The Prophet Ezekiel: An Analytical ExpositionGaebelein, Arno Clemens
Religion
The Prophet Ezekiel: An Analytical Exposition
Gaebelein, Arno Clemens
Bible. Ezekiel -- Commentaries
Once more the Prophet beholds in the firmament above the cherubim the
likeness of a throne. It is the throne of the Lord. However, the
occupant of the throne is not seen; His voice only is heard. The man
clothed with linen is commanded to go in between the wheels, under the
cherub, to fill his hands with coals of fire and then to scatter them
over the city. Who is this man clothed in linen? He appeared for the
first time in the preceding chapter. With the inkhorn at his side, he
set the mark upon the foreheads of the faithful ones. Here we see him
again executing the judgment upon Jerusalem. Judgment is given into his
hands. That he is a supernatural being is clear. And he is more than an
angel. He held the place of pre-eminence among the other angels (chapter
ix:2-4). This angel is the Angel of the Lord, the same who appeared to
the Patriarchs, to Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Manoah and to others. It is
the Son of God in the garb of an angel. In the same form he also
appeared to Daniel on the banks of the river Hiddekel. "Then I lifted up
mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose
loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz. His body also was like the
beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as
lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in color to polished
brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude" (Dan.
x:5-6). Here we have a complete description of the same person whom
Ezekiel saw taking the coals of fire and scattering them over Jerusalem.
Judgment upon the guilty city came from his hands.
When we turn to the Book of Revelation, we find a similar scene which
has not yet been enacted. "And another angel came and stood at the
altar, having a golden censer; and there was given to him much incense
that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden
altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which
came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the
angel's hand. And the Angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of
the altar, and cast it into the earth; and there were voices, and
thunderings, and lightnings and an earthquake" (Rev. viii:3-5). This
angel who presents the prayers before the throne and who casts the
judgment fire into the earth is the One who received from God's hands
the seven sealed book (Rev. v:1), the Lamb of God, the Lion of the tribe
of Judah. This Angel-Priest, into whose hands also judgment is
committed, is the Son of God. John saw Him dealing in judgment with the
earth, a judgment which has not yet come, and Ezekiel beheld Him as the
executor of the judgment upon Jerusalem, which was carried out through
Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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