Well, you can turn in your Bibles if you wanna compare the majority text to the one that we're reading, or you can follow along in the majority text on page 22 of your bulletins. And we're only gonna look at verses six through eight, but I wanna read the whole chapter, Revelation chapter four. After these things, I looked, and behold, a door standing open in the heaven, and the first voice that I heard, like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, Come up here and I will show you the things that must take place after these." And immediately I was in spirit and there a throne set in heaven and one sitting on the throne, similar in appearance to a stone, jasper and carnelian. And there was a rainbow around the throne, similar in appearance to an emerald. And around the throne were 24 thrones and on the thrones I saw the 24 elders sitting, clothed in white robes and golden crowns on their heads. And out of the throne came lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and seven lamps of fire were burning before his throne, which are seven spirits of God. And before the throne, it was like a sea of glass, similar to crystal. And in the midst of the throne and around the throne were four living beings, full of eyes, front and back. The first living being was similar to a lion. The second living being was similar to a calf. The third living being had a face like a man, and the fourth living being was similar to a flying eagle. And the four living beings, each one of them having six wings apiece, were full of eyes around and within, and they take no rest day or night saying, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, the Lord God Almighty, he who was and who is and who is coming. And whenever the living beings ascribe glory and honor and thanksgiving to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever. And they cast their crowns before the throne saying, you are worthy, our Lord and God, the Holy One, to receive the glory and the honor and the power because you created all things and by your will They exist and were created. Amen. Father God, we thank you for your word and it is our desire not just to understand it, but to be transformed by it. And we pray that you would stir up our hearts as we continue to worship and looking into this passage in Jesus name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. Well, Gary read earlier from a devotion in that Extreme Devotion book that we had given to you. And I want to begin by telling another story that occurs a couple weeks into this year. We're skipping ahead and I really enjoy this book. But Kathy and I read about a man who had been hired to be an assassin to kill one of the leading evangelists in Bangladesh. And the assassin came into Andrew's office, pointed the gun at his head, and Andrew thought, okay, well, I'm going to be with the Lord today. But the man just stood there and obviously agitated. Eventually, he turned around and he fled out of the building. And later that day, Andrew found himself talking to the same man, this time on the telephone. And the man on the other end of the phone said, The Muslim leaders offered me a big reward to kill you. I rode across Bangladesh to come to your office. The reward was mine. I was ready to shoot, but I couldn't move my arm. I couldn't pull the trigger. Now inwardly, Andrew the evangelist was praising the Lord for having spared his life, but he thought it was somewhat odd that this guy was explaining this to him on the phone, and he asked him, so what can I do for you now? And the man said, sir, I still can't move my arm, and it's because of you. Can you help me? Well, right there on the phone, he prayed for the man, and the man instantly regained the full use of his arm. and astounded by the miracle, he returned to the evangelist's office and wanted to find out more about this Jesus who had healed him. And 45 minutes later, he confessed his sins and received salvation from God. And the question is, was that a miracle or was it an unusual providence where an angel touched that man's hand and kept him from being able to use it? Now, perhaps we will never know, but we're gonna be looking at the beginning kernel of a theology of angels that this book is later going to be fully developing, and hopefully it'll help you to gain a little bit better appreciation of the remarkable work of angels in our lives, a work that was really central to the Puritan theology. Now, my parents and I have had many similar experiences that we simply cannot explain from a natural perspective, and I'll just tell you one of them. One of the ladies that my parents had led to the Lord in Ethiopia, they were missionaries in Ethiopia for a number of years. was a young woman who just became on fire for Jesus, and she witnessed everywhere. And she was on her way back from visiting, I think it was some relatives or friends, and it started raining. And in her hurry to get home, she slipped and her feet flew up and her head went back down onto the ground. She smashed her head on a rock. and was unconscious, and apparently was unconscious for quite a period of time. When she came to, there was a leopard that was sitting on her chest with its face breathing right, I mean, the leopard's mouth breathing right onto her face, and that would be a really freaky thing to wake up to. She had the presence of mind, though, not to scream or say anything, and she told the Lord, Lord, If this leopard kills me, I'm ready to go to heaven, but I have so many friends and relatives that I want to hear the gospel. And she said, Lord, just spare my life and let me preach, let me speak and share my testimony with these other relatives and friends. Well, immediately, the leopard got up, walked a few feet away, looked back at her, walked on a few more feet, looked back at her, and then finally just walked off into the dusk. And I have often thought, well, perhaps there was an angel just like Daniel had an angel, you know, who stopped the mouths of the lions. And here was an angel who kept this leopard from eating her. Maybe actually had the leopard sit on top of her to keep her warm because she was out for a long time and her body was quite warm and keep her from freezing there. Maybe we'll never know, but here is a lady who became a tremendous witness for Christ and testified not just to this remarkable providence of the Lord, but to the wonderful things God had done in her life by his grace. I personally believe it was angels involved in those two incidents. I cannot prove it, but it is quite consistent with the examples of angels being involved in God's providences later on in the book of Revelation. And this passage, as I mentioned, is the beginning kernel from which the theology of angels in Revelation is going to emerge. Now I'll admit this is a very controversial three verses and there's lots of different viewpoints on it, all kinds of interpretations of what these four living creatures are. Almost everyone agrees that there does seem to be some dependence upon Ezekiel chapters 1 and 10, as well as some similarities to the description in Isaiah chapter 6, but there are also several differences between those passages. In fact, it is those differences that has made literalists not be able to identify them as being the same creatures as are in Ezekiel chapter 1. Because, let me just give you some of the differences there. Each of Ezekiel's living creatures has four faces, like the first picture in your outline there. And one of the faces is the face of a lion, another one of the ox, another one of a man, and the fourth face is the face of an eagle, whereas in Revelation chapter four, right here, each of these living creatures has only one face. And so you got one creature who is like a lion, another creature who's like an ox, another one who's similar to a man, another one similar to an eagle. So those would be one of the differences. Likewise, Ezekiel's creatures have four wings in chapter one, verse six, whereas verse eight of our passage says these living creatures have six wings, just like the angels in Isaiah six had. Now in Ezekiel the rims of the wheels are full of eyes and here it's the creature's bodies that are full of eyes. And like the angels in Isaiah 6, these creatures cry out, holy, holy, holy. And so there seems to be a blending of the creatures from Ezekiel and Isaiah chapter 6, but there are enough differences that it's very difficult to interpret this 100% literally. But those who hold that this is symbolic, wow, they're all over the map. I have read and read and studied on this passage, and you see all kinds of interpretations. One of the most common interpretations actually goes back quite a few centuries, and it says that these four creatures represent the four evangelists, with Matthew being the man, Mark being the lion, Luke being the bull, John being the eagle. And you see those on ancient church windows and stuccoes and things like that. Very, very common interpretation. And there's three problems I have with that. First, there is zero exegetical support for it. Second, the order is mixed up. It doesn't follow the order in which the Gospels were written. And then third, John's one of those evangelists. And he's looking at these four creatures. So obviously, John is different than at least one of those four creatures, right? So I don't know. I just have a hard time buying that theory. Others say that it was symbolic representation of Jesus. They say these creatures are part and parcel of the throne. They are said to be in the midst of the throne. And later, the same word is used of Jesus. He is in the midst of the throne. So maybe these are symbols of Jesus and his rule. Well, the problem with that theory is that chapter five and verse eight, the four living creatures fall down before the land. They're clearly distinguished from the Lamb, from Jesus. If they're falling down before Jesus, they can hardly be a symbol of Jesus. Now, others say that they symbolize God in His rule, His power, His wisdom, and His presence. And actually, there is a certain logic in their arguments because these creatures are definitely tied up in some way with God's providence. And we'll look at that later. But the verse I just gave shows that that can't be true. You're not gonna have God bowing down before Jesus, okay? And in any case, chapter 19, verse four has these four living creatures falling down, bowing down before God. So God falling down and bowing before God, it just doesn't make sense. Jonathan Edwards believed that the four creatures represent God's various attributes by way of symbolism. So it's not God, but he says, it's the attributes of God that are symbolized. Well, one objection is, why then does verse eight have all of the creatures addressing God as holy, which is one of God's attributes? Doesn't that distinguish them from God's attribute of holiness? And why does verse nine say that they give glory, honor, and thanks to God? I mean, thanks implies that God has done something for them. So you would hardly have one of God's attributes thanking God for letting it exist. You really cannot separate God from His attributes. So even though there is some logic to their interpretation, I think it fails to explain all of the details about these creatures. And what I'm doing right now is I'm systematically trying to rule out everything that they are not so that you'll have a little bit easier time believing what they are when I explain that to you. Matthew Poole thinks that the creatures represent the various spiritual gifts that God has given to ministers. And I say, well, if that's the case, why are these creatures said to be in the midst of the throne? And how are our gifts in the midst of the throne? And why do these four living creatures give the seven angels the bowls of wrath that are going to be poured out upon Israel? Why does the book describe them as being administrators of God's providence? I mean there are so many details that just simply do not describe human beings or any of the qualities of human beings. Others say that these four creatures represent the four rulers. of the creation in Genesis and thus by synecdoche represent all of creation giving glory to God. Just like Psalm 19, constantly the voice of creation is giving glory to the Lord. And so they say the lion is the king of the wild animals, the ox is the ruler of the tame animals, man is the ruler over all of creation, and the eagle is the ruler over the birds. And I would say if it's alluding to Genesis, why does Revelation change the order? The order in Genesis is birds first, then wild animals, tame animals, and man. And here it's not just a reversal, it's a complete mix up of the order there. So they seem to be quite different on some levels. Now it's not a slam dunk argument against it. In fact, we're gonna resurrect this theory later on because there is something to it. But we're gonna put that on the back burner. Some of you have David Chilton's commentary. Well, he goes into wild flights of fancy when he identifies the four creatures with the four parts of the zodiac, with the lion representing Leo, the bull representing Taurus, the man representing Aquarius, the waterer, and the eagle representing Scorpio. The problem is the eagle and the scorpio, scorpion, they're not interchangeable, not at all. In fact I've checked with all of the works on astrology there is no evidence ever that the eagle was associated with the astrological divisions and it's a different order anyway from astrology. And then when he tries to have each of these supposed signs of the zodiac depict the and really dictate the interpretation of his four sections of the book. For example, he's got Aquarius pouring out the bowls of wrath. He not only ignores the true structure of the book, which we've already seen is sevenfold, not fourfold, but it also messes up a lot of the interpretations later on. And it contradicts his interpretation of the Zodiac in chapter 12. I agree with Greg Bonson that this is absolute nonsense. The Bible in no way endorses astrology. By the way, if you've got his book, it has a lot of helpful stuff in it. I do refer to it quite a bit. But one of the problems with David Chilton is that His interpretive maximalism is a brand new hermeneutic that makes him frequently stray from the grammatical historical approach to hermeneutics that the first few verses of this book absolutely mandate. So just be aware of that. Now in my notes, I've got a bunch of other interpretations that are so far-fetched I'm not even gonna mention them this morning, but I do wanna move on to my interpretation, which is John Calvin's. Now he never wrote a commentary on Revelation, but he did on Ezekiel and other passages, and he makes reference to this. And there are a number of interpreters that hold to Calvin's view, and it is that these are cherubim angels, and they're being described in a way that shows that they have an integral part to play in God's providence. In fact, Calvin would say that there is no part of God's providence where these angels are not present and involved in some way. And even though I'm not going to be dogmatic on this, this interpretation makes the most sense to me after I have systematically ruled out every other interpretation that is out there. And I'm going to give you just a few more detective clues that I have worked through. So what I've been doing is I've given you, okay, here's some detective clues of why these theories can't work. Let me give you a few more. We've already seen that these living creatures are distinguished from God, they're distinguished from Jesus, but they're also distinguished from the messenger angels in a number of verses, or at least from one of the orders of the angels. Look for example at chapter five and verse 11. And I looked and I heard as it were the voice of many angels around the throne and the living beings and the elders. So there's three groups there. There's angels and living beings and elders, and it goes on to say, and their number was 10,000 times 10,000 and 1,000 thousands, saying with a great voice, worthy is the lamb who was slaughtered to receive the power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. So these are creatures who worship God. And three times in this book, they are distinguished from some order of angels. Now here's another clue. The Greek word that is translated as living beings in Pickering's translation here, and it's translated as living creatures in the New King James Version is exactly the same term that is used in Ezekiel to describe the living beings there. And because that's the only other place in scripture where this word is used to describe heavenly beings, and because of the similar descriptions of lion, ox, man, and eagle, Because of the same description of the wheels within wheels, it's like this magnificent chariot throne. Because of the way it says that these angels are under the throne and part and parcel of this throne and some other indicators. Most modern commentators say, there's gotta be some connection between Revelation 4 and Ezekiel 1 and Ezekiel chapter 10. And even many modern literalists today have said the same thing. But because of the differences, we put that clue on the back burner for now. It ties the passages together, but there are some things we need to figure out. And one of those things is, is this literal or is this symbolic? In recent years, the evidence of symbolism is so clear that even the dispensationalist commentaries that I've got in my library have said, you know what, this has got to be a symbolic description. And what's significant about that for me is that they are the most literal of the literal, usually. They say, take it literally, unless it's absolutely impossible to do so, if it doesn't make any sense to do so. So what are some things about these living creatures that makes it impossible to take everything about their description literally. Well, almost everybody agrees that these creatures do not literally cry out the words of verse 8 every minute of every day. Their existence symbolically cries out these words, just like Psalm 19 says, there's not a moment of any day when creation is not shouting forth God's glory. These creatures are symbolically doing the same in the vision they're crying out, but not literally as creatures. And how do we know that that is the case? Well, let's just take a look at a few verses. There are several other passages that show them saying other things with their mouths or Revelation chapter 8 where they are totally silent. There is absolute pin drop silence in Heaven for the space of half an hour. So even though in this vision they are constantly crying out it can't be a literal description. Let's start with verse 8, and the four living beings each one of them having six wings apiece were full of eyes around and within and they take no rest day or night saying, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, The Lord God Almighty, He who was and who is and who is coming. Okay, now take a look over at chapter five and verse 13. This has every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth saying something different. At that point, they say blessing and honor and glory and power, et cetera. And people might say, well, maybe the four creatures were an exception. Maybe every other creature did. Take a look at verse 14. Then the four living creatures said, amen. Okay, that's something in addition to verse eight. They were listening, they were responding to other words. Now take a look at chapter six, verse one. Obviously in this chapter, one of the four living creatures has stopped saying, holy, holy, holy. It says, and I saw the four living creatures. When the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, come and see. Well, come and see are different words than the words that are listed in chapter four, verse eight. So they've obviously ceased saying those words so that they could say, come and see. And you can see other examples in the book of Revelation. So the question is, is there a contradiction within Revelation? I say, no, not at all. It's identical to Psalm 19, where the whole of creation symbolically, not literally, but symbolically is constantly showing forth God's glory. Since these four creatures perfectly reflect God's character, perfectly glorify Him in all that they do, even the words that these four creatures utter in chapter 6, verse 6, and let me list it for you, They say a quart of wheat for a denarius, three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and the wine. Even those words are words that showcase God's holiness. Those words are crying out, holy, holy, holy. And they're also showing that God is the great I am. It's not literal words. but it is literal praise nonetheless. And so what it's basically saying, their entire lives point to God, praise God, praise His holiness, His sovereignty and His rule. I think that's what it means and I think in recent years there's even a number of literalists who have been forced to say that is what it means. Now the same is true of some of the other descriptions of these creatures. It's almost certain that they are the same living creatures that Ezekiel describes So the differences clue us into the fact that this is probably not a literal description but a symbolic one. And then this is where I want to give you a caution that you don't go to the other extreme. When we looked at principle number nine of hermeneutics under chapter one, we saw that this book is absolutely filled with symbols, but you should not detach those symbols from literal history and literal beings. Too many people recognize, okay, it's symbolic, and then they get unhinged. They just give whatever interpretation they want. First of all, they say it's not literal history, literal beings, and then they come up with ideas rather than looking to the Old Testament to define those symbols. Though John uses symbols, all the symbols in this book deal with literal historical events and beings. And let me just illustrate it with Jesus. In chapter five, Jesus is likened to a lamb, a lion, and a root. He's not literally a lion, not literally a lamb or a root. Those are symbols that describe His person, His work, and His office. And that by itself, I think, should clue us into the fact, well, maybe, since it's in the same context, these other beings are literal beings. Jesus is a literal being, right? But He's not a literal lion. So there's the lion, the root, and the lamb are the symbolic descriptions, and yet he is a literal person. And I would say that's the same with the angels. They are literal cherubim angels, but they're being described with symbols. Their work is being described in that way. Well, before we look at the symbols I want to demonstrate that these are indeed the cherubim that the Old Testament refers to almost 100 times. In Ezekiel they are called living creatures 15 times and cherubim 32 times. And there's no question whatsoever in my mind that these living creatures are the cherubim of Ezekiel. In Ezekiel, the terms living creatures and cherubim used interchangeably is referring to the same being. So when he uses this technical phrase in Revelation, John wants the Jews who are reading it to immediately think of the cherubim or the living creatures in Ezekiel. So what are cherubim? We're going to get into a description a little bit of what Jews took for granted. They understood the theology and I think we do not. The im on the end of any Hebrew word is a plural. So you've got cherub is one of these living beings. Cherubim would be more than one of these beings. And you need to be disabused of the precious moments Bibles that you guys so much love. No, I don't know if any of you own a Precious Moments Bible, but have any of you seen the cherubs in those Bibles? And you can buy them in the store. They're just such cute little baby-looking, you know, angels with cute little wings. You just want to pinch their cheeks. I guarantee you, you would not want to pinch the cheeks of a real cherub. You'd be so terrified, you'd be flat on your face. Everybody who sees a cherub in the Bible is scared to death. They are incredibly powerful, incredibly mighty beings. Now we call them warrior angels as opposed to seraphim, which are messenger angels. But because the term angel means messenger, some people prefer to distinguish cherubim from angels. I think in one sense it's appropriate to do so. The cherubim and the angels But the Bible does not make that kind of a tight, watertight division between those two orders. For example, Satan is called a cherub. You may not have realized it, but he was one of the original cherubim. Ezekiel 28, verses 14 and 16 describes Lucifer or Satan originally in that light. In fact, He was described as being one of the original cherubim who was a covering cherubim. In other words, his wings covered the throne of God amongst the fiery stones. And by the way, that's why the earthly Ark of the Covenant, which is God's throne room, had two cherubim on it that covered that Ark with their wings, the earthly patterned after the heavenly. In any case, Ezekiel goes on to describe Satan's prideful rebellion against God, where he was cast out of that position. And so Satan was once like these cherubim, and yet Satan is called an angel. In fact, Satan can transform himself into an angel of light, according to 2 Corinthians 11, 15. Did you know that angels can morph? They can change their shape? They do so many times in the Bible. You look in passages like Genesis 18 through 19, you see the angel that met, the angels, plural, that met with Abraham, They took on the form of a man. They looked just like another man. And the same was true of those angels when they took Lot out of Sodom. So it shouldn't be surprising to us that cherubim in other passages can morph. It may very well be that the cherubim in Ezekiel 1 morphed into creatures that had those four faces and then they morphed into something in a different shape in Revelation chapter four to communicate something symbolically. And whether that's true or not, they can morph. I think that much is clear. So I agree with those scholars who say that there are two orders of angels, the cherubim, who are the warrior angels that guard and the seraphim, who are the messenger angels who have other tasks. And in the same way, there are two basic orders of demons. Familiar spirits are the fallen seraphim angels, and demons are the fallen cherubim, or warrior angels. And I'm giving this detailed background right now because this is going to be so important for understanding some of the later chapters in this book. So to summarize, cherubim are huge angel-like beings that guarded the earthly temple, guarded the heavenly temple. They guarded the Garden of Eden in Genesis chapter 3 and kept Adam and Eve from being able to go back into it. According to Daniel, these are angelic-like beings who guard nations and who engage in warfare. Michael, the archangel, is one of those cherubim. And in Revelation 12, Jesus tells John that there is about to happen an incredible war where Michael and his angels are going to be fighting against Satan and his warrior angels. Just a few more details about cherubim. Moses made images of huge cherubim with wings on top of the Ark of the Covenant, and interestingly, those cherubim had only one face. That's in Exodus 25 verse 20, Exodus 37 verse 9, and 2 Chronicles 3 verse 13. So you've got one-faced cherubim in three Old Testament passages, as well as in Revelation chapter four, just one face. You've got two-faced cherubim in Ezekiel 41, verses 18 through 19, and you got four-faced cherubim in Ezekiel chapter 10. Now, are there really, literally, different looking cherubim with differing amount of faces? Interpreters vary, I think it's symbolic myself, but it's also possible that these creatures just changed their appearance. They sometimes appear as fire, sometimes as men, sometimes in other forms, But even if they did literally change their appearance, the changes were deliberate, and I believe they symbolized something, and we'll look at that in a bit. Third, numerous passages connect these cherubim with God's throne. And this is one of the central important parts of this passage here. They're connected with God's throne and with carrying out the decrees of God's providence. In fact, these warrior angels are so tightly connected with God's providence, it's impossible to think of any providence where cherubim are not in some way involved. Let me give you just a tiny introduction to what they do. Psalm 78 verse 49 says that these warrior angels were involved in every one of the plagues that came upon Egypt. So that means, wow, these angels can do miracles. They can turn water into blood. They can control frog infestations and biting insects and disease and hail and locusts and supernatural darkness on Egypt and light in the Israelite homes. So that's a lot of providences that these angels are involved in. Revelation 7, 1 through 2 indicates that these angels can affect wind currents, at least to some degree they're involved with the wind. Other things that the book of Revelation attributes to angels are things like hail, fire, drought, and meteorites falling. I mean just imagine that. You know, you got this meteorite that's been going for hundreds of years in orbits around our sun, and God gives a providential directive to two angels, and these angels take it off course and make sure that it falls right onto a city. Okay, that's what happens later on in the book of Revelation. So angels were involved in meteorite falls to the ground. They're involved in good water or bad water coming up out of the ground, ships sinking, massive fish kills, diseases, miracles, earthquakes, sparing one crop and destroying another crop. wars, economic disasters, famine, and numerous other things. Those are things, as Calvin and others have pointed out, that are directly attributed to angels in the book of Revelation. Now, of course, they're also involved in blessings. I've got several passages in my notes here that speak of believers having guardian angels. I know a lot of people question that. You know, do we have guardian angels? Yes, we do. I've got a whole bunch of scriptures that indicate from the time that a child is born into the covenant that child is assigned an angel to guard him. Now I'm actually glad I can't see my guardian angels. because they're probably pretty scary. It was angels that gave strength to Christ's body in Matthew 4 verse 11. Hebrews 1.14 says, are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve those who will inherit salvation? And the implied answer is yeah, of course they are. They minister to us on a continual basis. Angels gave strength to Elijah when he was depressed and exhausted. They strengthened his body. In Daniel 6, verse 22, God sent an angel to keep hungry lions from eating Daniel. The story I told about the leopard and the young lady is no doubt orchestrated by her angel. The story I told about the assassin in Bangladesh was no doubt orchestrated by that evangelist guardian angel. So John Calvin believed that angels were involved in all of God's providences. Now the Puritans believed the same thing. So does John Frayn. And these head cherubim in Revelation chapter four are symbolically part of the throne. And the psalm we're going to be singing afterwards says God sits upon the cherubim. And there are other passages say God rides upon the cherubim. Those are all symbolic ways of saying that they are an integral part of God's kingdom rule and of his providence. That means we cannot ignore angels in our theology. The Puritans thought about angels all the time, and one of the best expositions of the Puritan theology on that is a chapter on angels in Joel Beeky's book, Puritan Theology. It's just amazing, the theology that they held. And this is where I fault a lot of modern Reformed people. They hardly ever think about angels, hardly ever think about them. We're gonna be spending a lot of time in this book thinking about angels, hopefully recapturing a more biblical worldview that sees them as being at work every day of our lives. There is nothing about God's throne or his providence where they are not involved. In fact, it was Joe Moorcraft who brought this to my attention first, but there are quite a number of other authors who say the same thing. But fourth, almost everyone nowadays agrees that these cherubim don't literally have eyes all over their body. They don't always have wheels by their sides. Those wheels symbolize the fact that they are part of God's throne room. In other words, they're constantly at God's beck and call. They don't always have four faces as in Ezekiel or one face like the ones in this chapter. Probably most of the time, they don't even look like a lion or an ox or an eagle. Those things are symbols. But here's the issue. We need to look to the Old Testament for the definition of those symbols. And so let's attempt to really quickly go through this passage phrase by phrase. Verse six says, and in the midst of the throne and around the throne were four living beings. and I have yet to see any artwork that adequately captures what's going on in this chapter or in Ezekiel. I've given you some of the pictures people have tried to draw of that, but I want you to just let your imagination run wild. I want you to just think about what commentators say is going on that's hard to put down onto paper, but I think you can maybe imagine it. Imagine you are standing before a throne with the Apostle John, and this throne is so huge, it goes up several stories tall. And there is fire, there's lightnings, there's thunderings, there's all kinds of noises that are coming out of this throne. And as you look closer, you notice that there are four creatures that almost seem to be fused to this throne. In fact, the throne is sitting on their backs. And so the back ends, it's just like the pedestals that you see, like the pedestal of the, of the big laver in the temple was on top of bulls. Just think of it like that. So the back end of these creatures is holding up the big throne and that represents the fact that they are part and parcel of the throne's rule, okay, the throne's dominion. But going out from that and pointing away from the throne is the front end of these creatures indicating that they go and they take God's providences to the four corners of the world and to the four directions of the wind, as the Old Testament words it. They carry out God's decrees. Now here's how Lenski words it in his commentary. God's providential rule and dominion radiates out from a center, he gives the Greek word, in an unbroken circle, and he gives the other Greek word, of agencies through these angelic-like beings. It reminds the reader immediately of Ezekiel's description where it says the creatures did not turn when they went, but each one went straight forward. So you've got You've got this throne going like this, you know, you can just imagine it on rollers but they're all moving forward and as soon as the Spirit wants them to go this direction, well then that one moves in that direction. So Ezekiel says, they went wherever the Spirit wanted to go and they did not turn when they went and the living creatures ran back and forth in appearance like a flash of lightning. Well that's running pretty fast, like a flash of lightning. And if we had time, we'd read all of Ezekiel 1, all of Ezekiel 10, because those two chapters describe in incredibly vivid detail the same throne room that Revelation 4 is describing and make it clear that when God in His sovereignty wills for something to happen in His providence, that chariot throne flashes instantly to that part of the world and the cherubim accomplish all God's will. They are God's rule and providence to the four corners of the world, to the four winds of heaven. Now verse 6 goes on to say that these creatures are full of eyes. That's a symbolic way of saying they see everything that happens in the world and they report to God. Lenski says, full of or studded with eyes before and behind symbolizes the ability to see in every direction, both backward to what the providence of God's rule on the throne once executed and forward to where and in what it demands are to be executed in the whole world. There are so many eyes because providence and its rule is multitudinous in detail. So there are angels everywhere These are just the head angel, angels everywhere that are God's eyes, so to speak. Now God obviously doesn't need any eyes. He's omniscient, He knows everything, but He has chosen to rule His kingdom through agency and make their work significant, just like He makes our work significant. He doesn't need us, He doesn't need them, but He uses them. And I'm just gonna give you one sample verse of how angels are symbolically God's eyes. In Matthew 18, 10, Jesus said about our covenant children, take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. So those angels are constantly flashing messages to the throne and responding to the throne's commands and engaging in providences on behalf of our covenant children. Now, when you read Matthew 18 and its description of the wandering sheep and how the angels are involved in the lives of these wandering sheep, suddenly that passage springs to new life. You are not alone in worrying about your kids and working with your kids when they wander from the faith. You have mighty warrior angels who can respond to your prayers for help from heaven. And I wanna read that whole passage in context. Matthew 18, 10 through 14. Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the 99 and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? And if he should find it, surely I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the 99 that did not go astray. Even so, it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. So do you lack faith in praying for wandering loved ones? Then read that passage in light of Revelation chapter 4. Those angels are symbolically connected to God's throne to teach us they're a part of God's providences. And so your angels, your children's angels, carry out God's providences and they can turn that person's life upside down. Later chapters like Revelation chapter 8 says that those angels are connected to your prayers somehow. They carry the prayers of the saints to the throne and then they're connected somehow to the answers to those prayers from the throne to the earth with thunderings and lightnings and earthquakes and providences. When we pray we've got access to the throne but there is a relationship between our prayers and the activities of those angels. And I know it's hard to imagine when we're having to spend so much time to dissect this little passage, but when you begin to look at all of the angel passages in the book of Revelation, wow, it gives a whole new worldview of what our work, how our work is involved with the invisible realm. We have access to the very command center of heaven where these cherubim serve God. So they're full of eyes, back and front, there's nothing that misses the observation of these cherubim. Now you might be engaged in something that you think is totally in secret. And I say, no, there's nothing in secret. And of what you are doing, you'd be ashamed to have that angel witness what you are doing. Don't do it, okay? Verse seven. The first living being was similar to a lion, the second living being was similar to a calf, the third living being had a face like a man, and the fourth living being was similar to a flying eagle. Now most commentators point out that these creatures represent the four realms of creation. Remember that we put that theory on the back burner? I think there is something to it, and they get this idea from an ancient Jewish saying, and I'm gonna read that ancient Jewish saying to you. It says, man is exalted among creatures, the eagle among birds, the ox among domestic animals, the lion among wild beasts, all of them have received dominion, yet they are stationed below the chariot of the Holy One." Well if that is true, then those four animals or those four images represent dominion and rule. But you don't get the full significance of that dominion and rule if you don't tie it in with something else from the Old Testament. Several commentators believe that it is significant that these exact four pictures of the four cherubim are the four pictures that were on the standards of the four armies of Israel. Roy Gingrich explains in his commentary. He says, the tabernacle in the wilderness was surrounded and guarded by the 12 tribes, three being on each of the four sides of the tabernacle. The leading tribes of the four groups were Judah on the east with the banner of a lion, Ephraim on the west with the banner of an ox, Reuben on the south with the banner of a man, and Dan on the north with the banner of an eagle. The four living creatures resemble the banners of these four leading tribes. So what is the significance of that? Well, it represents Israel's rule and dominion by four images of rule and dominion. Second, it placed on Israel's banners the four representations of the four leading cherubim that showed Israel they're not going to get anywhere fast if they do not have the help of the angelic armies. Third, just as the angels carry out the will of God's throne in heaven, the armies of Israel, who are also encamped around the throne, around the Ark of the Covenant, were expected to carry out God's will as well. So it's beautiful imagery. And since John is applying this to the New Covenant, it means that the church should join the angels of heaven in advancing God's kingdom to the ends of the earth and of calling all of creation to worship and adore God, which is really where this whole chapter is heading. The Jews of that day would have immediately recognized these four faces as the symbols for the banners of the four armies of Israel and the four banners of the armies of the cherubim. God is joining the forces of heaven and the forces of earth together in spiritual warfare in this book. So when we battle in prayer, we're not just engaging God, we're engaging the majestic angelic forces of whom those four cherubim are the chief. Verse eight goes on, and the four living beings, each of them having six wings apart, were full of eyes around and within. I've already commented on the eyes. It shows they know the past, the future, their own internal powers and agencies. They know all the external world around them that needs to be governed. But the wings signify the speed with which the cherubim of Ezekiel carry out God's will. And what is the goal of their ministry of God's providence? It is to give glory, worship, and honor to God. So verse eight continues, and they take no rest day or night saying, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, the Lord God Almighty, He who was and who is and who is coming. Now we've already seen that even though the In the symbolic vision, their mouths never stop saying these words. It's symbolic, not literal. As I mentioned, there's silence in heaven for a half an hour in chapter eight, another indication it's not literally nonstop, but it represents the fact that these creatures, just like all of creation, never stop glorifying God. Their whole life and work constantly glories in God's holiness and serves the purpose of God's holiness. Likewise, it serves the praise of the God who is the I Am, which we saw in a previous sermon, is the Hebrew I Am was represented in the Septuagint by this phrase, He who was and who is and who is coming. So it's another way of just saying He's the I Am. And if Moses coming face to face with the I am in Exodus falls down in worship. You can understand where people coming before the I am of heaven are going to fall down and worship. And because I'm going to pick up that theme of worship next week, which is really where the whole chapter is driving, I'm not going to say much on it further here except to say that worship and adoration really should be the result of everything we do. The four armies of Israel who bore the four images on their standards engaged in many aspects of dominion. But whether that dominion involved providing for their families, protecting their families, conquering new territory, engaging in leadership, whatever it was, it should have led them to worship. and to praise their God. There should not have been a moment of their lives where what they're saying, what they're doing is not ascribing holiness to God and saying, God is the self-sufficient, I am, and we are totally dependent upon Him. So if the angels of heaven never stop pointing in that direction, our lives should never stop pointing in the same direction. All of life owes worship to God. And then lastly, I would encourage you to be more Puritan in your thinking about angels and the supernatural. And in this regard, the Puritans were just following what the historic church had always believed. I think there is a certain kind of deism in some modern Christians where the only things they think about is what their eyes can physically see. But if the angels of heaven are at the center of God's throne, and if they're involved in all God's providences, which means your work, your play, your sleep, your recreation, then you cannot ignore the angels in your theology. So this tiny cameo forms the foundation for the spiritual warfare he's going to be getting into much later in this book. And we too must be involved in spiritual warfare. And it's my prayer that we would learn to be much more effectively engaged in it. Let's pray. Father we thank you for your word and we thank you for the privilege that we have of bearing the standards in the armies of earth to reflect the fact that we must be engaged with the armies of heaven. and taking planet Earth for King Jesus. I pray that you would help us to have our faith and our hope stirred up to realize that the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ is certain, is sure, and that there is far more to life than what we can see with our physical eyes. I pray that this, your people, would be encouraged to engage in spiritual warfare, and I pray it in Jesus' name, amen.