<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Alvin Cardona

Whirling Wheels

Heavenly Father, we thank you so much because of your son.

We thank you so much because of his sacrifice.

You have taught us so many beautiful things about your character.

And we are here because we want a little bit more of your presence and of your truth in our lives.

Please continue changing us, molding us into the people that would glorify you.

Help us to be witnesses of your mercy and your love to others.

And we ask all these things, praying in the name of your son.

Growing up, my parents made these little books available to me that described the lives of well-known missionaries and evangelists of old times, right?

And 1 of my favorite of all these books was this little 1.

And it was basically the story of David Livingston.

It had very big type for little kids to read easily.

It had very simple words and beautiful pictures as you went through.

And you could read through it in not very long.

But that story was 1 that really inspired me.

This guy was somebody who went through so much trouble, so much suffering, so much pain, because he had a very strong conviction, a very strong calling, for a very specific group of people.

And he made an amazing difference in the lives of literally millions of people.

We know that in his lives and his travels, he walked over 29, 000 miles.

Because of the passion that had been placed in his heart.

And in his diary, he wrote this very famous quotation that I'm sure you've heard of before, but I'm going to read anyways.

He said, send me anywhere, only go with me.

Sever me from any tie, but the tie that binds me to your service and to your heart." Isn't that amazing?

I mean, the kind of zeal, the kind of faith and belief in God that would lead a man to say, I'm willing to sacrifice anything for the fulfillment of the mission that you have placed into my heart.

And this kind of dedication, this kind of passion is something that is so needed in our church and especially in our young people today.

I think that as young people we all want to have something that we are willing to live and die for.

But so many times we have been kind of molded by our culture to believe that It isn't a good thing to be too passionate about something.

You have to be very balanced in how passionate you are or you will come across as being a little bit crazy or just out there, right?

But these men, they held nothing back in the service of God.

And the reason I bring this up is because I would like to talk about another man that I believe had a very similar spirit in his life and that is Ezekiel.

So if you would go with me to the book of Ezekiel, and we're going to go to chapter 1.

Some scholars say he was about 25 years old in that range.

And just to give a little bit of background, there's been exile occurring.

People have been very disobedient to God.

So this isn't really 1 of Israel or Judas' bright spots in history.

Things are kind of sad, they're very rebellious as we are going to see.

And we see that this young man suddenly comes across a very specific, interesting, unique vision from God.

And We're going to read basically from chapter 1 starting in verse 1.

We're looking at the vision that God is giving this young man Ezekiel.

Now it came to pass, it reads, in the 30th year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river, that the heavens were open and I saw visions of God.

So he's a young man, he's in exile, he sees the heavens open, he sees a vision from God.

In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of a King Jehoiakim's sceptivity, the word of the Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Kibar, and the hand of the Lord was upon him.

And I looked, it says, and behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud and a fire enfolding itself, and a brightness was about it.

And out of the midst thereof, as the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire, also out of the midst thereof, came the likeness of 4 living creatures." And this was their appearance.

They had the likeness of a man and everyone had 4 faces and everyone had 4 wings and their feet were straight feet and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf's foot.

And they sparkled like the color of burnished brass.

And they had the hands of a man under their wing.

And there are 4 sides, And the 4 had their faces and their wings.

As for the likeness of their faces, the 4 had the face of a man and the face of a lion on the right side.

So you may be thinking it's getting a little confusing, right?

A lot of interesting descriptions, things are going back and forth.

I just want you to stay with me for a little bit more as we kind of go through the rest of the vision.

So they have different characteristics and different parts of their bodies, right?

And I want you to start thinking about where else in the Bible have you seen a similar set of 4 beasts that have different body components, so to speak, okay?

And the 4 had the face of a nox on the left side.

These were their faces, and their wings were stretched upward.

2 wings of every 1 were joined 1 to another, and 2 covered their bodies.

And they went, every 1, straight forward.

Whenever the spirit said go, they would go.

And they turned not when they went, 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 among the living creatures.

And the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.

And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning." So the living creatures are moving back and forth.

And I really appreciate the fact that Ezekiel is so detail oriented, right?

He really goes at length to describe as much as he can of every single aspect of what he's seeing.

He's describing their appearance as burning coals or as brass, and he sees them moving back and forth.

Interestingly, the wording there seems to say that they're moving in all directions, yet they're only facing in 1 direction.

So it kind of sounds different about how normal things are supposed to move.

He also notices that they are moved in response to what that we mentioned?

So the spirit is guiding the movement of these 4 living creatures.

And so this man, Ezekiel, he's a priest, he's familiar with spiritual things, and yet he might know, I can imagine he must be wondering what is it that this means, right?

I'm sure that if you and I saw something like this there would be questions in our minds.

Fortunately the vision does not end there.

We read a little bit more starting in verse 15.

And we're going to see another component added to the vision.

It says, now as I beheld the living creatures, behold 1 what?

Wheel upon the earth by the living creatures with his 4 faces.

The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the color of a barrel and they 4 had 1 likeness and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.

When they went they went upon their 4 sides and they turned not, see the same concept about going in all directions but not turning.

Verse 18, As for their rings, they were so high, they were dreadful, and their rings were full of eyes round about them.

And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them.

Back to Menu

Whirling Wheels

Transcript

Sponsor

Recorded

Related

IMPACT: Greater Than What Jesus Did?

1h

Medical Missionary Work

50m

The Holy Spirit and You

55m

Arise and Shine

43m

The Three Angels' Message for the Millennial Generation

6. Keep the Commandments of God and Have the Faith of Jesus

50m

Lord, Teach us to Pray

Lord, Teach us to Pray - Part 2

55m

The School of Christ

58m

Plenary

Jesus is Coming Again

59m

How to Not Excel

49m

Broken but Bonded

46m

Path to the Heart

1-Jesus Only

26m

Elijah, Jesus and End Time People

59m

Sound Doctrine