Ezekiel suddenly gets a heavenly vision as he is among the
exiles in Babylon. His call to prophetic
ministry is as dramatic as any with this vision of the heavenly throne. The detail in the vision of the creatures is
striking, the impression it made on him was seared in his brain and his heart
forever. What could he have made of the
vision? Can you imagine being among a
group of mourners, as the exile community would have been, without hope, and
suddenly being given such a powerful vision from the Lord? What do you do, how do you react? Why are these “living creatures” the first
thing the prophet reveals to us? In
Judaism, Maimonides (12th century ) ranked these creatures as first
among the angelic order, upholding the throne of God and the earth itself. They are remarkably similar to the creatures
John saw in the Revelation.
Some doubted. Who are
these who doubted even at this time? It
is speculated that there were more than the eleven disciples gathered at this
time, and that some of these others doubted.
It does indeed seem unlikely that the disciples could have harbored
doubts at this time, they had seen Jesus and spoken with Him on several
occasions and their doubts were seemingly put to rest. We also could question whether those
assembled on the mountain were doubters, simply that there were some to whom He
had not appeared who doubted or that until they saw what Matthew tells of the
Ascension there were some others who doubted.
The truth is we don’t know what Matthew intended here, it is even
possible that he is referring to the episode which John details with Thomas. The Commission given to the disciples and, by
extension, us, is to baptize, make disciples and teach them to obey all He
commanded. The promise is that even
though He is going away, He will be with us as we do this work, even to the end
of the age. The ascension, which we
celebrate today, makes possible the outpouring of the Spirit. Because Jesus goes to the place of honor at
the right hand of the Father, we now have access to the Father through the
Spirit.
The incarnation restored the redeemed humanity to its
original place in creation. For a time,
we were lower than the angels but the incarnation, death, ascension and
resurrection of Jesus carries our nature to the right hand of God. We do not yet see all things in subjection
but by faith we, like Abraham, know it as a fait accompli. He has become the great high priest who makes
propitiation for the sins of those who are created in the image of God. We have seen what Ezekiel has seen and yet we
have seen the fullness of the vision in a way Ezekiel longed to see, in the
cross of Jesus. The angels might be of
great importance but none can compare with the one the angels worship, the lamb
looking like it was slain who appeared before the throne of God, the perfect
and final sacrifice.
No comments:
Post a Comment