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Ezekiel 1 Devotional

Glory Among the Exiles

“The appearance of the brilliant light all around Him was like that of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell facedown and heard a voice speaking.”Ezekiel 1:28 (BSB)

Ezekiel is not in Jerusalem when the heavens open. He is a priest among the exiles by the River Kebar, far from the temple (1:1-3). There the hand of the LORD comes upon him. A storm rolls in from the north, full of fire, and Ezekiel strains for words: living creatures, gleaming wheels, wings that roar like rushing water, a throne, and on it a figure like a man, ringed with brightness like a rainbow (1:4-28).

He keeps saying likeness and appearance, as though words fall short. The point is not to decode each face and wheel but to take in what he saw: the glory of the LORD, alive and moving, not bound to one building or one land. Ezekiel's only response is to fall on his face (1:28). Exile had not put God out of reach. John later saw a throne ringed by a rainbow too (Revelation 4:2-3). No place is too distant for this glory, including wherever you are today.

To think about: Where do you feel far from God right now, and how does his glory appearing to exiles by a foreign river speak to that place?

About Ezekiel 1: Ezekiel’s Vision of God’s Glory

Among the exiles in Babylon, the priest Ezekiel sees a fiery storm cloud from the north out of which come four winged creatures, each with four faces and a gleaming wheel beside it. Above them is a sapphire-like throne bearing a radiant human-like figure, a vision of the LORD’s glory, and Ezekiel falls on his face.

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