The Four Living Creatures of Ezekiel 1

Transcript

Just to give you a little background, if somebody had said to me back five years ago or so that you're going to do a class on the four living creatures of Ezekiel 1 in the Boston Wednesday night class, I would have said, no, not me, no, not me, wouldn't have been me. So what am I doing here and doing this class? What happened is I had a contact a few years back and he would hit me with some of the most bizarre questions. And he asked me once, do I think the four living creatures of Ezekiel chapter 1 are Christ and the saints? Excuse me, I'm getting over a cold. I feel okay, but I still got the tickle in my throat. And I didn't know what to say to that. I had never really studied Ezekiel chapter 1. And at the time he asked me, I had forgotten there were four living creatures in Ezekiel chapter 1. So I couldn't answer him. But it sounded rather strange to me, Christ and the saints, because I knew enough about Ezekiel to know that it was a prophecy about the impending invasion of Jerusalem by the Babylonian army, that God had decreed that because of the stubborn sinfulness of the people, that he was going to bring Nebuchadnezzar and his army against Jerusalem to destroy the city and the temple. So I knew that basic pattern of Ezekiel. And then I knew that like all prophecy, it ended with the restoration of Jerusalem. So I knew that much. But as far as this theophany, I knew there was a theophany in Ezekiel chapter 1, but I really didn't have a clue what it was. So as I had free time, I looked into Ezekiel chapter 1. And it took me probably at least six months to start formulating my opinion of it, just dabbling with it here and there. And one of the things I had noticed is that, well, let me just review the background first. The background of Ezekiel is this. Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judah in 605 B.C. in 2 Kings 24 verse 1 to 9. The siege of Jerusalem started in 598 B.C. and ended in 587 B.C. when Jerusalem finally fell. There were three waves of captives that were taken to Babylon, the first in 605, which included the prophet Daniel, and the second in 597 B.C., and the last in 586 B.C. when the city fell. So in this study, I'm going to make reference to Daniel because Ezekiel, Daniel, and Jeremiah were contemporaries. They went into captivity, and you'll see a lot of overlap and complementing of their prophecies. Ezekiel began his ministry in 593 B.C., and he was part of the second wave of captives, and he prophesied outside the land, which is interesting. And his prophecy was basically this. Nebuchadnezzar would invade Jerusalem and destroy the city and the temple, and then the prophecy ends with the promise of restoration. As I was looking at the faces of these four living creatures, it reminded me of Daniel's prophecy. And when I went about the study, I went about doing what we teach our students in the Learn to Read the Bible Effectively study, that ask yourself, where have I seen this before? Where have I heard this before? And let the Bible interpret itself. And so that's what I did. And the prophecy of Ezekiel is introduced by the four living creatures. They are a strange combination of man and beast, and they're moved by the Spirit of God. And although these creatures are not called cherubim in Chapter 1, they appear again in Chapter 10, where they are called cherubim. And what they reminded me of was Daniel's prophecy. And I'm going to compare it particularly with Daniel's description of Nebuchadnezzar. And take a look at this. Now, you have the face in Ezekiel's images of oxen and eagle. And look at this in Chapter 4, verse 33. Remember this? This is when God had given Nebuchadnezzar the heart of a beast until seven times should pass over him. And look at the description of him. The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar, and he was driven from men and did eat grass as an oxen. And his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until his hairs were grown like eagle's feathers and his nails like bird's claws. And I thought, isn't that interesting? The context of Ezekiel's prophecy is a Babylonian invasion by Nebuchadnezzar. And here we have Nebuchadnezzar associated with an ox and with an eagle. And here this image, these four living creatures have the face of an ox and the face of an eagle. And then I continue that further. Remember, there's also the face of a lion and the face of a man. And if we look at Daniel's vision in Chapter 7, where we have the four beasts, we read this. The first was like a lion and had eagle's wings. I beheld to the wings thereof replucked, and it was lifted up from the earth and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it. So there we've got the lion and the man. And the first of those beasts in Daniel's vision in Chapter 7 probably coincides with the four metals of the metallic image in Chapter 2. And you know the head in that metallic image is identified as Nebuchadnezzar, and so the lion. And that seems to be the popular interpretation of the lion and certainly the correct interpretation of the head. Remember in Chapter 2 how Daniel identified before Nebuchadnezzar. This is Nebuchadnezzar's dream and he's interpreting it. And he says to Nebuchadnezzar, you are the head of gold. So this image was the image of a man. The metallic image is an image of a man. And the head of that man is Nebuchadnezzar. So when looking at that metallic image, you're looking at Nebuchadnezzar. The face of that image is Nebuchadnezzar. So here we have the head or the face, as it were, of a man. And Nebuchadnezzar thought that was cool. And he made an image entirely of gold of himself and had everybody worship it. He was into emperor worship, which was common enough in biblical times. And there's probably a little of that still going on this day. Emperors seem to like that. So I saw all these links to Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel's prophecy, which helped me start forming an opinion that these four living creatures were somehow representative of Nebuchadnezzar. And it just seemed to fit since that's the context of Ezekiel's prophecy. And then I looked at this in Ezekiel 1 verse 12 that was just read. It said, And you know what that reminded me of is this proverb, Proverbs 21. So I'm just kind of reviewing the train of thought that I was developing as I was looking into the study. And I was coming to the conclusion that this was a vision of God using Nebuchadnezzar to bring judgment on Jerusalem. And that shouldn't come as too strange to us. We all know about the Exodus with Pharaoh, how God hardened Pharaoh's heart. God does this with leaders. He can move them in whatever direction he wants, as the proverb says. So since the prophecy of Ezekiel is about the destruction God would bring upon Jerusalem, it makes sense that the introduction to this prophecy would be consistent with that theme. So we should be expecting an interpretation like the one I'm offering you, that we should see these four living creatures as representing Nebuchadnezzar, who is being moved by God against Jerusalem. And as I'm developing this idea, I'm wondering, does anybody else have this idea on Ezekiel chapter 1? Is there support for this idea that cherubim can symbolize Gentile kings under divine control? And I looked out on the internet at Ezekiel chapter 1, and I wasn't finding anything. I didn't look exhaustively, but I looked enough where I thought if this is a popular idea, it ought to pop up in somebody's commentary. And I wasn't coming up with anything. So I did what I haven't done in a while. I actually took a book off one of my bookshelves, one of my commentaries, Jameson, Fawcett, and Brown. I'll have to confess that with the internet, I've gotten awfully lazy about opening books because everything's on the internet. And I just go out there and read it. And the good old commentaries are still quite useful. Jameson, Fawcett, and Brown had this to say about the cherubim. The cherubim probably represent the ruling powers by which God acts in the natural and moral world. Okay, so when I saw that, I felt relieved, like, you know, I'm probably on the right track here. So much of the study, I'm going to be revealing to you the track of my thought process and supporting evidence for coming to this conclusion. We also have in Ezekiel 28, verse 14, the anointed cherub is the king of Tyre. So in Ezekiel's prophecy, we have the king of Tyre referred to as the anointed guardian cherub. You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you. You were on the holy mountain of God. In the midst of the stones of fire, you walked. And notice, I placed you, it says. God is saying he is moving the king of Tyre, and he's being referred to as this anointed guardian cherub. I suspect that's all unwitting. I don't think king of Tyre was aware of that. But that seemed as supporting evidence that if the king of Tyre can be called a cherub, then why not the king of Babylon? So I was developing evidence to support this idea of the four living creatures, these cherubim. That seems to be what they are, cherubim. In Ezekiel chapter one, represent the king of Babylon, and the spirit of God is going to move him against Jerusalem. There's more. The prophecy in Ezekiel 1, you'll notice it started with a whirlwind from the north. Your version might say a windstorm, stormy wind from the north. And then what follows is the description of the four living creatures. So it's introduced by the stormy wind from the north. And that alone indicates that what's coming is a vision of God's judgment on Judah. The north is often associated with God's judgment through Israel's powerful enemies. In Jeremiah 1 verse 14, remember Jeremiah is a contemporary with Ezekiel, and he has the same basic message warning the people of Israel, of Judah, that God was about to bring Nebuchadnezzar down on Jerusalem to destroy the city. So he was a contemporary with Ezekiel and with Daniel in his prophecy, very similar. And notice in the first chapter, verse 14, he has this introduction. And the Lord said to me, out of the north disaster shall be let loose upon all the inhabitants of the land. For behold, I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, declares the Lord, and they shall come. And everyone shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls, all around, and against all the cities of Judah. So it's, I think, a very similar introduction where he's introducing his prophecy as a judgment coming out of the north, just like Ezekiel, the stormy winter, the whirlwind from the north that's going to come on the land. Okay. More on this idea of judgment from the north. Ezekiel 9 verse 2. And behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his weapon for slaughter in his hand. Again, an indication of judgment coming from the north. And here in Ezekiel 13 verse 13, therefore thus says the Lord God, I will make a stormy wind, here it is, the whirlwind, break out in my wrath, and there shall be a deluge of rain in my anger and great hailstones and wrath to make a full end. So there it demonstrates how that language of a stormy wind is the language of God's judgment. So stormy wind and judgment from the north. And one of the things you will see in commentaries is it'll point out how similar these creatures are to the Ark of the Covenant. There's links to the Ark of the Covenant. You notice how the wings of the cherubim on top of the Ark touch one another. And the molten sea in 1 Kings 7 verse 29. Look at all the links back to the molten sea. And on the borders that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubims. And upon the ledges there was a base above and beneath the lions and oxen were certain additions made of thin work. Verse 32. And under the borders were four wheels, just like the vision in Ezekiel 1. Four wheels and the axle trees of the wheels were joined to the base and the height of a wheel was a cubit and a half, and half a cubit. Verse 33. And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel. Keep that in mind, chariot wheel. Their axle trees and their knaves and their fellows and their spokes were all molten. Now, I'm not sure, there's a picture of it, and I'm not sure why these links to the things regarding temple worship. I don't know why they link together. I'm sure they do in some way that I just don't fully understand. But maybe at this point we could just say that these are all divine images in some way. And I think that it's worth further study, and I'm not sure just where to go with that now, but I thought I'd point that out to you. So back to the main line of my study here. Looking at beasts and cherubim used in judgment against Jerusalem. Ezekiel 14 verse 15. If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land and they ravage it and it be made desolate so that no one may pass through because of the beasts. Notice the language of beasts, now certainly he's speaking of the Babylonian army, and he's using the description of beasts to describe them. Ezekiel 10 verse 2. Here's the other version, the other vision, excuse me, of the four cherubim like we see in Ezekiel 1. And he said to the man clothed in linen, sounds like an angel, man clothed in linen, go in among the whirling wheels, see there are the wheels again, underneath the cherubim, fill your hands with burning coals from between the cherubim and scatter them over the city. You can see the similarity of language to Ezekiel chapter 1, and the angel is supposed to take these burning coals underneath the cherubim and throw them over the city. These passages are supporting evidence that the cherubim beasts in Ezekiel 1 represent the Babylonian invasion of the land. The whirling wheels is probably an allusion to the chariots, that's what Nebuchadnezzar used to invade the land, he invaded with chariots. And look at this picture I found out on the internet. This is what Nebuchadnezzar did to Jerusalem, it's an artist's conception. There you can see the angel hurling the coals of fire over the city, and this is what it resulted in. But that imagery, again, it's beast imagery, it's wheels, just like Ezekiel chapter 1. So it's further evidence that what we're looking at in Ezekiel chapter 1 is a vision that represents Nebuchadnezzar bringing his army against Jerusalem. So you're going to see me keep mounting more and more evidence to support that interpretation of the four living creatures in Ezekiel chapter 1. Now Deuteronomy 28, do you remember Deuteronomy 28? Do you remember what that's about? Or Leviticus 26, sort of a companion passage? Deuteronomy 28 is the chapter that describes what God will do to the people of Israel if they're disobedient, the judgments that God would bring against them if they disobeyed his law. It says, the Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, swooping down like the eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand. It's describing God bringing a foreign enemy against them, and he uses that word eagle, swooping down like an eagle. And there we have in Ezekiel 1, one of the faces is an eagle. It's just more supporting evidence. We're to see this as the Babylonian invasion being represented. Jeremiah 4 verse 13, behold, he comes up like clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind, his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined. So here again, Jeremiah is describing the impending Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem. And we have chariots, of course, that's what Nebuchadnezzar used, and we have this whirlwind or the stormy wind, and we have the horses compared to eagles. Once again, eagles. Ezekiel 17 verse 7, there was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers. And behold, this vine did bend her roots toward him and shot forth her branches toward him, that he might water it by the furrows of her plantation. Say now to the rebellious house, know ye not what these things mean? I'm jumping ahead to verse 12, just to be concise. Know ye not what these things mean? Tell them, behold, the king of Babylon is come to Jerusalem, and hath taken the king thereof and the princes thereof, and led them with him to Babylon. So here again, it's further evidence that the eagle, the face of the eagle that we're seeing in chapter one, with great wings and many feathers, represents the king of Babylon. So you can see I'm just building my case more and more in this direction, and this is following my train of thought as I was doing the study. I just found myself accumulating more and more evidence to support this interpretation. More on the eagle here. It's kind of interesting to note that in the New Testament, here we have Matthew 24, that's the Olivet Prophecy. For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together. Same word in the Greek, if you compare the Septuagint. Well, that's kind of interesting. Is that a reference to the Romans? Here we have also in Revelation 4 verse 7, where we have another description of these beasts, similar to that in Ezekiel. And we have the flying eagle mentioned again, and the first beast, verse 7, was like a lion, and the second like a calf. The third had the face of a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. So it occurs again in Revelation, suggesting to me there's still a future application of this prophecy. Now, this one's a little different in that the second beast is like a calf, and that matches Ezekiel chapter 10. So I'm wondering if this isn't a future application of this prophecy. You know the Bible works in repeating patterns, and I suspect that the basic model of Ezekiel is once again going to play out at the time of the end. But when the Bible repeats itself, when you have these patterns repeating, they don't repeat exactly the same, but they are similar enough that we recognize them. It's interesting to note regarding the eagle that it was a symbol of Babylon, Egypt, and Rome. Isn't that interesting? These are all enemies of Israel. And I also threw in there Nazi Germany. I know that's not biblical, but it's still worth noting. Enemies of Israel will often have the eagle as a symbol. Today, the Eagle of Saladin is a heraldic eagle that serves as the coat of arms in some Arab countries. Egypt, Iraq, Palestine, and Yemen. And there you have it. There are some pictures of them. Egypt, Iraq, Palestine, Yemen, Somaliland. But these are Middle Eastern countries that have a history of being enemies of Israel. I know some of you were thinking the United States also has an eagle. Well, I don't know what to make of that. Okay, the lion. Let's pursue that a little bit. The lion, the face of the lion. Daniel 7, I already noted this, how his vision of the four beasts, the first one is the lion, which would correspond to Nebuchadnezzar. And it says the first was like a lion. It had eagle's wings. So here we have the image of the lion and a reference to the eagle's. Then, as I looked, its wings were plucked off and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man. There's another face of that image. And the mind of a man was given to it. Jeremiah chapter four, verse seven, you can see where the lion again refers to Babylon. The lion has come up from his thicket and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way. He has gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate and thy city shall be laid waste without an inhabitant. Typical language of Jeremiah's prophecy, warning about the invasion of Babylon. Again, this is all mounting evidence to confirm the interpretation I'm offering of Ezekiel chapter one being a vision of the Babylonian army coming against Jerusalem. But here in Amos chapter three, verse 12, it doesn't refer to Babylon, it refers to Assyria. Thus saith the Lord, as the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of an ear, so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed and in Damascus in a couch. So here the lion is Assyria that destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel before these prophecies were given. And in the New Testament, it's Rome that takes on the description of a lion. Remember this from Peter, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour. You'll remember the Nero persecutions in the first century where Christians were thrown to the lions. So here the roaring lion is a reference to Rome, in particular Nero. Ah, and then we have this wonderful passage. It's a kingdom passage out of Isaiah 35, verse 9. One of the beautiful kingdom passages that we read in Isaiah where it says, No lion shall be there, nor any rabbit of speech shall go up thereon. It shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. The day will come when there isn't going to be any lion to ravage Israel. So this all will have a happy ending, won't it? We look forward to that day. Now, one of the things I looked at, you know, the man, the eagle and the lion, but I was a little puzzled about the ox being among these creatures, because man, although this is a theophany, it's subject as a man, which is Nebuchadnezzar, The lion and the eagle are good symbols because they're predators and they're unclean, so is man, especially when he's an eagle king. So a lion and eagle are suitable descriptions for Nebuchadnezzar, but the ox is a domestic animal. It's clean. It's used as a symbol of those who preach the gospel. Remember that? Paul's interpretation of that passage, You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain. He goes on to explain that was written about us. We're the ox. We're the ones treading out the grain, delivering the gospel message. Don't muzzle us. And he's trying to make an argument that you need to be supporters of those who preach the gospel. You know, don't muzzle those who are preaching the gospel. You need to provide for them. So the ox ultimately is symbolic of those who preach the gospel, especially the apostles. And an ox also is the most expensive animal sacrifice you could make under the law of Moses. That would have been probably your most expensive animal sacrifice. So with all this positive language about an ox, I wonder, why is that one of the faces for Nebuchadnezzar? It seemed out of place to me. And then I thought, wait a minute. What do we read about the ending of Nebuchadnezzar? It says in Daniel 4 verse 34, And at the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and my understanding returned to me. Remember he was given the heart of a beast for seven years. And then his sanity returned to him. So he says, my understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. In Daniel 2 verse 47, the king answered, this is after Daniel interpreted the dream, his dream, the metallic image. The king answered and said to Daniel, Truly your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery. So he commends the God of Daniel here in chapter 2. And this comment made of Belshazzar, and you, his son Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, that is the humbling of his father. His father responded like he should have. Belshazzar, his son, did not. So I'm wondering if that's why the ox applies to him, because they actually became an advocate for the God of Daniel, the God of Israel. A bit of speculation on my part there, but I'll throw it out for what it's worth. Now, what about four? Why are there four? Why that number four? And I'm not sure, but maybe it's because God's judgment's coming forth in Ezekiel, Ezekiel 14, 21, for thus says the Lord God, How much more when I send upon Jerusalem my four disastrous acts of judgment, sword, famine, wild beasts, and pestilence, a cut off from it man and beast? Is that why? In Daniel, we have the metallic image. There are four metals. In chapter seven, there are four beasts, and they represent nations that would dominate Israel because of their sins. So we see that number four appear, again in Revelation, the four living creatures again. Now, I heard this suggestion in Genesis, chapter one, in verse 14 to 19, day four, this is when the sun, moon, and stars are created, the heavenly bodies. So does that help us understand why there are four? This is a theophany in Ezekiel. It's a heavenly vision. The sun, moon, and stars are heavenly bodies. They're symbolic of Israel. Remember Joseph's dream, and that's because Israel has a heavenly connection. Israel's destined to be the kingdom of heaven. So is that what we have with the number four here, an emphasis that this Nebuchadnezzar was under heavenly control, heavenly guidance? Or is it like I said in the first passage here that it's because there's going to be four disastrous acts of judgment? I'm not sure, but there are some ideas I put out there. What about the eyes, the eyes and the wheels? Now, we read in Ezekiel 8, verse 12, where then he said to me, son of man, have you seen, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures? For they say the Lord does not see us. The Lord has forsaken the land. So people in Israel were doing things in their secret places, thinking that the Lord doesn't see them. It's kind of hard to understand. We all know God sees everything. You can't hide anything from the Lord. You can't find a place that the Lord won't see, but apparently they did. Did they not know that God could see? Ezekiel 14, verse 23. They will console you when you see their ways and their deeds, and you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, declares the Lord God. So here again, the seeing of these eyes and the wheels, I think are probably an indication that I see everything. There's all these eyes, like eyes everywhere. And almost like today with surveillance cameras everywhere. Everything is seen today. You can't do anything without it appearing on a surveillance camera. Well, God's like that. He has surveillance everywhere. He sees everything. So it could be that that's the whole idea between the eyes of this vision in Ezekiel chapter one. And what's interesting is that the Son of Man, Ezekiel, is allowed to see what God sees. Of course, that would be true with the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus Christ. He would be able to see what God sees also. And it seems that God is actually appealing to the Son of Man, to Ezekiel, to understand why he has to be so severe. He's saying they will console you when you see their ways and their deeds, and you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, declares the Lord. It's though God wants to appeal to him to understand why he's being so severe, which is interesting, a very interesting relationship going on here between God and Ezekiel. So that's what I think the eyes are all about in this vision. What about the bronze legs and feet? Well, I'm not quite sure, but in Ezekiel 1 verse 7, it says their legs were straight and the soles of their feet were like the soles of a cat's foot, and they sparkled like burnished bronze. I don't know if that means just the feet or if it means the legs and the feet. I'm not sure what they refer to. They sparkle. Is that talking about just the legs or just the feet? But in Daniel 10 verse 6, the arms and legs of the angel are described as having burnished bronze. And in Revelation chapter 1 verse 15, the feet of Jesus are described as burnished bronze. So I'm not sure what that's all about. It could indicate the divine foundation and motivation of these creatures, like the spirit in the wheels. Underneath these creatures are the wheels, and the spirit is in the wheels. So maybe this burnished bronze for the foundation of these creatures, the feet of these creatures, the legs and feet of these creatures. Maybe it's some indication of a divine foundation. Could it be that? And maybe it's in contrast to the feet of the metallic image of Daniels, of iron and clay. Remember the metallic image? It didn't have feet of burnished bronze. It had feet of iron and clay, and that was a weakness. And the stone cut out of the mountain, with human hands, strikes the image of the feet, and the image just collapses and is totally destroyed. So the feet of the metallic image, the feet of Nebuchadnezzar, if that image looked like Nebuchadnezzar, was destroyed because of its weak foundation, its iron and clay feet. So I just wonder, is there a contrast there? Anyway, I think this is, you know, conjecture, a bit of speculation, and it doesn't really change the conclusions I've come to with Ezekiel chapter 1. I still think the important thing is that we see that as a vision of Nebuchadnezzar, whom God is going to bring down against Jerusalem. And all these other things I'm adding in here are, you know, maybe a bit of speculation there, worthy of discussion. Now, here's the important part, and this is the lesson. And the lesson is that the Spirit of God moved the creatures. So though Nebuchadnezzar was a conqueror, God was in control. God is in control of everything, and he sees everything. That's a lesson that we need to take in as people of faith. We need to trust that, that God is in control of the nations, especially any of the nations that have to do with Israel. He's moving them. And he sees everything, sees everything in the lives of the people of Israel and in our lives, too. Now, that may seem obvious, but it's, you know, sometimes I think we can behave as though God isn't looking. I can do that. I'll think, you know, what am I doing? God knows he sees this. Maybe you have that experience, too. I don't know. He characterizes the leaders of the Gentile nations as beasts. Okay? And he will move the Gentile leaders to do his will. Ezekiel 23 verse 22. Therefore, O Aholaba, thus says the Lord God, behold, I will stir up against you your lovers from whom you turned in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side. What's this idea of the lovers? Well, that's describing the adulterous relationships that the people of Israel formed with the Gentile nations, what they should have been doing as repenting of their sins and turning to God for their security. But instead, they looked to the Gentile nations and made their alliances and their deals with them, and they followed the evil ways of the Gentiles, all of their evil deeds, and they formed these adulterous relationships, and it made God jealous, and it made him very angry with them. So God would stir up. Notice that. I will stir up against you your lovers, these Gentile nations. I will bring them against you. See? I think that's the theme of Ezekiel 1. I will bring them against you. I think the people of Israel thought they could manipulate their way, they could make deals, they could make their own peace, and they wouldn't have to resort to changing their ways and repenting of their sins and turning to God. I think they felt they can continue working things out on their own, apart from God, apart from following His ways. So I think that is the real important lesson. Look at this next passage in Ezekiel 16, verse 37. Therefore, behold, I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from every side and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness. So here again, they're lovers, these Gentile nations they made their alliances with. And what I find interesting about this passage, not only is it saying, I will gather your lovers with whom you took pleasure, but it's those you loved and all those you hated. Now, you could see where God would bring the enemies against them, the ones they hated, but He's going to bring all those you loved against them. When the Babylonian invasion came, they would know that God was behind it. The refrain that Ezekiel is known for is they will know that I am the Lord, meaning up to that point, they don't know that God is the Lord. They're just going on their own way, so God didn't exist. But once the Babylonian invasion came, they would know God was behind it. And that's really the purpose of this prophecy, because Ezekiel's told, they're not going to listen to you, they're not going to repent. Well, so why give it it all? And I think this is why. So that after the invasion came, then they would say Ezekiel was right. This was God who brought this destruction upon us. But also, they would know that therefore Ezekiel's promise of restoration was something that they could hope for. So I think that's important. It wasn't just so that they could say, see, I told you so. I told you God was going to destroy you. It's really so that when they were destroyed, when they were in distress, that they could also count on Ezekiel's promise of restoration that you see later on in his prophecy, which is typical of all Bible prophecy, where you have God's judgment on the people of Israel, but a remnant that repents is restored, and then their enemies are destroyed. That's the cycle of really all Bible prophecy. Consider the parallel to Israel today, making alliances with their Gentile lovers. Instead of repenting and turning to God. That's what they're doing today. It's amazing how parallel they are to this day. You know, you look at some of the behavior that goes on in Tel Aviv. You look at their fierce opposition really to Christianity. They kind of keep a lid on it, but they're not kind to fellow Jews who become Christians. Rather unpopular. I'm not going to take time to talk about that much right now, but it's true. And they're doing the same thing that their ancestors did. They're making their alliance with Gentile lovers, especially with the United States. I mean, they're really counting on the United States for military support. And I just can't help but think the day is going to come when God is going to turn their lovers against them, not just the ones they hate, but the ones they love. The friends of theirs. God is going to turn against them. So that's what I see as the important lesson coming out of Ezekiel chapter one. We need to understand that God is in control of these nations, and he can move them for or he can move them against the people of Israel. And so we shouldn't just look at events and talk about all the politics behind it, the good policies or the bad policies. This is God at work. God is moving these nations against Israel. So when we're seeing the missiles landing on Israel, that's God doing it. The people of Israel should know that. I was watching just about two weeks ago the BBC on TV, and one of their reporters went into a bomb shelter in Tel Aviv while their missiles are falling on Tel Aviv, and there was this drag queen, this man dressed as a woman, and dancing with the people in the bomb shelter, and they're celebrating with this person. And I'm thinking to myself, don't you people understand this is why you're in a bomb shelter being bombed? This is God putting pressure on you. But just like in the days of Ezekiel, they don't want to know, they don't want to listen. And God will keep turning up the heat until they really get destroyed. I think that's what they're heading for. So I just find it so amazing to see what was going on in the days of Ezekiel and see how parallel it is to today in Israel. So I see the lesson here is very relevant. And as far as we're concerned as Christenalphians, we need to take that lesson too. We don't make alliances with the Gentile nations. We don't get involved with the politics and rallying behind this candidate or that candidate. Those are the kingdoms of men. We don't make them our lovers. God is just pleased with natural Israel doing that. He's not going to be pleased with New Israel doing that. Our Lord's kingdom is not of this world. We don't belong to this world, the political world. And we know God is in control of it. He'll move the nations in the direction that he wants. I think that's especially important now because the world is changing fast. We're watching the world order changing fast. And there's all kinds of commentary going on, and people are wondering what's going on. You can just see it in the newscasters struggling with the rapid changes that are going on. We as believers need to look at that and understand this is God moving things in this direction. God is rapidly changing the world order. God is in control of all that's going on right now in the Middle East. There was one commentator who said, talking about the Strait of Hormuz, who said, by accident of geography, there's this narrow strait. There's no accident. God made that. And he knew that this day would come when the enemies of Israel would have this advantage with the Strait of Hormuz. Whoever could have predicted that, that it would be so key, not just to the Middle East, but the entire world. Things like this, we need to look at this as the hand of God at work.