We first discussed the word ‘looked (G1492)’ in detail, and saw that Isaiah truly saw the Lord Christ, and mentioned where in the New Testament it was said that the heavens were opened. Second, we talked about the throne in heaven, explained why it is Jehovah who sits on the throne, and agreed that the twenty-four elders represent the church. Although the Bible does not explicitly say what these twenty-four elders are, it can be deduced based on the logic of biblical words. We have explained each step of the derivation and the relevant scriptures. Third, we discussed in detail what the four living creatures are. First, look at the places where the Bible mentions the four living creatures and the relevant scriptures, and understand why the four living creatures here are not cherubim and seraphim, and then explain why the Bible said that the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders here represent the church, just like two sides of a coin. Finally we talked about what these four living creatures did and saw the consistency of the Bible.
1. The word “looked” (G1492) and the opening of heaven
“After these things I looked (G1492), and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.””(Revelation 4:1)
Using the word “After” means beginning to talk about things in the future. The Bible says there are three things. “Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things.”(Revelation 1:19) So the first three chapters talk about two things. We see what happened in those seven churches and what happened in other churches at that time. As for other churches at that time, we cannot point out a one-to-one correspondence that a certain church is exactly the same as one of those seven churches. That is to say, what usually happens in this church is the mix of what happens in those seven churches. In other words, what happened in those seven churches is representative, and what happens in the general church is usually a mixture of these things. Isn’t this the situation of the church now? How could anyone say that the seven churches represent the seven stages of the church because of their geographical locations? The Bible really doesn’t say that! People have free will, and they can really interpret the Bible in any way. Just like Adam could choose to disobey God, no wonder Jesus said, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”(Matthew 7:13-14)
The word “looked” is using G1492 according to the Strong’s Concordance and it appears 690 times. Another original text version uses G3708. According to the Strong’s Concordance, this word appears 68 times. This is because the two have the same meaning, so John really saw (G1492) in the vision that the heaven was opened. This is different from Daniel, who saw it in a dream. This scripture makes it very clear, “In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel saw (H2370) a dream and visions in his mind as he lay on his bed; then he wrote the dream down and related the following summary of it. Daniel said, “I was looking (H2370) in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea.”(Daniel 7:1-2) The word “saw H2370” appears 31 times in the book of Daniel, but it only appears once in other scriptures, according to the Strong’s Concordance and the other version of the Bible in original texts, that is, “Now because we are in the service of the palace, and it is not fitting for us to see (H2370) the king’s dishonor, therefore we have sent and informed the king.”(Ezra 4:14) Obviously, they were not seeing it in real terms, but in an imaginary way, as if they were seeing it in a dream.
This is completely different from what Isaiah saw in this verse. Isaiah really saw the Lord, “In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw (H7200) the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.”(Isaiah 6:1) The word “saw” in the original text is H7200. This word appears 1314 times in the Bible and 83 times in the book of Isaiah. It means seeing with the real eyes. We can see this from another typical verse, “Who say, “Let Him make speed, let Him hasten His work, that we may see (H7200) it; And let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near And come to pass, that we may know it!””(Isaiah 5:19) Of course, there are many scriptures where this can be seen, we are just choosing one of them.
The Lord spoken of in Isaiah 6:1 is Jesus Christ, the pre-incarnate Christ. Why? The Holy Spirit is invisible, even Isaiah, and the Lord said to Moses, “…You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!”(Exodus 33:20) Isaiah lived well afterwards, so he could not have seen the Father God Jehovah. From the consistency of the Bible, God is a Trinity, so we can know that he saw Jesus Christ. So the New Testament says, “These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him (Jesus).”(John 12:41) How consistent the Old and New Testaments are on this point!
As for the opening of the heavens, Ezekiel saw it in a vision: “Now it came about in the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was by the river Chebar among the exiles, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.”(Ezekiel 1:1) In the Union Version of the New Testament, it is mentioned that heavens were opened several times. The first time was when Jesus said: “And He said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.””(John 1:51) It is also mentioned later, “But being full of the Holy Spirit, he (Stephen) gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.””(Acts 7:55-56) It is mentioned again, “…he (Peter) fell into a trance; and he saw the sky opened up, and an object like a great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground.”(Acts 10:10-11 ) Finally, Jesus Christ is mentioned in this verse, “And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.”(Revelation 19:11)
2. The throne in heaven
“Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne. And He who was sitting was like (G3664) a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads. Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God; and before the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal; and in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. The first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face like that of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.””(Revelation 4:2-8)
The first thing we notice is that the one sitting on the throne is Jehovah, because “And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, …” (Revelation 5:6) This Lamb obviously refers to the Lord Jesus Christ, so He is not the one sitting on the throne. Next we notice that the word “like” is used in the Bible, which does not mean that the God who sits on the throne is exactly the precious stones described. When Ezekiel describes the glorious image of Jehovah, he also uses the word “like” rather than the affirmative tone of “is”. This is what this scripture says, “Now above the expanse that was over their heads there was something resembling a throne, like lapis lazuli in appearance; and on that which resembled a throne, high up, was a figure with the appearance of a man. Then I noticed from the appearance of His loins and upward something like glowing metal that looked like fire all around within it, and from the appearance of His loins and downward I saw something like fire; and there was a radiance around Him. As the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. …”(Ezekiel 1:26-28) The rainbow is also used consistently to describe the surroundings of the throne.
The Bible does not clearly say who these twenty-four elders are, nor why they are twenty-four. Therefore, there are different opinions, but everyone unanimously agrees that the twenty-four elders represent the church, which should be quite significant. obviously. As for what the four living creatures represent, there are different opinions from human perspectives. In the next paragraph, we will explain what the Bible says.
As said earlier, the Bible does not clearly state who these twenty-four elders are. Just like the Trinity, the Bible never uses such a word. But the Trinity can be deduced from the logic based on the biblical words. For Jesus said, “…just as My Father has granted Me a kingdom, I grant you that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”(Luke 22:29-30) So it is quite clear that the apostles of the Lamb should be twelve of the twenty-four elders.
The apostles of the Lamb mentioned here obviously do not include the betrayer Judas, so who are these twelve? Except for Judas, who betrayed the Lord, the remaining eleven apostles were all chosen by Jesus Himself when He was alive. After His resurrection, He chose Paul in great light, so the twelfth apostle should be Paul, not Matthias, because Matthias was chosen by lot, as the scripture says, “And they drew lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.”(Acts 1:26) Clearly, the Lord did not choose Matthias Himself. Therefore, after the New Jerusalem comes down, it will be said, “And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.”(Revelation 21:14)
It will be more controversial as to what the remaining twelve elders represent. Let us look at this issue from the consistency of the Bible. When we see twelve, we think of the twelve tribes of Israel in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, Paul replaced the betrayer Judas. From the consistency of the Bible, one tribe must have been replaced in the Old Testament. If so, which tribe was replaced? How was it replaced? To answer these questions, we must find the answer from the scriptures in the book of Revelation.
At the time of the sixth seal, “And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: from the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand, from the tribe of Gad twelve thousand, from the tribe of Asher twelve thousand, from the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand, from the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand, from the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand, from the tribe of Levi twelve thousand, from the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand, from the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand, from the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand, from the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand were sealed.” (Revelation 7:4-8) No one from the tribe of Dan was sealed, so it was the tribe of Dan that was replaced.
From the scripture of Moses counting the people, it is clear that the tribe of Joseph was divided into two groups, “from twenty years old and upward, whoever is able to go out to war in Israel, you and Aaron shall number them by their armies. With you, moreover, there shall be a man of each tribe, each one head of his father’s household. …of the sons of Joseph: of Ephraim, Elishama the son of Ammihud; of Manasseh, Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur; …of Dan, Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai; …These are they who were called of the congregation, the leaders of their fathers’ tribes; they were the heads of divisions of Israel.”(Numbers 1:3-16) These are the twelve tribes excluding the tribe of Levi. When Moses numbered the people, the tribe of Dan was still included. By the time of the book of Revelation, the tribe of Levi was included, but the tribe of Dan was no longer included. As mentioned before, “…from the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand, …”(Revelation 7:8) should refer to “of the sons of Joseph: of Ephraim, …”(Numbers 1:10) We clearly see that the tribe of Dan is gone and replaced by the tribe of Manasseh. How consistent are the old and new ways of doing things in this regard! Because we only have one triune God. Therefore, we see from the consistency of the Bible that the remaining twelve elders represent the twelve tribes of Israel. This is consistent with what the New Testament says, “For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; …”(Romans 11:25-26)
3. What are the four living creatures?
We first look at where the Bible mentions the four living creatures, understand why the four living creatures here are not cherubim and seraphim, and then explain what the four living creatures here refer to. First, four living creatures are mentioned in the book of Ezekiel, “Now it came about in the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was by the river Chebar among the exiles, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. …Within it there were figures resembling four living beings. And this was their appearance: they had human form. Each of them had four faces and four wings.”(Ezekiel 1:1-6) He also said, “And each one had four faces. The first face was the face of a cherub, the second face was the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. Then the cherubim rose up. They are the living beings that I saw by the river Chebar.”(Ezekiel 10:14-15) So the four living creatures in Ezekiel are the same cherubim. The book of Revelation talks about four different living creatures with only one face, each with six wings, and they are obviously not cherubim.
Elsewhere in the Bible, six wings are mentioned when Isaiah saw the Lord sitting on a high throne. At that time, “Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.”(Isaiah 6:2) We only know that there was more than one seraphim, because there was “…one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs.”(Isaiah 6:6) It does not say four, nor does it say, “…four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind.”(Revelation 4:6) Obviously, the four living creatures here are not seraphim.
Some people say that the four living creatures are angels. Let’s look at this verse then, “And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God.”
(Revelation 7:11) If the four living creatures are angels, angels are mentioned twice in this sentence. There is really no need to write it like this! So what exactly are the four living creatures? We must look at it from other scriptures.
We notice that the four living creatures are basically mentioned together with the twenty-four elders (see Revelation 4:4-6, 9-10; 5:6, 8, 11, 14; 7:11; 14: 3; 19:4) The four living creatures are mentioned individually only twice, which is very reasonable, that is, “Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, “Come.””(Revelation 6:1) and “And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, …”(Revelation 6:6) Obviously there were only one of the four living creatures at these times takes action, and it has nothing to do with the twenty-four. Similarly, that elders are mentioned separately three times is very reasonably, namely in Revelation 5:5; 7:13; 11:16. The reason is the same, because only elders are involved in these activities. Those who are interested can read these scriptures .
Finally, if we look at another scripture, we will know why the four living creatures are often mentioned together with the elders, and we will also know what the four living creatures here refer to. “When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, (having G2192) each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”(Revelation 5:8) This verse uses the present participle G2192, which is found in the Strong’s Concordance and another version of the Bible in original languages, but is not translated in here. If there were only twenty-four elders holding the golden furnace, the pronoun G3739 (who, which, etc.) would be used. Typical examples related to the meaning of this word G3739 is as follows: “But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who (G3739) hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality.”(Revelation 2:14) and “Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which (G3739) he had determined from the magi.”(Matthew 2:16)
This word G3739 appears 1389 times in the New Testament and 72 times in the book of Revelation. If the ones holding the golden furnace are only the twenty-four elders, it doesn’t matter if it is used one more time, but the present participle is used here, having G2192 , so there are four living creatures and twenty-four elders holding harps and golden bowls at the same time, and “…incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”(Revelation 5:8) In other words, the incense is the prayer of the church. Therefore, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders usually appear together, because they all represent the church and are two sides of one coin.
4. What these four living creatures do
Regarding what these four living creatures do, the Bible says very clearly, “And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.””(Revelation 4:9-11)
The shouts of the four living creatures are different from the shouts of the angel seraphim. The scriptures make it very clear, “Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.””(Isaiah 6:2-3) It is obvious that they will not be attracted by the plan of salvation and thus thank God, the Bible clearly says, “For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham.”(Hebrews 2:16) Only the church thanks God for the plan of salvation. You see, how consistent the Bible is!
We can see that in the presence of a holy God, the four living creatures will naturally say day and night: “…Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, …”(Revelation 4:8) In fact, they can only speak the truth naturally. Because every member of the church is to be conformed to the image of Jesus (see Romans 8:29), so God’s church cannot lie and sin, for “No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”(1 John 3:9) Once again we see how consistent the Bible is！
(Verses refer to those in NASB95 unless otherwise specified.)
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