The Daily Audio Bible

God's glory leaves the temple

10 In the vision, I saw something that looked like a throne. It was made from a blue jewel called sapphire. It was above the roof and it was high over the heads of the cherubs. ² The Lord said to the man who was wearing linen clothes, ‘Go between the wheels that are under the cherubs. Pick up some of the hot coals that are burning among the cherubs. Fill your hands with them. Then throw them everywhere over the city.’ Then the man did this, as I watched him.

³ The cherubs stood at the south side of the temple when the man went in among them. A cloud filled the inside yard of the temple.^{[a] 4} Then the Lord's bright glory rose up. It went up from above the cherubs. It moved to the entrance of the temple. The cloud filled the temple. The bright glory of the Lord's shone everywhere in the yard. ⁵ The noise of the cherubs' wings was very loud. It reached as far as the outside yard. The noise was like the voice of Almighty God when he speaks.

⁶ The Lord gave a command to the man who was wearing linen clothes. He said, ‘Go in among the cherubs. Take coals of fire from between the wheels.’ So the man went in and he stood beside one of the wheels.

⁷ Then one of the cherubs put his hand towards the fire which was among the cherubs. He took some coals from the fire. He put them into the hands of the man who was wearing linen clothes. The man took the coals and he went out. ⁸ (Under the wings of the cherubs I could see something that looked like human hands.)

⁹ In the vision, I saw four wheels beside the cherubs. There was one wheel at the side of each cherub. The wheels shone like bright jewels. ¹⁰ All the four wheels looked the same. Each wheel had another wheel that went across the middle of it. ¹¹ When the cherubs moved, they could go forward in any of the four directions. They did not have to turn as they moved. When the head turned in a certain direction, they would move that way. They did not need to turn. ¹² Eyes completely covered their bodies. This included their backs, their hands and their wings. Eyes also covered the edges of all the wheels. ¹³ I heard someone call the wheels, ‘wheels that turn very fast’.^[b]

¹⁴ Each of the cherubs had four faces. One face was the face of a bull. The second face was the face of a man. The third face was a lion's face. And the fourth face was an eagle's face.

¹⁵ The cherubs rose up into the air. They were the same as the living things that I had seen beside the River Kebar. ¹⁶ When they moved, the wheels that were beside them also moved. When the cherubs lifted up their wings to fly into the air, the wheels moved beside them. ¹⁷ When the cherubs stood still, the wheels also stood still. And when the cherubs rose in the air, the wheels also rose with them. This was because the spirit of the living things was in the wheels.

¹⁸ Then the glory of the Lord moved away from the entrance of the temple. It stopped at a place above the cherubs. ¹⁹ Then the cherubs lifted up their wings and they rose up from the ground. The wheels also moved with them. I watched them do this. They stopped by the east gate of the Lord's temple. The glory of Israel's God stayed above them.^[c]

²⁰ They were the same living things that I had seen beside the Kebar River when they were under Israel's God. I realized that they were cherubs. ²¹ Each of them had four faces and four wings. They had something with the shape of human hands under their wings. ²² They had the same four faces that I had seen beside the River Kebar. Each of them moved forward and they did not turn.

What will happen to Jerusalem

11 Then a spirit lifted me up and took me to the east gate of the Lord's temple.^[d] When I was there, near the entrance of the gate, I could see 25 men. Azzur's son Jaazaniah and Benaiah's son Pelatiah were among them. They were leaders of the people. ² The Lord said to me. ‘Son of man, these are the men who decide to do evil things in this city. They also give wicked advice to the people. ³ They say, “It is not the right time now to build houses. This city is like a pot to cook meat on a fire. We are like the meat in that pot.”

⁴ Son of man, you must speak my message to warn them.’

⁵ Then the Lord's Spirit took hold of me. He said to me, ‘This is the Lord's message to the people: Tell them, “People of Israel, I know what you are saying. I know the thoughts that you have in your minds. ⁶ You have killed many people in this city. The streets are full of the dead bodies of people that you have killed.”

⁷ So this is what the Almighty Lord says: “The dead bodies that you have put in this city are the meat. And the city is the pot to cook them in. But as for you, I will remove you from it! ⁸ You are afraid that an enemy will attack you. So I will bring an army to attack you.” That is what the Almighty Lord says.

⁹ “I will remove you from this city. I will put you under the power of a foreign army. I will use them to punish you. ¹⁰ Enemy soldiers will use their swords to kill you. I will punish you in your own country. Then you will know that I am the Lord. ¹¹ This city will not be like a pot where you can be safe. You will not be like the meat in that pot. I will punish you while you are still inside Israel. ¹² Then you will know that I am the Lord. You have not obeyed my rules or my laws. Instead, you have lived in the same wicked way as the nations around you.” ’

¹³ While I was speaking the Lord's message, Benaiah's son Pelatiah died. Then I bent down low with my face towards the ground. I shouted, ‘Almighty Lord, do not do this! You will completely destroy all Israel's people who remain!’

¹⁴ Then the Lord gave this message to me: ¹⁵ ‘Son of man, listen to what the people of Jerusalem are saying about you, your brothers and your relatives. They say this about all the people of Israel who are now in Babylon. They are saying, “Those people have gone far away from the Lord. So now this land belongs to us and we can keep it.”

¹⁶ So say this: “This is what the Almighty Lord says. I removed my people from their own land and I sent them far away. I sent them to live among other nations and in other countries. But I am still near to them in the countries where they have gone.” 

¹⁷ Then say, “This is what the Almighty Lord says. I will fetch you from the places where you have been living. I will bring you back together from those countries. I will give the land of Israel back to you.” 

¹⁸ The people will return to their land. Then they will destroy their idols and other disgusting things. ¹⁹ I will give them new thoughts so that they will choose to worship only me. I will put a new spirit in them. They will no longer refuse to change their way of life. Instead, I will help them to want to obey me. ²⁰ Then they will know my rules and my laws. They will be careful to obey them. They will be my people and I will be their God. ²¹ But it will be different for those who continue to worship their disgusting idols. I will punish them as they deserve because of the evil things that they have done. That is what the Almighty Lord says.’

²² Then the cherubs lifted up their wings to fly. The wheels were at their sides. And the bright glory of Israel's God was above them. ²³ The glory of the Lord rose up and it went away from the city. It stopped over a mountain on the east side of the city.

²⁴ In the vision, a spirit lifted me up and took me back to Babylon. I returned to the Israelites who were prisoners there. That was the end of the vision.

²⁵ I told the Israelites everything that the Lord had shown me in the vision.

6 So we must go on from the first lessons that we learned about Christ. We must grow as believers so that we understand more and more. We should not go back to those first lessons again and again. We already know that we must turn away from wrong things that lead to death. We know that we must trust God. ² We have already learned about how to become clean.^[a] We know that leaders put their hands on other Christians to pray for God's help.^[b] We know that God will raise dead people to live again. And we know that God will judge every person one day at the end of time.

³ Yes, we must choose to go on from those early lessons! God is ready to help us to do that.

We must not turn away from Jesus

⁴ That is important, because we must not turn away from Christ, after we have first believed in him. Some people have come into God's light. They have understood God's message. They have started to enjoy the true life that God has given them. They have received the Holy Spirit, like other believers. ⁵ They have understood that God's message is good for them. They have seen powerful things that belong to the future time. ⁶ But after all that, they have turned against God. Then it is impossible for anyone to help them to turn away from their sins again. It is like they are killing the Son of God on the cross again for themselves. They show other people that they do not think Christ is important.

⁷ Think about a field where rain has fallen many times. That ground helps the plants in it to grow well. As a result, the farmer receives good things. It shows that God has blessed that ground. ⁸ But a field where only weeds and thorn bushes grow is worth nothing. God will very soon speak against that ground. In the end, fire will burn all of it.

⁹ We are telling you this, our good friends, because we want you to continue well. We are sure that God has saved you and that he will continue to bless you. ¹⁰ God is always right and fair. He will not forget all the good things that you have done. You have shown that you love him very much, because you have helped the other believers. And you continue to help them as God's servants. ¹¹ But we very much want each of you to continue to trust God to the end. Show that you really want to serve him. Be sure that, in the end, you will receive all the good things that you hope for. ¹² Then you will not be slow to learn. Instead, you will copy the example of those people who continue to trust God. They continue to be patient when trouble happens to them. People like that receive what God has promised to his people.

God's promise to Abraham

¹³ God made a promise to Abraham many years ago. God used the authority of his own name to show that his promise was true. He did that because there was nobody greater than God himself. His name showed that the promise was very serious. ¹⁴ God said to Abraham, ‘I will certainly bless you. I will give you many children and many, many grandchildren.’ ¹⁵ Abraham waited patiently for a long time. In the end, he received what God had promised to give him.^[c]

¹⁶ When someone makes a strong promise, he uses the authority of a person who is greater than himself. This shows that he will certainly obey his promise. Then nobody can argue about it. ¹⁷ God wanted to show very clearly that he would never change his purpose. He wanted his people to know that he would certainly bless them. So when he made this promise, he also used his own name to make it strong. ¹⁸ Those two things can never change. God cannot tell a lie. As a result, we can be brave and strong. We have trusted God to keep us safe with him. We should also expect to receive the good things that he has promised to give us.

¹⁹ We can be completely sure about those good things that we hope to receive. That keeps our thoughts strong, because we know that our life is safe with God. It is like an anchor that keeps a ship safe.^[d] When we hope like that, we know that we will one day arrive in God's special place in heaven. That is like the special place behind the curtain in the tabernacle. ²⁰ Jesus has already gone in there. He has gone there before us, on our behalf. He has become our special priest for ever, in the same way that Melchizedek was God's priest.^[e]