I Hope You Fall On Your Face!

Every now and then it’s good for us Christians for fall on our face! But don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying I’m hoping you will mess up royally and end up on your face. No. I’m talking about falling on your face like the priest and prophet, Ezekiel. 

Nebuchadnezzar was the monarch who ruled the Neo-Babylonian Empire from 605–562 B.C. During his reign, he destroyed the nation of Israel in three stages. The first stage occurred in 605 B.C.; wherein Nebuchadnezzar overtook Israel’s evil king, Jehoiakim (see II Chronicles 36:5-8). It was during this time that key Israeli leaders like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (a.k.a.: Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) were taken captive and carted off to Babylon. If you don’t know who these individuals were, or the significant acts God worked through their lives, then I invite you to read the book of Daniel, but if you don’t have time for that, then at least read chapter three. Eight years later, in 597 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar launched the second stage of destruction on Israel, this time extracting ten thousand prisoners from the land, including Ezekiel. Then, in 586 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar laid waste to the city of Jerusalem in his third and final stage of destruction.

Just prior to Nebuchadnezzar’s third siege, along the bank of the Chebar River, Ezekiel was given a life altering vision of God in His glory (see Ezekiel 1:1–3). I used to live in Texas, and during the Spring and Summer months thunderstorms would rise up and sometimes the sky would turn a dark, eerie green! It was both ominous and awesome to behold! One that gave me the sense that God’s forces of nature were incredibly large and powerful, while I was small and weak in comparison. I’m sure my experiences in this regard pale in comparison to Ezekiel’s vision of God’s glory. Once you read through chapter one of Ezekiel you are likely to understand why his response to the vision was to fall on his face (see Ezekiel 1:28)!

Believe it or not, in my spirit, I long for these types of experiences with my Heavenly Father. I deeply desire to draw closer and closer to what the Hebrews called the shekinah (i.e., glory of God). God’s shekinah can be see in His people’s exodus from Egypt, especially on Mt. Sinai. The High Priest experienced it in the tabernacle where the shekinah of God rested upon the mercy seat. We see it in the incarnation of Christ, His transfiguration, along with His ascension. And many believers experience it by their personal transformation resulting from God’s indwelling Spirit (see II Corinthians 3:18; 4:6).

But I also must admit that this type of experience comes with a price. A price that I can pay, but am not always willing to do so! Crazy, huh? Why does this happen? Because of my attachments! Foremost, I am attached to my ego, my own sense of identity and importance. While I truly desire to be more like God and less like me, experiencing the shekinah of my Creator can be down right scary where my ego is concerned. Profound experiences with God’s glory cause my spirit to leap for joy! Yet, at the same time, in my psyche (i.e., my flesh) such experiences can feel too deep; as though a vitally important part of me is going to be overtaken! This internal distress is the price we all pay for being in the shekinah of our Lord. Consider the prophet Isaiah’s response to his vision of being present with God in His Temple: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5). 

In many respects, this is likely a similar experience Ezekiel had during his vision of God’s glory, why else would he had fallen on his face? Some might say it was out of reverence that the prophet did so. I would agree that in the midst of such a vision, any of us are highly likely to feel a deep respect and profound sense of admiration for our Lord. But I assert that for any of us, Isaiah and Ezekiel included, this experience would also be coupled with a very real fear that we will be overtaken by the power of God, and that we might cease to be who we are in the end. That is why the apostle Paul exhorts us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (see Philippians 2:12). The Greek word used here for fear is phobos (fob’-os). While phobos does equate to fear, it also relates to reverence as well. So, it’s a mixed bag, filled with deep respect and profound levels of admiration, as well as fear.

So what are those of us who desire to experience the shekinah of God to do? Here is what I’ve concluded: 1.) At best we can only practice letting go of our attachment to ego; knowing that such endeavors will never truly be permanently realized in this lifetime; therefore, 2.) we must work to accept the tension caused by the presence of both joy and fear in such experiences with our Heavenly Father, and press forward from glory to glory.

Here’s to falling flat on your face! :-)

____________________

Dr. Michael Mannia, D.Min. is Co-Founder and President of Kingdom Community Ministries, and is author of The Conditioned Mind.