Ezekiel and the Whirlwind

On the banks of the river Chebar, Ezekiel saw a whirlwind seeming to come from the north, “a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself; and brightness was all around it and radiating out of its midst like the color of amber.” A number of wheels, intersecting one another, were moved by four living beings. High above all these “was something like a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of the throne was something that seemed like a human form.” “The cherubim appeared to have the form of a human hand under their wings.” Ezekiel 1:4, 26; 10:8, NRSV. The wheels were so complicated in arrangement that at first sight they appeared to be in confusion, but they moved in perfect harmony. Heavenly beings, sustained and guided by the hand beneath the wings of the cherubim, were impelling these wheels. Above them, on the sapphire throne, was the Eternal One, and round about the throne a rainbow, the emblem of divine mercy.TEd 107.2

As the wheel-like complications were under the guidance of the hand beneath the wings of the cherubim, so the complicated play of human events is under divine control. Amidst the strife and tumult of nations, He that sits above the cherubim still guides the affairs of earth.TEd 107.3

The history of nations that one after another have occupied their allotted time and place, speaks to us. To every nation and to every person God has assigned a place in His great plan. Today individuals and nations are being measured by Him who makes no mistake. All are by their own choice deciding their destiny, and God is overruling all for the accomplishment of His purposes.TEd 107.4

The history that the great I AM has marked out in His Word, uniting link after link in the prophetic chain, from eternity in the past to eternity in the future, tells us where we are today in the procession of the ages, and what may be expected in the time to come. All that prophecy has foretold as coming to pass, until the present time, has been traced on the pages of history, and we may be assured that all which is yet to come will be fulfilled in its order.TEd 107.5