Ezekiel 10:15-22: a reflection

15The cherubim mounted up. This is the living creature that I saw by the river Chebar. 16When the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them; and when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the wheels also didn’t turn from beside them. 17When they stood, these stood. When they mounted up, these mounted up with them; for the spirit of the living creature was in them. 18The LORD’s glory went out from over the threshold of the house and stood over the cherubim. 19The cherubim lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight when they went out, with the wheels beside them. Then they stood at the door of the east gate of the LORD’s house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. 20This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river Chebar; and I knew that they were cherubim. 21Every one had four faces, and every one four wings. The likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings. 22As for the likeness of their faces, they were the faces which I saw by the river Chebar, their appearances and themselves. They each went straight forward.

Ezekiel watches something heartbreaking. The glory of God, which had filled the temple, rises up from over the threshold, moves to the cherubim, and prepares to depart. The living creatures with their four faces and wheels within wheels lift their wings, and the glory of the God of Israel goes with them to the east gate. The presence that had been Israel's greatest treasure is leaving the defiled house.

The vision is sobering, but it carries a hidden mercy too. God's glory does not vanish; it moves. He is not confined to a building, even his own temple. When the house is defiled and his people persist in sin, his presence withdraws, yet it goes out to be with his people in exile, mobile, free, not chained to a place. Even as the departing glory warns of judgment, it reveals a God who is not trapped and who will not finally abandon those he loves.

Two truths press on you here. First, God's presence is not something to be presumed upon; where sin is cherished and unaddressed, the sense of his nearness can quietly withdraw, and that loss is grievous. Guard against treating his presence casually. Second, take comfort that God is not confined; he can meet his people anywhere, even in their exile. If you feel his nearness has grown distant, do not despair. Turn back to him, and seek the God who is free to draw near again.

Lord, Ezekiel watched your glory depart from a defiled temple, and it is a grievous thing to lose the sense of your presence. Guard me from cherishing any sin that would drive your nearness away. Yet you are not confined to any place, and you meet your people even in their exile. When you feel distant, draw my heart back, and let me know your presence again. Amen.