Isaiah 6, Ezekiel 1, and Revelations 4 all speak of four living beings surrounding the throne of God. All three Books state these living beings, or beasts, or Serephim have multiple wings. Two Books relate the four have the faces of a lion, ox, man, and eagle, and two Books tell of many eyes connected with the four. What are these beings hovering around the Throne of God as seen by Isaiah, Ezekiel and John?
"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. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had the face of a man, and the fourth 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." (Revelation 4:6-8)
These four beings represent the four major life forms on earth- wild animals, domestic animals, humans and fowl. The many eyes on these beings could mean that they are watchers or controllers of these life forms. And why would we need watchers over earth's life forms? Think what would happen if nobody was controlling the actions of us humans, with all our knowledge of atomic energy, germ warfare, lethal gas, etc., this world would have been destroyed years ago.
If the tameness was removed from our domestic animals, think what would happen if every dog, cat, household pet or farm animal lost its tameness and became wild. If the birds were not controlled, this world would resemble the destruction created in Alfred Hitchcock's movie "The Birds".
The wild beasts may not be only lions and tigers, etc., but also disease bearing germs, espically the AIDS virus which reportedly came from a monkey. Think what would happen if the control was removed from the birthrate of insects and germs. We would be buried under them in a matter of weeks (read the commentary "Times Running Out" 7/20/03, a study on the exponential curve).
You may ask: who's watching over reptiles and marine life? We read in Habakkuk 1:14 "and maketh man as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?" And now you ask, why is there no ruler? Dr. N.W. Hutchings came up with a reason in his book "Revelation for Today"
"If sin, evil, and poison were not associated with snakes, we might think them to be the most beautiful of all Gods creatures. Satan was in the Garden of Eden when he evidently appeared to Eve in this form. Satan may have been a watcher over this part of creation, even the lizard like dinosaurs. When Satan fell, maybe the dinosaurs fell and the rest of the creeping and serpentine forms of life were left without a watcher. Scripture and verse? No, but it is interesting anyway.
The Greek word for the beasts of Revelation 4 is "zoon". We take the "n" off, and we have "zoo", a collection of beasts and animals. The fact that the four beasts are full of eyes, continually turning, never resting or sleeping, tells me that they are watching over the creation. "
The Bible states that someday during the Tribulation, men will rise against men, and animals will rise against men, stinging insects will increase, and new kinds of dreadful diseases will appear. This could very easily happen if God removed the four living beings from their jobs, during His coming Day of Wrath.
By George Konig
Christian Internet Forum
www.georgekonig.org
Sept. 28, 2003
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