1:1KJV Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.
B:E Project In the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, I was living among the other exiles by the Kebar Canal in Babylon. Suddenly the sky split open and I saw visions of God.
Context: This is the opening verse of Ezekiel's book and of his famous inaugural vision (chapters 1-3), set among the Judean exiles deported to Babylon. Ezekiel dates the moment precisely, marking it as a turning point in his life.
Meaning: Ezekiel is a refugee - a priest cut off from the Temple he was trained to serve, living in a foreign land under military occupation. The vision doesn't come to him in a temple; it comes to an ordinary man in a displaced community, by a canal, on an ordinary day. The message: profound insight can break into your life exactly where you are, in the middle of loss and dislocation.
Lesson: I do not wait for you to be in the right place before I meet you. If you're in exile - cut off from what you knew - that's not a barrier, it's exactly where I show up. Notice the ordinary days; they are sometimes when everything changes.
See Also: Revelation 1:10 - John likewise receives his own overwhelming vision while in exile-like isolation on Patmos, opening a book that draws heavily on Ezekiel's imagery.
1:2KJV In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin’s captivity,
B:E Project This happened on the fifth day of the month - the fifth year since King Jehoiachin had been taken captive to Babylon.
Context: Ezekiel pins down the date a second way, using the reference point his exiled readers would recognise: years counted from the deportation of their king. This places the vision right at the start of his opening call.
Meaning: Ancient people usually dated events by a king's reign. By dating his vision to Jehoiachin's captivity rather than a Babylonian king, Ezekiel quietly insists that Judah's true king, exiled or not, is still the reference point that matters - identity doesn't vanish because you've lost your homeland.
Lesson: Your worth and your story don't reset to zero because you've lost your status, your position, or your home. Keep counting from what truly defines you, not from what your captors say defines you.
See Also: 2 Kings 24:12-15 - the historical record of Jehoiachin's captivity that Ezekiel's exiled community is dating their lives by.
1:3KJV The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him.
B:E Project The word of the LORD came directly and clearly to Ezekiel, son of Buzi, a priest, in Babylon by the Kebar Canal - and the power of the LORD came over him there.
Context: This verse formally introduces Ezekiel by name and profession for the only time in the book, and describes the vision's overwhelming physical effect on him, just before the vision itself is described.
Meaning: Ezekiel was trained his whole life to serve in the Jerusalem Temple - a role now impossible in exile. Instead of being cancelled, it's redirected: he becomes a prophet. 'The hand of the LORD' describes something overwhelming, almost physically forceful - not a gentle feeling but something that seizes a person.
Lesson: When one path closes, I can open another that uses everything you already are. Your training and character aren't wasted, even when the circumstances around you have completely changed.
See Also: Jeremiah 1:9 - another prophet's call described as a direct, forceful touch from God; Acts 9:3-6 - Paul's overwhelming call on the Damascus road.
1:4KJV And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.
B:E Project I looked, and a storm was coming from the north - a huge cloud with fire flashing inside it, glowing all around, and in the centre of the fire something like glowing amber metal.
Context: This is the vision's opening image: a violent storm rolling in from the north, the direction from which danger and invading armies typically came for Israel. It sets the tone for the overwhelming vision that follows.
Meaning: Storms in this kind of ancient writing signal something enormous and uncontrollable approaching - not evil, but vastly beyond ordinary scale. Ezekiel is describing something that defies neat, safe categories - powerful, beautiful and frightening all at once.
Lesson: Some of the most important moments in life arrive like storms - unsettling, impossible to control or schedule. Don't mistake the size of the disturbance for a sign it isn't good for you; sometimes what shakes everything loose is exactly what needed to happen.
See Also: Revelation 4:5 - lightning and thunder proceeding from God's throne, directly echoing this scene.
1:5KJV Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.
B:E Project And out of the middle of it came what looked like four living creatures. This is what they looked like: they had a basically human form.
Context: Ezekiel begins describing the four strange creatures at the heart of the vision, the first of many details he piles up trying to capture something almost beyond description.
Meaning: Notice Ezekiel keeps saying 'likeness' and 'appearance' rather than stating plain facts - he's straining to describe something that doesn't fit ordinary categories, starting from the most human-shaped comparison available before adding stranger features.
Lesson: Not everything that matters in life can be fully captured in tidy language. When you have an experience that words can only approximate, don't discount it just because you can't explain it perfectly.
See Also: Revelation 4:6-7 - the four living creatures reappear around God's throne in nearly identical form.
1:6KJV And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.
B:E Project Each of them had four faces, and each had four wings.
Context: Ezekiel continues describing the four living creatures, adding the detail of multiple faces and wings, explained more fully in the verses that follow.
Meaning: Four faces looking every direction at once, and four wings for constant, instant movement - these numbers evoke completeness and readiness in every direction, not literal biology. It's symbolic shorthand for beings that miss nothing and can act instantly wherever needed.
Lesson: There's something freeing in knowing you don't have to see everything yourself, or control every direction at once, to be safe. That kind of complete awareness belongs to something bigger than you - so you're allowed to rest.
See Also: Revelation 4:8 - the four creatures around the throne are also full of eyes and have six wings each, watching in every direction.
1:7KJV And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass.
B:E Project Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like a calf's hooves, gleaming like polished bronze.
Context: Ezekiel continues his close, almost obsessive physical description of the four creatures, now moving down to their legs and feet.
Meaning: A calf's hoof is solid and sure-footed, and polished bronze catches and reflects light brilliantly. Even the feet of these beings are strong, stable, and radiant - nothing about this vision is dull; every detail, right down to the feet, shines.
Lesson: Even the small, unglamorous parts of a life devoted to something worthwhile can shine. You don't need every part of your life to be dramatic for it to matter.
See Also: Revelation 1:15 - the glorified figure John sees has feet 'like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace', echoing this same imagery.
1:8KJV And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.
B:E Project Under their wings, on all four sides, they had human hands. All four of them had faces and wings.
Context: Ezekiel adds human hands to the description of the four creatures, alongside a brief recap of their faces and wings already mentioned.
Meaning: Human hands suggest capability for skilled, purposeful action. Even amid all the strangeness of wings, multiple faces, and hooves, there's still something recognisably purposeful and active about these beings, not just alien or abstract.
Lesson: Power that only observes and never acts isn't much use to anyone. What you see here is strength paired with capable hands - a combination worth aiming for in your own life.
See Also: Revelation 4:6 - the four beasts in Revelation are described 'full of eyes', paralleling Ezekiel's attentive, capable imagery.
1:9KJV Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.
B:E Project Their wings touched each other's. They never turned as they moved - each one went straight ahead.
Context: Ezekiel notes how the four creatures move together, connected wing to wing, always travelling forward without turning - explained further later by the wheels that move with them.
Meaning: Moving straight ahead without turning suggests total unity of purpose - no doubling back, no hesitation, because everyone involved is already moving as one. It paints perfect coordination and single-minded direction.
Lesson: There's real power in working alongside others towards one shared purpose rather than pulling in different directions. Where you find that kind of alignment with people you trust, hold onto it.
See Also: 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 - Paul's image of many parts moving as one body, a similar picture of unified purpose.
1:10KJV As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.
B:E Project Their faces looked like this: each had a human face at the front, a lion's face on the right, an ox's face on the left, and an eagle's face at the back.
Context: This is the famous detail of the vision - the four faces of each living creature, later echoed directly in Revelation's four living creatures.
Meaning: Each face represents a different kind of excellence known in the ancient world: the human for intelligence, the lion for strength and courage, the ox for reliability, the eagle for a soaring view above it all. Combined, they suggest something holding together every kind of greatness at once.
Lesson: You don't have to choose between being thoughtful and being strong, between being steady and seeing the bigger picture. A well-rounded life draws on more than one kind of strength.
See Also: Revelation 4:7 - the four living creatures around God's throne have exactly these same four faces: lion, ox, man, eagle.
1:11KJV Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.
B:E Project That's what their faces were like. Their wings stretched upward; each creature had two wings touching its neighbour's, and two wings covering its own body.
Context: Ezekiel finishes describing the faces and returns to the wings, noting how they're arranged - two spread upward and touching, two folded to cover the body.
Meaning: Wings covering the body suggest a kind of modesty even in the presence of overwhelming power - not everything is put on display. Even beings this extraordinary hold something back, rather than exposing everything at once.
Lesson: You don't owe everyone full access to every part of you. Having boundaries isn't weakness - even the most powerful beings in this vision practise it.
See Also: Isaiah 6:2 - the seraphim around God's throne likewise use some wings to cover themselves, a similar image of reverent restraint.
1:12KJV And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.
B:E Project Each one went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit wanted to go, that's where they went, without turning.
Context: Ezekiel emphasises again that the four creatures' movement is governed entirely by 'the spirit', not by their own separate decisions - a theme that recurs throughout the chapter and prepares for the wheels described next.
Meaning: This is the vision's underlying logic: nothing here moves on its own initiative. However dazzling these creatures are, they're responsive, following a will beyond themselves - total, willing coordination rather than independent power running loose.
Lesson: Being led by something bigger than your own impulses isn't a loss of freedom - it can give your life direction and coherence instead of chaos. Ask what 'spirit' is actually steering your choices day to day.
See Also: John 3:8 - Jesus compares the Spirit's movement to the wind, going where it wills, a similar sense of purposeful, unpredictable direction.
1:13KJV As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.
B:E Project The creatures looked like glowing coals of fire, like burning torches, moving back and forth among them; the fire was bright, and lightning flashed out of it.
Context: Ezekiel intensifies the fiery imagery of the vision, describing fire moving between the creatures and lightning flashing from it - reinforcing the overwhelming, almost dangerous brilliance of the scene.
Meaning: Fire in this kind of vision usually signals a purifying, dangerous holiness - something too intense to approach casually. Ezekiel isn't describing something comfortable or tame; it's genuinely awesome in the old sense, inspiring wonder and fear together.
Lesson: It's healthy to have some things in your life that you approach with real respect rather than casual familiarity. Not everything worth having should feel safe and manageable.
See Also: Exodus 3:2 - God appears to Moses in a burning bush, fire that doesn't consume, a similarly intense but purposeful flame.
1:14KJV And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.
B:E Project The creatures darted back and forth as fast as lightning flashing.
Context: Ezekiel captures the sheer speed of the creatures' movement within the vision, comparing it to lightning - a brief but vivid image before he moves on to describe the wheels.
Meaning: Lightning is instantaneous - here and gone before you can register it. This comparison underlines just how far beyond ordinary experience these beings' movement is; nothing about this vision moves at a normal, trackable pace.
Lesson: Some of the biggest shifts in understanding or circumstance happen faster than you can process them in the moment. Give yourself permission to feel overwhelmed by sudden change.
See Also: Matthew 24:27 - Jesus compares his own return to lightning flashing from east to west, sudden and unmistakable.
1:15KJV Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.
B:E Project As I watched the creatures, I noticed a wheel on the ground beside each of them, one for each of the four creatures.
Context: Ezekiel introduces the second major image of the vision - the wheels beside each living creature - which will occupy much of the rest of the chapter.
Meaning: Wheels are for travel and transport - here they sit right beside beings already capable of flight. It signals the whole scene is a kind of vehicle: something is being carried, moved, transported through the world, not just standing still.
Lesson: Some things in life aren't meant to be static - they're built to move, to go where they're needed. If you feel restless, it may be less a problem to solve than a sign you're meant to be in motion.
See Also: Revelation 4:6 - the throne scene in Revelation likewise sits in a dynamic, moving heavenly setting.
1:16KJV The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.
B:E Project The wheels gleamed like a pale yellow-green gemstone, and all four looked the same - each one appeared to be a wheel intersecting another wheel at right angles.
Context: This is the origin of the vision's most famous image - 'a wheel in the middle of a wheel' - describing wheels set crosswise so the whole assembly could move instantly in any direction without turning.
Meaning: A wheel-within-a-wheel could roll in any direction at once without needing to pivot - a design beyond ordinary engineering. It symbolises complete freedom of movement: nothing can trap or corner something built like this, and nothing can predict which way it will go next.
Lesson: There's wisdom in staying flexible rather than locked into just one way of moving through a problem. You don't have to feel boxed in - sometimes the way forward isn't the direction you expected.
See Also: Revelation 4:2-3 - the emerald-like brilliance around God's throne echoes this beryl-coloured gleam.
1:17KJV When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went.
B:E Project When they moved, they could go in any of four directions without turning.
Context: Ezekiel explains the practical effect of the wheel-within-a-wheel design: the whole structure could move in any direction instantly, with no need to change orientation first.
Meaning: This underlines the wheels' total freedom of movement - unlike any normal cart, this doesn't need to turn to change course. It's a picture of something able to respond and redirect immediately, in any circumstance, without delay.
Lesson: Sometimes you don't need to reverse course or start over - you can move towards something new from exactly where you're standing. Changing direction doesn't always require undoing what came before.
See Also: Psalm 121:8 - the LORD's watchfulness over 'going out and coming in', over every direction of a person's movement.
1:18KJV As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.
B:E Project The rims of the wheels were tall and awe-inspiring, and all four rims were covered all over with eyes.
Context: Ezekiel adds a striking, unsettling detail - the wheels' rims are covered in eyes - continuing the vision's theme of total awareness in every direction.
Meaning: Eyes covering the rims suggest complete, unceasing watchfulness - nothing escapes notice, nowhere is hidden. Many modern readers find this genuinely eerie, and that's the point: this isn't cosy comfort, it's the disquieting sense of being fully seen, everywhere, all the time.
Lesson: Being truly seen - every part of you, not just what you curate for others - can feel frightening at first. But there's also relief in it: you don't have to perform or hide, because nothing about you needs discovering before it can be accepted.
See Also: Hebrews 4:13 - 'all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do', a similar sense of total, unavoidable visibility.
1:19KJV And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.
B:E Project When the creatures moved, the wheels moved alongside them; when the creatures lifted off the ground, the wheels lifted too.
Context: Ezekiel describes the perfect coordination between the flying creatures and the wheels beside them - both rising and moving together as a single unit.
Meaning: The wheels and the creatures move as one integrated system, not as separate, competing parts. This whole strange assembly - creatures, wheels, fire, and eventually the throne above it - functions as a single coherent whole, however disparate its individual pieces look.
Lesson: The different parts of your life - work, relationships, beliefs, habits - work best when they move together rather than pulling against each other. Aim for that kind of integration.
See Also: Ezekiel 10:17 - the same synchronised movement of creatures and wheels is repeated almost word for word in Ezekiel's later temple vision.
1:20KJV Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
B:E Project Wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went - that's where their spirit was directed - and the wheels rose right along with them, because the same living spirit that moved the creatures was in the wheels too.
Context: Ezekiel explains the underlying reason for the perfect coordination: a single guiding spirit animates both creatures and wheels, so nothing moves independently or by accident.
Meaning: The claim here is striking: even the wheels - the mechanical, inanimate-seeming part of the vision - are described as alive, driven by the same spirit. Nothing in this vision is merely mechanical; the same purposeful life runs through every part of it.
Lesson: Even the parts of your life that feel routine or mechanical - your daily habits, your obligations - can be filled with the same purpose as the parts that feel most alive. Look for meaning in the ordinary machinery of your days.
See Also: Romans 8:14 - being 'led by the Spirit of God', a similar picture of a single guiding life running through everything a person does.
1:21KJV When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
B:E Project When the creatures moved, the wheels moved; when the creatures stopped, the wheels stopped; when the creatures rose off the ground, the wheels rose too, because the same living spirit was in the wheels.
Context: Ezekiel repeats and reinforces the previous verse almost word for word, hammering home just how completely the wheels and creatures act as one, down to starting and stopping together.
Meaning: This kind of deliberate repetition ensures the exiled audience doesn't miss the point: there is no gap, no lag, no independent action anywhere in this vision. However varied it looks, everything moves in total unity, without exception.
Lesson: Consistency matters more than intensity. It's not the occasional dramatic gesture that shows real commitment, but whether your actions reliably match your values, again and again, in the small starts and stops of daily life.
See Also: James 1:8 - a warning against being 'double minded', unstable in all one's ways - the opposite of the total consistency described here.
1:22KJV And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.
B:E Project Above the heads of the creatures was something like a platform, gleaming like awe-inspiring ice or crystal, spread out over them.
Context: Ezekiel's gaze now moves upward, from the creatures and wheels to a solid, crystal-like platform stretched above them - the base for the throne that appears in the vision's final verses.
Meaning: This platform acts as a boundary between the chaotic, fiery activity below and the calm authority above. Even amid all the noise and motion of the vision, there's a stable structure holding everything together at its centre.
Lesson: However much motion or chaos surrounds you, it's possible to find or build a stable centre that holds steady above it all. Look for that solid ground beneath the storm in your own life.
See Also: Exodus 24:10 - Moses and the elders see 'a paved work of a sapphire stone' under God's feet, a similar crystal-clear platform.
1:23KJV And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies.
B:E Project Under that platform, the creatures' wings were stretched out straight towards one another; each one had two wings covering its own body on either side.
Context: Ezekiel returns to describe the creatures' wing positions just beneath the crystal platform, filling in more visual detail of the scene directly under God's throne.
Meaning: This is one of several moments in the description that circle back over ground already partly covered, typical of how Ezekiel tries to render an overwhelming vision - not a tidy technical diagram but his honest best attempt to describe something almost too much to take in.
Lesson: You don't have to explain a powerful experience perfectly the first time you try to put it into words. It's fine to circle back and add detail - understanding often comes in layers, not all at once.
See Also: Isaiah 6:2 - the seraphim's wing arrangement similarly combines flight, modesty and reverence before God's throne.
1:24KJV And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings.
B:E Project When they moved, I heard the sound of their wings - like the roar of a great waterfall, like the voice of the Almighty, like the noise of a huge army on the march. When they stood still, they lowered their wings.
Context: Ezekiel shifts from visual description to sound, describing the overwhelming noise of the creatures' wings in flight, then the sudden quiet as they land and fold their wings.
Meaning: The comparisons pile up - crashing water, a commanding voice, an army - to convey something no single image can capture. And then it can also stop completely: the same beings that fill the air with sound can also fall entirely silent. Power like this includes the capacity for real rest, not constant noise.
Lesson: You don't have to be 'on' all the time to be strong. Real strength includes knowing when to be loud and active and when to fold your wings and go quiet.
See Also: Revelation 1:15 - Jesus's voice in John's vision is likewise 'as the sound of many waters', a strikingly similar comparison.
1:25KJV And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.
B:E Project And there came a voice from above the platform over their heads, once they had come to a stop and lowered their wings.
Context: In the sudden quiet after the creatures land, a voice sounds from the crystal platform above them - the first hint of the speaking figure enthroned above, whom the rest of the chapter builds towards.
Meaning: It's only in the stillness, after all the noise and motion settle, that the voice becomes audible. The message that matters most doesn't come through the chaos itself but through the quiet that follows it.
Lesson: If you want to hear what really matters - your own conscience, whatever you'd call the still small voice inside you - you may need to let the noise settle first. Make room for stillness in your life.
See Also: 1 Kings 19:11-12 - Elijah hears God not in the wind, earthquake or fire, but in 'a still small voice' after they pass.
1:26KJV And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.
B:E Project Above the platform over their heads was something like a throne, looking like blue sapphire stone, and on the throne, high above, was a figure that looked like a man.
Context: This is the climax of the whole vision: above everything else - the storm, the creatures, the wheels, the platform - sits a throne, and on it a figure with a human form. This is Ezekiel's way of describing God's own presence.
Meaning: After twenty-five verses of overwhelming, almost alien imagery, the vision's centre turns out to be something recognisably human in shape. Whatever ultimate reality stands behind the universe, in this vision it isn't cold or faceless - it has a form Ezekiel can relate to, however far beyond him it clearly is.
Lesson: Whatever you imagine to be at the very centre of reality doesn't have to feel distant or impersonal. There's something here that meets you in a form you can relate to, rather than remaining forever abstract.
See Also: Revelation 4:2-3 - John sees the same throne scene, described in almost identical sapphire-like terms.
1:27KJV And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.
B:E Project I saw what looked like glowing amber, like fire all around, from what would be his waist upward; and from his waist downward I saw what looked like fire too, with brilliant light surrounding it all.
Context: Ezekiel continues describing the enthroned figure at the heart of the vision, using fire imagery both above and below the waist, building towards the final image of surrounding brightness.
Meaning: Fire wrapped around a recognisably human form combines two things that don't usually go together - intimacy and danger, closeness and overwhelming power. Ezekiel is honestly conveying both the relatability and the sheer intensity of what he saw.
Lesson: The most meaningful things in life often hold together warmth and awe at the same time - you don't have to choose between something being close to you and something being genuinely greater than you.
See Also: Daniel 7:9 - a very similar throne vision, with fire and brightness surrounding the Ancient of Days.
1:28KJV As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.
B:E Project The brightness around him looked like a rainbow shining in the clouds on a rainy day. This was what the glory of the LORD looked like. When I saw it, I fell flat on my face - and then I heard a voice speaking.
Context: This closing verse of the chapter caps the whole vision with a rainbow - a symbol of promise going back to Noah - and records Ezekiel's overwhelmed response of falling face-down, setting up the direct address that opens chapter 2.
Meaning: The rainbow deliberately recalls the flood story, where it marked God's promise never again to destroy the world that way - so even at the height of this terrifying vision, there's a note of covenant and promise woven in. Ezekiel's collapse is the natural response to something overwhelming, and also the necessary posture before he can be raised up and commissioned next.
Lesson: Sometimes you need to be brought completely low - humbled, undone - before you're ready to be lifted up and given a new purpose. Don't be afraid of the moments that floor you; they can be the doorway into something you couldn't have taken on standing up.
See Also: Revelation 4:3 - a rainbow likewise surrounds God's throne; Genesis 9:13 - the rainbow's original meaning as a sign of covenant promise.