REVELATION 4-6
SEGMENT III
page 3 OF
5
We know from
previous study, that this great
convocation was assembled in Heaven
in 1798. The Father predetermined the
date of these meeting thousands of
years before it occurred; He aligned
this convocation in Heaven with the
fall of the papacy so that at the
appointed time of the end, students
of prophecy could determine the
timing of this meeting even though
the meeting was not observed by
anyone on Earth.
Daniel saw
“thrones set up” for this
occasion, and the prophet John saw
the same event. Daniel was zoomed
upward to Heaven and forward in time
to witness an awesome meeting where
John also saw thrones set up for this
occasion! “After this I looked,
and there before me was a door
standing open in Heaven. And
the voice I had first heard speaking
to me like a trumpet said, ‘Come
up here, and I will show you what
must take place after this.’ At
one I was in the Spirit, and there
before me was a throne in Heaven with
someone sitting on
it….Surrounding the throne were
twenty-four other thrones, and seated
on them were twenty-four elders. They
were dressed in white and had crowns
of gold on their heads.” (Revelation
4:1,2,4) Of course, John could not
know the timing of what he saw. He
simply says, “At once I was in
the Spirit…” We now know
that Daniel and John were zoomed
forward in their visions to see
things that would take place
thousands of years later, and neither
man understood the timing of what he
was shown. The privilege of
understanding the timing of
Revelation 4-6 occurs after the book
of Daniel is unsealed.
When John
arrived in Heaven, he was awed by the
things he saw. “And immediately
I was in the Spirit; and, behold, a
throne was set in Heaven, and one sat
on the throne. And he that sat was to
look upon like a jasper and a sardine
stone: and there was a rainbow round
the throne, in sight like unto an
emerald. And round about the
thrown were four and twenty seats:
upon the seats I saw four and twenty
elders sitting, clothed in white
raiment; and they had on their heads
crowns of gold.
“And out
of the throne proceeded lightings and
thundering and voices: and there were
seven lamps of fire burning before
the throne, which are the seven
spirits [the seven brilliant angels
that stand before God] of God. And
before the throne there was a sea of
glass like unto a crystal: and in the
midst of the throne, and round about
the throne, were four beasts [strange
looking creatures] full of eyes
before and behind. And the first
beast was like a lion, and the second
beast like a calf, and the third
beast had a face like a man, and the
fourth beast was like a flying eagle.
And the four beasts had each of them
six wings about him; and they were
full of eyes within: and they rest
not day and night, saying, Holy,
holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which
was, and is, and is to come.
“And
when those beasts [creatures] give
glory and honour and thanks to him
that sat on the throne, who liveth
for ever and ever, the four and
twenty elders fall down before him
that sat upon the throne, and worship
him that liveth for ever and ever,
and cast their crowns before the
throne, saying, ‘Thou art
worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and
honor and power: for thou hast
created all things, and for thy
pleasure they are and were
created.’” (Revelation
4:2-11, KJV, insertions mine)
The
description that John gave is not
hard to figure out. He saw the Father
sitting on an exalted throne. He saw
twenty-four human beings (elders)
wearing golden crowns and they were
sitting around the Father. He saw the
seven angels (seven living beings or
spirits) who stand before God
(Revelation 8:2; Revelation 15:1;
Hebrews 1:14) And he saw four living
creatures standing around the throne.
Of course, John noticed “ten
thousand times ten thousand”
angels attending the meeting.
(Revelation 5:11) For many people,
the four living creatures are a
mystery, so a few words about them
may be helpful at this point.
The
Four Living Creatures
The four
living creatures in Revelation 4
represent the third member of the
Godhead, the Holy Spirit. The
definition may come as a surprise at
first, but the third rule of
apocalyptic prophecy produces the
result! Rule three states,
“Apocalyptic language can be
literal, symbolic or analogous. To
reach the intended meaning of
apocalyptic prophecy, the student
must consider: (a) the context, (b)
the use of parallel language
elsewhere in the Bible, and (c)
relevant statements in the Bible
which define the symbol if an element
is thought to be symbolic.”
Because we have to follow valid rules
of interpretation to arrive at the
intended meaning of prophecy, we have
to consider the five specifications
that John gives about the living
creatures:
1.
There were four living creatures
surrounding the throne.
2.
Each creature had six wings.
3.
Each creature was full of eyes.
4.
Each creature looked like a lion, a
calf, a man and a flying eagle.
5.
The four creatures never rested from
giving praise and glory to God.
Before we try
to reach a conclusion with these
specifications, Rule Three says we
need to consider the use of parallel
language in the Bible. Consider the
words of Ezekiel because he saw the
four living creatures as well! Notice
the ten specifications given in
Ezekiel 1 and 10:
1. There were
four living creatures having the
appearance of a man. (1:5)
2. Each
living creature had four faces, four
wings and four hands. (1:6,7)
3. Each
living creature had the faces of a
lion, ox, man, and eagle. (1:10)
4. The four
living creatures appeared to be on
fire. Lightning flashed from the four
living creatures. (1:13)
5. The four
living creatures traveled at the
speed of light. (1:14)
6. Above the
four living creatures was a great
expanse that looked like a sheet of
ice. (1:22)
7. A glorious
throne rested in the middle of the
sparkling expanse. (1:26)
8. The bodies
of the four living creatures were
covered in eyes. (10:12)
9. Four
dynamic whirling wheels were located
beside each creature. (1:15, 16;
10:16)
10. The power
of the four creatures came from the
four wheels. (1:20; 10:17)
Even
though there are slight variations in
the descriptions of John and Ezekiel,
I have no doubt that these men were
shown the same thing from two
different perspectives. By giving
different people different views of
the same things, God expands our
understanding of a subject. This is
why there are four gospels! The
perspective of Matthew is not
sufficient. We need the perspectives
of Mark, Luke and John to better
understand the ministry of Jesus on
Earth. For that matter, where would
Christians be today without the
perspectives of Paul?
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