Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was the likeness of an awesome expanse, gleaming like crystal.
Now the Prophet states the principal thing in this vision — that God was seated on his throne: because if he had spoken only of wheels and living creatures, the vision had been partial, and therefore inefficient. But when he places God upon his own throne, we understand that angels, who inspire motion in other things, have neither vigor nor motion peculiar to themselves.
The prophet is very exact in making and recording his observations concerning this vision. And here we have, I. The notice he took of the wheels, Eze 1:15-21. The glory of God appears not only in the splendour of his retinue in the upper world, but in the steadiness of his government here in this lower world.
Commenting on Ezekiel 1:15-25
And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature,.... This was not a real firmament, but the likeness of one; it was like the firmament which God created on the second day, which divided between the waters above and below, and which he called Heaven; and is no other than the airy and starry heavens.