From what seemed to be His waist up, I saw a gleam like amber, with what looked like fire within it all around. And from what seemed to be His waist down, I saw what looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded Him. From what appeared to be His waist upThis phrase introduces a vision of divine majesty and glory. The "waist" signifies the central part of the body, often associated with strength and stability. In Hebrew, the word for waist can also imply the loins, a place of power and procreation. This imagery suggests a divine being of immense strength and authority, emphasizing the centrality of God's power in the universe. I saw a gleam like amber
The term "amber" in Hebrew is "ḥašmal," which is a unique word appearing only in Ezekiel. It is often translated as "electrum," a natural alloy of gold and silver, known for its bright, gleaming appearance. This gleam signifies purity, holiness, and the unapproachable light of God's presence. Historically, amber was highly valued and associated with divine and royal splendor, underscoring the majesty of the vision. with what looked like fire within it all around
Fire in biblical symbolism often represents God's presence, purity, and judgment. The fire "within it all around" suggests an all-consuming holiness and a purifying presence. In the context of Ezekiel's vision, this fire indicates the intense and overwhelming nature of encountering the divine, a theme consistent throughout Scripture where God's presence is often accompanied by fire (e.g., the burning bush in Exodus 3). And from what appeared to be His waist down
Reiterating the focus on the waist, this phrase transitions to the lower part of the vision. The repetition emphasizes the completeness of the divine figure, from top to bottom, symbolizing totality and perfection. It suggests that God's presence is not limited or partial but encompasses all aspects of existence. I saw something like fire
Again, the imagery of fire is used, reinforcing the idea of divine purity and judgment. The repetition of fire from the waist down suggests that God's holiness and power are pervasive and all-encompassing. It also implies movement and energy, characteristics often associated with the divine in biblical literature. and brilliant light surrounded Him
Light is a common biblical metaphor for truth, revelation, and the presence of God. The "brilliant light" surrounding the figure indicates the glory and majesty of God, a light that dispels darkness and reveals truth. In the Hebrew context, light is often associated with life and salvation, pointing to the life-giving and redemptive nature of God's presence. Persons / Places / Events 1. EzekielA prophet and priest during the Babylonian exile, Ezekiel is the author of the book and the recipient of the visions described. 2. The Vision of God’s GloryThis vision is part of Ezekiel's inaugural vision, where he sees the glory of God manifested in a divine chariot. 3. The Exile in BabylonThe context of Ezekiel's prophecy is the Babylonian exile, a period of great turmoil and spiritual reflection for the Israelites. Teaching Points The Holiness of GodThe imagery of fire and brilliant light in Ezekiel 1:27 underscores God's holiness and purity. As believers, we are called to live lives that reflect God's holiness ( 1 Peter 1:15-16). God’s Majestic GloryThe vision reveals the majesty and glory of God, reminding us of His sovereignty and power. This should lead us to worship and reverence in our daily lives. The Presence of God in ExileEven in exile, God reveals His presence to Ezekiel. This teaches us that God is with us in our own times of trial and uncertainty, offering guidance and hope. Transformation by FireFire often symbolizes purification. As we encounter God's presence, we should allow His refining fire to transform us, purifying our hearts and minds. The Light of GodThe brilliant light surrounding the vision signifies truth and revelation. We are called to walk in the light, embracing truth and rejecting darkness (1 John 1:5-7). Bible Study Questions 1. How does the description of God's appearance in Ezekiel 1:27 enhance your understanding of His holiness and majesty? 2. In what ways can you seek to reflect God's holiness in your daily life, as inspired by the imagery in Ezekiel's vision? 3. How does the presence of God in Ezekiel's vision provide comfort and assurance during times of personal "exile" or difficulty? 4. What areas of your life might need the purifying fire of God's presence, and how can you invite Him to transform those areas? 5. How can you actively walk in the light of God's truth, and what steps can you take to ensure you are living in alignment with His revelation? Connections to Other Scriptures Revelation 1:14-15The description of Christ in Revelation shares similarities with Ezekiel's vision, emphasizing the divine glory and majesty. Daniel 10:6Daniel's vision of a heavenly being also includes descriptions of fire and brilliant light, highlighting the holiness and power of God. Exodus 24:17The appearance of the glory of the Lord as a consuming fire on Mount Sinai parallels the imagery in Ezekiel's vision. People Babylonians, Buzi, Ezekiel, JehoiachinPlaces ChebarTopics Amber, Appearance, Body, Brass, Bright, Brightness, Brilliant, Bronze, Color, Colour, Coloured, Copper, Downward, Electrum, Enclosed, Enclosing, Fire, Full, Gleaming, Glowing, Loins, Metal, Middle, Noticed, Radiance, Round, Seemed, Shining, Sides, Surrounded, Upward, Waist, WithinDictionary of Bible Themes Ezekiel 1:27 8326 purity, moral and spiritual Ezekiel 1:1-28 8474 seeing God Ezekiel 1:3-28 7775 prophets, lives Ezekiel 1:4-28 1090 God, majesty of
1469 visions Ezekiel 1:25-28 1194 glory, divine and human Ezekiel 1:26-28 1045 God, glory of
1210 God, human descriptions
4834 light, natural 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: 1908The 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 Links Ezekiel 1:27 NIVEzekiel 1:27 NLTEzekiel 1:27 ESVEzekiel 1:27 NASBEzekiel 1:27 KJV
Ezekiel 1:27 Commentaries
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