_The heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God._ GOD’S CARE OF HIS CHURCH 1. God is not tied to places. He can in a dungeon, in a prison, in a Babylon, let down His Spirit into the heart of any servant of His, and raise him to a prophetical height. 2. No place is so wicked but God can raise u... [ Continue Reading ]
_A whirlwind came out of the north._ DIVINE REVELATIONS IN SEASONS OF TRIAL AND PERPLEXITY The history of the Jews was a succession of startling paradoxes. Their worst disasters ushered in their proudest successes. At three several crises in their career--in youth, in middle life, in old age--they... [ Continue Reading ]
_The likeness of four living creatures._ ANGELIC MINISTRIES 1. God employs not ignorant, silly ones in His service, but those that are intelligent, angels that are wise and very knowing. 2. The angels are in all quarters of the world, taking notice of men’s words, works, and ways. 3. Men should... [ Continue Reading ]
_The hands of a man under their wings._ SUPPRESSION OF SELF We are to do God’s works without noise or notice of ourselves. Angels, that are agents for God, have their hands under their wings; their actions are seen, but not their hands. When Manoah catechised the angel, and asked him, “What is thy... [ Continue Reading ]
_Whither the Spirit was to go, they went._ LED BY THE SPIRIT By spirit, we are to understand, neither the will of angels, nor winds, nor the soul of man (for spirit in Scripture doth signify all these), but the essential and eternal Spirit of God. This is evident by Ezekiel 1:20. 1. Angels, altho... [ Continue Reading ]
_One wheel upon the earth by the living creatures._ NO STABILITY IN THE WORLD The four living creatures denoted the four parts of the world, and their agencies in them and by them: now are presented the wheels; every living creature had a wheel by it: and this strongly implies that there are wheeli... [ Continue Reading ]
_A wheel in the middle of a wheel._ GOD IN HUMAN ACTIVITY By a wheel within a wheel God governs and makes all things work together for good to those who love Him: all pleasant and all painful things; all that is mean, contemptible, slanderous, all that vexes and annoys. So we may put on gladness,... [ Continue Reading ]
_And they turned not when they went._ CONCENTRATED LIVES It is a grand thing to see a man thoroughly possessed with one master passion. Such a man is sure to be strong, and if the master principle be excellent, he is sure to be excellent too. The man of one object is a man indeed. Lives with many a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Whithersoever the Spirit was to go, they went._ THE NOBILITY OF A DEVOUT SOUL UNDER THE SPIRIT’S INFLUENCE Oh for conquering grace to crush down self. I would be as a grain of dust blown in the summer gale without power to change my course, carried by the irresistible breath of God; forever made... [ Continue Reading ]
_As the appearance of a man._ CONCEPTIONS OF GOD Ezekiel’s conception of Jehovah appears in the” visions of God” which he describes (chaps. 1; 8; 10; 43.). These visions were all alike, and they reveal his general impression of that which Jehovah is: the fourfold nature of the cherubim, of their fa... [ Continue Reading ]
_I fell upon my face._ MAN’S INCAPACITY FOR SEEING GOD If we knew and could feel as much concerning God and Christ and heaven as we sometimes desire, probably it would make us insane. We have seen horticulturists pull down the awnings in their greenhouses. Plants may sometimes have too much sun: a... [ Continue Reading ]