📖 Scripture

1 I looked, and I saw the likeness of a throne of lapis lazuli above the vault that was over the heads of the cherubim.
2 The Lord said to the man clothed in linen, “Go in among the wheels beneath the cherubim. Fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubim and scatter them over the city.” And as I watched, he went in.
3 Now the cherubim were standing on the south side of the temple when the man went in, and a cloud filled the inner court.
4 Then the glory of the Lord rose from above the cherubim and moved to the threshold of the temple. The cloud filled the temple, and the court was full of the radiance of the glory of the Lord.
5 The sound of the wings of the cherubim could be heard as far away as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.
6 When the Lord commanded the man in linen, “Take fire from among the wheels, from among the cherubim,” the man went in and stood beside a wheel.
7 Then one of the cherubim reached out his hand to the fire that was among them. He took up some of it and put it into the hands of the man in linen, who took it and went out.
8 (Under the wings of the cherubim could be seen what looked like human hands.)

📝 Scripture Summary

Ezekiel sees a throne of lapis lazuli above the vault over the cherubim. The Lord tells the man in linen to take burning coals from among the cherubim and scatter them over the city. The man enters and the temple fills with the radiance of the Lord’s glory. The man receives fire from one of the cherubim and goes out.

💬 Memory Verse

“Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.” – Ezekiel 11:20

🔍 Reflection

According to God’s Purposes (10:1–4)

In his sobering vision, Ezekiel witnesses the initial stages of God’s glory departing from the temple. God’s judgment falls upon His people and the worst part of this judgment is His departure from their place of worship. However, there is a dual image here in the cherubim and the man clothed in linen which represents judgment and mercy. The burning coals scattered over Jerusalem symbolize purifying judgment, yet the presence of the man in linen testifies of God’s preservation of a remnant, as seen in the previous chapter. The stunning detail of God’s throne above it all reminds us that even in judgment, even when He feels far off, God remains sovereignly enthroned, working out His purposes with perfect wisdom.

Have you ever felt like God has abandoned you because you did something wrong? What assurance does Scripture give to believers regarding God’s presence in their lives?

Through Created Instruments (10:5–8)

The mechanical precision of the cherubim’s movements and the passing of coals demonstrate that God’s judgment is never capricious or arbitrary. The sound of the cherubim’s wings, “like the voice of God Almighty” (v. 5), adds to the other-worldly awe of this scene of divine judgment. Though Ezekiel describes this scene from the spiritual realm in great detail, it can still be hard to imagine. On the physical and material plane of reality, we have not even begun to fathom the vast mysteries of God’s entire universe, especially the invisible spiritual plane. Yet Ezekiel notes that the cherubim have human hands under their wings—human-like hands performing divine tasks—pointing to how God often works through created instruments to accomplish His plans.

Re-read Ezekiel’s description of all he sees in this passage. Meditate on the fact that God rules over a vast world you have not even begun to grasp.

🌟 Today’s Inspiration

“God is working. We just have to stop, look, and notice.” – Jasmyn Stamper

🙏 Prayer

Lord God, I am in awe of who You are. You reign over all the heavens and the earth. You are to be revered and feared because You are both just and merciful. Cultivate in my heart a reverential fear of You for all of my days. In Jesus’ name, amen.

✍️ Essay

Always Around

Can God leave a place? After all, isn’t God omnipresent—always present everywhere and anywhere? But the Bible talks about God leaving Israel at different points in the nation’s history. How could He leave and yet be omnipresent? Is there a contradiction? To quote from a Ligonier devotional, “When Scripture says that God has left His people, it means that He has taken His blessing from them, that He is no longer protecting the visible covenant people from harm. Thus, if the church ceases to obey God’s Word and begins to teach and tolerate significant theological error, the Lord will allow the visible community to suffer.”

Ultimately, God will never leave His people. God is our good Father and a good father will not leave his children. When children do wrong, a father is grieved. And Christians can certainly grieve God through sin. But that does not mean that He will leave. A good father disciplines his children but does not abandon them. As the writer of Hebrews points out, God promised in Deuteronomy that He would never leave or forsake His people (Heb. 13:5). And Paul tells us that nothing will separate us from the love of Christ (Rom. 8:38–39).

When you feel like God has abandoned you, when it feels like He does not even care, know that Jesus took God’s abandonment upon Himself as He died on the cross. Jesus experienced abandonment so that His redeemed people may never experience His wrath.

Written by James Eppley