I looked, and I saw the likeness of a throne of sapphire above the expanse that was over the heads of the cherubim. 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. - Eze. 10:1-2 NIV
Ezekiel's description of his encounter with the cherubim of the Lord and the man in linen are as mysterious as the prophecies and visions of Daniel, or John on the Isle of Patmos. Our minds cannot conceive what these living creatures really looked like, but that is not the issue. What Ezekiel saw was real. He saw the glory of the Lord leave the temple in Jerusalem...the place that had been God's dwelling place for generations, but the place that had now become desecrated and the priests corrupt. A Holy God cannot live among the profane, so his glory had to depart. Then the cherubim, with the wheels beside them, spread their wings, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them. The glory of the LORD went up from within the city and stopped above the mountain east of it. - Eze. 11:22-23 NIV
God gave Ezekiel the promise that a remnant of the exiles would return to Jerusalem. "They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. - Eze. 11:18-20 NIV
But that would be in the future, for now the Glory of the Lord has left the temple and the city and the people remaining will receive the destruction they have been so bent on pursuing.
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