January 29, 2024 - Good Morning! It's Monday, January 29.
Have you ever been to Pittsburg? No, not Pittsburg, Pennsylvania... Pittsburg, Texas! It's an East Texas town that has several notable "claims to fame". It's the headquarters of Pilgrim's Pride Chicken, the birthplace of racing legend Carroll Shelby, and the location of a very unusual flying machine - the Ezekiel Air Ship. You can see a replica of that odd aircraft in a museum in Pittsburg, just down the street from First Baptist Church (where Bo Pilgrim was a deacon).
Burrell Cannon was an East Texas Baptist preacher in the late 1800's. But he also had a passion for engineering and inventing. He decided to build a flying machine based on the one described in the first chapter of the book of Ezekiel. You know the one - the King James Bible describes its "four living creatures" and the "wheels within the wheels.” Legend has it that Cannon's creation actually flew in 1902. That's a full year before the Wright brothers historic flight. Interesting story. And another weird little Texas trivia fact - of which there are many.
Ezekiel was given a rare opportunity. In his vision he saw not only the "air ship", but in verse 26 we read, "High above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire, and brilliant light surrounded him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and heard the voice of one speaking."
And so it appears that Ezekiel, like Moses and Isaiah before him, was given a "glimpse" of God. What a worship experience! But why did God give Ezekiel this experience? Was it to bless him? Was it to give him a warm, comforting feeling? Sometimes we evaluate our worship experiences that way, don't we? Were we blessed? Were we comforted? Were we pleased? But the Ezekiel airship story ends with God giving Ezekiel a command to service. The same was true after Moses saw God in Exodus 33. And the same was true when Isaiah (in chapter 6) saw the Lord "high and lifted up, seated upon a throne.”
We are saved to serve. And our worship experiences are intended to give glory to God and to give us inspiration and motivation to serve Him. When Ezekiel saw God he fell facedown. And when Isaiah saw God he said, "Here am I, Lord, send me."
Meet you back here tomorrow,
Bro. David
dmathis@fbccenter.org
