Spurgeon tackles the weird angel creature wheel within a wheel
By Elizabeth Prata
I’ve been posting about angels lately. Here are some of the essays I’ve posted:
Great Biblical Doctrines: The Good Angels
Back to Basics: All about Angels
About entertaining angels unawares
A study of angels is called Angelology, and it is a legitimate field of study in theology. See link below for more on what angelology is. Angels are powerful created beings with God-given powers to be used for God’s glory and within limits. The angels that fell into sin and followed Lucifer are the demons, and their powers are used for ill and evil, but also within God’s limits.
But there are two weird areas of study within this fascinating field. As if studying the ‘normal’ angels isn’t deep enough, we have two scenarios in the Bible that are perplexing and amazing. In Genesis 6:2 we have a short verse telling us that some fallen angels did not keep their estate and took human wives, all they wanted. Peter and Jude tell us these particular beings are locked up now. (2 Peter 2:4-7, Jude 1:6). These are somehow tied to the Nephilim, some say, and defining the Nephilim has been a controversial and unsettled fringe branch of angelology for a long time.
The other scenario are the living beings with four faces (Ezekiel 1:4-14, which may or may not be the same as the ones described in Revelation 4:6–9), the creatures called seraphim with 6 wings, (Isaiah 6:2) and these wheels within wheels with eyes all around that Spurgeon tells about.
As Shakespeare said in the play Hamlet, ‘There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.’
Certainly, God is above our ways and His mind is incredible, and ‘wondrous strange’ to our way of thinking. But let’s turn to Spurgeon’s fascination of the beings that are wheels within wheels with eyes all around. Spurgeon sees these creatures as angels of a sort, and the very visible mechanism of the Providence of God. Ezekiel 1:15-19-
As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces. 16 This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like topaz, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel. 17 As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creatures faced; the wheels did not change direction as the creatures went. 18 Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around. 19 When the living creatures moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the living creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose.
Sermon- God’s Providence, October 15, 1908, Scripture: Ezekiel 1:15-19, Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
I like Spurgeon’s transparency here:
The meaning of the passage, “In heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven,” surely is that every Christian has a guardian angel, who flies about him, and holds the shield of God over his brow, keeps his foot lest he should dash it against a stone, guards him, controls him, manages him, injects thoughts into his mind, restrains his evil desire and is the minister and servant of the Holy Ghost, to keep him from sin, and lead him to righteousness. Whether I am right or wrong, I leave you to judge; but perhaps I have more angelology in me than most people have. I know my imagination has sometimes been so powerful that, when I have been alone at night, I could almost fancy that I saw an angel fly by me, when I have been out preaching the Word. However, I take it that the text teaches us that angels have very much to do with God’s Providence, for it says,
“And when the living creatures went the wheels went by them, and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.” Let us bless God that he has made angels ministering spirits to minister unto them that are heirs of salvation.
Yes, we praise God for His messengering-ministering agents.
He has several points in his sermon. Firstly Spurgeon explains why he sees providence as a wheel. Next he points out that The Providence of God is in some mysterious way connected with angels. Third, the creatures with four faces indicate that Providence is universal (north, south, east, west). Fourth, Providence is uniform (the creatures had four faces but one likeness). next, Providence is intricate.
Here, I stopped reading the sermon for a moment so as to ponder this truth. I often muse about God in his Infinite, creative, and powerful mind. His creation is amazing. His creatures are tremendously varied and adapted to the many habitats He created. He forms each person in the womb and gives them a unique blend of personality, talents, appearance. Then uses each person, each creature, each circumstance on earth among all 8 billion people simultaneously to bring about His will. He does this every minute of every day. His providence is intricate, yet powerful. Delicate, yet inflexible. He is God.
Spurgeon preaches a while on how Providence is always correct, and concludes that Providence is AMAZING.
“These living creatures I believe to be angels, and the text teaches us that there is a connection between Providence and angelic agency. I do not know how to explain it, I cannot tell how it is; but I believe angels have a great deal to do with the affairs of this world. An angel cut off the hosts of Sennacherib, and it is still my firm belief that angels are sent forth, somehow or other, to accomplish the everlasting purpose of God.”
John MacArthur preached about angels in his 2-part series God’s Invisible Army. In part 2, MacArthur noted that angels were a part of the giving of the Law. They can control natural elements. (Revelation 8 and 9). They can physically restrain evildoers (Genesis 19).
Angels are part of the creation of God, they are created beings. They do His will, even the fallen ones. Providence IS amazing, yet the God OF Providence is even more so. Worship Him today.
Further Resources
God’s Providence – Spurgeon sermon
Providence IS Remarkable – Phil Johnson
What is Angelology? – GotQuestions article
Angels – 2 part teaching series by RC Sproul
Angels: Messengers and Ministers of God – Phil Johnson at Ligonier, article
