Being Consecrated Ones Expressing Christ for God’s Move to Carry out His Economy

The vision in Ezekiel 1, the deepest chapter in the Bible, is very broad and all-inclusive; it includes the wind, the cloud, the fire, and the electrum, and related to these are the four living creatures – who had high and awesome wheels by their faces, speaking of the Lord’s move.

There’s no separate vision of the high and awesome wheels – these are part of the great vision in this chapter, and we need to see their significance and application in the context of the overall vision. Ezekiel chapter 1 shows us the vision of the appearance of the glory of Jehovah for His manifestation, move, and administration.

The first element of this vision was the wind, the cloud, the fire, and the electrum; then, related to these, we have the four living creatures. Then related to the four living creatures, we have the high and awesome wheels, and then the expanse like the sight of awesome crystal, and the Man on the throne above the expanse.

The matter of the high and awesome wheels is both mysterious and wonderful, and with the help of the ministry of the age we can see that these refer to the Lord’s move.

We need the Lord to enlighten the eyes of our heart and open our understanding for us to know, see, and experience the spiritual reality of the high and awesome wheels in Ezekiel 1.

A Picture of the Economy of God and of God’s Move on Earth to Carry out His Economy

The entire Bible – from the first book of Genesis to the last book of Revelation – presents to us a full picture of the economy of God (see Eph. 1:10; 3:9; 1 Tim. 1:4) and of God’s move on earth to carry out His economy.

In the book of Ezekiel, God’s economy and His move in His economy are signified by a wheel (see Ezek. 1:15). The hub of this great wheel signifies Christ – who is the center of God’s economy; the rim of the wheel signifies the church – the counterpart of Christ, which consummates in the New Jerusalem; the spokes of the wheel signify the many believers in Christ – the members of Christ.

The center of God’s economy is Christ, the rim and circumference is the church; when Christ moves, the church also moves. The spokes are the believers in Christ; God is joined and mingled with man, and God moves in man and with man.

The high and awesome wheels are a picture of God’s move. As this age draws to a close, we all want to be one with the Lord for His move, but what is God’s move?

For us to know God’s move, we need to trace it back to its origin and source: in eternity past the Triune God had a good pleasure, a heart’s desire, according to which He willed and purposed something; He made an eternal purpose in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This eternal purpose will fulfill His heart’s desire, and to carry out this purpose God made an economy, a dispensation. God’s move is the present advance in His economy; it is what God is doing at this time in this age to carry out His economy.

We cannot separate God’s move from His economy, or else we will end up with a movement of man – and not God’s move. Because God moves in a purposeful way, His move has a definite direction; the direction of the Lord’s move today is to build up the organic Body of Christ, to prepare the bride of Christ, and to bring in the kingdom of Christ.

Both God’s move and the principle of God’s move are seen in the picture of the high and awesome wheels. We need to see the Lord’s move and the principle by which He moves, otherwise we will very easily fall into something else, which is a movement of man.

The principle of God’s move is the principle of incarnation, and it is seen in Ezekiel 1 in the way of a picture, a vision. God moves in the principle of incarnation; His way to move is only in man, through man, and with man – He doesn’t move apart from man.

God cannot move until He has a corporate man who is coordinated together with Him; when God gains the four living creatures coordinated together, He has a way to move.

The first man He could freely move through was the Lord Jesus in the Four Gospels; He began to move to carry out His New Testament economy in this Man. God had a free way to move in Christ, because His living was absolutely one and in coordination with the Triune God. The Lord’s moving, living, speaking, and actions, were in coordination with God.

In Acts, God continued to move through the corporate Christ: He moved in His economy to propagate Himself through the disciples, not just through the individual Christ. Man moves in God’s move, and God moves in man’s move.

The appearing of the wheels on earth beside the living creatures indicates that God’s move on earth follows the coordination of the living creatures; in a sense, it is hard to say who moves first, God or man, for the Spirit follows the coordination of the living creatures, and the living creatures follow the Spirit; these move together as one.

Unless there are coordinated living creatures expressing Christ, God will not move and cannot move. The move by a wheel implies an extraordinary move with a purpose; it is not an ordinary move but an extraordinary move with a purpose and with a direction.

To get from one city to another, you need a set of wheels, but to go from the bed to the door at home, you don’t need wheels.

The move by a wheel implies that this move is not by our own strength; the move is by the wheels, not by our strength or ability, just as the eagle doesn’t flap his wings to fly but soars and glides on the current of air.

Lord Jesus, gain us as the coordinated living creatures on earth who are one with God’s move to carry out His economy. Show us what You are doing today, Lord, and cause us to be fully one with You in Your up-to-date move. May we be the coordinated group of people on earth who cooperate with Your move and who give You a free way to move to carry out Your economy at this moment in time, in our place, in this age. May all our living, speaking, and actions be in coordination with the Triune God and the saints so that God would have a free way to move in us and with us!

To have the Lord’s Move we need to be Consecrated Ones who Live out and Express Christ

The fact that the wheels are for the four faces of the living creatures indicates that, if we would have the Lord’s move, we must first live out the Lord, expressing Him. The face is the expression, and the wheel goes along with the face; if there’s no expression of Christ, no living out of Christ, there is no move of the Lord.

The base for the Lord to move in us, through us, and with us is our living; we need to live Christ, let Christ live in us, and for us to live should be Christ (Rom. 13:14; Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:19-21).

When we live Christ and express Him, we are able to move and God is able to move in us and through us; when we are the living expression of God, a coordinated group of living creatures who express Christ, we give the Lord a way to move on earth in us and through us.

As the four living creatures, we not only express Christ but also become the means for Him to move; first we need to have His image before we can be useful to God and express His dominion and kingdom on earth.

Adam, the first man, failed God – he didn’t express God or represent Him but rather became an instrument for Satan to move on earth, and now the earth is a realm in which Satan moves freely. However, Satan’s deception of the first man could not stop God’s move; nothing can stop God’s high and awesome wheels.

God’s solution is to find and gain a man that He could use on earth for His move. So first He became such a man: He entered into humanity, lived a complete and normal genuine human life (including conception, birth, and all the human experiences), and through His death and in His resurrection this man has been enlarged!

Now the four living creatures – which is us, the believers in Christ, are the enlargement of Christ, His Body on earth as the means for Him to move and carry out His administration.

If we see the move of the Lord and His desire to gain a man on earth who is one with Him, the reaction should be one of consecrating ourselves to Him; we need to put everything we have and are on the altar.

Our living is to the Lord, and when He appears to us, we simply consecrate ourselves to Him and have the life of the altar and the tent, as Abraham did. This means that we don’t take roots anywhere but rather let God deal with us through the altar and deal with our possessions through the tent.

We place everything on the altar, and what passes through the altar we use in the tent as we live to the Lord, not being rooted on earth but being movable, willing to move where the Lord wants us to go.

Our life as believers should be of consecration to the Lord and being willing to move, expressing the Lord wherever we are and being in coordination with the saints, so that the Lord would move in us and through us.

Lord, thank You for showing us Your move, Your up-to-date move to fulfill Your economy in this age today. We give ourselves to You, Lord, for Your move. We put everything we have and are on the altar, and we want to live a life of being willing to move wherever You want us to be for Your corporate expression. Lord, may You be expressed in us and through us. May it be no longer us but Christ living in us both individually and corporately. Gain a corporate man on earth who fully cooperates with Your move on earth today!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by brother Mark R. for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Ezekiel, msg. 9 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Ezekiel (1), msg. 6 (week 6), The High and Awesome Wheels.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Pray to labor with the Lord / Till the wheel begins to move; / Pray together with the Lord / Till the Church His pow’r shall prove. (Hymns #786)
  # O Lord, do capture every thought, / Your mind in ours would be inwrought; / Grant us to see Your economy / Until that glorious day, dear Lord, / When You’d be all we see. / O Lord, grant us the strength to say, / Our will is Yours in every way; / You’d move through us to all the earth, / To show the nations Your unbounded, / Everlasting worth. (Song on being for His move)
  # See the vision of Christ and the church; / Count the cost; reckon all things as loss; / Pay the price. The prize to gain Christ, / Burn the bridges; leave the world behind; / On God’s economy your heart be set / To live a life of no regrets. (Song on consecration for the Lord’s move)