Their faces had the same appearance as those I had seen by the Kebar River. Each one went straight ahead. - Ezekiel 10:22

Today’s Scripture Reading (March 31, 2017) Ezekiel 10

Political revolutions often promise to be the winds of change. They will blow through London, Washington, Paris, or Ottawa and sweep away the garbage that has accumulated under previous administrations. They will be a breath of fresh air, and as a result, new ideas will arise. Often there is a promise that under the new government, a bipartisan focus will emerge out of partisan politics.

But the reality is that these things are rarely accomplished. In politics, there are often too many human-built obstacles to deflect the winds of change. We soon begin to realize that it is not a wind of change that we need. What is required is a tornado or hurricane of the revolution that is needed to bring the necessary adjustments, a wind strong enough to blow away all of the protective structures that we have built along with the garbage so that we can begin to rebuild something new. But politicians are rarely willing to blow everything up. And even if they were willing, the unfortunate truth is that we would likely just rebuild the same structures after the wind had left.  After all, it is what we know, and the politicians who would be in charge of the rebuilding process are also part of the system and often part of what must be dispensed.

Cherubim are often personified as the wind. But in this case, these celestial beings might be better described as a hurricane of change. Ezekiel says that they cherubim “went straight ahead.” They were undeterred by the human-made barriers. They had been sent from the throne room of God, and their purpose was to be undeterred. Nothing was going to stop them. They were the change that would sweep away the chaff along with any of the other structures – including the walls and the temple of Jerusalem. They were the unyielding purpose of God. Even the most precious possessions of the human race would be forever changed by their path.

Sometimes God’s purpose appears in the wind of the cherubim. Sometimes it comes in the fire which also has an unyielding quality and destroys everything in its path. Sometimes it speaks in a whisper, but wherever God focusses his vision, the cherubim move in straight lines, and change, even to the most precious things of life, is always the result.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 11