Prophetic Prospective Daily Devotional

As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.


Ezekiel, another man of God who had the dual ministry as Priest - Prophet as was the case with Jeremiah, has the most unique experience that one can have, he was honored with an appearance of the "glory of the Lord" coming from heaven to visit him.

Ezekiel had been taken into the Babylonian captivity in 597BC and was living in a location in the area of Babylon as a captive of the Babylon Empire. It was while Ezekiel was in Babylon that the Lord would give him a very important prophecy for that day and our day as well.

The 1st chapter of Ezekiel is a record of a "throne chariot" bringing the "glory of the Lord" to Earth. This throne chariot was powered by four “cherubim”, which are described in this sometimes difficult to understand passage of scripture. In fact, the entire book of Ezekiel has passages that take time to study for the proper understanding.

One such passage would be in Ezekiel 37:1-10, the prophecy of the “valley of dry bones”. In a later devotional, I will look at that passage and give an explanation. However, let me give you this much. Ezekiel was told to prophesy, or preach to the “dry bones”. That sounds like a strange directive from the Lord.

When we do study that passage more in depth we will see that the Prophet was obedient to the Lord’s directive. There is a reason that Ezekiel would obey the Lord, not only in the preaching to a valley of “dry bones”, but also be obedient to the Lord’s instruction to lay on his side in the streets, Ezekiel 4, and not mourn the death of his wife, in Ezekiel 24.

There is indeed a reason and Ezekiel 1 gives us the reason that Ezekiel was able to be obedient when told to do something that has no logic.

Our key verse, verse 28, tells us that Ezekiel saw the "glory of the Lord". When we see the "glory of the Lord" we will be obedient to His command also. You may say how can we see the glory of the Lord? That's a great question that is answered by the Psalmist.

In Psalm 19 the word says the “heavens declare the glory of the Lord”, Psalm 19:1. The passage also says “His creation declares His handiwork”. We do not have a problem in not being able to see the “glory of the Lord” in His creative acts. The problem is that we never stop long enough to observe His handiwork. We must slow down and learn of His greatness and His glory.

PRAYER THOT: Help me to "stop and smell the roses" - as I see His glory in His handiwork.