Lord of the Cloud and Fire

My readings this morning included Ezekiel chapters 1 and 2; Ezekiel’s vision of the glory of Yahweh with living beings with wings and multiple faces, wheels within wheels, fire, lightning, an expanse of crystal, a heavenly voice, a throne with a Person on the throne, a rainbow – no wonder Ezekiel writes, “I fell on my face!”

I had great pleasure in this reading as I relaxed and received our Father’s grace through Ezekiel’s vision.

For the past couple of weeks I’ve been revisiting Dante’s Paradise, with the help of a dear friend as we both work through Hans Boersma’s chapter on Dante (Dante’s Transhumanizing Journey) in his Seeing God, The Beatific Vision in Christian Tradition, (Eerdmans, 2018).

On page 244 Boersma writes, “Dante remembers his vision of the cross; it is just that he cannot find the words properly to give expression to his memory. Similarly, Dante explains that his sight of Beatrice’s smile in the Primum Mobile has left an impression on him that endures, even though he cannot express it in words…” (Italics mine).

There are times when words indeed fail us, and I think in those times that it is better to ponder the vision, the image, the memory, than to risk desecration by reducing what we have seen and experienced to words which fail to transmit the grace and glory of the experience. I need not feel pressure to reduce Ezekiel’s vision to an explanation or a schematic, and I need not, indeed I should not, deconstruct what is holy…which is certainly to profane it.

On page 245 Boersma observes, “It is precisely when the light overcomes the power of his [Dante’s] sight that he is “transhumanized” [into the Divine life; Italian – trasumanar]…these encounters with the light strengthen his vision…” I am reminded of 2 Corinthians 3:17 – 18 and 1 John 3:1 – 3.

“Whether we use the discourse of seeing or of hearing, God must supernaturally and graciously transform us” (page 248). Yes indeed.

After my Scripture readings this morning, and then after my readings in Ephraim Syrus (a Church Father), I turned to The Valley of Vision with the intention of praying a particular prayer. However, when I opened the book I saw another prayer which I had not prayed for quite some time, and as soon as I saw the title I knew that turning to the page was no accident – for it was along the very lines of my reading in Ezekiel:

Lord of the Cloud and Fire

Lord of the cloud and fire I am a stranger, with a stranger’s indifference;

My hands hold a pilgrim’s staff,

My march is Zionward,

My eyes are toward the coming of the Lord,

My heart is in thy hands without reserve.

Thou hast created it,

redeemed it,

renewed it,

captured it,

conquered it.

Keep from it every opposing foe,

crush in it every rebel lust,

mortify every treacherous passion,

annihilate every earthborn desire.

All faculties of my being vibrate to thy touch;

I love thee with soul, mind, body, strength,

might, spirit, affection, will,

desire, intellect, understanding.

Thou art the very perfection of all perfections;

All intellect is derived from thee;

My scanty rivulets flow from thy unfathomable fountain.

Compared with thee the sun is darkness,

all beauty deformity,

all wisdom folly,

the best goodness faulty.

Thou art worthy of an adoration greater than

my dull heart can yield;

Invigorate my love that it may rise worthily to thee,

tightly entwine itself round thee,

be allured by thee.

Then shall my walk be endless praise.

    The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, editor, The Banner of Truth Trust, pp. 198 -199.