It is very significant that the One sitting on the throne in Ezek. 1 has the likeness of a man and the four living creatures bear the appearance of a man; this shows us that the four living creatures are the corporate expression of the man on the throne (see Ezek. 1:5, 26).
Ezekiel 1 is a deep chapter, full of signs and symbols, and we do well to exercise our spirit, turn our heart to the Lord, and approach this chapter with a renewed mind, allowing the Lord to speak to us with the help of the proper interpretation of the word.
The four living creatures in Ezekiel 1 are the issue of many experiences that go before; we need to experience God as the blowing wind, the overshadowing cloud, the burning fire, and the glowing electrum, and we will become part of the four living creatures, a corporate entity expressing Christ.
May the Lord put in us the desire to be living and active, that is, inwardly living in Him and with Him, so that we may be the living creatures that express Him on earth and carry out His move.
The condition of today’s Christianity in general is that they have a name to be living, but there’s much deadness, formality, and routine. What about us: are we the living creatures, or do we just have a name that we’re living?
What differentiates the Lord’s recovery from general Christendom is not merely the top revelation and teaching we have but that in the recovery we are serving a living God and we are the living church of God. We don’t care for formality or routine: we have a living Spirit within us, and we sing, we pray, and we testify!
We shouldn’t let any formality bind us, and we should not be stuck in a routine; rather, we need to be genuinely living, full of the divine life, and flowing this life out to others.
How can we be genuinely living and active before the Lord, in coordination with our fellow living creatures? It is by being open to the Lord to experience Him coming to us as a mighty strong wind to unsettle us and cause us to be dissatisfied, then enjoying Him as the overshadowing and brooding cloud that shepherds us and causes life to grow in us.
Then, we need to allow the Lord as a consuming fire to burn in us anything that His light exposes, and finally we need to experience being the radiant expression of the redeeming God (electrum).
The result of such experiences – which are normal experiences of Christ in the church life – is that we become living creatures, those who are living and vibrant in our inner being.
God’s Central Thought and His Arrangement are Related to Man; Man is to Express God
We may read Ezek. 1:4-5 and think that the four living creatures are angelic beings, some special creatures, but what the Bible says is that they have the appearance of a man – they are a man!
The four living creatures bear the appearance of a man, and the One sitting on the throne above the expanse also has the likeness of a man (Ezek. 1:5, 26); the four living creatures express the man on the throne!
The fact that the four living creatures bear the likeness of a man and that God on the throne also bears the appearance of a man indicates that God’s central thought and His arrangement are all related to man (see Gen. 1:26).
This is a profound and deep thought in the Bible; in God’s thought, He always had man in mind. Yes, God created all things: He simply spoke, and they came into being; on the sixth day, He made man, and He was delighted and satisfied with man – He said, Very good!
Man is not just one of the many things that God created: man is the center of God’s creation and the goal of God’s creation, for as soon as man was created, God rested. Man was the whole reason for which God created all things. God loves man and God needs man.
He loves man so much that, four thousand years after He created man, God Himself became a man to redeem the corrupted and sinful man, to draw near to man, be approachable to man, and rescue man from the fall. He came to redeem man and then come into man as the Spirit to save man to the uttermost, so that humanity may be uplifted to the throne.
Christ is now on the throne: there is a Man on the throne in the universe! God loves man so much that He not only came as a man to redeem us but He wants to bring us as men all the way to the throne! What an everlasting story!
How wonderful and unfathomable this is, that God the Almighty and Infinite One needs man who is finite and limited in many ways; this is His good pleasure, His heart’s desire. He wants to have a man on earth corresponding to the Man on the throne; God’s central thought and arrangement are all related to man.
When the Lord Jesus came as a Man, He did many wonderful things, and most of us appreciate the glorious expression of His divinity as He made miracles, multiplied the food, healed the sick, and spoke many wonderful things; but at the same time He had a wonderful and aromatic humanity, for He was a Man.
We need to have a proper appreciation of the Lord’s humanity, and we need to see how marvelous it is that we are men.
The Lord didn’t just raise the dead, give sight to the blind, cause the lame to walk, heal the sick, and multiplied the food, but He also had compassion on men, touched the leper, was tender and caring toward man, hungered, was thirsty, wept, and was full of human feelings like us.
In the midst of living out His human life, there was a fragrance of God’s resurrection life; there was something unexplainable, mysterious, and extraordinary about this Man.
We need to have a proper appreciation of the Lord’s humanity, and we need to see how marvelous it is that we are men! Hallelujah, we are men – we are the meaning of the universe!
Thank You Lord for creating us in Your image and with Your likeness so that we may be Your corporate expression. Thank You for loving us and becoming like us: God became a man and lived as a man, expressing God in man and bringing man to the throne. Lord, we are so thankful to realize that God’s central thought and His arrangement are related to us as men. Thank You for coming into us as the Spirit to organically save us and cause us to reign in life until we are one with You to express God and sit on the throne to reign for God!
The Christ whom the Church must Express is the Man on the Throne
God’s thought and arrangement are all related to man, and the Bible speaks of mainly four men: the first man, the second man, the new man, and the man-child.
We are all born in the first man – we are born in Adam, in sin; Christ is called the second man (1 Cor. 15:47), and He came to fulfill God’s purpose, which the first man failed to accomplish.
We have become the new man by regeneration (Eph. 2:15) – now we are part of the new man that expresses Christ on earth, having God’s life and nature. And, praise the Lord, there is the prospect that we may become the man-child (Rev. 12:5), the stronger part of the woman, the aggregate overcomer who will defeat the devil and bring in the kingdom of God.
God made us in His image so that we may express Him and represent Him. The Christ whom the church must express is the man on the throne (Rev. 3:21; Acts 7:56).
Christ came as a Man in incarnation, He died as a man, He was resurrected as a Man, and He was ascended to the third heavens as a man; now Christ as a Man is the Lord of all, the King of kings, and the Ruler over all things in the universe.
Today the church must express the man on the throne; we should express God not only in His divinity but also as the Man on the throne.
Ezekiel 1:26 shows us that the Lord today is a man on the throne. God needs a man, and eventually He became a man. We as the living creatures express Him as a man. He is the man on the throne, and we also bear the appearance of a man. It is man who fulfills God’s plan, it is man who expresses God, it is man who defeats the enemy, and it is man who brings the kingdom of God into the human race. God needs a man. (Life-study of Ezekiel, p. 49)
Hallelujah, it is so good to see that it is man who fulfills the plan of God, it is man who expresses God and defeats the enemy, and it is man who brings in the kingdom of God!
God needs not a super-man or an angel: He needs an ordinary man who is opened to the heavens (as Ezekiel was) and who is one with the Lord; when God gains such a man, there’s nothing that He cannot do.
God is the center of the universe; He upholds and supports all things and persons, but He needs an expression – and this expression is through man.
Without man, God has no expression; God needs a corporate man to express Him.
We should never despise the fact that we are a man: there’s a Man on the throne, and the four living creatures bear the appearance of a man to express the Man on the throne!
Praise the Lord, there is a Man on the throne, and His name is the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man! Thank You Lord for bringing man to the throne, and thank You for taking us through a process to bring us to the throne also! Hallelujah, it is man who fulfills God’s plan! It is man who expresses God! It is man who defeats God’s enemy! It is man who brings in the kingdom of God into the human race! Thank You Lord for making us men in Your image to express You and represent You as the one new man. Gain the corporate man that You are after!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by brother James L. for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Ezekiel, msg. 5 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Ezekiel (1), msg. 3 (week 3), The Four Living Creatures.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Shining One—how clear the sky above me! / Son of Man, I see Thee on the throne! / Holy One, the flames of God consume me, / Till my being glows with Thee alone. (Hymns #1159)
# Son of Man, Son of Man on the throne today; / Son of Man, Pioneer, He has led the way; / Following, how we sing, Jesus leads us on; / We are marching with the Victor to the throne. (Hymns #1189)
# O I’m a man— / I’m the meaning of the universe; / Yes, I’m a man— / I’m the meaning of the universe. / God made me such, / I am so much; / I’m the center and the meaning of the universe. (Hymns #1293)
About aGodMan
We may talk about the church as the expression of Christ, but we may not realize what the expression of Christ is. The Christ whom the church must express is the man upon the throne. If we would express Christ, we need to realize Christ today is still a man. We do not express merely God; we express God in a man. The church is the expression of Christ. This means that the church is an expression not merely of God but also of a man.
Ezekiel 1:26 shows us that the Lord today is a man on the throne. God needs a man, and eventually He became a man. We as the living creatures express Him as a man. He is the man on the throne, and we also bear the appearance of a man. It is man who fulfills God’s plan, it is man who expresses God, it is man who defeats the enemy, and it is man who brings the kingdom of God into the human race. God needs a man. (Life-study of Ezekiel, pp. 47-49, by W. Lee)
Amen…
Amen. Lord thank you for the heavens are for the earth, the earth is for man and man is for God. Lord thank you for your life that has regenerated many God-men. This life will bring many sons into glory. Praise you Lord.
Amin !!! Slavă Domnului .
Amen!!! Praise the Lord.
Amen for the Man-child and Amen for Regeneration. Praise The Lord