The Lords Glory Leaves The Temple
Ezekiel had a vision in which he saw, in the sky above the heads of the cherubim, what appeared to be a sapphire stone shaped like a throne. Then the man clothed in linen received a command from God to go in among the wheels beneath the cherubim, fill his hands with burning coals, and scatter them over the city.
The cherubim were standing at the south end of the Temple when the man went in, and the cloud of glory filled the inner courtyard. Then the glory of the Lord rose from above the cherubim and moved to the entrance of the Temple. The Temple was filled with the cloud of glory, and the courtyard glowed brightly with the radiance of the Lord’s presence.
The Lord said to the man in linen clothing, “Go between the cherubim and take some burning coals from among the wheels.” So the man went in and stood beside one of the wheels. One of the cherubim reached out his hand, took some live coals from the fire burning among them, and placed them into the hands of the man in linen. The man took the coals and went out. All the cherubim had what looked like human hands beneath their wings.
Ezekiel looked and saw that each of the four cherubim had a wheel beside him, and the wheels sparkled like beryl. All four wheels looked alike and were made the same; each appeared to have another wheel intersecting it at right angles.
The cherubim could move in any of the four directions they faced without turning as they moved. Both the cherubim and the wheels were covered with eyes. The cherubim had eyes all over their bodies, their hands, their backs, and their wings. Ezekiel heard someone refer to the wheels as “the whirling wheels.” Each of the four cherubim had four faces: one was the face of an ox, the second a human face, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. Then the cherubim rose upward these were the same living creatures Ezekiel had seen by the Kebar River.
Then the glory of the Lord moved from the entrance of the Temple and hovered above the cherubim. As Ezekiel watched, the cherubim flew with their wheels to the east gate of the Lord’s Temple, and the glory of the God of Israel hovered above them.
Key insight:
Ezekiel witnesses the progressive movement of God’s glory within the Temple from the south end to the entrance, and then to the east gate. The glory of God does not rest upon the Temple as before; rather, it appears to be departing. Indeed, this vision reveals the sorrowful moment when the glory of God leaves His dwelling place.
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