THE ELECTRUM
But this is not all. God’s intention is not just to burn us and turn us into ashes. Our God has a good purpose. Out of the fire comes the glowing electrum. The word electrum is very difficult to translate. No other language has an equivalent to this Hebrew word. J. N. Darby says in his note on Ezekiel 1:4 that some would suggest that electrum is a kind of shining metal, a mixture of gold and silver. One Jewish version also uses this word electrum. Electrum is a metal that is a mixture of gold and silver. The King James Version renders it as amber because the color of this shining metal is the color of amber. Amber is a color somewhat like the color of gold. Praise the Lord for His revelation of this word. It is not merely gold nor merely silver, but gold mixed with silver.
In the book of Revelation we can see the same principle. There is the throne of God and of the Lamb (Rev. 22:1). On the throne is not just the Lamb and not just God, but the Lamb-God. This is the Lamb-God, the redeeming God. In Genesis 1, He was solely God having nothing of the element of redemption within Him; but in Revelation He is the redeeming God, the Lamb-God.
In Revelation 4:3, God is on the throne. His appearance is like two kinds of precious stones—jasper and sardius. Sardius is red and jasper is a green crystal. The red color of sardius signifies redemption and the crystal green of jasper signifies God’s divine nature. This picture shows us that God looks like both jasper and sardius. He is no more just God, having only the divine nature; He is also our Redeemer.
These two illustrations from the book of Revelation help us to understand the electrum. Our God is not merely a divine Being represented by the gold. He is now the electrum—gold mingled with silver. By putting all these items together, we have such a clear picture of our experience. First we experience the blowing wind; next we enjoy the covering cloud; then we experience the burning and consuming fire. The result is that the electrum is produced. Something is so shining, so precious! As the electrum, He is everything to us. Jesus is our God and He is our Lamb. Jesus is our jasper and He is our sardius. This is the electrum. We must experience God as the spiritual wind, as the overshadowing cloud, as the burning fire, as the Lamb, and as the glowing electrum. By passing through this kind of experience, we become the vision of the glory of such a God. When people look upon us they can see the wind; they can see the cloud; they can see the fire; and they can see the electrum. Whenever we meet together, we must be the vision of God. We must be the vision of the glory of the electrum. We do have something shining, something glowing, something so precious, so dear, like a treasure. We just cannot tell whether He is merely God, or whether He is the Savior. He is everything to us—He is the electrum.
THE BASIC EXPERIENCE
This is the first vision seen by Ezekiel. Among all our experiences in life, this is the most basic. As we go on through this chapter we will see other categories of our experiences, but this is the first and most basic. We must ask the Lord for the wind, the cloud, the fire, and the electrum! We do not experience these things once for all. Rather this cycle must be repeated again and again. First comes the wind, then the cloud, then the fire, and then the electrum. A few days later, the wind comes again with the cloud, with the fire, and with more electrum. In a sense, we Christians have no rest in our spiritual experiences. I have been a Christian for over 45 years and I have never had any rest. Always there has been the blowing, the covering, the burning, and then the receiving of something as the electrum. Suppose this cycle would be stopped. That would be awful! In our experience this cycle should never be stopped. The more often we can experience this cycle, the better. Every day we should have a cycle. Every day we should experience the wind, the cloud, the fire, and the electrum. This is the real experience of the inner life and this will bring in the growth in life.
(The Visions of Ezekiel, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee)
