Signs of the Times
The Vision
Pastor Bob and his wife were just finishing up at the church for the day when one of their new converts, a young woman named Sue Anne, knocked on the office door. She seemed excited and said that God had told her to come to the church and ask Bob to pray for her with the laying on of hands.
As the young pastor and his wife prayed for Sue Anne, she suddenly dropped to the floor under the power of the Holy Spirit. It was obvious from things she would mutter and the movement of her eyes that she was having a great vision. The pastor’s wife quickly set up a tape recorder to ensure that no details of Sue Anne’s account would be forgotten. The following is what was recorded that day in 1971. Surely the time for these events is very near.
Sue Anne: Please pray for me again; I want to go back to where I was.
Bob: No, you cannot go back. The Lord won’t let you go back.
Sue Anne: Please, Bob, I want to go back to where I was.
Bob: No, you can’t go back. What did you see?
Sue Anne: I was there in the end times, but I wasn’t the only one there. There were other people there…people I know. The earth was brown. Everything was brown. The sky was brown. The trees were brown. They looked like they were burnt but they hadn’t really burned. I don’t understand. The air was dirty and it was real thick. It was hard to breathe. Demons were everywhere—funny looking little things. You could see them. They were hanging onto the buildings and onto the people. We were white. We were absolutely perfect. We didn’t look old. We looked just like we do now only we were perfect. The people would look at us and burn up. It seemed so cruel. I saw heaven and God was in heaven. I went through three rooms and God was in the third room. It must have been like the tabernacle. I’ve never seen one but that’s what it must have been.
Bob: What did God look like?
Sue Anne: (Long pause while groping for words.) He looks like love. God looks like love. God wasn’t alone. There were other people in the room with him but they didn’t look like us. I don’t know how to describe it but they had this round shape.
Bob: It must have been their spiritual bodies.
Sue Anne: God said to tell you that these people who were perfect were going to have more power than the world has ever seen.
Next in the vision she was shown hell which was a terrifying experience causing her to cry. She said there were a tremendous number of people in hell. There were so many who were not going to go to heaven. She said those who do go to heaven were a great minority. (I was unable to transcribe this part about hell because of damage to the tape rendering it unintelligible.)
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Pastor Bob was my brother. I heard the tape shortly after it was recorded and transcribed it as seen here. I include it here because it is an illustration of many things that will be revealed in our study of the four living creatures.
If you are interested in God's plans for his people in the end times, this book is for you. If you would like to be one of the people Sue Anne saw who was absolutely perfect and had more power than the world has ever seen, this book is for you. However, I want to add this caveat, “Many are called, but few are chosen.” If you are not willing to allow your life to be crucified with Christ, if you are not willing to give up all worldly desires at the direction of the Holy Spirit, then you will never come to this place in God. Conversely, if you are totally in love with Jesus and willing to forsake all for him, then he will bring you into a great and mighty ministry such as the world has never seen.
The four living creatures of Ezekiel have fascinated God’s people down through the ages—such mystery!—creatures with four faces, four wings, wheels within wheels, burning coals of fire and flashes of lightning! Surely these creatures that comprise two entire chapters of Ezekiel must be very important, but who are they and what do they mean?
In ages past great men and women of God have diligently studied and prayed over these verses only to find the true revelation could not be ascertained. This is because God would not allow anyone to understand these passages until the appropriate time determined by him had arrived. That time is now!
If the secrets contained in these verses had been brought forth before their time, people would have misused them. The revelation of the four living creatures contains information to be used only by the Church of the end times. These revelations will sustain us through the turbulent events at the end of this age and propel us into the coming age of the kingdom.
The passing of this age and the establishing of the next could be compared to the meeting of two huge air masses. When a cold front butts up against a warm front, the air becomes turbulent resulting in severe storms and even tornadoes. The events soon to engulf this nation and the entire world will be marked by wild disorder and violent agitation that will shake every society and every institution to the core. Only those things rooted and grounded in Jesus Christ will remain standing.
Just recently we have seen a plunge in world money markets with multitudes losing most if not all of their life savings. The value of the dollar is falling. We have a new class of the homeless as many have lost their homes due to financial problems or severe weather disasters. Our government has been taking over banks and dictating to corporations what they can and cannot do. Freedom of speech is being threatened as our government tries to shun conservative TV stations and monitor talk radio all in the name of “fairness.” The validity of our Constitution is daily being questioned. For those with eyes to see, the move forward toward a One World Government is accelerating at incredible speed. Many attempts are being made to lower our standard of living and bring us down to the level of a third world nation. All the natural things we have trusted in for our security are being removed.
We may be on the very brink of the collapse of civilization as we have known it. Many fear that the end of the world is near. Not only do many Christians believe this, but even secular reporters are taking note as seen in the following headlines:
An Associated Press writer asks, "Is everything spinning out of control?" A Wall Street Journal headline read, "Millennium Fever: Prophets Proliferate, The End is Near." A New York Times book review began, "Some 50 million Americans share a belief that these are the last days." Even the Chicago Tribune ran a front-page story about the end times in a recent Sunday edition.
British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge suggested, "The basic condition for a civilization is that there should be law and order. Obviously this is coming to an end. The world is falling into chaos, even perhaps especially our western world... There are many other symptoms. The excessive interest in eroticism is characteristic of the end of a civilization because it really means a growing impotence, and fear of impotence. Then the excessive need for excitement, vicarious excitement, which of course the games provided for the Romans and which television provides for our population. Even the enormously complicated structure of taxation and administration is a symptom of the end of the civilization. Above all, there is this truly terrible thing which afflicts materialist societies - boredom, an excessive boredom which I note on every hand. (Bilson)
A biblical timetable would indicate we are approaching the end of the church age and the beginning of the millennial reign of Christ on earth. If a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years are as a day, with four thousand years from Adam to Christ and two thousand from Christ until now, then we are entering the seventh day…the final day according to Bible prophecy.
The prophet Joel speaks of this time: “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations" (Joel 2:1,2).
Joel describes a time of terrible trouble and darkness, but at the same time a people of great power such as have never been seen coming forth on earth. These people, I believe, are the ones who go through the process described in the four living creatures to come into the full stature of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us that it is through much tribulation that we enter the Kingdom of God…the Kingdom of God being a realm in God not a geographical location. These people are the Overcomers who have been through tribulation and come out in “honor, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work” (2 Tim. 2:21). When I say tribulation, I am not necessarily speaking about a seven year period when the whole world is in great tribulation, but I am referring to the refining fire of God, the crucible that he must put us in, to burn out the dross of our old nature so that Christ can reign totally in us. Then we will be in the kingdom of God regardless of what is taking place in the earth around us. We enter here at different times according to God's workmanship in our lives.
Maturity in Christ requires a deep working of the cross in the life of each individual. The upheaval coming upon us will force us to either die to self allowing Christ to be formed in us or perish. Many believers have not matured in their faith because times have been good. When prosperity reigns and life is good, we seldom seek God. When adversity comes, we start asking questions and seeking deeper meaning in life. This is only human nature (carnality) and it is this carnal nature that has to go if we are to enter into the deep things of God.
The revelation of the four living creatures is for those who are willing to die to self and forsake all to follow Christ. That is the prerequisite for being able to walk in the revelation of Ezekiel’s vision. The coming turbulence will convince many Christians and unbelievers alike that there is nowhere to go to escape the storms except into God’s kingdom. The way into this kingdom is not easy. As Jesus said, “…the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” We will have to force our way into the kingdom. Part of the Greek meaning of these words indicates the idea of “vital activity.” We will not enter by doing nothing. We must seek God with our whole heart and obey him in all things. God has much ahead for us if we will work together with him in putting aside the old natural self and embracing our new spiritual life in Christ. The word “force” in the Greek means “to catch up, to snatch away.” It is the same word used in the passage about Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch where the Spirit of the Lord “caught away” Philip and he was immediately at another place! We must seize the kingdom with vital force by seeking God and obeying him in all things, but it is Christ who will catch us up into the spiritual realm where he is.
In past ages when famine, wars or oppression became too great, people could leave their country and find a better land or even a new unexplored land. However, in today’s world, these options are no longer available. When terrorists terrorize the world and the threats of chemical, biological or nuclear attacks become reality, where can we go to find safety? When drought, flood, earthquake or famine stalk our land, where can we go when the entire world is under God’s judgment? What if the dreaded One World Government becomes a reality and the Antichrist reigns? Where on earth will we go to escape the intrusive eyes of the satellites and the surveillance cameras mounted on every building and street corner?
The only escape will be into God’s kingdom but we must be changed before we can enter his kingdom. The four living creatures will reveal that we do not have to leave this earth in order to enter God’s kingdom, but that we will be changed (1 Cor. 15:51). We will still be on earth but we will also be in heaven at the same time. This is a great mystery that will unfold before us as we study the four living creatures and unlock their secrets.
The Bible speaks of “the powers of the age to come” (Heb. 6:5). Those who have been willing to forsake all for Christ are even now on the brink of entering into these powers. We are going to have to be so close to God and so one with him that we will be able to walk in his power even as Jesus Christ did. Jesus walked on water, turned water into wine, healed the sick, cast out demons, walked through the midst of an angry mob that tried to kill him, filled a fisherman’s net with fish, provided a coin in a fish’s mouth, raised the dead and did many more miracles…some recorded in our Bible and some that were never recorded. He is the great I AM. He is what we need him to be when we need him to be it…if, and this is a big “if,” we are faithful. If we are not seeking the pleasures of this world and neglecting a relationship with Jesus, if we are not forsaking the cross of Christ, if we are not idolaters, etc. then we can look forward to doing the same miracles Jesus did. In fact, Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father” (John 14:12).
Do we need to fear being rounded up and sent to a concentration camp as happened in Europe in recent history if we have the ability to just walk out of their midst like Jesus did. Can you imagine that? In the middle of the night, you hear shouts and gunfire, there are trucks and helicopters outside that people are being forced into at gunpoint, and when they break down the door to your house, you just walk away. Or better yet, they just walk past your house as though they never saw it. If the angels are standing guard around your home, the intruders will not dare step foot on your property. God has plans for us to live in this dimension of the supernatural, but we have to go through a process of growth and maturity in him to the point that we are walking in holiness even as Jesus did. This has never beenpossible before this time, but we are in a new day and God is doing a new thing. We are passing into the age to come. The four living creatures will be showing us how we will transition into this age of miracles.
God is speaking prophetically to many people saying that famine is coming to America. For some people it is already here, but not on the massive scale that is coming. God is speaking about wide-spread famine. We used to have stores of grain and food in this nation, but our government paid farmers not to plant crops. Our grain was given to other nations and now there is no emergency store of food. A few terrorist strikes could shut down our nation’s transportation systems. If the trucks don’t roll, our grocery stores will not be stocked with food.
Can we store up enough food to live on for a long period of time? Maybe some people can, but many can’t afford to or don’t have room to store it. Besides, this brings up the questions: Do you keep your food to yourself and let your Christian brother starve? Can you store up enough for yourself, your children and grandchildren…your church…your neighborhood? It can get ridiculous. Jesus might tell us to go to a river or pond and scoop up some fish for dinner (cast your nets down on the right side). He could make a squash plant grow just outside your backdoor or in a pot of dirt on your patio. He could take your small crust of bread and multiply it to feed a multitude. He can and will do all things for his faithful ones in the time of trouble that is even now creeping upon us.
There can be no doubt that these are desperate times for humanity. America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, has turned her back on the biblical principles that this nation was founded upon. The church has become polluted and lost her ability to be salt and light. Yet in the midst of this, God has his remnant, and the plan and purpose of God will be brought to pass on this earth. Let us now begin our detailed examination of Ezekiel One and the four living creatures to learn how we can begin to force our way into the kingdom of God and seize all that Christ has for us in him.
Verse One - Ezekiel…A Type of an End Time Overcomer
Ezekiel 1:1 Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.
This verse has much to tell us concerning life on earth in the end times when this revelation is to come forth. In this one verse we will be able to uncover information about the stages of development that have been reached by humanity, civilization, the church, and Ezekiel himself. In addition to this, the important location for these visions will be revealed.
The first thing to come to pass, as shown in the number thirty, is that humankind has come to a point of maturity. This is not to say all people are mature but that the working of God has achieved a level of development in us such that some are ready to enter into the things revealed by the four living creatures. The “thirtieth year” speaks of full maturity because of the way we see it used in Scripture. Jesus Christ, King David and Jacob’s son, Joseph, after a time of preparation, all began their ministries or reigns at the age of thirty. The priests were also allowed to begin their ministries at age thirty.
When God called Abram forth from Ur of the Chaldees and began the separation and formation of a people to whom he could reveal himself, he started a work that was to continue through several millennia. Down through the ages God has been revealing himself and sifting, separating, and perfecting his people to bring them to maturity in preparation for the coming of his kingdom on earth. Those of us who will be entering into the fullness of God’s Spirit will be able to do so because of all the working of God in humanity prior to this time.
Not only are the people of God coming into maturity at this time but also those who have chosen to follow the Devil. There is a fullness of evil coming and indeed already in existence lurking below the surface of our society that is wicked beyond anyone's imagination. The most nefarious Hollywood movie cannot compare to the horror and heinousness that has been laid up by the Devil for this end time showdown between good and evil.
We have no concept of what is just on the horizon. For one thing, we don't truly understand what good and evil really are. We have watched so many thousands of television programs and movies where the good guy was not really good at all according to God's standards, that we are willing to settle for something far less than God is calling us to. We don't truly understand what God's concept of holiness involves. The church in the past has tried to make holiness tantamount to being able to follow a long list of do's and don'ts. If a woman didn't cut her hair, wear makeup or dress in slacks, she was considered holy. God's standard of holiness calls us to be like Jesus. We must spend a lot of time prayerfully pouring over the Scriptures to determine who Jesus was and then to see where we are in comparison. The Holy Spirit will show us and do the work in us as we allow him.
For most of us, the death camps of Nazi Germany would characterize the most diabolical acts ever perpetrated on a civilized society. We've seen pictures of what the Allies found when they entered the concentration camps…human beings that looked like nothing more than skeletons with flesh on them, millions of dead bodies piled up in huge mass graves where bulldozers had shoved them, etc. Surely nothing could be worse than this…or could it? The Holy Spirit witnesses to my spirit that it can and will be even worse than that.
For one thing, the Bible tells us that the Devil and his angels will be cast out of heaven onto the earth. "Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time" (Rev 12:12). Right now the demons are hidden from our sight in the unseen realm called heaven that is all around us. When they are cast out of that realm, we will see them. This is going to be frightening beyond belief. However, if we are God's faithful ones, he has a place of safety prepared for us as indicated in other verses of Revelation 12. Until then, we need to be aware that these evil entities are behind the attacks that come against us. As we use our spiritual weapons we will overcome them. This is all part of the process of coming into maturity. Some call it "new levels, new devils." As we stand in faith against the onslaughts of the enemy, we grow stronger in the Lord. Knowing this helps us face the challenges that inevitably come our way with faith and assurance that God is with us and this is all part of his plan.
In this first chapter of Ezekiel, God will be showing us many more things about his plans for bringing his most mature people into his fullness. After this process is completed, they will be prepared to minister with power and miracles such as the world has never seen. The powerful anointing on these ministries will be for the purpose of bringing the rest of the church to this same level of maturity and completion in Christ. The church will then be seen in her glory and all the nations and peoples of the world will flock to her. Ezekiel 1, the subject of this book, shows us their preparation while Ezekiel 10 reveals their ministry.
Based on the above understandings we may interpret the first phrase of verse one, “Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year,” to mean:
Now it has come to pass that humankind has reached a stage of full maturity regarding good and evil and the right moment has arrived for some to come into the perfection of divine order (in the thirtieth year).
In the following phrase, “the fourth month,” the number four represents the number of man in his relation to the world as created. (The word "month" is not in the Hebrew text.) It is also the number of material completeness. Based on this understanding of the number four, we can see that as man has come to maturity, so also there has been a coming to completion and fullness of man’s creativity. Think of all that man has made out of those things created by God. We have built great cities all over the earth. Through our technology we have been able land a man on the moon, put satellites in orbit around our earth and send probes into outer space with some actually landing on the planet Mars. Our electronic and scientific expertise have produced televisions, cell phones, jet planes, artificial hearts, organ transplants, cloning, surveillance equipment, atomic and hydrogen bombs, chemical and biological weapons, etc. The list is endless. With all our technological advances have come deep ethical issues that some would say have placed men and women in the role of “playing God.”
As Eccles. 3:1 tells us, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” Perhaps God is not going to let us enter any further into this position of “playing God.” We may see the time come when we will no longer trust in our technology because it will have reached its zenith and God will say, “That’s far enough.” After one day of nuclear war, we could find ourselves bombed back into the Stone Age.
Based upon our observations of the number four we may add the following to our first phrase:
Man has come to completeness regarding his relationship to material things and the world (in the fourth) (The word “month” is not in the Hebrew but was added by the translators.)
Our next phrase says, “in the fifth day of the month.” The Hebrew word for “month,” chodesh, also means “new moon.” According to Andrew Jukes in Types in Genesis, “Christ is the sun, the church the moon.” We see here that in type, “moon” refers to the church in that the moon reflects the light of the sun with Jesus being our “sun.” This is a new moon so we may conclude something new is coming in the church.
In this phrase, the word “fifth” is telling us something about the church (in the fifth of the month [moon = church]). Five is the number of divine strength added to and made perfect in humankind’s weakness. It is the number of grace and favor and the number of the fifth kingdom (Daniel) when the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Anointed.
According to these explanations we may conclude:
Divine strength is going to be made perfect in humankind’s weakness so that the kingdoms of this world can become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Anointed (in the fifth [day]). This is the new thing God is bringing about through his church (of the month).
Ezekiel tells us next that he was “among the captives.” We know that historically he was included in the exile from Jerusalem to Babylon in 597 B.C. However, we need to view his captivity from a spiritual perspective for our interpretation of his vision.
In a sense we are all captives either of sin or of righteousness. “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Rom. 6:16). Because God chose Ezekiel for this great vision of the four living creatures, we know he had to have been a slave of righteousness. A slave of righteousness would be a person who no longer lives for himself but lives to please Jesus Christ. In other words, he is a mature Christian who has been willing to take up his cross daily and follow Christ.
Our Christian faith is full of paradoxes…one being that if we are to be truly free, we must be a slave of Jesus. God’s ways are always opposite of our ways. In the natural we think that true happiness and freedom would be ours if we could go anywhere we wanted and do anything we pleased. However, this would not bring the joy we would expect because we would by our very nature become enslaved to something…a bad habit, another person, a compulsion, etc. It is an amazing thing that when we give up our right to do as we please and wait upon the Lord’s guidance for all we do, we find great joy, peace and freedom.
Ezekiel, then, is a type of a spiritual captive representing a Christian living in the end times who has come to a deep level of maturity in Christ. He is ready to enter into the new things that God will be opening to him that will make it possible for him to transition into a new dimension of spirituality in Christ. We continue our interpretation by saying…
There is a person, representative of mature Christians living in the end times, who has chosen to be a servant of righteousness, a willing slave of the Lord Jesus Christ (among the captives).
Our text tells us he was “by the river of Chebar.” “Chebar” means “joining.” Our key to knowing to what he was joining is the word “river.”
Spiritually speaking this is the river spoken of by Christ when he said, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37,38). It is Christ who satisfies our thirst and enlightens our minds.
With this in mind, we can see that Ezekiel was positioned close to Jesus, the living water, and because Chebar means “joining,” he was joining with him. He represents a person who has more than just right doctrine or knowledge of the Bible. He has a deep and abiding relationship with Jesus Christ. This relationship will be greatly intensified and strengthened as this revelation unfolds.
A closer look at the Hebrew meaning for Chebar will reveal something about how this new depth of relationship is being accomplished. Its more exact meaning is “to join, specifically by means of spells.” When we think of spells, we associate them with witchcraft, but there is a deeper insight here. According to Webster, a spell is a “trance.” Both Peter and Paul experienced trances in the New Testament.
Peter explained in Acts 11:5, “I was in the city of Joppa praying: and in a trance I saw a vision, a certain vessel descend, as it had been a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came even to me.” This vision contained a revelation that the Gentiles were acceptable to God.
In Acts 22:17,18 Paul testified, “And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance; and saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me.” The trance further revealed that Paul was to take the Gospel to the Gentiles.
The New Testament Greek word for “trance,” ekstasis, reveals it is “a displacement of the mind.” Displacement means “to move from its usual place” (Webster).
This person is joining with Christ by moving his mind from its usual place. We all have wrong patterns of thinking and believing that separate us from Christ and keep us from fully entering his kingdom. These patterns of thinking are deeply entrenched in our minds having been laid down over the years by repeated reactions and deductions based on our life experiences. Robert Mulholland states:
We all have deeply ingrained perceptual frameworks that shape our lives in the world: structures of habit, attitude, perspective, relational dynamics, and response mechanisms. Our perceptual frameworks shape our understanding of God, our understanding of ourselves, and our understanding of others…These frameworks can, and most often do, become our prisons. We find ourselves in bondage to them. Our future becomes a replay of the past. (Mulholland 2000, 33).
These ways of thinking will have to be changed so that Christ can fill our minds with his truth. In order for this to happen, our minds have to be moved from their usual place to a new place of God’s truth and the resulting union with Christ. The four living creatures are going to reveal how this is to be accomplished. (It is interesting that both Peter and Paul’s trances contained messages about the Gentiles receiving the Gospel so they could be joined to Christ and joined with believing Jews in one faith in Christ!)
Continuing our interpretation of verse one, we can say that…
He is close to Jesus, the living water, and is deepening his relationship with Jesus by means of moving his mind away from its usual place of limited understanding and aligning it with the Word of God (by the river of Chebar).
The last phrase of this first verse states that, “the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.” Heaven means allegorically, “the understanding opened.” Since the natural mind is incapable of understanding spiritual realities (Eph. 4:17,18), God must open our understanding as he did for his disciples in Luke 24:45, “Then he opened their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures.”
As this person’s understanding is opened by God, he begins to see visions. The visions he is seeing are taking place within himself as though he were looking into a mirror and seeing deep within himself. Jesus said, “…behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). (Some Bible translators have used the word “among” rather than “within” when translating entos in this Luke passage, but according to Strong, it means “within” or “inside.”)
If we desire to see Jesus, we must first look within and allow him to transform us into his image before we will see him and his kingdom manifested outwardly. This is because we see according to what is in our own heart. “Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled” (Titus 1:15). Our own carnality blocks our view of Jesus. He is within us, closer than the air we breathe, but we are unable to see him because of the veils of our flesh.
In our humanness we believe God thinks, judges and evaluates even as we do, but this is far from the truth. In Psalm 50 where God is calling his people to repentance he says, “…thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee…” We must remember that his thoughts and ways are higher than ours and if we are to understand them, we must become like him in character.
The more pure in heart we become, the more good we can see in others and the more accepting we can be of ourselves. God, being perfect in his heart, is able to see us as we will be when his work in us is completed. If we can see ourselves as he sees us, our transformational process will be accelerated because we tend to become like that upon which we focus.
As we continue our study of the four living creatures, God will be revealing the ways he intends to work in us to remove the veils of our flesh that separate us from him. According to our interpretation of this last phrase we can say that…
…his understanding was opened (that the heavens were opened) and he was seeing visions from God within himself (and I saw visions of God).
Now we will combine our understanding of each section into the following spiritual interpretation of verse one:
Now it has come to pass that humankind has reached a stage of full maturity regarding good and evil and the right moment has arrived for some to come into the perfection of divine order (in the thirtieth year). Man has come to completeness regarding his relationship to material things and the world (in the fourth). Now divine strength is going to be made perfect in humankind’s weakness so that the kingdoms of this world can become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Anointed (in the fifth). This is the new thing God is bringing about through his church (of the month). There is a person, representative of mature Christians living in the end times, who has chosen to be a servant of righteousness, a willing slave of the Lord Jesus Christ (as I was among the captives). This person is close to Jesus, the living water (by the river), and is deepening his relationship with Jesus by means of moving his mind away from its usual place of limited understanding and aligning it with the Word of God (of Chebar) so that his understanding is being opened (that the heavens were opened) and he is seeing visions from God within himself (and I saw visions of God).