"After These Things!" - 2

 "After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias." (John 6:1 KJV)

  "But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Galatians 2:17-21 KJV)

 So, as it turns out, as I drove to church yesterday morning, I listened to a message about that which I wrote about early that very same morning. I thought to myself: 'Wow, this is really interesting, someone is sharing on the same passage from Ezekiel chapter One!' As I heard him speak, my mind began to whirl and my heart skipped a beat; the order I had given must have been wrong! How is that possible! 

 Yes, you heard me right! As this preacher was speaking, I heard him say, the face of the man was first, and the face of the ox was second. My first reaction was to go for my phone and look up the Scripture; but I had my wife in the van and didn't want to be distracted; so I waited until I parked, opened my Bible, and read it again. Did I miss something? Could this be happening? What is the reason for my mistake?

 I hope you don't get the wrong idea, but I am pretty sure that it has some political reasoning behind that choice in the order, not a Biblical matter! The order given was that of the face of a man facing forward, the lion face on the right, the ox on the left, and the eagle in the back; or if you want, the man's face at the top, the lion's at the lower right; the oxen's face at the lower left, and the eagle's face at the bottom.

 Did either one of those configurations specify any significant order? The order is specified in the list that is given; but that does not specify one over the other. If we want to get really picky; the order based upon the Gospels, in relation to Jesus Christ, John's Gospel account of who Jesus is, was, and always will be, wins out. 

 If you really want to get touchy-feely about the meanings and the order; right is always before left, when it comes to first verses second, as far as seating goes. And, if you really want to be twisted in a knot, turned inside out, and flipped upside-down: Jesus came of a Man, faced the cross as a Lion, became a sacrifice like an Ox, and was raised up from the dead like an Eagle! 

 You tell me, because from where I sit, Royalty beats being a servant; although, we are all chosen to be servants, we are also made children of the King! After these things, could mean a lot of things; but in the world of what it means to be a follower of Christ, after dealing with life, it means glory...

"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy." (1 Peter 2:9-10 KJV)