Message Six

The High and Awesome Wheels
 
Scripture Reading: Ezek. 1:15-21

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

A. In the book of Ezekiel God’s economy and God’s move in His economy are signified by a wheel (1:15):

1. The hub of this great wheel signifies Christ as the center of God’s economy, and the rim signifies Christ’s counterpart, the church, which consummates in the New Jerusalem.

2. The spokes of the wheel spreading from the hub to the rim signify the many believers as the members of Christ.

B. The appearing of the wheels on the earth beside the living creatures indicates that God’s move on earth follows the coordination of the four living creatures.

C. The move by a wheel implies an extraordinary move with a purpose.

D. Furthermore, it implies that this move is not by our own strength.

E. The wheels being for the four faces of the living creatures (v. 15) indicates that if we would have the Lord’s move, we must first live out the Lord, expressing Him (Rom. 13:14; Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:19-21).

II. By the side of every living creature there is a high and awesome wheel (Ezek. 1:15-21):

A. The move of the wheels is the special, extraordinary move of the Lord for His eternal purpose by Him as our strength, power, and supply (cf. vv. 5-8, 19-20).

B. Our God is living (1 Tim. 3:15; Heb. 3:12), our Lord is moving (Matt. 16:18), and the Spirit is working (Rev. 5:6b) to carry out His eternal economy (cf. Dan. 11:32b).

C. God’s move is the move of His economy in man to deify man to bring forth the one new man so that God in Christ may have His corporate expression and administration (Ezek. 1:10, 13, 15, 26-27; Eph. 2:15; 4:22-24; Col. 3:10-11).

D. Every local church and every individual believer should have a high and awesome wheel with them (cf. Acts 13:1-2):

1. In order to participate in the Lord’s move, we must have a personal, affectionate, private, and spiritual relationship with Him (S.S. 1:2-4; Mark 12:30).

2. In order to participate in the Lord’s move, we can go in His going, give in His giving, and pray in His praying:

a. We need to follow the Lamb wherever He may go, living a life of the altar and the tent by taking heed to our spirit and by honoring Christ as the Head and as the Body (Rev. 14:4; Gen. 12:7-8; 13:3-4, 18; Mal. 2:15-16; 2 Cor. 2:13; 7:5-6; 1 John 1:3).

b. We need to be cheerful givers, becoming fellow workers in the truth (2 Cor. 9:6-7; 3 John 7-8).
 
c. We need to cooperate with the Lord through prayer to carry out His move, acting together with the acting God for the accomplishment of His economy as seen in the book of Acts:

(1)  We need the prayer that brought in the outpouring of the Spirit (1:14; 2:1-4, 16-17a).

(2)  We need the prayer that shook the earth and empowered the disciples with the Holy Spirit for the speaking of the word with boldness (4:24-31).

(3)  We need to give ourselves continually to and continue steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word (6:4).

(4)  We need the prayer that brought Peter into a trance and brought a heavenly vision to him (10:9-16).

(5)  We need the prayer that opened the prison gate for Peter (12:4-14).

(6)  We need the prayer that brought the five prophets and teachers into the Lord’s commission (13:1-4).

(7)  We need the prayer that brought in a great earthquake and shook the foundation of the prison (16:23-26).

(8)  We need the prayer that brought Paul into a trance and into the Lord’s speaking to him (22:17-21).

III. The high and awesome wheels being upon the earth shows that God needs a move on the earth (Ezek. 1:15; Matt. 6:10):

A. Beryl is the appearance of the Lord when He is moving; the wheels having the appearance of beryl indicates that wherever the move of the wheels goes, it brings the appearance of the Lord (Ezek. 1:16a; Dan. 10:6).

B. The wheels having the same appearance indicates that the move of the Lord has the same likeness and appearance in every church (Ezek. 1:16b; 1 Cor. 4:17; 7:17; 11:16; 14:33; 16:1; Rev. 1:12; 1 Thes. 2:14).

C. The wheel within a wheel (Ezek. 1:16) shows the Lord’s move in our move:

1. The inner wheel, the Lord as the hub, is the source of power for the moving of the outer wheel, the church as the rim.

2. For Elijah to pray in a prayer means that the Lord’s prayer was within his prayer; this is the wheel within a wheel (James 5:17):

a. 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.

b. He prayed in the prayer given to him by the Lord for the accomplishing of His will (Rom. 8:26-27).

3. The inner wheel is the motor, the dynamo, the generator, that causes the wheel to move:

a. If our move is genuine, it must be that within our move is the move of the Lord (cf. 1:9; 8:16).

b. In the church life the Lord Jesus is the hub—the wheel within the wheel—and we are the rim (cf. Col. 1:17-18).

D. The wheels going in four directions and not turning as they went indicates a move in coordination, without any turns (Ezek. 1:17; cf. v. 12 and footnote 1).

E. In ourselves we should be small, but the wheel beside us, that is, the move of God’s economy with us, should be high and awesome (v. 18; 1 Cor. 15:9; 2 Cor. 11:5; 12:11; Eph. 3:8-11).
 
F. The high and awesome rims of the wheels being full of eyes indicates that if we are one with the Lord in His move, we will have His divine insight, foresight, and revelation (Ezek. 1:18; Eph. 1:17):

1. The more we participate in the move of the Lord, the more we will be enlightened.

2. The more we move, the more we will be able to see.

G. The wheels following the living creatures indicates that the move of God’s work depends upon our moving; it also indicates that if we move in faith, the Lord will follow our move (Ezek. 1:19; 2 Cor. 5:7; 4:13, 18; cf. Eccl. 11:4).

H. The wheels follow the living creatures (Ezek. 1:19, 21), and the creatures follow the Spirit, but the Spirit is in the wheels:

1. This indicates that the move of the Lord in our move is in the principle of incarnation (v. 20; cf. 1 Cor. 7:10, 12).

2. This also indicates that we are one with the Lord, and He is one with us (6:17, 19; John 14:16-17; Acts 16:6-10; cf. Heb. 11:8, 27).

3. The Lord follows us, we follow the Spirit, and the Spirit is in the wheels (Ezek. 1:20-21).

4. This is the Lord’s move on earth today, and this is the Lord’s recovery.