God’s intention on earth is to have a man. This is His desire. Eventually, He Himself became a man, and today on the throne He is still a man. People may want to be like God, but God wants to be a man. God’s intention is to work Himself into us, making us the same as He is, and even more, making Himself the same as we are. Thus, God’s intention is to have a man and to work Himself into man. We need to be deeply impressed with the fact that the Lord is still on the throne as a man. In the book of Ezekiel, the term the son of man is used more than ninety times. This indicates how much God desires to have a man.
If we would live out God and express God, we need to be a man and have the appearance of a man. Ezekiel 1:5 says that the four living creatures have the appearance of a man, and verse 26 says that the One on the throne has the appearance of a man. The crucial point here is that because man was created in the image of God in order to express God, only man is like God. A person must have the appearance of a man in order to live out the image of God and therefore express God. If we want to live out God and express God, we must be a man and have the appearance of a man. Anyone who does not have the appearance of a man cannot express God. The One on the throne and the four living creatures both have the appearance of a man, indicating that the four living creatures on earth are the expression of the One on the throne.
Chapter one of Ezekiel is the deepest chapter in the Bible. The thought in this chapter is profound. We have seen that the throne is above a clear sky, above a spiritual and heavenly expanse, or firmament. God’s grace works upon a group of people to such an extent that their condition now is the very condition of heaven. In this condition, indicated by a sky that is crystal clear, the throne of God is present. The place of the throne is the place where heaven and earth are connected. Because with the living creatures on earth there is a throne above a clear sky, God is not only the God of heaven but also the God of the earth. Through these living creatures, who have the throne over their heads, heaven and earth are joined.
In Ezekiel 1 the One on the throne is the union of God and man. Thus, the place where the throne is, is the place where heaven and earth are joined. The One on the throne is God, but He manifests the appearance of a man. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He was God manifest in the flesh, for He was the God-man and had the appearance of a man. Inwardly, He was God, but His appearance on earth was the appearance of a man. Now, as the One on the throne after His ascension, He is still the God-man; He is God, yet with the appearance of a man.
In the church life today, there should be a condition where God is manifested in man. This means that in the church we should have not only a clear sky with a throne and the Lord on the throne but also the expression in man of the One who is on the throne. When this is the condition of the church, there will be in the church the great mystery of godliness—God manifested in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:15-16). On the one hand, there are a clear sky, a throne, and the Lord on the throne; on the other hand, the Lord’s manifestation in the church is in the appearance of a man. In the church life there should be the manifestation of God in the flesh. In order for this to be the situation, there must be in the church the glorious union of God and man. Inwardly we should have God, but God is manifested in the flesh, manifested in and through a normal and proper humanity. All those in the church life—the brothers and the sisters, the elderly ones and the young ones—should behave in a way that is normal and fitting for their respective ages. Instead of pretense, there should a genuineness that is both human and divine. This is the condition of God being manifested in humanity.
God’s eternal plan is to connect heaven and earth and to join God and man. God in heaven wants to gain man on earth for His expression by working Himself into man. The desire of God’s heart is to reach the one goal of connecting heaven and earth and of joining God and man. Where there is such a condition, there is the throne. The One sitting on the throne is God, but His manifestation has the appearance of a man. God’s eternal plan is to have such a manifestation. In the church today we need to be in a condition where God is manifested in the appearance of a man.