Ezekiel 1:16
The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel. The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.
The wheels appear beryl-colored, all four sharing one likeness as a wheel within a wheel, intricate and confusing to finite sight. Beneath and amid them is revealed a hand of infinite wisdom, with the wheels moved and directed by heavenly beings and God's Spirit to bring perfect order, exactness and harmony out of confusion. The vision shows the whole complicated course of human events under God's control, guiding and overruling the power and plans of evil rulers and of Satan to bring good to His faithful people. The wheel within a wheel is His government at work through the tireless ministry of heavenly messengers joined with people on earth, every part depending on every other and accomplishing the greatest work by very simple means. Therefore no worker is to seek control or leave God out, but each is to trust Him, stand at his post, and draw nearer to Christ the great center in whom believers become one in heart and action. The same living wheels reappear beneath the cloudy chariot that carries the saints upward to the holy city, crying Holy as it rolls upward amid the songs of angels and the redeemed.
Vision's Form and Order
The four wheels share a single likeness in appearance and workmanship, gleaming with the color of beryl, and each one is formed as a wheel set within a wheel. To finite sight their construction is intricate and interlocking, a confusion and a difficulty beyond ready explanation. That apparent complexity belongs to the vision of the cherubim, where living creatures stand connected with the wheels.
Amid the wheels is revealed a hand of infinite wisdom, the hand beneath the wings of the cherubim, moving and directing by God's Spirit. That hand brings perfect order, exactness, and harmony out of confusion, so that every wheel works in its right place in complete harmony with every other part of the whole machinery. What first looks confusing therefore moves with coordinated precision under divine direction.
The wheels do not move by themselves, for they are guided by heavenly beings and directed by God's Spirit. Their connection with the living creatures shows tireless heavenly agency joined to the work, with each part directed by His hand into perfect agreement with every other wheel. In this way intricate means are governed into unity, part answering to part without discord.
The same living wheels appear beneath the cloudy chariot that bears the saints upward to the holy city, the New Jerusalem. As the chariot rolls upward the wheels cry Holy, and its moving wings join the cry Holy. In the fuller unfolding the attending angels cry Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, while the redeemed as they ascend shout Alleluia.
God's Sovereign Government
The wheel within a wheel is a picture of divine control over the tangled course of human events, showing that the whole world remains under God's control and that He still guides earthly affairs amid the conflict of nations. What looks intricate, interlocking and confusing to finite eyes moves with exactness and harmony under the hand beneath the cherubim's wings, guided by heavenly beings and directed by God's Spirit. That guiding power is eternal justice at work through a power not under human control, for men may think they direct matters while higher influences are at work above them. Every part moves in complete harmony, each doing its specified work yet with individual freedom of action, so that apparent entanglement becomes perfect order.
By His hand God rules coming events and overrules the power, policy and plans of evil rulers and the plans of Satan to bring good to His faithful, loyal people. Myriads of glorified beings stand ready at His word for this overruling work in behalf of the faithful. Those who do not know God cannot comprehend His movements. Heaven is thereby shown to be closely involved in events on earth, ruling what is to come and caring for those who remain loyal.
The wheel within a wheel shows that guiding hand working through the tireless, continuous, wakeful and vigilant ministry of heavenly messengers in connection with people on earth. Human workers are only instruments in His hands, while different works and employments enlist the energies of those messengers under His direction. Divine power thus gives His servants success, keeping the work in perfect order even when it seems complicated to human minds, so that it moves swiftly to completion. God's government itself is arranged as a wheel within a wheel, in which every part depends on every other part and all work and act together in entire harmony.
The striking feature of divine operations is the accomplishment of the greatest work that can be done in this world by very simple means. God moves upon human forces and causes His Spirit to touch unseen, invisible chords whose vibration rings to the extremity of the universe. In that harmonious arrangement even the humblest worker, when moved by the Holy Spirit, can contribute to a work that reaches across the earth and continues through eternity.
Trust and United Service
In His providence God prepares the way for His work to be done by human agents, and divine power gives His servants success so that the work will move swiftly to completion. No one is able to manage what belongs to the great I AM, so human workers must not seek after too much power or try to control the work themselves. They must not leave God out of their methods and plans nor claim the success of the work as their own, but must trust Him with everything for its advancement and give Him the glory. Each is to stand at his post of duty and faithfully do the duty appointed and assigned for this time, knowing that God is his instructor.
Every part moves in complete harmony while doing its specified work, yet with individual freedom of action. It is not a small matter to keep these wheels in such order that they can accomplish the work. Christ Jesus is the great center and unity of His people, as a wheel within a wheel, and the nearer believers come to Christ the nearer they come to each other. When Christ abides in the heart by faith, believers are one in Christ Jesus and realize the greatest harmony, heart with heart, sanctified through the truth with faith and love, without discord and strife.
The wheel within a wheel illustrates people with many talents and people with few talents laboring together in a united, coordinated organization, each doing the part God appoints and remaining responsible and accountable to God to do His will according to His appointment. Each is willing to do his part and to go where sent in the order of God as His providence leads, with the self-sacrifice and self-denial shown in Christ's life. Tract and missionary work shows the same wheel-within-a-wheel interconnection of plans and activities, but this work must not absorb or undermine other important branches of the cause.
The vision holds a deep and important lesson for every one of God's workmen and should be studied with humility and earnest prayer. The machinery of earth and heaven needs many faces and interlocking wheels to reveal the Hand beneath the wheels bringing perfect order from confusion. The laws of nature are harmonious and conform with all God's working, and the wheels show that the living and true God is a necessity everywhere to maintain that order against human confusion.