From today’s reading...
I looked; a stormy wind blew from the north, a great cloud with flashing fire and brilliant light round it, and in the middle, in the heart of the fire, a brilliance like that of amber, and in the middle what seemed to be four living creatures. They looked like this: They were of human form.” Ezekiel 1:4-5
And we just thought Revelation had some crazy stories.
Ha!
Ezekiel was a captive in Babylon at the time of his vision and writing, which sets him apart from Isaiah, who wrote before the exile of the Israelites, and Habakkuk, who wrote after they returned to their homeland.
As such, Ezekiel was encouraging his readers with visions of God storming in from the north (Israel usually got attacked from the north) to free them with fire and light as He directed His powerful…emissaries?…mercenaries?…executioners? to do His bidding.
These angels of destruction, mercy, and justice resemble us, so they can relate to our trials and tribulations, but they are of God, so they are not us.
How can that be?
Anything can be that God wants to be, thus the confusing, complicated descriptions.
At the end of the day, all we need to remember is that God has our back before, during, and after our attackers hit us with their best shots so...
Stay the course.
Keep the faith.
Endure.
Now go sell something.