Scripture Reading: Ezek. 1:15-21
The items in Ezekiel 1 are presented in a good sequence. First we have the wind and this is followed by the cloud, the fire, and the electrum. Then the living creatures appear with four faces to express Christ in a corporate way. Next we have the eagle’s wings, the man’s hands, and the calf’s hoofs. All this is for the coordination. The living creatures move in a coordinated way. This chapter goes on to speak of the fire going up and down and of the burning coals and the burning torches. After all this, verses 15 through 21 describe the high and dreadful wheels. By the side of every living creature there is a wheel. This wheel is so high that it is dreadful; it is dreadfully high. In this message we will consider the significance of the high and dreadful wheels.
A wheel is for moving, not in an ordinary way but in a special way. At home, when we walk from the kitchen to our bedroom or living room, we do not need a wheel. But when we travel a distance, we need a wheel. When we do something to fulfill a purpose, we may also need a wheel. Thus, the move by a wheel is not an ordinary move but a special move with a purpose. The wheel in Ezekiel 1 implies a move with a purpose. Furthermore, the wheel implies that this move is not by our own strength.
The four living creatures are for the manifestation, the expression, of the Lord. They are for the corporate expression of Christ, and thus they express Christ in a corporate way. The Lord on the throne looks like a man, and the four living creatures expressing the Lord also look like a man. The Lord on the throne looks like burning fire, and the four living creatures also look like burning fire. From this we see that the living creatures are the expression of the Lord. Whatever the Lord is, they express. The Lord is living, and they also are living. The Lord is the living God, and they are the living creatures. Whatever the Lord is, they are. Whatever the Lord expresses, they also express. Therefore, the four living creatures are the expression of the Lord.
In verses 15 through 21 the four living creatures are not only for the expression of the Lord but also for the move of the Lord. The Lord moves on the earth by them.
Whenever a church is proper, expresses the Lord, and has the proper coordination with the fire going up and down, the move of the Lord will be with that church. However, if a church claims to be proper and yet has no move of the Lord, something is wrong. If there is no increase in number year after year and no growth in life among the members, there is no move with that church. With those in that church there is neither increase nor spread. This indicates there is something wrong with that church. If a church is proper, it will have a great wheel at its side.
If a local church has such a wheel at its side, there will be no need for it to claim that it has a wheel. Everyone will see the move of this wheel. If a church claims to have the move of the Lord, this may indicate that it does not actually have the Lord’s move. When a church has the move of the Lord, no one needs to declare, “Look at the move of the Lord among us.” If there is a move, it will be manifest to all. Everyone can see the great wheel, high and dreadful, for it is at the side of the living creatures for all to see. The wheel is simply there.
Every local church needs to have such a high and dreadful wheel beside it. Furthermore, every individual believer, if he is proper and normal, should also have a wheel.
This was the situation in Acts 13. “Now there were in Antioch, in the local church, prophets and teachers....And as they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for Me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them” (vv. 1-2). These prophets and teachers were living creatures coordinating together and having the burning coals and the burning torches. They fulfilled all the requirements in Ezekiel 1 related to being in the Lord’s move. Thus, the move of the great wheel was with them.
The living creatures have more than one way to move. First, they can move by flying because they have the wings of an eagle. They can also move by walking on the calf’s hoofs. These two ways of moving are an ordinary move. But when they need to move in a special way, they move by a wheel.
On your job you need to move daily by the eagle’s wings and the calf’s hoofs. If you move in this way, your co-workers will see that with you there is something powerful. You can suffer things which others cannot suffer and you can endure things which others cannot endure because you have the eagle’s wings. They can also realize that in your character and behavior you are honest, straight, frank, and sincere, having no crookedness. They will see the eagle’s wings and the calf’s hoofs upon you, and thus they will be convicted by you in their conscience.
In addition to this kind of move with you on your job, there should also be another kind of move — an extraordinary move, the move of a wheel. Eventually, because the move of the wheel is with you, some of your co-workers may be gained by the Lord.
If you should work at a job for several years and nothing happens for the Lord’s interests, this indicates that with you there is no move of the Lord. You may consider yourself spiritual and heavenly, but you are lacking the wheel. If there is no move of the Lord with you, it is questionable whether you have the eagle’s wings, the man’s hands, and the calf’s hoofs. This may indicate that while you are at work, you are somewhat worldly and that you are not a proper human being; therefore, the move of the Lord is not with you. But if you have the eagle’s wings, the man’s hands, and the calf’s hoofs, there will surely be a wheel beside you. The move of the Lord will be with you.
Wherever we go, there should be a high and dreadful wheel by us. If we move to a certain city, there should be a wheel in that city. If we move to a particular country, there should be a wheel in that country. The presence of the wheel will prove that we are proper, that is, that we have the eagle’s wings, the man’s hands, and the calf’s hoofs. As we have pointed out, if we do not have the eagle’s wings, the man’s hands, and the calf’s hoofs, we are not qualified to have a wheel standing beside us.
If we would have the wheel, we need to be the proper living creatures. This means that we need to experience the blowing of the wind, the overshadowing of the Spirit, and the burning of the Spirit in order to gain much electrum. We also need to have the four faces expressing Christ in an adequate way and the eagle’s wings by which we can move and behave in a divine way. Furthermore, we need the calf’s hoofs in order to walk in a straight and sincere way, in a way that convinces others and commends us to their conscience. If this is our situation, then certainly there will be a high and dreadful wheel beside us. This wheel is the move of the Lord.
Consider the apostle Paul. By reading his Epistles and the book of Acts, we can realize that Paul regarded himself as less than the least of all saints (Eph. 3:8). Even his name, Paul, means “little.” Paul was a little man, yet with him there were the eagle’s wings, the man’s hands, and the calf’s hoofs. Thus, wherever he went, there was a great, high, and dreadful wheel. The situation should be the same with us today. We should have the eagle’s wings, the man’s hands, and the calf’s hoofs, and thereby have a great wheel for the Lord’s move.
Let us now proceed to consider a number of details concerning the high and dreadful wheels.
The wheels were at the side of the faces of the living creatures (Ezek. 1:15). This indicates that if we would have the Lord’s move, we must first live out the Lord, expressing Him. If we live out the expression of Christ, we will have the wheel of the Lord’s move.
In verse 15 we are told that the wheels are upon the earth. Do not expect that the move of the Lord will be in the heavens. God has angels to carry out His move in the heavens. What He needs is a move on earth. God needs a move in the United States and in many other countries.
Verse 16a says, “The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the color of a beryl.” According to Daniel 10:6 beryl was the appearance of the Lord when He was moving. This indicates that within the move of the wheels is the appearance of the Lord. Wherever the wheel goes it brings the appearance of the Lord. If the wheel moves to a certain place, it will bring the appearance of the Lord to that place. If a wheel is with you at school or at work, it will bring the Lord’s appearance there. Others will be able to see the beryl, the appearance of the Lord.
Verse 16b says, “They four had one likeness.” Here we are told that all four wheels have the same appearance, the same likeness. This indicates that the move of the Lord has the same likeness and appearance in every church. All the moves bear the same appearance of the Lord. Therefore, the likeness of all the wheels is the same.
If the church in one locality has a likeness, an appearance, which is different from the likeness of the church in another locality, something is wrong. The saints in a particular church may think that they need to build up their own local distinction, that they need to build up something typically and uniquely local. This is contrary to Ezekiel 1, where we are told that all four wheels bear the same likeness.
We should not think that the wheel moving in the United States should bear one appearance and that the wheel moving in other countries should bear a different appearance. In every place and in every country the wheel must bear the same appearance. This does not mean that all the churches should follow one particular church. Rather, all the local churches should be mutual followers of one another (1 Thes. 2:14).
“When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went” (Ezek. 1:17). The wheels went on the four sides — in four directions — not turning as they went. This indicates a move in coordination, without any turns.
Ezekiel 1:18a says, “As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful.” Here I would point out that we should never try to make ourselves great; instead, we should be little ones. However, the wheel beside us should be so high that it is dreadful. In our locality we should not have a small wheel only a few inches in diameter. On the contrary, in our city there should be a high wheel, a wheel that is dreadfully high and that will surprise others. The wheel in every church should be so high that it is dreadful.
Verse 18b goes on to say, “And their rings were full of eyes round about them four.” Here we see that the high and dreadful wheels are full of eyes. If we apply this to our spiritual experience, we will realize that it is absolutely correct to say that the wheels are full of eyes. If a church has no move and no wheel beside it, that church is blind. If you do not have any move, yet you claim that you have some move, you are surely blind. You have no eyes. If your church has a high and dreadful wheel, a high and dreadful move, within that move there will be many eyes. As a result, you will have insight, foresight, and other kinds of sight.
If you are a Christian who has no wheel and who only knows how to behave properly, you are blind. If you mean business with the Lord for His move on earth today, you will be full of eyes, and thus you will have insight and foresight. Because Paul was a person full of eyes, he was very clear. He was clear about the present, the future, the world situation, the Word, the church, physical things, and spiritual things. As a person full of eyes, he was clear about everything.
Some Christians, on the contrary, do not have any eyes. Likewise, some local churches have no eyes. The reason these Christians and these churches are blind is that with them there is no wheel, no move of the Lord. But the more we have the move of the Lord, the more we are enlightened. The more we move, the more we will be able to see.
Do not be like a frog in a well — limited by your environment and able to see only what is directly above you in a very narrow way. You need to jump out of your “well” and participate in the Lord’s move. The more you are in the Lord’s move, the more eyes you will have and the more clearly you will see. The more move you have, the more you can see.
I can testify of this from my own experience in the Lord’s move. During the past years I have done much traveling. I have traveled throughout China, America, and Europe. The more I travel, the more eyes I receive. In 1958 I traveled through thirty different countries. By that traveling I received many eyes, and I saw many things.
We need to be impressed with the fact that the wheels are full of eyes. As the wheel moves, it sees. The more it runs, the more it sees. If the wheel were to stop moving, it would stop seeing. This is the way the church should be today. We see by going on. The more we go on, the more we see. It may be that today we can see only to a certain extent, but tomorrow we will go on and see more. If we stop moving, we will stop seeing. We Christians should be a moving people. The church must move in order to see.
Verse 16c says, “Their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.” It is very significant that the wheels look like a wheel within a wheel. When we speak of a wheel, we say that the circumference is the rim, that the center is the hub, and that in between are the spokes. Thus, we have the three main parts of a wheel: the rim, the hub, and the spokes. But in Ezekiel 1 there is no hub, and there are no spokes. Instead, there is a wheel within a wheel.
James 5:17 may help us to understand this. This verse tells us that Elijah prayed earnestly. Literally, the Greek words translated “prayed earnestly” mean “prayed in a prayer.” This indicates that a prayer from the Lord was given to Elijah, in which he prayed. He did not pray in his feeling, thought, intention, or mood, or in any kind of motivation, arising from circumstances or situations, to fulfill his own purpose. Rather, he prayed in the prayer given by the Lord for the accomplishing of His will. For Elijah to pray in a prayer means that there was a prayer within his prayer. This is the wheel within a wheel.
We may apply this matter of a wheel within a wheel to the church life. If the church is proper and is moving, then within the church’s moving there will be the move of the Lord. This means that in our move there is the Lord’s move. While we are moving, the Lord is moving in our moving.
The inner wheel is the source of power for the moving. This means that the inner wheel is the “motor” which causes the wheel to move. If our move is genuine, it must be that within our move is the move of the Lord.
Every wheel has a hub which turns the wheel. If the hub stops, the wheel stops. We may say that the hub is the little wheel within the rim of the big wheel. The big wheel turns because the little wheel is being turned. In the church life, the Lord Jesus is the hub — the wheel within the wheel — and we are the rim. If the churches do not move with the Lord, they have no way to go on because there is no wheel within the wheel. But when the churches move with the Lord Jesus, He becomes the wheel within the wheel.
Nothing can frustrate or stop this kind of move. Recently a number of saints in the churches migrated to other cities for the spread of the church life. When some heard about this migration, they despised it and asked whether it would accomplish anything. I can testify that this migration is the Lord’s move, the move of the wheel, and that within this wheel there is another wheel. In this migration there has been a wheel within the wheel.
Ezekiel 1:19 says, “When the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.” This verse tells us not that the living creatures follow the wheels but that the wheels follow the living creatures. When the creatures move, the wheels move. When the creatures stop, the wheels stop. When the creatures are lifted up, the wheels are lifted up.
This is contrary to the concept, held by many believers, that we need to wait until the Lord moves before we can move. I have been burdened by the Lord to tell His children that there is no need for them to wait for the Lord to move. The Lord has been waiting for nearly two thousand years. If we go on, the Lord will follow us. If we do not exercise to move, there will be no wheel, but if we move, the wheels will follow us. The move of God’s work, the move of the gospel, and the move of the church all depend on our moving. We need to have the confidence, the assurance, and the faith to go on boldly. If we move on boldly, the wheels will follow us. Let us act boldly and move on to take this country and to take the earth.
Verse 20 continues, “Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.” The wheels follow the creatures, and the creatures follow the Spirit, but the Spirit is in the wheels. It is hard to tell who follows whom. We are one with Him. One day when we meet the Lord we may say, “Lord, we followed You,” but the Lord may say, “No, I followed you.”
If we have the wheel with the coordination, it is difficult to determine who follows whom. We are one with the Lord, and the Lord is one with us. The Lord follows us, we follow the Spirit, and the Spirit is in the wheels. This is the Lord’s move on earth today, and this is the Lord’s recovery.
