Ezekiel 10:9

The four wheels by the cherubims.

The Divine government

I. This vision represents the absolute and universal government of God.

1. That God does possess and wield such a government is indicated by the reference to the throne--an object which is in itself the symbol of supreme power. It is indicated also by a reference to the influences emanating from the throne, and regulating the movement of the cherubim and of the wheels--the cherubim signifying angelic beings, and the wheels signifying the procedure and course of mundane affairs, all subordinated to Him and regulated by Him, the possessor of infinite majesty. While we acknowledge its immensity, let us endeavour habitually and most profoundly to feel that we ourselves are subject to the government of God.

2. The peculiar connection in which this government is exhibited. The prophetic descriptions speak of a human form as being associated with the manifestation of the Divine glory. Now, from the analogous statements of inspiration we cannot do otherwise than consider this part of the vision as introducing to us the Son of God--Him who became incarnate in the fulness of time, as Mediator uniting in Himself the human and the Divine nature, and in that complex state effecting the great work of human redemption. What is pourtrayed can suit none but Him; and to Him, as “Emmanuel, God with us,” “God manifest in the flesh,” it does emphatically and beautifully answer.

II. This vision represents the characteristics which the procedure of the Divine government includes and exemplifies.

1. There is a representation of its intricacy. This is conveyed in the structure of the cherubim; it is conveyed in the relation between the cherubim and the wheels; and it is conveyed in what is stated as to the wheels themselves. We live truly in the midst of mysteries; and as those mysteries pass, in their dark and shadowy forms, there ever resounds to us the challenge, “Lo, these are parts of His ways,” etc.

2. There is the characteristic of intelligence. It is stated, with regard to the agencies which are now introduced for our attention, that “their whole body and their backs and their hands and their wings and the wheels were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that they four had”; the eyes, according to the interpretation of Scripture symbols, being known as the signs and emblems of intelligence. Here, we conceive, we have the fact brought before us, that the system according to which the course of our world proceeds is not that of blind mechanism or fate--a dogma which modern infidelity, imitating its predecessors, has revived and promulgated, but that it proceeds under the direction of mind, the highest operation by which events can by possibility be regulated. The infinite mind of Jehovah is constantly occupied in directorial functions. That infinite mind formed the plan of government, and that infinite mind, as the course of His government proceeds, is ever active, diffusing itself to the furthest range, and penetrating to the most minute recesses, lighting up all as with the radiance of its own emissions, and by knowing all, prompting and ordering all.

3. There is the characteristic of immense and ever active energy. We read, for example, of the cherubim and of their movements, that “as for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down,” etc. “And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.” And as to the wheels it is said, “when they went, they went upon their four sides; they turned not as they went, but to the place whither the head looked they followed it; they turned not as they went.” The agencies which are set in motion by God never cease and never tire, but pass steadily and uniformly onward, in order to accomplish the purpose of Him who “worketh all things according to the counsel of His own will”--their energy being constantly supplied and fed by the resources of His energy, which is inexhaustible, as the God who is almighty, the Lord God Omnipotent.

4. There is the characteristic of harmony. We read that the wheels have one likeness; and we read also that the wheels and the cherubim act and proceed in entire and in perfect concert. “I looked,” says the prophet, “and behold the four wheels”--“the spirit of the living creature was in them.” We learn from this that the agencies employed under the Divine administration are never disjointed from each other, never contravene or oppose each other, but blend all their movements and operations as though they were actually, notwithstanding their multifariousness and variety, one. We may observe that the procedure of these agencies is also in perfect harmony with the original plan of the Divine mind, never for a moment deviating from it, but always answering to that which is designed to be accomplished. We may also observe that the procedure of these agencies thus harmonising will finally appear so before the whole intelligent creation, that they may admire, and that God may receive His highest glory.

III. This vision represents the tribute which the government of God, so characterised, demands.

1. The government of God, thus characterised, demands our adoration. It is truly the development of what is great and ineffably majestic; and the proper tribute for the development of its greatness and majesty is that of humble and awful reverence.

2. The government of God, so characterised, demands our study. Intelligent beings were formed with the view that they should become the students of the government of God. It is made known to them that they might meditate upon it, so as to apprehend it; and only thus can they offer the other departments of the tribute which are required from them. The Divine procedure and government is the noblest theme which can possibly engage our immortal mind. There is nothing but what is comprehended here. It includes all history, all the inventions of art, all the discoveries of science--science, whether confined to matter or mind, whether referring to our own world or to the most distant tribes that are discoverable in the vast universal of space: all things that can engage our imagination or reason are comprehended in the government of God.

3. The government of God, as thus characterised, demands our submission. “Nay, but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Be still and know that I am God.”

4. The government of God, thus characterised, demands our confidence. If for our eternal welfare we are reposing upon the testimony which He has given us concerning His Son, let us exercise the same confidence with regard to the interests of nations, and with regard to the wellbeing of the Church; and let us not doubt that all things now transpiring around us, in the passions of communities, in the convulsions of nations, and in the events disastrous or Otherwise, which affect the interests of the Church, are under the management of the same perfect principle, and are gradually intended to evolve the same grand and delightful results. And then let us trust also in our anticipations of the future. (J. Parsons.)