I/W: 2021 Theory
This post specifically looks at the wheels in Ezekiel’s vision talked about mainly in Chapters 1 and 10, but also mentioned in 3 and 11, of his book Ezekiel, being the realms and dimensions. It links to other posts from this blog to fill in context and hit on other parts of his vision. Reading these two posts first will fill in pretext:
The Twelve Dimensions: A Simple Explanation
The Four Realms: Spirit, Soul, Future/Past, and Us
Here is a visual representation I put together of what the dimensions and realms theoretically look like together:
A full circle represents a completed realm, which is labeled at the top of each circle. The numbers 1 through 12 on their own each label a dimension. One realm is made up of length, width, and height, each represented by a dimension.
Here’s another picture with each realm separate to help visualize it easier if that one is confusing at all:
It’s not a perfect visual representation of what they look like but it at least gives a pretty good idea for the purpose of this post. Each dimension is infinite so it’s technically impossible to draw them accurately. Where you see dimensions 1, 4, 7, and 10 represented as a line, it’s really an infinite amount of the dimension before.
The Twelve Levels of Infinity of the Twelve Dimensions
Ezekiel’s Description of the Wheels and How They Are the Realms and Dimensions
Here is a broken down numbered description list with verse citations of the wheels Ezekiel sees based on his description. These descriptions are taken from the English Standard Version Bible and another English translation from safaria.com. I used two translations to try and get a more accurate description from the passages.
Under each bullet point description, I explain how the wheels are the same as the dimensions and realms. Any discrepancies are a result of either the complexity of the content, the translation from Hebrew to English, a failure of Ezekiel describing what he saw, a failure by me in any capacity, or any mixture of these things.
1) “wheel”
First, it’s important to note he used the word wheel. A wheel is different in nature than a circle or sphere. The suggestion is what he saw has movement. The realms have constant movement within them and the content within them are continually moving outward (ex. 3D universe). Also, a wheel doesn’t have points around its circumference, like a square for example, which is closer to the idea of infinite dimensions that don’t have points. This idea of infinity connects to point 7 too.
2) One wheel for each creature (Ez 1:15)
I explain this in the four realms post I linked above. Realm = wheel. Realm 1= human. Realm 2 = lion. Realm 3 = eagle. Realm 4 = cherub. Ox meaning is described in bullet point 9.
3) Appearance like gleaming beryl (Ez 1:16; 10:9)
Beryl is many things at once. Different colors, textures. It’s specifically talking about its appearance. This is what the 3D universe is like. There are stars in it that shine, different colors, and it’s all one. The higher dimensions and realms are “extensions” of the 3D universe which I explain in the twelve infinites post linked above, so they’d have a similar appearance.
4) All four wheels have the same form or likeness (Ez 1:16; 10:10)
Each realm/wheel has a length, width, and height, each represented by a dimension in the wheel, giving the same form or likeness to each wheel. But they are also different which you can see in the second picture above. It’s specified there are four wheels and one for each creature in bullet point 2, which suggests they are different in nature as well. If they weren’t there would more likely be one because they’d all be the same, or they would be described as four wheels that are the same as opposed to the same likeness or form which suggests they only have one or a few similar attributes to each other. For example, size and scope can be different than form or likeness. Bullet point 3 also hits on how they are similar in form or likeness.
5) Appearance and structure of each as of two wheels cutting through each other or as if a wheel within a wheel (Ez 1:16; 10:10)
This is referring to dimensions 2-3, 5-6, 8-9, and 11-12, each within their respective wheel/realm. I leave out dimensions 1, 4, 7, and 10 because they are only the length, you can’t get a wheel from the length component alone but need to add width to give it “form.” Ezekiel uses the term wheel in a different context here as it refers to a dimension as opposed to a realm. This bullet point (5) only refers to two wheels. I’ll just look at 2-3 in realm 1. Because the 3rd dimension is infinite there isn’t a start place so the 2nd dimension would be within it and/or cutting through it because it’s infinite too. It can’t be at the start or finish of the dimension, so it’s in the middle. Technically the 3rd dimension should be cutting through the 2nd dimension as well based on the description. It is going through it but cutting it is probably not the best word. A wheel within a wheel is more accurate in that case, one of the reasons I’m using two translations.
6) They moved and could move in any of their four directions or in the direction of any of its four quarters without turning (Ez 1:17; 10:11)
The context of this point is it’s still talking about the two wheels from the passage prior. The contents in the dimensions are always moving outward (ex. 3D universe). They only move outward – “without turning,” they don’t retract inward. The four directions or four quarters are based on the splitting of a dimension by the dimension before, as the dimension before can only be in the middle of the one after because there’s no start or finish to something infinite. Because of this, you get four directions or four quarters (four parts) of one whole (realm/wheel). I added arrows to this realm picture to illustrate. Two arrows for dimension 8 and two arrows for dimension 9.
7) Tall and awesome or frightening rims (Ez 1:18)
The word rim would be a reference to the wheel’s outermost part. Another translation I read uses “ring.” Tall and awesome or frightening explains infinite which is what each wheel is. Look at the 3D universe for example, you can describe it as awesome or frightening. Tall is a different meaning than infinite so I looked at the New King James Version too which uses “so high” in its place. This more accurately suggests infinite. Add frightening to “so high” and the suggestion becomes even stronger. Because I don’t know Hebrew it’s hard to know exactly what he wrote.
8) Covered with eyes all over (Ez 1:18; 10:12)
At first in chapter 1 he describes only the rims as covered in eyes and in chapter 10 he explains the rims along with many other parts covered in eyes. The chapter 10 description appears to be an amendment to chapter 1 which makes it more reliable, so I’ll go with that. I discuss the nature of his amendments more in the conclusion too. This bullet point (8) feeds into 9. Realms 1-3 derive from realm 4 and are within it which the first picture above demonstrates. The twelve infinites post above explains this too. Basically it’s saying the spirit realm can see everything everywhere. It can also be translated as God’s omnipresence as he resides in the spirit realm and is the source of power for everything. I mention something in line with this idea in reference to the collective consciousness in this post:
What the 5th/6th Dimension / 2nd Realm Is Like Based on Personal Experience (DIRECT)
9) The spirit of the creatures is in the wheels and causes them to move in tandem (Ez 1:19-21; 10:16-17)
A creature is a cherub with the likeness of a human, based on reading both chapters 1 and 10. Again, looking at the first picture and how realms 1-3 are in 4 (spirit realm) as described in the last bullet point, you can see how they all work in tandem as they are essentially one part. The ox in chapter 1 is another description of realm 4. What an ox is good for is pulling things. It is similar to using the description of an engine in our times. It powers everything else and everything relies on it as its source of power. The description in these passages is a bit more tricky because of how more than one thing can co-exist at the same time. But this gives an idea and basis at least to fill in the blank without getting too complicated.
How the Realms Work Together: Ezekiel’s Vision of Four Creatures
Conclusion
It’s important to note that what Ezekiel describes seems very clear to be allegory because a wheel can’t have eyes all over it for example. It seems clear too that he’s interpreting what he saw from looking at differences from chapters 1 and 10 in which he’s describing the same creatures and wheels. Those differences being him later interpreting the creatures to be cherubs with human likeness as opposed to just creatures with human likeness, the addition of eyes on what he sees, and the changing of an ox to a cherub. By him giving the adjustments of what he saw it shows he is interpreting it, it’s complex, and wasn’t handed to him on a silver platter.
Another thing is he’s bounded by his knowledge in explaining what he sees, like anybody. So he can only describe it based on what he knows, and they knew less in those days than we do today.
Related Posts
What Ezekiel Looks Like: A Powerhouse Spirit
The Four Realms Explored Further
A Description of Metaphysics and My Personal Approach to Material