88. THE FOUR BEASTS

 Revelation 4:6-11: “And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.(7) And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.(8) 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. (9) And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever. (10) The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on 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.”

These four figures are also mentioned in Revelation 5:6-14; 6:1, 3, 5-7; 7:11; 14:3; 15:7; 19:4. The translation of this word as "beasts" is one of the most unfortunate, if not inaccurate, translations in the King James Version of the Bible. The Greek word zoa, would have been better translated "moving things," or "living ones," rather than "beasts," for the figures portrayed in this passage are not hairy, dumb animals as is suggested by the word "beasts," but rather celestial entities, elsewhere called by their name in the Hebrew, Cherubim.

These figures are first introduced by name when they were placed at the gate of the Garden of Eden to protect the way to the Tree of Life. In reference to the passage in Revelation, we understand that is still their role. They are not trying to keep Mankind from the Tree, but rather are trying to preserve the sanctity of it and to keep it from the contamination of sin. (Revelation 1:7; 22:2, 14.) This "Tree of Life" is, no doubt, the very presence of God Almighty, the "Glory of the Lord." For the Lord chose to dwell "between the cherubim" over the mercy seat in the Temple in Jerusalem as He had in the tabernacle in the wilderness, (Exod. 25:17-22; Numbers 7:89; 1 Sam. 4:4; Psalm 80:1; 99:1).

These figures are always in, around, or over the throne, and indeed may be a part of the throne. In fact, it seems from 1 Samuel 4:4 and 2 Samuel 6:2 that the cherubim may be the very throne of God upon which He sits and upon which He rides. The two cherubim of Exodus 25:18-22; 37:7 and Numbers 7:89 are made "of one piece with the mercy seat." However, these two cherubim are to "spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings," thus they are an integral part of the throne.

Not only were these cherubim a part of the throne of the Lord, but this throne was also the chariot of God, (Psalms 18:11; 2 Samuel 22:11). This becomes more evident when we study the referent passages from Ezekiel 1:4-18 and 10:1-22. Ezekiel also saw these living ones (Ezekiel 1:4-18). They were emerging from a bright fiery cloud, moving like a flash of lightning. Each of these living ones was beside a wondrous wheel. They could go in any direction without turning. These wheels contained the Spirit of the living ones, which directed them.

But the Rider of this chariot overshadowed the wonders of these living ones and the great chariot which they pulled. He sat in a firmament, shining like crystal. Above this firmament there was the likeness of a throne that appeared like sapphire and seated there was the likeness of a human form, the upper part of which was as gleaming bronze as if it enclosed a fire and the lower part of this form appeared as fire with a brightness that created a rainbow effect all about it. Ezekiel explains that this was the likeness of the glory of the Lord.

The seraphim are very similar to the cherubim. The word seraphim means “burning ones.” This could simply be a description of the appearance of the cherubim for they are elsewhere pictured as fiery and their representation in the tabernacle and the temple was made of burnished bronze which glowed like fire. Isaiah 6:2-8 depicts these seraphim as similar to the cherubim. They handle the holy fire from the altar.

What are we looking at here? In Ezekiel chapter ten, we see these same living ones and the same chariot wheels. The Lord showing Ezekiel the sins of the city of Jerusalem, (Ezekiel chapter 8), had preceded this appearance. Then in chapter 9, the executioners were summoned but they were delayed until the righteous were marked in their foreheads by the man clothed in linen. Then in chapter 10 the man clothed in linen is commanded to reach in between the whirling wheels and to take burning coals of fire to scatter over the city.

After this, (RSV 10:8) "the glory of the Lord went forth from the threshold of the house" (the temple), and the cherubim lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth.

“And the glory of the God of Israel was over (or upon) them. These were the living creatures that I saw underneath the God of Israel by the river Chebar; and I knew that they were cherubim." (RSV 10:19).

Elisha knew that these were the "chariot of the Lord and the horsemen thereof," (2 Kings 2:12). The living ones were the horsemen, (or power source), of the chariot of the Lord! In this scene the Lord God was departing from the Temple riding upon this chariot.

The living ones in Revelation also are the throne and chariot of the Lord God which is now in the heavens. It is no longer resident in the Holy of Holies of the Temple in Jerusalem but rather in the true Temple which is in heaven.

But why are these living ones pictured as "beasts" in the Greek translation? It is because that in the Greek culture the starry time-telling heavens were divided into sections which they described in terms of animals, beasts. This lack of coherence between the Hebrew concepts of the heavens and the Greek concepts has resulted in obscuring the meaning of these passages. The Greeks called this great circle the Zodiac, while the Hebrew name for it was Mazzaroth, as in Job 38:32.

Four constellations of the [Greek] zodiac were given the same names as the four faces of the cherubim, and in ancient times they marked the solstices and the equinoxes. Rabbinical tradition assigns them to the standards of the divisions in the camp of Israel; the lion, Judah, on the east; the ox, Ephraim, west; a man, Reuben, south; the eagle, Dan, north. Thus the standards, leading the Israelites, would indicate Israel as the earthly counterpart of the heavenly host, led by the cherubim. (ZPBD, 154).

The Biblical view of the heavens is that the sun, moon and stars are for 'othoth, (translated “signs,” Genesis 1:14). The word 'owth is spelled with the first and last letters of the alphabet and could be read in English as: "A and Z," or in Greek "Alpha and Omega." It could well be interpreted as “the letters of the alphabet.” These letters are the signs by which writing is possible.

Thus all of the configurations of the stars, which we call constellations, are groups of letters of the alphabet, or words, in the sense of the Hebrew Old Testament. They are not the hairy beasts of the Greek zodiac. It is therefore possible for them to speak without being heard, as in Psalm 19:1-4:

“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. (2) Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. (3) There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. (4) Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun.”

This idea is inherent in the fact that the Spirit and the Word agree in One. When we see these cherubim on an analogy with the constellations, we can grasp the significance of these Scriptures. The cherubim are vehicles of the Spirit, Ezekiel 1:20-21, as is also the Word.

When the Israelites encamped, their banners reflected the constellations of the heavens by which they could navigate and by which they could tell time. True, there were those who were ignorant of their true spiritual nature and legitimate physical usage and so worshiped them as gods:

“25 Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? 26 But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.” (Amos 5)

This passage is referred to also in Acts 7:43:

“Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon”. (Acts 7:43)

I submit that all forms of astrology are a corruption of the proper understanding of the Biblical use of the signs of the heavens.

These cherubim were "full of eyes before and behind," (Revelation 4:6), and in verse 8 they are "full of eyes within." The figures seen by Ezekiel in 1:18 and 10:12 also were full of "eyes." The word "eyes" in the Greek is #3788 opthalmos, the eye.

The word used in Ezekiel is Hebrew #05869 `ayin. In the Hebrew it also bears the meaning of “fountain.” Several fountains or springs of water were named -`ayin -- this, or that. Some of its transferred meanings in the Hebrew are: “a visible surface of earth,” Exodus 10:5, 15, or “appearance” as in Leviticus 13:5; and “gleam, sparkle (of metal, jewels, etc.) as used in Ezekiel 1:4, 7, 16, 22, 27; 8:2; 10:9; Daniel 10:6.”

The appearance of the cherubim was that of the myriad stars, eyes, both large and small within a constellation, gleaming and sparkling as jewels. This is what John saw around the throne, not hairy, dirty, unclean beasts.

(See Book of Enoch 39.12 and 13 for further reference to these living ones. Also see my commentary at 12:3 “The Dragon, the Serpent, Leviathan and Rahab.”).

This lesson is an edited excerpt from my book, Revelation In Context, available at the Living Word Bookstore in Shawnee, Oklahoma and also available online at www.amazon.com or www.xulonpress.com. Free downloads are available at www.revelationincontext.sermon.net