A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL
Ezekiel 1:16 says that the wheel looks like a wheel within a wheel. This is very significant. When we speak of a wheel, we say that the circumference is the rim, that the center is the hub, and between these two are the spokes. Thus, you have the rim, the hub, and the spokes. But in this chapter there is no hub and there are no spokes. Rather, there is a wheel within a wheel. In James 5:17 we are told that when Elijah prayed, he prayed with prayer (Gk.); there was a prayer within his prayer. This is the wheel within a wheel. This means if the church is proper and the church is moving, that within the church’s moving there will be the move of the Lord. In your move is the Lord’s move. While you are moving, the Lord is moving in your moving.
The inner wheel is the source of the power for moving. The inner wheel is the motor which makes the wheel move. If your move is genuine, it must be that within your move is the move of the Lord. Every wheel has a hub which turns the wheel. If the hub stops, the wheel stops. The hub is the little wheel within the rim of the big wheel. The big wheel turns because the little wheel is being turned. In the church life, the Lord Jesus is the hub and we are the rim. The Lord Jesus is the wheel within the wheel. If the churches are not moving with the Lord, they have no way to go on because there is no wheel within the wheel. But when the churches are moving with the Lord Jesus, He becomes the wheel within the wheel. Nothing can frustrate or stop that move.
THE WHEEL FOLLOWING THE LIVING CREATURES
It is meaningful to see that the living creatures do not follow the wheel, but that the wheel follows the living creatures (1:19). This is in contrast to Christianity’s concept which tells people to wait until the Lord moves and then they can move. I have been burdened by the Lord to tell His children that there is no need for them to wait for the Lord to move. The Lord has been waiting on you for two thousand years. Are you ready? If you will go on, the Lord will follow you. The creatures do not follow the wheels, but the wheels follow the creatures. When the creatures move, the wheels move. When the creatures stop, the wheels stop. When the creatures are lifted up, the wheels are lifted up. If we do not exercise, there will be no wheel, but if we say, "Hallelujah, let us go!" the wheels will follow us. We must have the confidence, the assurance, and the faith to go on boldly. If we go on boldly, the wheels will follow us. Do not wait for the Lord to move. The Lord has been waiting for us to move. If we will go on, the Lord will follow. Let us go and take the land! Let us go and take the country! Let us go and take the earth!
THE SPIRIT BEING IN THE WHEEL
Here is another wonderful point. The wheels follow the creatures and the creatures follow the Spirit, but the Spirit is in the wheels (1:20). It is hard to tell who follows whom. Hallelujah, we are following Him and He is within us. One day when we meet Him we will say, "Lord we followed You," but the Lord will say, "No, I followed you." Who can tell who followed whom? If we have the wheel with the coordination, it is really difficult to say who followed whom. We are one with the Lord, and the Lord is one with us. The Lord follows us, and we follow the Spirit, and the Spirit is in the wheels.
This is the Lord’s move today on the earth; this is the Lord’s recovery. Remember, we must have the wind, the cloud, the fire, and the electrum; we must be the living creatures with the four faces, with the eagle’s wings, with the calf’s hoofs, with the hands of a man, having the fire burning as the coals and as the torches, and we must be coordinated as one. Then, we will have a high and dreadful wheel in our local church.
(The Visions of Ezekiel, Chapter 6, by Witness Lee)
