LIFE-STUDY OF EZEKIEL
Message 11
THE THRONE ABOVE THE BRIGHT FIRMAMENT
WEEK 4 - FRIDAY
Scripture Reading: Ezek. 1:4, 26-28; Matt. 26:64a; Acts 2:36, 24:16; 1 John 1:7, 9
Read and pray: “To him who overcomes, I will give to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat with My Father on His throne.” (Rev. 3:21)
In the vision of chapter one, the things in the natural sphere are used to describe the things in the spiritual sphere. These spiritual things are profound, but we can understand them through the natural and physical things that are used to describe them.
According to God’s plan, the spiritual things revealed here begin with the wind (v. 4) and end with the rainbow (v. 28). As we will see in the next message, there is a rainbow that manifests the splendor of God. In our experience, the throne (v. 26) and the rainbow both depend on our having a crystal-clear heaven.
In the last message, we saw that above the heads of the living creatures there is a clear firmament, a bright heaven, which is expanding and yet was stable.
Now, in this message, we need to see that above this bright heaven there is a throne. Ezekiel 1:26 says, “And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man.” We need to consider the meaning of the throne and apply it to our experience.
We Christians need to maintain a bright heaven with the Lord. This means that we need always to have a transparent fellowship with Him. We should not have anything between us and the Lord. When there is nothing between us and the Lord, our heaven will be clear as crystal, and our conscience will be pure, free from any offense (Acts 24:16).
We need to be deeply impressed with the fact that if, as Christians, we want to have a clear heaven, a crystal-clear heaven, before the Lord, we need to have a conscience without offense.
Whenever there is condemnation or an offense in our conscience, our heaven immediately becomes cloudy, dark, and misty. At such times, we should confess our failure and our sin to the Lord and receive His forgiveness and the cleansing of His precious blood (1 John 1:9, 7).
This will cleanse our conscience so that it may be without offense. Once again we will have a clear heaven and a transparent fellowship with the Lord, with nothing between us and Him.
Sometimes a small problem, such as a bad attitude toward our spouse, may cause us to have clouds in our heaven. Perhaps the other party is wrong, but our attitude is also wrong, and we lose our joy and peace.
Furthermore, we may not have the anointing to pray for a period of time. Our conscience begins to condemn us and to trouble us. This is the loss of a bright Christian firmament, the loss of a clear heaven. We no longer have a clear heaven over us, because something is wrong between us and the Lord.
This situation will remain until we go to the Lord and ask Him to forgive us for our bad attitude. Then the Lord’s anointing within us causes us to feel that we need to confess and ask forgiveness of our spouse. Although we may hesitate, because we have lost the Lord’s presence, eventually we will confess and ask forgiveness. As soon as we do this, the “weather” will change; the clouds will disappear and the clear firmament will return.
Something within us is alive once more, and we can praise the Lord. Once again we have a clear heaven, a heaven like the firmament of shining crystal above the heads of the living creatures. We should have this kind of experience not only in our daily life but also in the church life.
A CLEAR FIRMAMENT AND THE THRONE
Whenever we have this bright firmament in our Christian life and in the church life, we will also have the throne, which is above the bright firmament (Ezek. 1:26).
The throne is the center of the universe, and it is where the Lord is. We often speak about the Lord’s presence, but we have to realize that the Lord’s presence is always with the throne. Where the Lord is, there is His throne.
His presence can never be separated from His throne. The Lord’s throne is in the third heaven, but it is also in our spirit. Therefore, the Lord’s throne is with us all the time.
As Christians and local churches, we all should be under a bright and spacious firmament like crystal. Above this bright, expanding firmament is the Lord’s throne. By having such a clear firmament, spontaneously we are under the government of the Lord’s throne.
Now we are under the government and the reigning of the throne. We should always be under the government of the Lord’s throne. Because we are under the throne, we do not need policemen and courts to govern us. If we need to be governed by the police and the courts, this means that we are not under the throne.
We should be under the Lord’s throne all the time. Perhaps we may want to say something, but the government of the throne does not allow us to utter a word. As we begin to speak, the throne exercises its government, and we are compelled to swallow our words.
At other times, we may become irritated and be near to exploding in our temper, but we realize that we are under the government of the throne, and we are subdued. Who is governing over us? We are governed not only by the teachings of the Bible but by the throne.
In our Christian life and in the church life, if the heaven is clear, the throne will be there. But if our heaven is cloudy and dark, we will not see the throne. When we do not see the throne, we may be lawless and do many things according to our will and convenience.
Today many believers are careless in their daily Christian life because they do not have a bright firmament with the throne above them. Whenever believers are in darkness and therefore are not under the throne, they can be very lawless, saying whatever they want, expressing whatever they want, and going wherever they want. However, a person who is under the throne does not have the freedom to behave in such a way.
On the one hand, because we have been saved, we have freedom; but on the other hand, we are under the throne and have none. I can testify that sometimes I would like to go to a certain place, but because of the throne, I did not have the freedom to go there. Praise the Lord for the bright firmament and for the throne! Above our heads is the firmament, and above the expanse is the throne.
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