Ezekiel 1:7 tells us that the calf’s hoofs “sparkled like the color of burnished brass.” The shining of brass comes from the heat of the furnace. The more the brass is burned and tested, the brighter it shines. This indicates that we need a walk that has been tested and burned by the Lord. If our walk has been tested in this way, it will be like shining brass, enlightening others and becoming a kind of shining to them. If we have been tested and examined by the Lord, our walk will shine like burnished brass, giving light to others, testing them, and causing them to realize whether their walk is right or wrong.
Likewise, if we have the proper discernment concerning what the genuine church life is and if we have been tested and examined by the Lord in the church life, then our walk in the church life will be like shining brass, enlightening others and testing them. But if we are careless and sloppy, lacking discernment concerning the church life, to us everything will be about the same. Black, white, and gray will seem to be the same. This means that we are unable to exercise any discernment. If this is our case, then our walk will be like a darkened stone, with no light.
If our walk is a walk of discernment, we will discern all the things in our Christian walk, and eventually our hoofs will be like shining brass. Wherever we go and whatever way we take, our walk will shine upon others, giving them light and testing them.
In the Bible a calf signifies freshness and livingness. A believer in Christ who enjoys grace and lives in the presence of God is always new and fresh, and with him there is no oldness. Sometimes you may meet a brother who is quite young humanly but spiritually is rather old, lacking in freshness and newness. At other times you may have fellowship with an older brother who is very experienced in the Lord. Whenever he prays, you sense something new and fresh. In all of our activities as believers, we should be new and fresh. If we become old, we no longer are living creatures.
The Bible says that a calf skips and jumps (Psa. 29:6; Mal. 4:2). This means that a calf is alive. Our Christian walk should not be a dead walk but a “skipping walk,” a walk which is full of life. A calf is young and vigorous, full of energy. We all should be full of life, like a young calf, coming to the meetings like skipping calves. May the Lord cause us all to skip like calves!
All these points on the calf’s hoofs are related to our Christian walk. The Christian walk is straight and frank. It is also a walk with discernment, a walk that shines and gives light to others and tests them, and a walk that is vigorous, full of life, energy, freshness, and newness.
When we talk of feet like shining brass, we should remember Revelation 1:15, where we are told that the feet of the Lord Jesus “were like shining bronze, as having been fired in a furnace.” We all should have a walk like the Lord’s walk.
In a later message we will see that the four living creatures are coordinated together. They can be coordinated only by this kind of life and walk. This life is a life with eagle’s wings and human hands, and this walk is a walk of calf’s hoofs.
The Christian life must be this kind of life, and the Christian walk must be this kind of walk. It is by having this kind of life and walk that we, the living creatures, can be coordinated and become one entity. Coordination is the central point in the first chapter of Ezekiel. This coordination, however, depends upon all the foregoing items: the wind, the cloud, the fire, the electrum, and the four living creatures with the four faces and having the eagle’s wings, human hands, and a walk with the calf’s hoofs. If we would have a proper coordination, we need such a Christian life and walk. We need a life that has the wings of an eagle and the hands of a man, and we need a walk that has the straight hoofs of a calf. May the Lord impress us with all these matters so that we may have the proper coordination in the church life.