Encountering the anointing of God and His glory is wonderful. We are not impacted by His glory just for the sake of an experience, although I certainly do not underestimate the joy of experiencing God!
The Lord encounters us to change us from "glory to ever increasing glory." He changes us from glory to glory, so that He can empower us to be used in His Kingdom. It is His power working through us that changes us and equips us to minister with power.
It's All About His Glory
It was that lesson that I was to learn next. I had to better understand the glory of God.
As a Baptist pastor, I had preached through the book of Exodus. It was a wonderful journey of discovering the truths tucked away in this profound book. It was during that sermon series that I came to that section where Moses cries out, "Lord, show me Your glory." I was surprised by my reaction. There was something important about that prayer. It was then that the Lord introduced me to the discernment of the cherubim (living creatures). My next lesson in the glory of God was to begin.
I had taught about the glory of God as a Baptist pastor. It was an intellectual teaching. I did the word studies and composed a nice sermon. However, I did not fully understand that the glory of God was not just a nice Bible lesson. He wants us to know Him.
I had not understood what the "knowing" was. I had always assumed, because I was taught in seminary, that knowing God was an activity of the brain. However, that is not what the Word of God says. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word Yada is translated as "to know." However, this is not an intellectual knowing. The word actually means "to know" by experience, to know through the five physical senses. What a revelation! When I asked God to show me His glory, I was in reality saying to Him, "I want to not only know You intellectually," but "I want to experience You!"
What is God's Glory?
In the next step of my journey, I began discerning a turning sensation on my head. After repeated inquiries of the Lord and of others, I began to understand that I was discerning cherubim. Then the realization came. The cherubim are connected to the glory of God. I needed to know more! So, I turned to the Bible and investigated some key passages about the cherubim and the glory of God.
I began with Ezekiel 1:4-9:
"Then I looked, and behold, a whirlwind was coming out of 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, out of the midst of the fire. Also from within it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man.
"Each one had four faces, and each one had four wings. Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the soles of calves' feet. They sparkled like the color of burnished bronze. The hands of a man were under their wings on their four sides; and each of the four had faces and wings. Their wings touched one another. The creatures did not turn when they went, but each one went straight forward."
We learn here that the living creatures, which are called cherubim in Ezekiel 1, verse 10, each have four wings. There are four of them, with four wings each. It was the turning of the four heads that I was discerning on my head!
"As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a man; each of the four had the face of a lion on the right side, each of the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and each of the four had the face of an eagle. Thus were their faces. Their wings stretched upward; two wings of each one touched one another, and two covered their bodies.
" And each one went straight forward; they went wherever the spirit wanted to go, and they did not turn when they went. As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches going back and forth among the living creatures. The fire was bright, and out of the fire went lightning." Ezekiel 1:10-13
In between the living creatures there is the movement of fire. I believe that this fire is one type of anointing that comes on us (see Ezekiel 10). The anointing is in the fire; the fire is around the living creatures and the fire is moving back and forth between the four cherubim.
"The living creatures flit back and forth like flashes of lightning. As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces. This was the appearance and structure of the wheels. They sparkle like crimson light. All four appear to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel. As they move they would, go in one of the four directions the creatures face. The wheels did not turn about as the creatures went. Their rims were high and awesome. All four rims were full of eyes all around."
Ezekiel 1:14-18
God has been opening up this message to me for years. In Argentina, I spoke about the cherubim, and one man asked the Lord, "Show me a living creature." Do you know what he saw? He saw one giant eye. With this observation, we gain a small understanding of how big a living creature must be. All he could see was one eye filling his entire vision. We are told that the rims of the cherubim are high and awesome and all four rims are full of eyes all around. You do not look at an automobile wheel and speak of how awesome it is! These wheels must be "really big!" If the size of the wheels is big and each eye is the size of a man, then the living creatures must be gigantic!
"When the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. Wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went, because there the spirit went; and the wheels were lifted together with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
"When those went, these went; when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up together with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. The likeness of the firmament above the heads of the living creatures was like the color of an awesome crystal, stretched out over their heads." Ezekiel 1:19-22
The sea above the four living creatures is the great sea of glass which is the same sea that we read of in Revelation. Notice that the Scripture does not say a "pond" of glass or a "lake" of glass. It is a "sea" of glass! A sea is huge! You cannot see from one end of a sea to the other end of a sea. The size of all of this is beyond comprehension.
"And under the firmament their wings spread out straight, one toward another. Each one had two which covered one side, and each one had two which covered the other side of the body. When they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of many waters, like the voice of the Almighty, a tumult like the noise of an army; and when they stood still, they let down their wings.
"A voice came from above the firmament that was over their heads; whenever they stood, they let down their wings. And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it.
"Also from the appearance of His waist and upward I saw, as it were, the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it; and from the appearance of His waist and downward I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around. Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD." Ezekiel 1:23-28
There are four living creatures, the expanse, and the sea of glass. On the sea of glass is the throne of God. Jesus is seated there. It is the seat of His glory. The glory is there, and His radiant beauty. How magnificent this glory must be! The throne of God is made of sapphire. One man told me that a sapphire stone can magnify light twelve times. What an astounding picture! The very glory of God, more magnificent than we can even imagine, is magnified twelve times!
"Then He spoke to the man clothed with linen, and said, 'Go in among the wheels, under the cherub, fill your hands with coals of fire from among the cherubim, and scatter them over the city.' And he went in as I watched."
Ezekiel 10:2
Have you experienced the glory? He wants us to experience the glory, and not just understand it intellectually. When we dwell in His presence, we are overcome by His power. We begin to understand that the Christian walk is not just an ever increasing knowledge of the Bible (although this is important). The Christian walk is a yielding of oneself to His glory, His power, His presence! For when we abide in His glory, He is able to move on us and on our world.
The apostle Paul understood this. Even though he wrote much of the New Testament and was able to communicate the depths of the Kingdom of God, he did not want his life to be only a life of communicating truths. He wanted to see the demonstration of God's power in his life. Here are his words in 1 Corinthians 2:4: "My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power."
"A demonstration of the Spirit's power!" This is exactly what Moses wanted! He was not going to continue to lead the children of Israel without the presence of God coming with him. That is why Moses said to the Lord,
"God, show me Your glory!"
Something happens to us when we come face-to-face with the glory of God. We do have an experience with God. It is wonderful! It is overwhelming! It is beyond what we have ever expected. But, the encounter is not "just" for an experience. He wants to change us. There is a "movement" with us after we encounter His glory.
This is the heart of the passage after we have the description of the glory of God in Ezekiel.
"And He said to me, 'Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak to you.' Then the Spirit entered me when He spoke to me, and set me on my feet; and I heard Him who spoke to me." Ezekiel 2:1-2
"Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the East Gate of the LORD's house…" Ezekiel 11:1
When coming in contact with the glory of God, there is going to be movement. People cannot ever be the same again when the glory of God comes into their presence because there is going to be movement. The Lord is going to pick them up, and He is going to move them. Now, the difficulty is that people say, "No, I am not going to be moved." And God says, "I will honor your request." So all of their lives they are stuck in the same rut.
He says, "Don't you know that I am always moving? Don't you know that I am a God who truly never changes, and that I am always moving? I am always doing a new thing. I'm always into a new adventure. I'm always into that which is not boring and routine."
He is always going to move us from where we are to where we need to be.
There will be constant movement in our Heaven Trek…
Excerpt from Heaven Trek—Daring to go Where God Wants Us to Go, by Paul L. Cox. Published by Aslan's Place Publication © 2007. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Paul L. and Donna Cox
Aslan's Place
Email: office@aslansplace.com
Website: www.aslansplace.com
About Paul and Donna Cox:
Dr. Paul L. Cox is a graduate of the California Graduate School of Theology where he earned his Doctorate of Ministry degree. As an ordained Baptist pastor, Paul ministered at several churches as senior pastor. Paul and His wife Donna are committed to prayer ministry that brings freedom through generational deliverance. In order to share the revelation and insights the Holy Spirit has imparted to them, they founded Aslan's Place in 1999. This facility in Hesperia, California not only serves as an individual ministry center, but also a training and seminar center. Many people are growing in freedom and the Holy Spirit as a result of ministry at Aslan's Place. The ministry given is Biblically based and Holy Spirit led.
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