6 "Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were FOUR living creatures full of eyes in front and in back.
7 The first living creature was like a LION, the second living creature like a CALF, the third living creature had a face like a MAN, and the fourth living creature was like a flying EAGLE."
"1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and SIGNIFIED IT by His angel to His servant John,"
"SIGNIFIED" means "SYMBOLS,".....unless you really believe that Jesus is literally a young lamb with seven horns and seven eyes. How ridiculous! Of course He doesn't really look like that. The symbols do, however, tell us a lot about Jesus. When you know what the simbols mean you can consistently decode the whole Book, and I'm not just referring to the book of Revelation.
1) Horn speaks of authority.
2) Seven horns means "full authority."
3) Eyes typify discernment.
4) Seven eyes means "full discernment."
Jesus has FULL authority, FULL discernment and is FULL of the Holy Spirit.
"Hey...wait a minute: What does all this have to do with why we have four gospels?" you ask. My question is, "Why are there only four gospels? Why do we need four? Why not one.....or more? After all, there were more than four apostles, right? Oh yeah, and one more thing: How does the above scripture from Revelation fit in with the subject at hand?
I'm glad you asked.
Paul told the Christians of Corinth in II Corinthians 3:18, "...we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."
The four creatures mentioned here are also found in other places in scripture. I'm sure you've run across them and wondered what they meant. They are mentioned in the exact same order in all those other passages as they are in Revelation. It is always LION, CALF or ox, the face of a MAN and a FLYING EAGLE.
John saw these creatures in the "midst of the throne." THEY ARE THE FOUR FACES OF JESUS, hence the four pictures on the veil of the tabernacle. Each picture represents one of the four gospels.
The first living creature was "like a "LION," representing the Gospel of Matthew. The lion is the king of the beasts, a typology of Jesus as The King of Kings; King of the Jews. The Lion also depicts "boldness."
The LION represents Matthew because Jesus is portrayed most often here in His role as "King of the Jews," though his Kingliness appears throughout all four gospels.
Chapter one begins with Jesus' genealogy this one begins with Abraham. Ever wonder why it starts with him instead of with Adam as in the gospel of Luke? Because it's important to establish the lineage of a KING; to trace his pedigree and prove His legitimate claim to the throne.
This is the very first verse of Matthew 1: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham." Notice anything strange? He calls Jesus the Son of "David, the Son of Abraham." Isn't that backwards? Abraham lived long before David. Shouldn't their names be listed the other way around? Actually, no. You see, David was the Royal line to which Jesus laid claim. He was a king of Israel. Abraham was not.
Not only does Jesus have a legitimate right to the throne, He has a double claim! Both Mary AND Joseph can trace their lineage back to King David, even though his earthly father did not contribute to his DNA. Joseph descended from Solomon; Mary from David's son, Nathan.
This gospel was written TO the Jewish people specifically. That's why you see the phrase "Kingdom of heaven" everywhere. For one thing, the Jewish people don't like to say "God" or "Yahweh," for fear of blaspheming His Name. Instead they say "Kingdom of Heaven," or refer to Him as "haShem: the Name." Matthew wrote his gospel this way out of respect for their reverence of the Name of God.
Secondly, they were waiting for the literal, physical Kingdom to be established with a conquering King ruling from Jerusalem. If they had recognized and accepted Jesus as their Messiah back then, that would have happened. But because they rejected Him, that Kingdom will now have to wait until after the seven years of tribulation just prior to the second coming of Christ.
That's a rather simplistic explanation because there's a bit more to it than that. But, since there is too much to cover here, please follow the link below for more on this topic:
In other gospels, a similar passage would not hesitate to use God's name because Christians are not afraid to say God, Yahweh, or Jesus. We are not under any religious bondage or slavish fear about His Name. We are Sons, not servants. Because we are sons, we also get to call God, "Daddy!"
The gospel we preach today is not the one Jesus preached. He went about proclaiming, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." That's because He would have set up His millenial kingdom and ruled the whole world from Jerusalem, seated on the throne of a His father, David, if the Jews had recognized and accepted their Messiah. But they didn’t. (Refer to the link above for more information.)
This passage of scripture is so often misunderstood and misapplied to the Church. However, those who think it does must be consistent and say that only half of those who are honest-to-goodness, born again believers are going up in the rapture. The other half will be left behind. That is not only cruel and doesn't make ANY sense at all, IT ISN'T TRUE.
(For more in depth information on this topic follow this link: http://emmausrevelations.blogspot.com/2014/11/part-3-of-16-rightly-dividing-word-of.html
(The Raptrue: We will suddenly disappear in the blink of an eye.)
The truth is, Church, that EVERYONE WHO IS BORN AGAIN, regardless of their level of faithfulness, IS IN THE GOING-UP GROUP whether they believe in the rapture or not. They just may be a "bit" surprised. The only qualification is that you be alive and remain. (See 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17)
The next living creature was "like a calf or ox". This represents the Gospel of Mark.
A calf is an untiring servant; a laboring worker. You don't see a genealogy written here because one doesn't inquire about the pedigree of a servant.
A calf is an untiring servant; a laboring worker. You don't see a genealogy written here because one doesn't inquire about the pedigree of a servant.
Mark opens with the word "Immediately," a word that is used repeatedly throughout this gospel. Why? Because a servant does his master's bidding "immediately." Jesus Himself said He did not come to "be served" but "to serve," a rather difficult concept for us to grasp.
In the book of Revelation John saw Jesus with a "golden girdle." This is the garb of a servant. In Biblical times, servants wore flowing robes which had to be tied up with what they called "a girdle" around their waist so they didn't get in the way while they worked. John saw Jesus in heaven with a golden girdle around His "breast," not His waist because breast speaks of love; His love for us!
Martha, who was worried about serving Jesus was in essence, "pouring out of an empty vessel." The essence of true ministry is pouring out of ourselves what Jesus has first poured in. Then, and only then, can it flow out effortlessly.
Attempting to serve without first being filled caused Martha to be angry and bitter, blaming both Jesus and Mary in one shot. She was more worried about the "many things" instead of "the ONE thing;" humbling herself to let Jesus to serve her.
Attempting to serve without first being filled caused Martha to be angry and bitter, blaming both Jesus and Mary in one shot. She was more worried about the "many things" instead of "the ONE thing;" humbling herself to let Jesus to serve her.
Because Mary allowed herself to be served, who was it that appeared at the foot of the cross, ready to minister to Jesus when He was most greatly in need? It was Mary. Martha was nowhere to be found.
The next living creature was like a MAN. This is the Gospel of Luke where we see Jesus as the Son of Man. Man speaks of intelligence; of human sympathy and emotion.
Why portray him as a man? Because we can get so caught up in the deity, Lordship and majesty of Jesus that we completely forget He is also 100% man. He has feelings and emotions just like us. He's been through the same things. He doesn't merely understand what we go through; HE FEELS WHAT WE FEEL and is full of compassion for us. There is an honest to goodness, real, live, beating human heart in heaven today, a perfect Man, seated at the right hand of our Father, interceding for us. That's the kind of Great High Priest we have!
The genealogy listed in Luke goes all the way back to Adam because it's important to show that Jesus sprang from the human race. He didn't just take on human form like "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." NOPE! He physically descended from Adam and, thus, is FULLY QUALIFIED to be our "Goel;" our "Kinsman Redeemer."
A " Goel" must be a close relative, very wealthy and be both able to buy back the inheritance that was forfeited and restore it to the one who lost it freely, without charge. Without a doubt: JESUS IS QUALIFIED!
The last living creature is like a FLYING EAGLE. There is genealogy is listed in this gospel either. Jesus is portrayed most often throughout the gospel of John as the "Son of God" Who came directly from heaven. God has "no beginning and no end, hence NO GENEALOGY.
When you think of an eagle what comes to mind? Sharp vision, flying far above in the heavens. Our Eagle can see far and wide. Eagle is descriptive of discernment and prophetic insight.
John begins by saying, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God........and the Word became flesh and dwelled among us..."
Jesus was born of a human, yes, but also came straight from God. He has a dual nature being both God and Man. Like His Father, He is eternal. Like the eagle who soars effortlessly in the heavens, Jesus is from heaven. His divinity is seen about most often in this gospel.
It is in John's gospel where you see Him saying amazing things like, "Before Abraham was, I AM."
"I AM the Good Shepherd;"
"I AM the resurrection."
"I AM the life."
When Walking on the stormy sea toward His disciples who were foundering in the boat He cried out to them, "Don't be afraid; I AM." The word, "He" in your Bible is not in the original text. It was added by translators. THAT'S MY GOD! Even the wind and the waves obey Him!
In the garden, big, strong, strapping soldiers came along with Judas to arrest Jesus. He stepped forward and said to them, " I AM."' THEY ALL FELL TO THE GROUND BEFORE HIM! He stood there, patiently waiting for them to recover, pick themselves back up from the ground, dust themselves off so that He could allow them to arrest Him. I'm sure He patiently held out His hands to be shackled. Divinity through and through! Again, the word, "He," is not in the original text.
These four accounts give us the most complete picture of Jesus:
Our King: Matthew
Our suffering Servant: Mark
The Son of man: Luke
The Son of God: John
He IS the Lion, He IS the Calf {ox}, He IS the Man, He IS the Flying Eagle!
The more we study Jesus in all His fullness in the gospels THE MORE WE BECOME LIKE HIM. You and I become leaders wherever we go. We become bold as a lion and as strong and as healthy as an ox, regardless of our chronological age. In order to serve tirelessly, you need to be in good health. Though it is not impossible, it is hard to serve if you are flat on your back all the time.
We will also have the human feelings, intelligence and sympathies of the Perfect Man and the discernment, prophetic insight and keen vision of the flying eagle.
No comments:
Post a Comment