Major Prophets · Chapter 1 of 48

Ezekiel 1

By the river Chebar, Ezekiel sees the heavens open. A wind from the north brings a fiery cloud and four living creatures, each with four faces and four wings, moving as one wherever the Spirit goes. Beside them turn great wheels full of eyes. Above their heads spreads a crystal firmament, and over it a sapphire throne bearing a figure like a man wrapped in fire. This is the glory of the LORD.

What happens in Ezekiel 1

In the fifth year of exile, by the Chebar canal in Babylon, the heavens open and Ezekiel sees visions of God. A whirlwind out of the north carries a vast cloud with fire flashing and gleaming amber at its center. From it emerge four living creatures with human likeness, each having four faces, of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle, and four wings, gleaming like burnished bronze. They move straight forward wherever the Spirit directs, darting like lightning.

Beside each is a towering wheel within a wheel, its rims full of eyes, moving in unison with the creatures. Over their heads stretches a firmament like awesome crystal, and their wings sound like great waters. Above the firmament is a throne like sapphire, and upon it the likeness of a human figure, glowing like amber and fire, surrounded by radiance like a rainbow. This is the glory of the LORD, and Ezekiel falls on his face.

Ezekiel 1 in context

Ezekiel was a priest carried to Babylon with the exiles around 597 BC, before Jerusalem's final fall. This opening vision, dated to 593 BC, commissions him as a prophet. Its astonishing point is that the glory of God appears not in the Jerusalem temple but far away by a Babylonian river, showing that God is present with his people even in exile.

The four faced creatures reappear in later chapters and profoundly influenced Jewish and Christian imagery of the divine throne.

Main themes of Ezekiel 1

Ezekiel 1 (KJV)

1Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. 2In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin’s captivity, 3The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him. 4And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire. 5Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man. 6And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings. 7And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass. 8And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings. 9Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward. 10As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle. 11Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies. 12And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went. 13As 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 among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. 14And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning. 15Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces. 16The 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. 17When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went. 18As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four. 19And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. 20Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. 21When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. 22And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above. 23And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies. 24And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings. 25And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings. 26And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. 27And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. 28As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.

Verses to carry from Ezekiel 1

“Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.”Ezekiel 1:1

“And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.”Ezekiel 1:26

“As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.”Ezekiel 1:28

Reflection

Do you feel exiled, far from God in some Babylon of circumstance? Ezekiel's vision insists that God's glory can find you there, his throne moving wherever his Spirit wills. Let the sheer weight of this glory draw you to awe and worship, and remember that in Christ this enthroned glory came near, God with us even in our displacement.

A prayer from Ezekiel 1