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Visions of God

Joshua Carter
10/23/16 - Sunday

I Timothy 6:16
"...he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen."

Ezekiel 1:1-28
Conclusions to be drawn from Ezekiel's vision of God as he stood on the bank of the Chebar canal, during the exile of God's people in the land of Babylon.
1) God is Awesome! 
2) God is Alive!
Here the vision describes how God is served by the living creatures
3) God is Everywhere!
The living creatures darted to and fro with the Four Wheels carrying them in all directions. without turning.
God's people felt abandoned in their exile but the vision shows that He was there with them in Babylon. He showed up during this captivity to prove that He was still ruling.
4) God sees Everything!
The rims were tall and had eyes that saw all around.
II Chron. 16:9 "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth."
*Do you find this to be a comforting or disturbing thought?
Effect of the Vision
v.28 "...when I saw it, I fell on my face..."
1) Ezekiel sees God's glory and then he hears His voice. 
During Isaiah's vision this was also true - Isaiah 6:10 
Isaiah's mission was laid out for him. He was to wait until God's time and then heal the children of God. 
See with their Eyes, Hear with their Ears, Understand with their Hearts, Turn and be healed.
Just as the Israelites, we lose sight of the glory of God and don't listen, understand or change. This colors our vision of the church and God's plan for us. 
2) How can we perceive God's glory in our lives? God reveals Himself in words - His word.
John 1:1-2 "In the beginning was the Word, and Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God."
v14 "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."
3) God revealed His glory, nature though Jesus
John 12:38-41 
4) How do we see Jesus?
Gal 3:1-2 The Galatians saw Jesus by hearing with faith the message of the gospel.
IMPORTANCE of this message:
For us to turn our lives over to God, we must listen with our ears, we must understand with our hearts, we must see the glory of God revealed in Jesus.