayer are like a calm sky with stars shining silently in its steadfast blue, and a troubled earth beneath, where storms sweep, and changes come, and tears are ever being shed. The one is so tranquil, the other so full of woe and want. What a dark picture of human conditions lies beneath the petitions of this second half! Hunger and sin and temptation, and wider still, that tragic word which includes them all--evil. Forgiveness and …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

This State of Prayer not one of Idleness, but of Noble Action, Wrought by the Spirit of God, and in Dependence Upon Him --The Communication Of
Some people, hearing of the prayer of silence, have wrongly imagined that the soul remains inactive, lifeless, and without movement. But the truth is, that its action is more noble and more extensive than it ever was before it entered this degree, since it is moved by God Himself, and acted upon by His Spirit. St Paul desires that we should be led by the Spirit of God (Rom. viii. 14). I do not say that there must be no action, but that we must act in dependence upon the divine movement. This …
Jeanne Marie Bouvières—A Short Method Of Prayer And Spiritual Torrents

The Prophet Jonah.
It has been asserted without any sufficient reason, that Jonah is older than Hosea, Joel, Amos, and Obadiah,--that he is the oldest among the prophets whose written monuments have been preserved to us. The passage in 2 Kings xiv. 25, where it is said, that Jonah, the son of Amittai the prophet, prophesied to Jeroboam the happy success of his arms, and the restoration of the ancient boundaries of Israel, and that this prophecy was confirmed by the event, cannot decide in favour of this assertion, …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

How Subjects and Prelates are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 5.) Differently to be admonished are subjects and prelates: the former that subjection crush them not, the latter that superior place elate them not: the former that they fail not to fulfil what is commanded them, the latter that they command not more to be fulfilled than is just: the former that they submit humbly, the latter that they preside temperately. For this, which may be understood also figuratively, is said to the former, Children, obey your parents in the Lord: but to …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

A Sight of the Crowned Christ
(Revelation, Chapter i.) "Since mine eyes were fixed on Jesus, I've lost sight of all beside, So enchained my spirit's vision, Looking at the Crucified." "The Lord Christ passed my humble cot: I knew him, yet I knew him not; But as I oft had done before, I hurried through my narrow door To touch His garment's hem. "He drew me to a place apart From curious crowd and noisy mart; And as I sat there at His feet I caught the thrill of His heart-beat Beyond His garment's hem. "Rare was the bread He broke …
by S. D. Gordon—Quiet Talks on the Crowned Christ of Revelation

Appendix v. Rabbinic Theology and Literature
1. The Traditional Law. - The brief account given in vol. i. p. 100, of the character and authority claimed for the traditional law may here be supplemented by a chronological arrangement of the Halakhoth in the order of their supposed introduction or promulgation. In the first class, or Halakhoth of Moses from Sinai,' tradition enumerates fifty-five, [6370] which may be thus designated: religio-agrarian, four; [6371] ritual, including questions about clean and unclean,' twenty-three; [6372] concerning …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Of Love to God
I proceed to the second general branch of the text. The persons interested in this privilege. They are lovers of God. "All things work together for good, to them that love God." Despisers and haters of God have no lot or part in this privilege. It is children's bread, it belongs only to them that love God. Because love is the very heart and spirit of religion, I shall the more fully treat upon this; and for the further discussion of it, let us notice these five things concerning love to God. 1. The …
Thomas Watson—A Divine Cordial

Covenanting Enforced by the Grant of Covenant Signs and Seals.
To declare emphatically that the people of God are a covenant people, various signs were in sovereignty vouchsafed. The lights in the firmament of heaven were appointed to be for signs, affording direction to the mariner, the husbandman, and others. Miracles wrought on memorable occasions, were constituted signs or tokens of God's universal government. The gracious grant of covenant signs was made in order to proclaim the truth of the existence of God's covenant with his people, to urge the performance …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

An Advance Step in the Royal Programme
(Revelation, Chapters iv. and v.) "We are watching, we are waiting, For the bright prophetic day; When the shadows, weary shadows, From the world shall roll away. "We are watching, we are waiting, For the star that brings the day; When the night of sin shall vanish, And the shadows melt away. "We are watching, we are waiting, For the beauteous King of day; For the chiefest of ten thousand, For the Light, the Truth, the Way. "We are waiting for the morning, When the beauteous day is dawning, We are …
by S. D. Gordon—Quiet Talks on the Crowned Christ of Revelation

Brief Outline of Ancient Jewish Theological Literature
The arrangements of the synagogue, as hitherto described, combined in a remarkable manner fixedness of order with liberty of the individual. Alike the seasons and the time of public services, their order, the prayers to be offered, and the portions of the law to be read were fixed. On the other hand, between the eighteen "benedictions" said on ordinary days, and the seven repeated on the Sabbaths, free prayer might be inserted; the selection from the prophets, with which the public reading concluded--the …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

Ezekiel
To a modern taste, Ezekiel does not appeal anything like so powerfully as Isaiah or Jeremiah. He has neither the majesty of the one nor the tenderness and passion of the other. There is much in him that is fantastic, and much that is ritualistic. His imaginations border sometimes on the grotesque and sometimes on the mechanical. Yet he is a historical figure of the first importance; it was very largely from him that Judaism received the ecclesiastical impulse by which for centuries it was powerfully …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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