Ezekiel 1:11b-14 reveals a very clear picture of coordination. No other verses in the Bible present the matter of coordination in such a definite and practical way. In this message we will begin to consider the coordination of the four living creatures described in this portion of Ezekiel 1.
Ezekiel 1:11b says, “Two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.” Here we see that two of their wings are for moving, and this moving is in coordination. By two of their wings they are joined to one another, and in this way they are coordinated. As we have seen, the living creatures use the other two wings to cover themselves.
We have also seen that in the Old Testament the eagle’s wings signify the divine power, the divine strength, and the divine supply. This indicates that the coordination of the living creatures is not in themselves. In themselves they do not have the ability to be coordinated. Their coordination is in the divine power, in the divine strength, and in the divine supply because the eagle’s wings are the means for them to be coordinated with one another. Thus, their coordination does not depend on themselves; it does not depend on what they are or on what they can do. Their coordination depends on the eagle’s wings. The eagle’s wings are the means by which they are coordinated and move as one. God Himself is the power and strength, and it is by this divine power and strength that they are coordinated.
The same principle can be seen in the tabernacle. The tabernacle was built of forty-eight boards coordinated into one entity. These boards were coordinated into one building not by themselves but by the overlaying gold (Exo. 26:29-30). All the boards were overlaid with gold. Upon the overlaying gold were the golden rings, and through the golden rings were golden bars. The gold, therefore, coordinated all forty-eight boards into one entity. The overlaying gold signifies the divine nature and indicates that God Himself is the coordinating factor that enables all the parts of the divine building to be one.
In themselves the living creatures are separate and are individuals, but with the eagle’s wings they are coordinated as one body. This indicates that the coordination among us Christians is not something of ourselves. What we have in ourselves does not coordinate—it divides. Whatever we are in ourselves, whatever we have in ourselves, and whatever we do in ourselves result not in coordination but in division and separation. However, we have the eagle’s wings, and with the eagle’s wings we can be one and we can be coordinated.
It is important for us to realize why we need to be coordinated. We must be coordinated as living creatures in order that Christ may be expressed and manifested. Also, the coordination of the living creatures is for the Lord’s move. The Lord moves in the center of the coordination of the living creatures. Furthermore, coordination is the divine administration, the divine government. The throne upon which the Lord is, the throne which is for God’s administration, is in the center of this coordination. Thus, the coordination of the living creatures is for the Lord’s expression and manifestation, for the Lord’s move, and for the divine government.