Who Are The Four Living Creatures In Revelation?
Q: I have a question, who are the four living creatures at the Throne of God and what is up with the eyes all over and the faces? What is that?” – Debra Villarreal
A: In the book of Revelation there are four strange creatures surrounding the throne of God. The sudden appearance of these creatures is actually not so sudden. As we study the Bible it is important that we be more familiar with the Old Testament than the New Testament. I say that because it is in through the OT that we understand the NT. Let’s start by looking at the description of these creatures in Revelation.
- “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 a face as a man, and the fourth beast 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
Strangely enough these creatures actually appear all over the OT and they are always associated with the throne of God. Both Ezekiel and Isaiah ran into these creatures in their lifetime.
- “As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle. Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.” – Ezekiel 1:10-11
- “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.” – Isaiah 6:1-3
Between Isaiah, Ezekiel, and John we get a pretty good description of these creatures. Isaiah refers to them as the Seraphim, Ezekiel refers to them as the living creatures and the Cherubim, and John refers to them as beasts. Some scholars believe that Cherubim and Seraphim are used interchangeably to refer to the same beings. When we understand what these creatures are, several major parts of scripture seem to fall into place. These four Cherubim are always see surrounding the throne of God.
- “So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” – Genesis 3:24
Why would God send His “special forces” team to guard the “way of the tree of life” from Adam and Eve? These cherubim seem to be some special rank of angel that is constantly in the presence of God. Regular angels could have kept Adam and Eve away from the tree of life. We often forget that there was something else in that garden that held the rank of cherub. Ezekiel 28:14 tells us that Lucifer is also a cherub, which makes things a little more interesting. It’s just my opinion, but the cherubim in the garden are protecting the tree from Lucifer. Not only that, it’s the first look we get at God’s throne setup. We get life through Jesus Christ who is the “way, the truth, and the life”. This isn’t a completely solid example so let’s look at something else.
- “And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.” – Exodus 25:20
Again we see in the instruction of the Ark of The Covenant that the cherubim are surrounding the mercy seat. The mercy seat is where God would come down in the Tabernacle and meet with the High Priest. Before we wrap this up, let’s look at one more very obscure example.
- “And on the east side toward the rising of the sun shall they of the standard of the camp of Judah pitch throughout their armies: and Nahshon the son of Amminadab shall be captain of the children of Judah.” – Numbers 2:3
- “On the south side shall be the standard of the camp of Reuben according to their armies: and the captain of the children of Reuben shall be Elizur the son of Shedeur.” – Numbers 2:10
- “Then the tabernacle of the congregation shall set forward with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camp: as they encamp, so shall they set forward, every man in his place by their standards.” – Numbers 2:17
- “On the west side shall be the standard of the camp of Ephraim according to their armies: and the captain of the sons of Ephraim shall be Elishama the son of Ammihud.” – Numbers 2:18
- “The standard of the camp of Dan shall be on the north side by their armies: and the captain of the children of Dan shall be Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai.” – Numbers 2:25
The above verses are the camping instructions for the children of Israel. On the surface it’s a very boring read, but when we take a closer look, we see that it is actually a picture and a prophecy all in one. The tribes were split up and put under the leadership of one tribe on each side of the Tabernacle. The head tribe on each side were to fly their standards (flags) that represented their tribe. This is the layout simplified:
- Judah – East
- Reuben – South
- Tabernacle – Center
- Ephraim – West
- Dan – North
These tribe could camp as far as the Tabernacle was wide, but no farther. After they reached maximum width, they could spread out length wise. What exactly does this have to do with the cherubim? The picture to the left is an example of what the camp would have looked like. Notice that the animals that represent each of the tribes are the same four faces that we see associated with the cherubim. Also notice that these cherubim surround the Tabernacle. Inside the Tabernacle is the Ark of The Covenant that contains the mercy seat. The mercy seat is where God dwelled. One final thing to notice is that the camp forms the shape of a cross with God right in the center of it. I actually go deeper into this set up in my new book As The Days of Noah Were: The Sons of God and The Coming Apocalypse.
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What exactly were the Hebrews dealing with in the time of David? First we have Goliath and now two “lion like men” in the Moabite army. Interestingly, the verse goes on to point out that Benaiah slew an actual lion. The photo to the left was borrowed from the Steve Quayle website, and it depicts what Benaiah may have been fighting.










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