Each of the four living creatures had four wings, two for covering and two for moving. “Their wings were joined one to another” (Ezek. 1:9a). This joining is for moving. Later we will see that this moving is altogether a corporate matter.
The Bible reveals that the wings of an eagle are not only for power but also for protection. In Psalm 17:8 David asked God to hide him under the shadow of His wings. Psalm 57:1 speaks of making our refuge in the shadow of God’s wings, and 63:7 speaks of rejoicing in the shadow of His wings. Psalm 91:4 says, “He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust.”
The grace, power, and strength of the Lord are both for moving and for covering us. On the one hand, the Lord’s grace is the power for us to move; on the other hand, the Lord’s power is our protection, our hiding place. We are under the overshadowing of the grace and the power of Christ, and we are under the covering of His power. Whatever we do and whatever we are must be by the grace of the Lord and the power of the Lord. At the same time, we are under the overshadowing, the covering, of the Lord’s grace and power.
This indicates that as Christians, God’s children, we should have an element that causes others to wonder at us. They should sense that something is covering and overshadowing us. They should realize that we are normal, yet there is something empowering, strengthening, overshadowing, and covering us.
The front face of the four living creatures is the face of a man, but the body is that of an eagle. Two of his wings are stretched forth to join to the other living creatures, and two of his wings are wrapped around his body for a cover. Thus, if you look at his face, he looks like a man, but if you look at his body, he looks like an eagle. He looks like a man, but he moves like an eagle. This indicates that we must always express ourselves like a normal man, for example, like a normal and proper husband, wife, parent, or child. But when others look at us and consider us, they should realize that there is something covering, empowering, strengthening, protecting, and overshadowing us. As a result, it should be difficult for others to describe us. Those who work with such a person might say, “He can suffer the things we cannot suffer, and he can bear a responsibility that we cannot bear. He understands things more deeply than we do. What kind of person is he? How can he live this way?”
The point here is that with us as children of God there should always be something mysterious. Although we suffer, we are happy and rejoice in the Lord because something is covering us. We have two wings for moving and another two wings for covering and overshadowing us. These moving and overshadowing wings should give others an impression of the Divine Being. We have the four wings of an eagle, giving others the impression that we have God with us as our power and protection. This is the eagle.
Ezekiel 1:8a says, “They had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides.” This indicates that a proper, normal Christian should always do things exactly like a man. This is to use man’s hands. This was Paul’s testimony in Acts 20:34: “You yourselves know that these hands have ministered to my needs and to those who are with me.”
Regarding faith in God, we need to be balanced. Some may claim that since they have faith in the almighty God to supply all their needs, there is no need for them to use their hands to do anything. In particular, they may suppose that there is no need for them to work in a human way. But consider the apostle Paul. Paul was balanced; with him there always were two sides. His writings indicate that he had not only the eagle’s wings but also the hands of a man. He could say that he conducted himself not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God and that the grace of God with him was not in vain. This is the side of the eagle’s wings. However, he also said that he labored more than all the other apostles. We may think that there was no need for Paul to work with his own hands. But Paul took the way of working with his own hands. This indicates that even though he experienced the eagle’s wings, he was still very human in his living, taking the human way and doing things in a human way.
Sometimes the young people may imagine that because they are seeking the Lord, there is no need for them to study hard. They may hope that, even without studying, they may pass their examinations with high grades. This attitude is mistaken. Young people, no matter how much you seek the Lord, love the Lord, and care for the Lord, you still need to be diligent in your studies. This means that no matter how much the grace of God is with us and no matter how much the Lord is empowering us, we must nevertheless fulfill our human duty in our daily living. For instance, we should eat healthy food in the human way and according to human principles. If we do not eat in a proper human way but instead try to behave like an angel, we will get sick. We have to do things in a human way. Under the eagle’s wings there should be human hands, and these hands should always be working. This is to be balanced.
The worldly people, on the contrary, have only the hands of a man; they do not have the wings of an eagle. But many so-called religious people seem to have only the eagle’s wings; they do not have the man’s hands. We need to have both the wings of the Lord’s empowering grace and the hands of a man, cooperating with God in a human way.
It is very significant that the human hands of the four living creatures are under the eagle’s wings. This indicates that in doing everything we should be under God’s grace and under His covering. In all that we do, we should depend on the Lord and express Him. In this matter we are altogether different from the worldly people, who neither rely on God nor express Him. All their actions do not express God but express themselves. In contrast, in everything we do we should be under the Lord’s grace and power, depending on Him and expressing Him.