I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read through the Bible. This morning I came again to Ezekiel Chapter 1; and again I shake my head and wonder, “What was that?”
I’ve never seen an illustration that does it justice. To me it reads like some poor guy who’s burst into a local police station, trying to tell the cops about some incredible thing he’s seen, and he can’t get the words to make any sense.
We can be reasonably sure that Ezekiel’s description of his vision made more sense to his contemporary audience than it does to us. But are we sure we have to think it through? Are we sure we have to decipher it? I mean, who says so? Is it not enough to understand that this whole thing is about being in the presence of God–and of course it’s going to sound like crazy-talk when we try to describe it.
How are we, being flesh, to make sense of spiritual things? How are we, being earthly, to speak of heavenly things? Of course it’s going to come out weird. A lesser man than a prophet would’ve fainted dead away. Ezekiel, both a prophet and a priest, certainly seems to be having a hard enough time just keeping his head from falling off.
If the vision made perfect sense to us… it’d probably be fake.
But at least we can get this meaning from it: God is–and is He ever!