The Four Living Creatures

4:6b-8 And, between the throne and the elders, in a circle round the throne, were four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind. The first living creature was like a lion; the second living creature was like an ox; the third living creature had what appeared to be a man's face; the fourth living creature was like an eagle in flight. The four living creatures had each of them six wings; and around and within they were full of eyes. Night and day they never rested from saying:

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord, the Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come.

Here we come to another of the symbolic problems of the Revelation. The four living creatures appear frequently in the heavenly scene: so let us begin by collecting what the Revelation itself says about them. They are always found near the throne and the Lamb ( Revelation 4:6 ; Revelation 5:6 ; Revelation 14:4 ). They have six wings and they are full of eyes ( Revelation 4:6 ; Revelation 4:8 ). They are constantly engaged in praising and in worshipping God ( Revelation 4:8 ; Revelation 5:9 ; Revelation 5:14 ; Revelation 7:11 ; Revelation 19:4 ). They have certain functions to perform. They invite the dreadful manifestations of the wrath of God to appear upon the scene ( Revelation 6:1 ; Revelation 6:7 ). One of them hands over the vials of the wrath of God ( Revelation 15:7 ).

Although there are definite differences, there can be little doubt that we find the ancestors of these living creatures in the visions of Ezekiel. In Ezekiel's vision the four living creatures each have four faces--the faces of a man, a lion, an ox and an eagle; and they uphold the firmament ( Ezekiel 1:6 ; Ezekiel 1:10 ; Ezekiel 1:22 ; Ezekiel 1:26 ); the felloes of the wheels are full of eyes ( Ezekiel 1:18 ). In Ezekiel we have all the details of the picture in the Revelation, although the details are differently allocated and arranged. In spite of the differences the family resemblance is clear.

In Ezekiel the four living creatures are definitely identified with the cherubim. (It is to be noted that -im is the Hebrew plural ending; cherubim is simply cherubs and seraphim is simply seraphs.) The identification is made in Ezekiel 10:20 ; Ezekiel 10:22 . The cherubim were part of the decoration of Solomon's Temple, in the place of prayer and on the walls ( 1 Kings 6:23-30 ; 2 Chronicles 3:7 ). They were represented on the hanging veil which shut off the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place ( Exodus 26:31 ). There were two cherubim on the lid of the ark, called the mercy-seat; and they were so placed that they faced each other and their wings swept over to form a kind of canopy over the mercy-seat ( Exodus 25:18-21 ). One of the commonest pictures of God is sitting between the cherubim, and it is thus that he is often addressed in prayer ( 2 Kings 19:15 ; Psalms 80:1 ; Psalms 99:1 ; Isaiah 37:16 ). God is represented as flying on the cherubim and on the wings of the wind ( Psalms 18:10 ). It is the cherubim who guard the way to the Garden when Adam and Eve have been banished from it ( Genesis 3:24 ). In the later books written between the Testaments, such as Enoch, the cherubim are the guardians of the throne of God (Enoch 71:7).

From all this one thing emerges clearly--the cherubim are angelic beings who are close to God and the guardians of his throne.