REVELATION 4-6
SEGMENT III
page 4 OF
5
When the fifteen
specifications of John and Ezekiel
are consolidated (as Rule Three
dictates), the following conclusions
are possible:
1.
Four living creatures represent four
manifestations of an omnipresent Holy
Spirit (four clones of the same
thing); that is, one Holy Spirit can
be four places (everywhere) at the
same time. The four living creatures
are standing at the four points of
the throne: north, south, east, and
west.
2.
The four living creatures are covered
with eyes. The Holy Spirit has
omniscience – a power that
belongs only to deity. The Holy
Spirit sees everything – forward
and backward – the past, present
and future – all at the same
time. Jesus also said the Holy Spirit
could speak on His own, but He does
not. (John 16:13)
3.
The four living creatures have the
same four faces. Each face describes
certain capabilities of the Holy
Spirit. For example, the Holy Spirit
has intelligent understanding (the
face of a man – Ecclesiastes
8:1). The Holy Spirit has incredible
strength (the face of an ox –
Numbers 23:22). The Holy Spirit is
powerful (the prowess of a lion
– Numbers 23:24). The Holy
Spirit ca travel to its destination
at the speed of light and swoop down
on its prey whenever it may be (the
face of an eagle – Deuteronomy
28:49). The Holy Spirit can move at
the speed of lightening and is
represented by the presence of six
wings.
The Holy Spirit never
ceases from extolling the majesty
generosity, goodness and grace of
God. This is His work. He constantly
brings glory to the Father and to
Jesus by exalting them and hiding
Himself. (John 16:14) This feature,
in itself, says so much about the
humility and meekness of the Godhead.
The Bible teaches that
the Godhead is made up of three
separate and distinct Gods: The
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
These three Gods make up the Trinity.
They are one in purpose, plan and
action.
These three are equals
in every way and they are coeternal.
They serve the universe in distinct
roles that an infinite Godhead can be
understood by a finite creation. The
God we call “Father” serves
as the Head of Government for the
Universe. The God we call
“Jesus” serves as Creative
Agent of the Godhead. The God we call
the “Holy Spirit” is
omnipresent throughout the universe
enabling communion between God and
His children at all times. Paul says
the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. He
wrote, “In the same way, the
Spirit helps us in our weakness. We
do not know what we ought to pray
for, but the Spirit himself
intercedes for us with groans that
words cannot express.” (Romans
8:26) Jesus said the Holy Spirit is a
distinct entity because He hears what
is said and He could speak on His own
if He wanted to! “But when he,
the Spirit of truth, comes, he will
guide you into all truth. He will not
speak on his own; he will speak only
what he hears, and he will tell you
what is yet to come. He will bring
glory to me by taking from what is
mine and making it known to
you.” (John 16:13,14) Jesus also
said sinning against the Holy Spirit
cannot be forgiven, “And so I
tell you, every sin and blasphemy
will be forgiven men, but the
blasphemy against the Spirit will not
be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word
against the Son of Man will be
forgiven, but anyone who speaks
against the Holy Spirit will not be
forgiven, either in this age, or the
age to come.” (Matthew 12:31,32)
This verse settles the question for
me. The Holy Spirit is God. We can
submit or reject the Holy Spirit
because he is an entity separate and
distinct from Jesus. These and many
other verses in the Bible bring me to
the conclusion that the Four living
creatures represent the Holy Spirit.
A lot more is waiting to be
discovered about the four living
creatures. When we examine the four
horseman of Revelation 6, you will be
surprised to learn what the Holy
Spirit can do!
Who Is Worthy to
Receive the Book?
The first order of
business at the great convocation
described in Revelation 4 and 5 was
to find someone worthy to receive the
Book of Life and break the seven
seals. John wrote, “Then I saw
in the hand of him who sat on the
throne a scroll with writing on both
sides and sealed with seven seals.
And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming
in a loud voice, “Who is worthy
to break the seals and open the
scroll?’ But no one in Heaven or
on Earth or under the Earth could
open the scroll or even look inside
it. I wept and wept because no one
was found who was worthy to open the
scroll or look inside. Then one of
the [24] elders said to me, ‘Do
not wept! See, the Lion of the tribe
of Judah, the Root of David, has
triumphed. He is able to open the
scroll and its seven
seals.’” (Revelation 5:1-5,
insertion mine) John does not tell us
at first what he understood about
this book; however, it was obvious
that John understood certain things
about it because he wept and wept
when no one was found worthy to
resolve the sin problem.
A normal person does
not weep over something he does not
understand. John wept because he felt
deep grief and frustration. I can
faintly imagine the setting of this
meeting. Innumerable hosts of angels
were called from distant galaxies to
this great convocation. The Ancient
of Days arrived and took His seat. An
announcer called for nominees who
could resolve the sin problem and
exonerate God’s government of
all charges of tyranny. Silence
followed. No one in Heaven or Earth
or even “under the Earth”
was found worthy. (If a nominee
happened to be dead and deemed worthy
for this job, God would have
instantly resurrected that person. In
fact, several
“resurrectees” were at the
meeting. Moses and Jesus had been
resurrected from the dead as well as
some of the twenty-four elders.
Matthew 27:52,53)
The silence broke
John’s heart. John’s
emotion might be compared to that of
a wife sitting in a courtroom waiting
for a credible witness to come
forward and exonerate her innocent
husband of false charges that carry a
death sentence. It is interesting to
notice that the Father offered the
Book of Life to everyone in the
universe before Jesus was considered.
God is fair beyond a doubt. When
Jesus humbly offered Himself, all
Heaven broke out in joyful praise and
thanksgiving! “Worthy is the
Lamb,” they cried!
Consider the suspense
as Jesus stepped forward: “Then
I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had
been slain, standing in the center of
the throne, encircled by the four
living creatures and the elders. He
had seven horns and seven eyes, which
are the seven spirits of God sent out
into all the Earth. He came and took
the scroll from the right hand of him
who sat on the throne.”
(Revelation 5:6,7) This was a
thrilling and awesome event. No
awards ceremony on Earth has ever
come close to matching the splendor
of this occasion. “And they sang
a new song: ‘You are worthy to
take the scroll and open its seals,
because you were slain, and with your
blood you purchased men for God from
every tribe and language and people
and nation. You have made them to be
a kingdom and priests to serve our
God, and they will reign on the
Earth.’” (Revelation
5:9,10) This song resolves a mystery.
At first, no one was found worthy to
take the book sealed with seven
seals. What were the qualifications
that no one could meet? Look, again
at the song for it has the answer, “with
your blood you purchased men for
God.”
I am sure the angels
have closely studied the record of
Jesus’ life on Earth. When this
convocation came to order in 1798 and
nominations were solicited for
someone to take the book, Jesus was
found worthy because He is the person
who (a) created man, (b) volunteered
to die for man, (c) was born into sin
and did not sin, and (d) lived a life
of perfect compliance to the will of
the Father. However, the greatest
qualification that silenced all other
nominations was His victory over
Lucifer. No one else has ever been
born under the obligation of law and
been completely victorious over
rebellion! After Jesus was found
worthy to take the book, Jesus was
given the seven attributes that
belonged to the Father. This highest
exaltation of Jesus demonstrated in
the jubilant song that followed: “In
a loud voice they sang: ‘Worthy
is the Lamb, who was slain, to
receive (1) power and (2) wealth and
(3) wisdom and (4) strength and (5)
honor and (6) glory and (7)
praise!’” (Revelation 5:12)
Compare Daniel’s view of this
scene: “In my vision at night I
looked, and there before me was one
like a son of man, coming with the
clouds of heaven. He approached the
Ancient of Days and was led into his
presence. He was given
authority, glory and sovereign power;
all peoples, nations and men of every
language worshiped him. His dominion
is an everlasting dominion that will
never pass away, and his kingdom is
one that will never be
destroyed.” (Daniel 7:13,14)
Critical Point!
Daniel 7 and
Revelation 5 are synchronized. They
are inseparably aligned because, in
both cases, Jesus is given something
that He did not have before. Jesus
was given sovereign power (total
control) in Daniel 7 and in
Revelation 5. The transfer of
sovereign authority firmly aligns
Daniel 7 and Revelation 5, because
sovereign power is granted only once.
If Jesus had sovereign power prior to
this occasion, no more power could be
granted to Him at this time. Daniel
7:14 indicates that Jesus received
sovereign power and dominion that
will never end, and Revelation 5:12
indicates Jesus was found worthy to
receive power to break the seven
seals.
At this huge
convocation, the Father publicly gave
Jesus total control over Heaven and
Earth to accomplish two tasks: the
consummation of salvation for
mankind, and the exoneration of the
Godhead from all charges of
wrongdoing. Who else could so this
but Jesus? After the angelic host and
the 24 elders declared Jesus worthy
to receive the Book of Life, the
Father relinquished sovereign control
to His worthySon. In the presence of
billions of angels, the scepter of
power was transferred. This glorious
heavenly scene, unseen by people on
Earth, occurred in 1798. We know this
because the timing of this
convocation is linked to the downfall
of the apostate Christian Church in
Rome in Daniel 7.
Harmony Harmony
Harmony Harmony
Now that we are
acquainted with lots of pieces in the
puzzle, its time to use the four keys
mentioned earlier to solve the
question of timing. Please give these
four keys careful consideration.
1.
Jesus was given sovereign power
in 1798. In this study so far, we
established the fact that Daniel 7:9
had to take place in 1798. We know
that the Ancient of Days called
Heaven’s inhabitants to an
assembly, and after taking His seat,
ended the 1,260 years of papal
persecution by pronouncing a
restraining order in favor of the
saints. Napoleon’s forces
wounded the authority of the Church
of Rome, the pope was taken prisoner,
and he was placed in exile. The
wounding of the papacy on Earth
aligns with His coronation of Jesus
in Heaven. Jesus received Earth as
His inheritance (Daniel 7:13,14;
Hebrews 1:2) in 1798 and 46 years
later, in 1844, Jesus began cleansing
Heaven’s temple. The Bible says,
“…The court was seated and
the books were opened.” (Daniel
7:10)
2.
The third seal was broken in
1844. The Bible teaches that man is
not judged when he dies, nor does he
go to Heaven or Hell at the time of
death. Rather, when a person dies, it
is as though that person is asleep.
(See Chapter 13 in Jesus: The Alpha
and the Omega.) With the exception of
a few cases like Enoch, Moses,
Elijah, and the 24 elders, the saints
are not in Heaven. Neither is there
anyone burning in Hell. In death, the
soul is in the same condition as it
was prior to birth – it does not
exist. When a person reaches the age
of accountability, a record of his or
her choices and actions is made as
they occur. When that person dies,
the record is sealed. This record is
then used in the judgment of the
dead. Jesus began to review and pass
judgment on each dead person in 1844.
(Ecclesiastes 12:14; Acts 17:31; 2
Corinthians 5:10) The dead continue,
“sleeping” until they are
either resurrected at the Second
Coming (the righteous) or at the end
of the thousand years (the wicked).
Even though we have not examined the
third seal, we will find that the
judgment of the dead begins with the
breaking of the third seal in 1844.
Thus the following points also link
together:
1.
The exaltation of Jesus in Daniel 7
is linked to 1798.
2.
The judgment of the dead is linked to
the 2,300 years mentioned in Daniel
8:14.
3.
The 2,300 years are also linked to
the third seal (Revelation 6:5,6).
4.
The fourth seal marks the beginning
of the Great Tribulation and judgment
of the living!
This is a lot of
linking, but the matrix in Daniel
clearly aligns these pieces of the
puzzle. See the chart below:
The Alignment of
Daniel 7, Daniel 8, Daniel 9,
Revelation 5 and the First Three
Seals
3.
The High Priest was found worthy on
the Day of Atonement.
The doctrine of
parallel temples contributes to the
matrix in the Chart above. In
Leviticus 16, the High Priest had to
be found worthy before he
could cleanse the earthy temple on
the Day of Atonement. To gain
God’s approval, the High Priest
had to present himself before God
within the Most Holy Place with the
blood of a young bull. The bull came
from the High Priest’s herd. In
other words, the High Priest had to
provide his own blood for the
sacrifice. The parallel here is
obvious, Jesus provided His own blood
for the redemption of sinners, and
after a careful examination, He was
found worthy before the Father, the
24 elders, and the angelic host to
receive the Book of Life.
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