http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=11&article=1061
Ezekiel’s Vision: An Alien UFO?
“I saw it with my own two eyes,” the farmer excitedly explained to the
reporter. “As I was feeding the chickens, a huge, saucer-shaped object
hovered over my house. A bright light beamed down through my barn, and
before I knew what was happening, I saw Bessie, my best milk cow being
pulled through the air toward the ship. In seconds, the ship whirred
away with Bessie. Don’t know why those aliens would want my best cow!”
Does this scenario sound vaguely familiar? Hundreds of
UFO
sightings, alien abduction stories, and supposed communication with
extraterrestrial life forms have been reported across the globe. From
the various outlandish claims, not a single shred of legitimate evidence
for life in outer space has ever surfaced. Yet, humanity’s fascination
with aliens,
UFOs, and extraterrestrial life seems only to grow year by year, in spite of this lack of evidence.
As proof of this growing fascination, it has been suggested that the
biblical prophet Ezekiel, in the Old Testament book bearing his name,
had an early encounter with an alien spaceship. In a Web article titled
“UFOs: Even Before There Were Weather Balloons…,” the author misquoted
Ezekiel 1:1-4: “As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the
north, and a great cloud, with brightness round about it, and fire
flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as if it were
gleaming bronze” (a very loose paraphrase of Ezekiel 1:1-4). The article
then listed several other ancient “
UFO” sightings, and concluded by stating: “These are just a few of the examples of
UFO sightings from history” (2004).
Is it the case that Ezekiel saw an alien-operated flying machine from
outer space? No, Ezekiel did not see an alien spaceship. How, then, are
his visions to be explained? When one looks into Ezekiel’s prophetic
book, it becomes clear that Ezekiel did see some strange things. From a
quick reading of chapter one, it becomes apparent that Ezekiel saw a
“great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself ” (vs. 4), four living
creatures from within the cloud (vs. 5), a wheel beside each living
creature (vs. 15), and the rims of the wheels full of eyes (vs. 18),
among many other things. Indeed, the things seen by Ezekiel were amazing
and unusual to say the least.
But with a little research into the biblical message, it becomes clear
that Ezekiel’s writing and visions were apocalyptic in nature—very
similar to the writings found in both Daniel and Revelation. The visions
Ezekiel described are of heavenly, spiritual beings, not “alien life
forms.” By comparing the description of the living creatures in Ezekiel
to that of the living creatures that surround the throne of God in
Revelation 4, one quickly realizes that the scenes witnessed by Ezekiel,
John, Daniel, and other inspired writers were visions of God and His
spiritual host of heaven.
As further evidence of this fact, at the end of Ezekiel 1, after
describing “a likeness with the appearance of a man” on a throne,
Ezekiel wrote: “This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of
the Lord” (1:28). Then, a few verses later in chapter 2, this same
person said to Ezekiel, “Son of man, I am sending you to the children of
Israel, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against Me” (2:3).
Ezekiel fully understood this to be the Lord talking to Him, that the
vision was of spiritual beings, and that he had not had an encounter
with an alien from outer space. It is ironic that Ezekiel recognized his
vision to be a calling and message from God, yet over 2,500 years after
this vision, modern-day
UFO hunters want to
“reinterpret” Ezekiel’s original understanding of what he saw. A simple
question should be asked: who would be in a better position to know what
he saw—Ezekiel, or a modern-day “alien hunter” who believes in
UFOs in spite of the overwhelming paucity of evidence? To ask is to answer, is it not?
Ezekiel did not see a
UFO! He was allowed the
special privilege of being called by God through an amazing vision of
the heavenly host. His description of the vision ties in perfectly with
other apocalyptic writings such as Daniel and Revelation. Those who are
looking for the long-absent evidence proving the existence of aliens and
UFOs, will have to look some place other than Ezekiel for it.
REFERENCES
“UFOs: Even Before There Were Weather Balloons…” (2004), [On-line],
URL: http://ufos.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa052097.htm.
