When Glory Departs

Ezekiel sees someone enthroned above the cherubim, and that figure gives an order: go in among the whirling wheels, fill your hands with coals of fire, and scatter them over the city.
Notice the coal. In Isaiah 6 a coal from the altar touches the prophet's lips and purifies him. Here the same fire is carried out to burn a city. The contrast is deliberate.
And notice who gives the order. The one on the throne is the human-form figure of Ezekiel 1, commanding a second supernatural being - the man clothed in linen who had marked the faithful in chapter 9.
Scripture links:
- Ezekiel 10:2 - fill your hands with burning coals and scatter them over the city.
- Isaiah 6:6-7 - the coal that touches the prophet's lips and takes away his guilt.
The same fire purifies or destroys. What changes is not the fire.