Ezekiel 10:1-22
This is another passage about the Cherubim and God's Throne above them, when the Lord's Glory leaves the Temple, "de-sanctifying" it for destruction.
(V. 2-7) The Lord said to the man clothed in linen (who was in the previous section), "Go in among the wheels beneath the Cherubim. Fill your hands with burning coals from among the Cherubim and scatter them over the city." And as I watched, he went in.
Now the Cherubim were standing on the south side of the Temple when the man went in, and a cloud filled the inner court. Then the glory of the Lord rose from above the Cherubim and moved to the threshold of the Temple. The cloud filled the Temple, and the court was full of the radiance of the glory of the Lord. The sound of the wings of the Cherubim could be heard as far away as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty (El-Shaddai) when He speaks. (Again, like the roar of a troupe of motorcycles.)
When the Lord commanded the man in linen, "Take fire from among the wheels, from among the Cherubim," the man went in and stood beside a wheel. Then one of the Cherubim reached out his hand to the fire that was among them. He took some of it and put it into the hands of the man in linen, who took it and went out.
Here we see that this "fire" is in the middle of the four Cherubim, and is the furnace, or engine, or whatever it is, that powers the wheels for their transportation. God had the "man in linen" scatter the "coals" over the city of Jerusalem, signifying the destruction of the city that will soon take place.
Then Ezekiel watches, and describes these Angels in the same way he described them in Chapter 1, with one difference:
(v. 12) Their entire bodies, including their backs, their hands and their wings, were completely full of eyes, as were their four wheels.
Wow, they're all lit up now. Some semi-trucks drive at night with all their running lights on, and I think that they're lit up like a Christmas tree. Now these Cherubim are ready to leave this realm and go back to Heaven, and they have all their "running lights" on.
(vs. 15-17) Then the Cherubim rose upward. These were the living creatures I had seen by the Kebar River. When the Cherubim moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the Cherubim spread their wings to rise from the ground, the wheels did not leave their side. When the Cherubim stood still, they also stood still; and when the cherubim rose, they rose with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in them.
These Cherubim are "attached" to the wheels, as they are "attached" to the wings they fly with, like propellers. They are driving some kind of flying machine that Ezekiel had no words to describe accurately, technology even beyond anything we can imagine today. And the "spirit" or life or energy to power the machine, came from the "engine" in the middle of them.
(v. 18) Then the Glory of the Lord departed from over the threshold of the Temple and stopped above the Cherubim.
The Lord rides the Cherubim.
(vs. 19-22) While I watched, the Cherubim spread their wings and rose from the ground, and as they went, the wheels went with them. They stopped at the entrance of the East Gate of the Lord's House, and the Glory of the God of Israel was above them.
These were the living creatures I had seen beneath the God of Israel by the Kebar River, and I realized that they were Cherubim. Each had four faces and four wings, and under their wings was what looked like human hands. Their faces had the same appearance as those I had seen by the Kebar River. Each one went straight ahead.
There are four of them, each with his back to another's, in a square formation. The furnace, or engine is inside the square, powering the wheels. The wings they fly with work like propellers, and three of the four faces look to me to be like a helmet. And the wings that cover their bodies could be their robes, or uniforms, or armor.
Maybe you have a different picture of what Ezekiel is trying to describe here; I would love to hear your ideas, and consider them.
Even so, Come, Lord Jesus!
