Daily Reading: 4-12-16
Ezekiel 1:26-2:1 New Living Translation (NLT)
We continue in our reading today with Ezekiel’s vision of God and his call to prophetically speak God’s message of hope to an exiled people. The call begins with Ezekiel seeing the Light.
1:26 And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. 27 And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. 28 Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around.
Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.
Ezekiel’s Call
2:1 And he said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.”
I love rainbows in the sky; truly, they bring me a sense of awe and peace after any storm. In today’s passage, there’s an intense rainbow or color-filled aura around the exalted Lord in the heavens. God’s glory is hard to explain in human words; therefore, the prophet uses imagery that casts penetrating or revealing light. The intensity of the Light causes Ezekiel to spiritually see the full spectrum of truth about God and about himself. When the glorious Light spiritually opens Ezekiel’s eyes, his response is to fall on his face before the Lord. God’s holiness is overwhelming to the human senses and innate sinful state of being. The light of God’s glory reveals everything about the human soul that prefers to reject the Light and hide in darkness.
Scripture teaches one day every human being will kneel or fall down before God—his or her Creator. Theologians believe humans will bow before God’s holiness based on one of two perspectives: 1) willingly out of love and appreciation for the Light of Truth; or 2) out of fear of judgment due to rebellion against the Light of Truth. Scripture teaches Jesus came into the world to render a type of judgment (in this context the Greek word judgment is defined “to distinguish”)—he gives sight to the spiritually blind and shows those who think they see properly that they are actually spiritually blind (John 9:39). Either way, Jesus is loving people by extending Light. Do you see the act of love in this verse? The verse reminds me of a quote from John Heywood (1546), “There are none so blind as those who will not see.” Therefore, if I reject Jesus—the Living Word to Light my way—I’m spiritually blind to God’s wisdom or heart for my life and solely moving in either my own human inclination or understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Prayer: Lord of Light and Life, thank You for opening my eyes to the truth about Your holiness and my innate darkness. I choose to live in the Light of Your glory. Teach me more about living as Your child of Light, today. In Jesus’ name. Amen.