The first chapter of the Book of Ezekiel is one of the most weird and wonderful visions in Scripture. Ezekiel says, “The heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.” What Ezekiel saw was simultaneously overwhelming, irresistible, and awesome — the glory of God.
The unfolding vision reveals that this is not a tame God; this is not a God one can put in a box and control. God is not boring or manageable. This God is unpredictable and more holy than any person can imagine. God’s holiness so stuns Ezekiel that at the end he says, “And when I saw it, I fell upon my face.”
At the end, Ezekiel says, “This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.” He says that what he saw was indescribable; he doesn’t have the vocabulary to provide an accurate depiction of the glory of God.
The glory of God is infinitely beyond anything one can think or imagine. In the Hebrew, the word for glory is kavod (כָּבוֹד). It means “weight,” or “importance.” It means God has “matter.” He has substance or essence. He is there. And He matters more than anything else.
Kavod also refers to his splendor, his absolute beauty. On Mount Sinai, Moses told God he wanted to see his glory. Yet God told him that if he saw the unrestrained glory of God, the full glory, it would kill him because God is immeasurably holy, and Moses was…
