LIFE-STUDY OF EZEKIEL
Message 4
THE WIND, THE CLOUD, THE FIRE,
AND THE ELECTRUM ARE ONE A
RECORD OF THE CHRISTIAN’S SPIRITUAL LIFE
WEEK 2 – TUESDAY
Scripture Reading: Isa. 6:5–7
Read and pray: “Then lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.” (Matt. 17:8)
THE RADIANT EXPRESSION OF THE REDEEMING GOD
We thank the Lord that in the fire there is the shining electrum. I would like to remind you that electrum, an alloy of gold and silver, typifies the redeeming God. After being burned by God as the consuming fire, we sense that we are filled with the nature and the glory of God. This means that once we have experienced the wind, the cloud, and the fire, the only thing that remains is the shining electrum, the redeeming God.
The wind and the cloud bring in the fire, and the fire manifests the shining electrum. The result of the spiritual relationships involving the blowing of the wind, the covering of the cloud, and the purifying fire is always the radiant expression of the redeeming God.
At this point, I would like to give a brief testimony of my experience when I was in my twenties. After being attracted by the Lord, almost every morning I went to a mountain near my home to pray. As I considered my experience in the light of Ezekiel 1:4, I can testify that I surely experienced the wind, the cloud, the fire, and the electrum.
Soon after arriving at the top of the mountain, I sensed the moving of the Holy Spirit, the blowing of the wind. Many times, while I was singing, my tears flowed freely. At those moments I also felt that I was under the covering of the great cloud of the Lord’s presence. At the same time, I had a strong realization that I was sinful and degraded, and I confessed my sins to the Lord.
After praying in this way and after reading the Bible, I was filled with something sweet and glorious—the redeeming God as the shining electrum. This experience was repeated morning after morning for a long time.
THE SPIRITUAL HISTORY OF EVERY CHRISTIAN
The spiritual history of every Christian must involve the wind, the cloud, the fire, and the electrum. When we were saved, we experienced the Lord in these four ways, and we must continue to experience Him in this way.
Actually, every time we are graced by the Lord, we have spiritual dealings with Him that involve the wind, the cloud, the fire, and the electrum. When you wake up in the morning, you may sense that the wind of the Spirit is blowing upon you and that a cloud is covering you. Then, as you spend some time to pray, you sense that a fire is burning inwardly to consume your degradation, worldliness, and many other negative things.
Finally, you sense that inwardly there is something bright, beautiful, and noble—the shining electrum. As a result of this experience, you may live the whole day in the enjoyment of the shining electrum. However, when you live and walk in this corrupted world, you cannot avoid being defiled and contaminated; thus, at the end of the day or the next morning, you have a further experience of the wind, the cloud, the fire, and the electrum.
Once again the wind blows, the cloud covers, and the fire burns. You confess your sins and deal with your defilement, and after this, once again you appreciate the shining of the electrum within you. This kind of experience is inexhaustible and unending. Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, we need to experience the wind, the cloud, the fire, and the electrum.
Every time the wind blows, the cloud covers, and the fire burns, we are enlightened to see what we need to deal with concerning matters of which we were not aware before. As these negative things are burned, we experience further purification and have a deeper appreciation of the shining electrum.
BEING GRACED BY THE LORD
Some believers were saved a long time ago, yet their spiritual condition remains the same. In their Christian life there is almost no experience of the wind, the cloud, the fire, and the electrum. The wind does not blow, the cloud does not cover, the fire does not burn, and therefore there is no manifestation of the electrum.
Such a situation is altogether abnormal. If a believer wants to be graced by the Lord, he must experience the spiritual wind and the spiritual cloud—the more, the better. At times we need to experience the blowing of a mighty wind, a wind that brings us into a great turn. Whenever we make such a turn, we receive much grace from the Lord.
I would like to emphasize the fact that being graced by the Lord is a matter of the wind, the cloud, the fire, and the electrum. The Holy Spirit blows upon us as a wind of God. This is the beginning of our being graced. Then, while we are under the covering of the cloud of the Lord’s presence, spontaneously we realize how sinful and impure we are.
We may have an experience that, in principle, is like that of the prophet Isaiah. When he saw a vision of the Lord in His glory, he cried out and said, “Woe is me! For I am undone; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts” (Isa. 6:5).
After he confessed his sin, he was purified. Concerning this Isaiah said, “Then one of the seraphim flew to me, with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs; and he touched my mouth with it and said, Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is forgiven” (vv. 6–7).
Whenever the wind blows, the cloud covers, and the fire burns, we sense our sinfulness and realize that all the negative things within us need to be burned. Everything that does not correspond to the holy and glorious nature of God will be consumed. Everything that is not of God, everything related to sin, the world, the flesh, and Satan—must be burned. The only thing that can pass through the consuming fire is the redeeming God as the shining electrum.
The more you seek the Lord, the more you will realize that the holy fire burns not only your weak points but also your strong points, including your natural goodness, your natural virtues, and everything that you and others admire, appreciate, and hold in high regard. Like Augustine, you may eventually feel that even your confession and your tears of repentance need the Lord’s purification.
THE MANIFESTATION OF THE ELECTRUM
The result of the blowing of the wind, the covering of the cloud, and the burning of the fire is the radiant manifestation of the electrum. While we experience the burning of the consuming fire, God Himself is manifested within us. The more we pass through the wind, the cloud, and the fire of God, the more the Lord is manifested in us in a dignified and glorious way.
When He is manifested in such a way, we sense that only He is precious, beautiful, shining, majestic, and glorious. Just like the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration, we see “no one except Jesus Himself alone” (Matt. 17:8). The only One in view, the only One on the scene, is the lovely, precious, and glorious Lord Jesus.
Then we can do nothing but bow before Him, worship Him, exalt Him, crown Him, and pour everything out to Him. In this way, we gain the Lord, and He gains us. May we all be deeply impressed with the picture in Ezekiel 1:4, and may our Christian life be a continual and inexhaustible experience of the wind, the cloud, the fire, and the electrum.
🌿 Enjoy more:
Hymn: Experience of God – “As a Dwelling Place”
https://hinario.org/detail.php?tab=1&mainmp3=admin/Uploaded-mp3-Files/0606.voz_piano.mp3&id=682
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