7. The Wheel
© 2018 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
I have already written the next lesson, 18.1 Our Way Through, combining the pattern of “the Flow through rooms” with Hebrews 10:19-22. And in preparing for that lesson, I have created the Jesus Secret Version of Hebrews 8-13, and in doing so have come to understand clearly the entire argument of the writer of Hebrews.
Combining the points of the pattern of home with the points of the most important verse has been for me each time an overwhelming explosion of increase in the knowledge of God. Yet nothing thus far compares to what I feel right now caught between Galatians 2:20 and Hebrews 10:19-22. It’s as if I have never before known these verses; they have grown so large.
Ezekiel. Indeed, I am writing these words, not yet having written Lesson 17.3 Knowing One Another (inside of Galatians 2:20). And I hardly know how to continue writing, the glory is too bright and the beauty too overwhelming.
Several times over the years, as I read the first chapters of Ezekiel, such a spirit of knowing and travail came upon me. I had zero idea what God meant by any of those words, nor did I attempt to have an idea. Rather, I would hold my Bible to my heart and rock back and forth (inside) in the seeing of the heavens and in the deepest of groanings, as Paul said, the Holy Spirit speaking words that cannot be uttered.
In the Midst of the Fire. Now, when I read Ezekiel Chapter 1 again, I see that the words Ezekiel chose to describe what he saw are the very words I would choose to describe what I am seeing now. 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.
Yet Ezekiel had no idea what he was seeing because he did not have the words of Paul and John, and the writer of Hebrews. I know what I am seeing, though the light and the beauty are too bright, because I have those Words of the Covenant of Christ fully written inside my heart.
Seeing Jesus. Read the whole chapter, fall on your face at the end with Ezekiel, but read it inside the knowing of the Holy, do not try to “figure out” what the details are all saying outwardly. Hear the voice of the One who fills your heart speaking to you.
Yet, in reading, position this thought, that the four “living creatures” can represent to us the four aspects of Christ, Christ as every word God speaks, Christ as the One who lives as me, Christ as a connecting Spirit of power, and Christ as a many-membered Body, the human revelation of God. This was the appearance of the likeness (– in appearance as a Man –) of the glory of the Lord. We are seeing Jesus – revealed through us together.
A Wheel in the Middle of a Wheel. In order to convey to you some impartation of the glory I am seeing, I want to borrow a picture from Ezekiel. In doing so, I am not necessarily attempting to “interpret” Ezekiel’s vision. – The appearance of their workings was, as it were, a wheel in the middle of a wheel. – For the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
Through this exercise of joining the ten most important verses with our life together as the Church, as a living family walking together as the very expression of God in creation, I have begun to see them almost for the first time. And in seeing each of these verses, I see each as a room so large and vast and so filled with innumerable things of glory and wonder.
Connections Among. At the same time, these ten are in no way separate from each other, for the connections among them are written in the very words and phrases of each.
I am right now writing the re-do for the sixth most important verse in my introductory booklet, “The Ten Most Important Verses of the Bible,” the last one of the ten to re-write. I have to be very careful, however, that I keep this description entirely in the context of readers considering these things for the first time. But I want to include here what I just wrote there, because it shows you what I mean by saying that these verses are so interlocked together.
From “The Ten Most Important.” To better understand our view, consider this verse. Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:11). Galatians 2:20 teaches us how we are already dead to sin and how we live in the knowledge of that reality. Then, Hebrews 10:19-22 teaches us how we are alive to God and how we live in the knowledge of that reality. – (Then) –
What is the Holiest of All? The Holiest is all of God, but specifically the Throne of the Almighty, the Mercy Seat of heaven. Of truth, Ephesians 3:19 tells us that God has entered into us in all that He is in Person. And Hebrews 10:19-22 tells us that we, in all that we are, have entered into God in all that He is.
A Description of LIFE. The words of God are alive and filled with fire, indeed, they are the living Lord Jesus alive inside of us. And we LIVE inside of and by these very words in all that they are, in all they contain.
Allow me, then, to borrow Ezekiel’s picture, because it is exactly how I am seeing right now. Rather than using someone else’s actual drawing, I will attempt to construct my own version of the wheel in the middle of the wheel, the description of LIFE. Please excuse the fact that my components do not line up precisely, I want to write, not draw perfect pictures. (InDesign allows me to be more precise when I create the print version.)
The Wheel.
Each number is the corresponding most important verse of the Bible.(Notice how, from this view, looking at life together as the Church, #10 John 14:20 is seated at the right hand of #1 Romans 8:29, come now full circle.)
The Rim and the Hub. Look carefully at this diagram of the wheel until you have the complete picture fully in your mind. Now, I want to talk about these things; first, the wheel in general.
The outer rim is what rolls on the ground. In our picture, the “ground” is anything and everything this wheel of symmorphy, God in us and we in Him, might touch. The wheel is in constant motion; for that reason, we see that every one of the ten most important verses is touching everything all at the same time.
Then, consider the “wheel” in the center, which we typically call “the hub.”
Carrying the House. The inner “wheel” is life together as the body of Christ, drinking the same Spirit. It is only this inner wheel that ties our understanding of the ten most important verses into one living whole.
But I have made a modern version of the wheel, with the axle inserted into the inner part of the wheel itself. That axle is God in us and we in Him, that is, a House for us and for God. That House is carried in life together as the Church, the eleventh and twelfth most important verses of the Bible.
Now, let’s get this picture clear, for we have, indeed, drawn the Tabernacle of Moses in another rendition.
God and I Together. It is the wheel that spins, with its inner and its outer part tied together by the spokes. It is the axle sitting inside the inner part of the wheel, inside the hub, that stays in perfect peace, carried utterly by the strength of the wheel. The axle is the Holy of Holies, God IN me and me IN God, each one of us as individual persons.
God and I together are carried inside His/our House.
Yet look at the ball bearings that allow this house, the Church, each local community of Christ, to carry me and God together without friction. Those bearings are the ten “verses” personal to each one of us.
Our Life Together. You see, that second circle inside of which are the bearings is the Holy Place, our life together as the Church. It is life together, inside the patterns of HOME, that have tied together the vast array of all the infinite glory filling each one of these verses, allowing them all to connect together as one inside of life together.
At the same time, as each great room in God that each of these verses IS connects together inside our life as the Church, the specifics of all the wondrous things inside of each enters the outline of our understanding, though we can hardly look for the brightness of the glory.
But, in all of this, in our vision and in Ezekiel’s, what are we seeing?
In Appearance a Man. We are seeing God, making Himself known in and through a family of people living life together, loving one another with a pure heart fervently. Is that not what Ezekiel said? On the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it. – This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.
Paul said the same thing this way, the ekenosis of God – Thus, having willingly taken to Himself the form of a servant, [Jesus] Himself ekenosen, Himself calls forth an invisible God into visibility, and becomes by the faith of others the likeness of men and being found in appearance as a man, He humbles Himself (Philippians 2:7-8 – JSV).
Church as the Glory of the Lord. But John saw this exact same thing in this way – Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man… – the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches (Revelation 1:12-20). John saw God appearing as a Man, in and as His Church, family, brethren walking together in love.
But how do we see God? We see God in and as one another, God as all our connections together – the GLORY of the Lord.
Father and us together inside our House, carried by wheels of living FIRE.