REVELATION 4-6
SEGMENT III
page 4 OF 5

When the fifteen specifications of John and Ezekiel are consolidated (as Rule Three dictates), the following conclusions are possible:

1.      Four living creatures represent four manifestations of an omnipresent Holy Spirit (four clones of the same thing); that is, one Holy Spirit can be four places (everywhere) at the same time. The four living creatures are standing at the four points of the throne: north, south, east, and west.

2.      The four living creatures are covered with eyes. The Holy Spirit has omniscience – a power that belongs only to deity. The Holy Spirit sees everything – forward and backward – the past, present and future – all at the same time. Jesus also said the Holy Spirit could speak on His own, but He does not. (John 16:13)

3.      The four living creatures have the same four faces. Each face describes certain capabilities of the Holy Spirit. For example, the Holy Spirit has intelligent understanding (the face of a man – Ecclesiastes 8:1). The Holy Spirit has incredible strength (the face of an ox – Numbers 23:22). The Holy Spirit is powerful (the prowess of a lion – Numbers 23:24). The Holy Spirit ca travel to its destination at the speed of light and swoop down on its prey whenever it may be (the face of an eagle – Deuteronomy 28:49). The Holy Spirit can move at the speed of lightening and is represented by the presence of six wings.

The Holy Spirit never ceases from extolling the majesty generosity, goodness and grace of God. This is His work. He constantly brings glory to the Father and to Jesus by exalting them and hiding Himself. (John 16:14) This feature, in itself, says so much about the humility and meekness of the Godhead.

The Bible teaches that the Godhead is made up of three separate and distinct Gods: The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These three Gods make up the Trinity. They are one in purpose, plan and action.

These three are equals in every way and they are coeternal. They serve the universe in distinct roles that an infinite Godhead can be understood by a finite creation. The God we call “Father” serves as the Head of Government for the Universe. The God we call “Jesus” serves as Creative Agent of the Godhead. The God we call the “Holy Spirit” is omnipresent throughout the universe enabling communion between God and His children at all times. Paul says the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. He wrote, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” (Romans 8:26) Jesus said the Holy Spirit is a distinct entity because He hears what is said and He could speak on His own if He wanted to! “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.” (John 16:13,14) Jesus also said sinning against the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven, “And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age, or the age to come.” (Matthew 12:31,32) This verse settles the question for me. The Holy Spirit is God. We can submit or reject the Holy Spirit because he is an entity separate and distinct from Jesus. These and many other verses in the Bible bring me to the conclusion that the Four living creatures represent the Holy Spirit. A lot more is waiting to be discovered about the four living creatures. When we examine the four horseman of Revelation 6, you will be surprised to learn what the Holy Spirit can do!

Who Is Worthy to Receive the Book?

The first order of business at the great convocation described in Revelation 4 and 5 was to find someone worthy to receive the Book of Life and break the seven seals. John wrote, “Then I saw in the hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?’ But no one in Heaven or on Earth or under the Earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the [24] elders said to me, ‘Do not wept! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.’” (Revelation 5:1-5, insertion mine) John does not tell us at first what he understood about this book; however, it was obvious that John understood certain things about it because he wept and wept when no one was found worthy to resolve the sin problem.

A normal person does not weep over something he does not understand. John wept because he felt deep grief and frustration. I can faintly imagine the setting of this meeting. Innumerable hosts of angels were called from distant galaxies to this great convocation. The Ancient of Days arrived and took His seat. An announcer called for nominees who could resolve the sin problem and exonerate God’s government of all charges of tyranny. Silence followed. No one in Heaven or Earth or even “under the Earth” was found worthy. (If a nominee happened to be dead and deemed worthy for this job, God would have instantly resurrected that person. In fact, several “resurrectees” were at the meeting. Moses and Jesus had been resurrected from the dead as well as some of the twenty-four elders. Matthew 27:52,53)

The silence broke John’s heart. John’s emotion might be compared to that of a wife sitting in a courtroom waiting for a credible witness to come forward and exonerate her innocent husband of false charges that carry a death sentence. It is interesting to notice that the Father offered the Book of Life to everyone in the universe before Jesus was considered. God is fair beyond a doubt. When Jesus humbly offered Himself, all Heaven broke out in joyful praise and thanksgiving! “Worthy is the Lamb,” they cried!

Consider the suspense as Jesus stepped forward: “Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the Earth. He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne.” (Revelation 5:6,7) This was a thrilling and awesome event. No awards ceremony on Earth has ever come close to matching the splendor of this occasion. “And they sang a new song: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the Earth.’” (Revelation 5:9,10) This song resolves a mystery. At first, no one was found worthy to take the book sealed with seven seals. What were the qualifications that no one could meet? Look, again at the song for it has the answer, “with your blood you purchased men for God.”

I am sure the angels have closely studied the record of Jesus’ life on Earth. When this convocation came to order in 1798 and nominations were solicited for someone to take the book, Jesus was found worthy because He is the person who (a) created man, (b) volunteered to die for man, (c) was born into sin and did not sin, and (d) lived a life of perfect compliance to the will of the Father. However, the greatest qualification that silenced all other nominations was His victory over Lucifer. No one else has ever been born under the obligation of law and been completely victorious over rebellion! After Jesus was found worthy to take the book, Jesus was given the seven attributes that belonged to the Father. This highest exaltation of Jesus demonstrated in the jubilant song that followed: “In a loud voice they sang: ‘Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive (1) power and (2) wealth and (3) wisdom and (4) strength and (5) honor and (6) glory and (7) praise!’” (Revelation 5:12) Compare Daniel’s view of this scene: “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence.  He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will never pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:13,14)

Critical Point!

Daniel 7 and Revelation 5 are synchronized. They are inseparably aligned because, in both cases, Jesus is given something that He did not have before. Jesus was given sovereign power (total control) in Daniel 7 and in Revelation 5. The transfer of sovereign authority firmly aligns Daniel 7 and Revelation 5, because sovereign power is granted only once. If Jesus had sovereign power prior to this occasion, no more power could be granted to Him at this time. Daniel 7:14 indicates that Jesus received sovereign power and dominion that will never end, and Revelation 5:12 indicates Jesus was found worthy to receive power to break the seven seals.

At this huge convocation, the Father publicly gave Jesus total control over Heaven and Earth to accomplish two tasks: the consummation of salvation for mankind, and the exoneration of the Godhead from all charges of wrongdoing. Who else could so this but Jesus? After the angelic host and the 24 elders declared Jesus worthy to receive the Book of Life, the Father relinquished sovereign control to His worthySon. In the presence of billions of angels, the scepter of power was transferred. This glorious heavenly scene, unseen by people on Earth, occurred in 1798. We know this because the timing of this convocation is linked to the downfall of the apostate Christian Church in Rome in Daniel 7.

Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony

Now that we are acquainted with lots of pieces in the puzzle, its time to use the four keys mentioned earlier to solve the question of timing. Please give these four keys careful consideration.

1.      Jesus was given sovereign power in 1798. In this study so far, we established the fact that Daniel 7:9 had to take place in 1798. We know that the Ancient of Days called Heaven’s inhabitants to an assembly, and after taking His seat, ended the 1,260 years of papal persecution by pronouncing a restraining order in favor of the saints. Napoleon’s forces wounded the authority of the Church of Rome, the pope was taken prisoner, and he was placed in exile. The wounding of the papacy on Earth aligns with His coronation of Jesus in Heaven. Jesus received Earth as His inheritance (Daniel 7:13,14; Hebrews 1:2) in 1798 and 46 years later, in 1844, Jesus began cleansing Heaven’s temple. The Bible says, “…The court was seated and the books were opened.” (Daniel 7:10)

2.      The third seal was broken in 1844. The Bible teaches that man is not judged when he dies, nor does he go to Heaven or Hell at the time of death. Rather, when a person dies, it is as though that person is asleep. (See Chapter 13 in Jesus: The Alpha and the Omega.) With the exception of a few cases like Enoch, Moses, Elijah, and the 24 elders, the saints are not in Heaven. Neither is there anyone burning in Hell. In death, the soul is in the same condition as it was prior to birth – it does not exist. When a person reaches the age of accountability, a record of his or her choices and actions is made as they occur. When that person dies, the record is sealed. This record is then used in the judgment of the dead. Jesus began to review and pass judgment on each dead person in 1844. (Ecclesiastes 12:14; Acts 17:31; 2 Corinthians 5:10) The dead continue, “sleeping” until they are either resurrected at the Second Coming (the righteous) or at the end of the thousand years (the wicked). Even though we have not examined the third seal, we will find that the judgment of the dead begins with the breaking of the third seal in 1844. Thus the following points also link together:

1.      The exaltation of Jesus in Daniel 7 is linked to 1798.

2.      The judgment of the dead is linked to the 2,300 years mentioned in Daniel 8:14.

3.      The 2,300 years are also linked to the third seal (Revelation 6:5,6).

4.      The fourth seal marks the beginning of the Great Tribulation and judgment of the living!

This is a lot of linking, but the matrix in Daniel clearly aligns these pieces of the puzzle. See the chart below:

The Alignment of Daniel 7, Daniel 8, Daniel 9, Revelation 5 and the First Three Seals

3.      The High Priest was found worthy on the Day of Atonement.

The doctrine of parallel temples contributes to the matrix in the Chart above. In Leviticus 16, the High Priest had to be found worthy before he could cleanse the earthy temple on the Day of Atonement. To gain God’s approval, the High Priest had to present himself before God within the Most Holy Place with the blood of a young bull. The bull came from the High Priest’s herd. In other words, the High Priest had to provide his own blood for the sacrifice. The parallel here is obvious, Jesus provided His own blood for the redemption of sinners, and after a careful examination, He was found worthy before the Father, the 24 elders, and the angelic host to receive the Book of Life.

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