Angels provided Zechariah with the interpretation of numerous extraordinary visions that he had experienced. The entire book of Zechariah is filled with visions and conversations that Zechariah ensues with angels. To adequately report it would require inserting the entire book of Zechariah. For fascinating reading, if you have not, you may want to read it. It will leave you with answers as well as questions. Here are a couple of verses to give you an idea. “I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white. Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be. And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the LORD hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.” (Zechariah 1:8-11) I believe those who walked through the earth are angels.
Ezekiel’s visions include the image of a “being” on a throne. This “being” would have to be God himself. No one else is qualified to be on the throne. The vehicles described in the vision will be covered in more debth in another blog. What Ezekiel sees is unlike anything reported in the scriptures. The first vision is revealed to him while in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar, which today would be Iraq. He speaks in Ezekiel, chapter one, of seeing vehicles and God himself sitting on the throne. The man appears very bright to Ezekiel, like fire from his head to his feet.
“And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face and I heard a voice of one that spake.” (Ezekiel 1:26-28)
Ezekiel, a second time, speaks of seeing this vision. “Then I arose and went forth into the plain: and behold, the glory of the LORD stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river of Chebar and I fell on my face.” (Ezekiel 3:23)
Once again in chapter forty-three, as he had described previously by the river Chebar, Ezekiel speaks of a glorious appearing. The words that God communicates to Ezekiel are intense and heart piercing. God emphatically states that the soles of his feet shall stand by mans’ without end and that his house will be by their house and will no more be dishonored. “Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east: And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory. And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city: and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon on my face. And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east. So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house. And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me. And he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, nor by the carcases of their kings in their high places. In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds, and their post by my posts, and the wall between me and them, they have even defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in mine anger. Now let them put away their whoredom and the carcases of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever.” (Ezekiel 43:1-9) Verse six describes an angel standing beside Ezekiel at the same time as God spoke.
Isaiah the prophet in the first chapter of his writings also describes seeing the throne of God: “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.” (Isaiah 6:1)
This posting, as well as others we have covered, reveals to us that God himself is a being with a form just like man. Ezekiel said he saw the appearance of a man. God spoke in the beginning: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” (Genesis 1:26-27)
Paul describes Jesus as being the image of God. “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” (Colossians 1:15-17)
