Who Did Ezekiel See?

Shame that in this interpretation, the Man looks more like a grandfather than a son.

The Glory that Ezekiel meets in Ezek.1, is not an impersonal light-bulby type glory, but a personal one who later in Ezek.3:23 stands and talks with him.

In fact, He looks similar to the Man, Daniel sees in Dan.7 and the Man John meets in Rev.1 and given that only God can deal in the impossible - like being eternal - I reckon they are all appearances of the same person. Yet no one has ever seen God (John 1:18)

So no prizes for guessing who I think it is - the eternal second person of the Trinity joyfully and obediently revealing His unseen Father to the world and fulfilling all his Father's purpose (Matt.11:27, Rev.1:17, Heb.1:3).

What Do Matthew, Mark, Luke and John have in Common with an Ox, a Lion, an Eagle and a Man?

If you're familiar with the writings of the early church, you'll know that they associated the gospels of Jesus with four living creatures: an ox, a lion, an eagle and a man. Depending on who you read, you will associate the different animals with different gospels for different reasons, and who knows - perhaps there's meant to be a certain ambiguity to them, it keeps us human control freaks humble and on our toes.

James Jordan (no prizes for guessing that I side with him thus far) sees Matthew with the Ox, Mark with the Lion, Luke with the Eagle and John with the Man. The Ox being symbolic of Priesthood and Sanctuary, the Lion of King and Kingdom, the Eagle of Prophet and World and the Man of Messiah fulfilling the first three restoring us to fellowship with God.

(If you didn't know anything about what I have just written, don't worry, neither did I until about 5hrs ago! But if you're like me then this is interesting stuff.)

These four animals connect back into the Old Testament both to the visions at the beginning of Ezekiel (see also Rev.4:7) and to the layout of the camp of Israel in the Wilderness. Jordan writes:

The Motorcade and Wisdom of God

I've blogged on 1 Kings 19 before here.

Elijah meets the Word (Christ) in the cave, who tells him to go out and stand in the presence of the LORD (Father) who is about to pass by. What follows is wind, earthquake and fire before the peaceful and gentle, (but by no means quiet) voice of the Almighty is heard.

Why the wind, earthquake and fire?

The Glory And The Fall of King Solomon

The Visit of the queen of Sheba is probably the climax of Israel's Old Testament history.

Jonathan is a Type of John the Baptist

Jonathan, the son of Saul, is, unlike his father, quite a man of God. He sees what God is doing and rather than getting in the way, he does all he can to ensure it comes to pass. As I've pondered this, I'm beginning to think that Jonathan's life be a prophetic picture (a type) of John the Baptist. Here's a comparison, by no means exhaustive - feel free to comment with observations:

They are both born into a royal household.
Jonathan, the son of King Saul - 1Sam.14:40
John the Baptist, tenuous I know, but related as a cousin of Jesus who was a direct descendent of King David - Lk.1:35-36

Clothing Share

Something a bit different from the Bible in a year plan... (If you want to hear more on Saul and David, come to the next Biblical Thinking Forum.)

Psalm 104:2 talks about how Israel's God - Jehovah - wraps himself in a garment of light. Clothing in the Bible is less to do with avoiding lust and shame, (something that the legalists and moralists would lead you to believe) and more to do with glorification, authority and position.

So that the LORD is wrapped in light in this Psalm is not because he is feeling exposed, but because he is highly exalted and truly glorious!

Having recently read Ruth, my mind went straight back to the moment when Ruth asked Boaz to spread his garment over her (Ruth 3:9) i.e. to become her kinsman redeemer and marry her. Boaz duly and speedily did so. That is a picture of Christ and his church.

The garment of righteousness Christ gives to his church is not so much one that she walks off with, but one that she joins him inside. The two become one flesh - wrapped up in glorious holy light - united together forever - Rev.7:15 - in the kingdom of Christ and his Father.

Beginnings of Promise

1 Samuel 9-10

I find Saul a tragic, but fascinating character. He begins with such promise, but ends in such ignominy. How can one do that? Especially when God is in control? There are loads of things I don't understand. This is one of them.

Rather than say anything more, I'll repost something I wrote 18 months ago, It's my best guess to date at trying to understand how it could all go so terribly wrong...

Premature Kingship

1 Samuel 5-8

Often sin is not taking the wrong thing, but taking the right thing at the wrong time. It was always God's intention to share his divine nature with us (2Pet.1:4), but Adam grasped for it at the wrong time, he didn't want to wait for God's appointed time (Gen.3:6).

When Moses gave the Israelites the Law, he said they would have a king, (Deut.17:15) but they now demand this good thing the at the wrong time and with the wrong motives.

Hijack.

Judges 3-4

It would appear, according to Samuel's opening comment that appearances of the Son of God were not common in this period of Israel's history. He was no doubt so appalled at the spiritual adultery of his people and especially his priests that he withdraws from them.

Hannah and Mary both Top of the Pops

It is certainly possible that Samson (Jud.13:24) and Samuel were contemporaries, James Jordan thinks so.

Both Hannah, who gave birth to the great judge and deliverer, Samuel, and Mary who gave birth to the true and better Samuel aka Jesus sing about the birth of their sons.

One can't help but feel Mary had studied Hannah's song before she thought up her own with the help of the Spirit. Hannah sings:

Building Up the Father's House

The book of Ruth feels like a wonderful little oasis of personal life that we can relate more easily to than all the killing and political machinations going on in the surrounding books. But let's be careful, lest we are too readily satisfied, interpreting this book in our own sentimental, romantic image and not looking for anything of greater depth.

Whilst the book is called Ruth, this is in a sense misleading, for it is about how God uses Ruth and Boaz to restore Naomi (Ru.4:14)

Can It Get Any Worse?

Judges 17-18

Don't know about you, but when I read through Judges, I am struck by how the people only behave (at least in public) when they have a strong leader i.e. a judge in place. Once he (or she) goes, they descend into idolatry and chaos again. There seems to be no godly self-governing principle and (therefore) no appetite for transmitting the knowledge of God to the next generation.

Meet Samson

Judges 13-16

Most people think of the famous Bible character as having rippling muscles, rather like this:

But given the Philistines could not work out what gave him his strength, he probably looked more like this:

Just Enjoy It

Judges 4-5

A couple of years ago, I was of the opinion that the only reason Deborah became a "judge" in Israel was because the men had all abdicated their responsibilities and that the whole situation was wrong. Deborah should not have held that office.

I now think I was somewhat short-sighted. That Deborah was a judge may well have been an exceptional occurrence, but it was not an evil one. Nowhere does the Bible condemn this state of affairs. For example, Isaiah does not at any point introduce his declarations of woe and judgement with the opening line: "Remember the former abominable days of Deborah?... This is like them..." I am thus of the opinion that neither should we.

The Only Defence is a Good Offence

Judges 1-3

The conquest of Canaan was a Holy War, unlike any other campaign that Israel would wage in its subsequent history. After the main offensive drive, there remained pockets of resistance that were to be annihilated (believe it or not I squirm writing that).

Looking Backwards and Forwards

The last chapters of Joshua reveal some interesting details about the history of God's people, which help us to make sense of what we'll see next in Judges and why Joshua presents such a strong ultimatum to Israel before his handover to the next generation.

You may remember that Exodus opens (Ex.1:8) with the statement that there arose a Pharaoh in Egypt who did not know (acknowledge) Joseph and what he had done for the nation. This Pharaoh had deliberately forgotten his history and so began to deal "craftily" with God's people by making them slaves.

Conquest and Compromise

Observations on Josh 4-7

As mentioned in the previous post, the people of Canaan are dreading the arrival of the Israelites. When they hear that God has dried up the river Jordan, their hearts melt with fear.

Israel consecrates itself to the Lord by mass national circumcision and Passover. Had the Canaanites had any sense, they would have seen this as their chance to strike (just like Simeon and Levi did back in Gen.34:25), but they are so awash with terror that even though the whole Israelite army gets laid out for a week like sitting ducks - they still don't try to gain an advantage.

What Took You So Long?

Observations on Joshua 1-3

God promises to establish Joshua as long as he meditates on the law and is strong and courageous. Those are the only prerequisites. His primary support is not his strategy, back up plan or wise council, but the Word of God and the good courage that comes from trusting the one who inspired it. Not much has changed. (Acts 4:29)

Moses Ascends

The last chapter of Deuteronomy is something of a tear jerker. Moses, the man of God, who has represented the coming Messiah to the nation of Israel in so many ways, (promise, picture and person), who saved them out of bondage in Egypt, who had averted the wrath of God from destroying them for their rebellion, who even had beheld the back of the Father as well as the face of the pre-incarnate Christ, is finally leaving them.

Preach It Moses!

James Jordan says that most of Deuteronomy, which he likes to refer to as "Old Gold" :-), is Moses' expositional sermon on the 10 commandments. Sometimes the links seem a little tenuous to our modern ears, but am beginning to see where he is coming from. I can't remember the exact divisions he makes, but it goes something like this: