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Revelation 4:7-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.
One of the amazing things about the Book of Revelation is its use of both the Old Testament and Jewish history outside of the Old Testament. One example is found in John’s description here of the “four living creatures.” At first glance, this passage refers back to the Book of Ezekiel, where the Prophet describes his vision of “cherubim” (a type of angelic creature-Ezekiel 1:5-10; 10:14-15, 20-22).
Yet, this goes deeper still.
According to God’s decree, the twelve tribes of Israel were to camp in groups of three.
Numbers 2:2 (ERV)-The Israelites should make their camps around the Meeting Tent. Each division will have its own special flag, and everyone will camp near their group’s flag.
There were to be three tribes in each group, with a particular tribe facing towards the Tabernacle (which was in the center of the camping arrangement). The tribal insignia or flag of this prominent tribe was to face towards the Tabernacle. (The capitalized tribe in each of the following lists was the one which was in the middle of the three tribes in its’ group, and its’ flag faced towards the Tabernacle).
To The North: Issachar, JUDAH, Zebulon
To The West: Asher, DAN, Naphtali
To The South: Manasseh, EPHRAIM, Benjamin
To The East: Gad, REUBEN, Simeon
Each of the twelve tribes had their own special insignia which they had created based upon Jacob’s blessings upon their fathers before his death (Genesis 49). Notice the insignia of the tribes of Judah, Dan, Ephraim, and Reuben:
“EACH of the tribes of ancient Israel appears to have had a distinctive emblem….Each tribe of Israel had a primary emblem (a banner) and one or more secondary emblems to remind them of their unique patriarchal blessing received from Father Jacob (Israel). Jacob called his sons together a short time before he died, and gave to each a blessing….JUDAH IS REPRESENTED BY THE LION, REUBEN BY THE MAN, EPHRAIM BY THE OX, AND DAN BY THE EAGLE. Relatively few emblems of other tribes are used in national heraldry, because they were usually identified by the emblem of the brigade to which they belonged…Two visions, one seen by Ezekiel and the other by John the revelator, each mention the four brigade emblems, adding credibility to them. Ezekiel 1:5–10 records four living creatures, each having the faces of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle. John, in revelations 4:7, also records four beasts, like a lion, a calf, a man, and an eagle.” (Vaughn E. Hansen, PhD, Israel’s Lost Ten Tribes: Migrations To Britain And The United States, 961-1022 (Kindle Edition, emphasis added, M.T.); Springville, Utah; CFI)
So…the four living creatures John saw….and which Ezekiel identified as cherubim (or angels)….were actually a description….of God’s people!
Wow!
But, this goes even deeper still.
You will recall that before Joseph died, he told the Jewish people to not leave his body in Egypt, but to take it back to his father’s land.
Genesis 50:25-Then Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.”
With that in mind, consider this:
“Joseph’s wish, that his bones should rest in the Holy Land, was fulfilled when the Israelites went forth from Egypt, and no less a personage than Moses applied himself to its execution. Such was Joseph’s reward for the devotion he had displayed in the interment of his father’s body, for he had done all things needful himself, leaving naught to others. Therefore so great a man as Moses busied himself with the realization of Joseph’s wish. For three days and three nights preceding the exodus Moses hunted up and down through the land of Egypt for Joseph’s coffin, because he knew that Israel could not leave Egypt without heeding the oath given to Joseph. But his trouble was in vain; the coffin was nowhere to be found. Serah, the daughter of Asher, met Moses, tired and exhausted, and in answer to her question about the cause of his weariness, he told her of his fruitless search. Serah took him to the Nile river, and told him that the leaden coffin made for Joseph by the Egyptians had been sunk there after having been scaled up on all sides. The Egyptians had done this at the instigation and with the help of the magicians, who, knowing that Israel could not leave the country without the coffin, had used their arts to put it in a place whence it could not be removed. Moses now took Joseph’s cup, and he cut four flat pieces from it, and engraved a lion on one of them, an eagle on the second, a bull on the third, and a human figure on the fourth. He threw the first, with the lion, into the river, saying at the same time, “Joseph, Joseph, the hour for the redemption of Israel hath arrived, the Shekinah lingers here only for thy sake, the clouds of glory await thy coming. If thou wilt show thyself, well and good; if not, then we are clear from our oath.” But the coffin did not appear. Then Moses threw the second plate into the water, that with the figure of the eagle, repeating the same words, but again the coffin did not rise from the bed of the Nile, and there it remained, too, when he threw in the third plate bearing the figure of the bull, and called upon Joseph a third time to come forth. But the fourth plate with the human figure and the fourth invocation to Joseph brought the coffin to the surface of the water. Moses seized it, and in joy he bore it off. While Israel had been busy gathering gold and silver from the Egyptians, Moses had been thinking of nothing but Joseph’s coffin, and his happiness was great that he had been permitted to fulfil the wish of Joseph.” (Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews, 6680-6697 (Kindle Edition): Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication Society Of America; emphasis added, MT)
Finally, when we look at the camping arrangement of the tribes, we find something amazing indeed.
“If we assemble what we can infer from the Torah account, we can imagine what the camp of Israel looked like from above: the Tabernacle and the Levites in the center, surrounded by the four faces of the tribal standards, and each of the four camps of Judah, Ephraim, Reuben, and Dan, stretching out in the four cardinal directions. We can also tally the approximate size of each tribe to determine the relative length of each camp as they stretched out in each of the four cardinal directions. The startling results are on the next page….It would appear that when the Israelites encamped, they formed a giant cross! This is a graphic macrocode, indeed! And this is from the Torah, not the New Testament! The New Testament is, indeed, in the Old Testament concealed; the Old Testament is in the New Testament revealed.” (Chuck Missler, Hidden Treasures In The Biblical Text, 925-947 (Kindle Edition); Coeur d’Alene, ID 83816-0347 www.khouse.org; Koinonia House)
Now, what lessons can we gain from these things?
First, the depths of the Bible’s concepts far surpasses what mere mortal mind could conceive. The sheer magnitude of meaning, nuance, prophetic insight, along with its elegant beauty of imagery, all speak to the fact that this great Book is indeed the Word of God.
Second, this brief (okay, I attempted to be as brief as possible) study reminds us again that if we want to better understand the Word of God, then that will demand that we be willing to carefully study both the Old Testament and also books and histories outside of the Bible. These concepts (drawn from a lion, a man, an ox, and an eagle) would have been familiar to the Jewish people who read the Book of Revelation. This is because they had studied the Old Testament and know these histories.
Third, there is some kind of connection between humans and angels. This is made evident later in Revelation where we are told that the “four living creatures” are dead Christians (Revelation 5:8-10). Think about that: the four living creatures…identified by Ezekiel as angels…are dead Christians.
Yeah, I’m still trying to wrap my head around that one.
Fourth, everything in the Bible points us to Jesus!
Let’s keep studying God’s Word and growing together!
Father, thank You for Your Word. Help us to keep growing in our understanding as we learn. Encourage us to be faithful unto death and forgive us when we stray. We praise You! In Jesus Name, Amen.