Four living creatures
Understanding the book of Revelation with Afolabi Dollars (6)
Over the years, I’ve come to discover that the best way to decode and understand the book of Revelation is to interpret it systematically, otherwise we’d been thrown into a state of confusion because they are too many apocalyptic CODES to demystify.
Therefore, I’ve decided to use today’s article to focus on ONLY the 4 living creatures and their representations so that we don’t mumble things up and confuse my readers.
In my last article, I told us that the 4 living creatures also collectively represent the different EXPRESSIONS of CHRIST incorporated in the eternal agenda for MANkind and history. We are going to be looking at the individual representation of these creatures in the frequency of the different EXPRESSIONS of Christ.
Firstly, let me establish for those who may not know, that these 4 living creatures don’t LITERALLY exist in heaven, they are METAPHORICAL/ALLEGORICAL figures used to explain/communicate some spiritual realities through an angelic VISION to the seer about the final unfolding of the eternal agenda for MANkind and history.
We need to understand that the 4 living creatures are not literal, the 24 elders are not literal, there are no literal 24 thrones around THE THRONE, there is ONLY ONE THRONE in heaven and no other throne beside HIM! The 7 fiery torches are not literal, even John already told us what they mean; they’re the 7 spirits of God! The sea of glass before the throne is also not literal.
Many of these things are just symbolic Representations which I’d be explaining to us later on this series so that we don’t deviate from our focus in this particular article.
Have you ever asked yourself why these 4 creatures are called “LIVING” creatures, like were they supposed to be DEAD creatures in heaven? Some other translation used “the 4 LIVING BEINGS”; let the reader decode!
For those of us who have the gift of visions and Interpretations, we’d notice/observe that the IMAGERIES or pictures we see in our visions are things or figures we’re already FAMILIAR with in our natural world, what we may not know would be the REPRESENTATIONS of those pictures/imageries, of how they link, relate or apply to events, situations or realities of/in our natural world; this is why we always INQUIRE to know!
For instance, Ezekiel was FAMILIAR with the pictures of “dry bones”, “valley”, and he knows what “the 4 winds” is, and he knows what “an exceeding great army” looks like in the natural world, but when these imageries/pictures was shown to him in his VISION, he still said “only thou knowest” because when it comes to visions, you don’t speculate or guess, so he still needed to get the REPRESENTATIONS of these pictures in order to understand and interpret the vision in application to the event or situation of his generation! This is the dynamics for all visions and John’s own at Patmos is not left out!
LIKE a LION
According to Revelation 4:7, we see that the first of the 4 living creatures was like a LION. The Lion is a symbol of royalty and kingship, so this creature is a figurative expression symbolising the kingship of Christ as the conquering ruler of all the kings of the earth. So it represents Christ as the king of kings, seated at the RIGHT HAND of the father, and before whom all crowns must be thrown down(Rev.19:6, 16).
LIKE a CALF
The second creature was like a calf. The calf is like the lamb and it’s a symbol of sacrifice. So thís creature is a figurative expression symbolising the eternal priesthood of Christ, who alone became the eternal sacrifice for our sin.
In the frequency of the anthropopartic connectivity of empathy, CHRIST became our high priest in this new covenant of grace, who is touched with the feelings of our infirmities.
He, in the pattern/order of Melchizedek remains the king priest who has also made us kings and priests. (Heb.9:19-20, 8:1-2, 7:15-17, Rev.1:5-6).
LIKE a MAN
The third creature was like a man. MAN is God’s diMENsion, strategy, plan, channel, method, technology, etc for His kingdom extension, will and government upon the earth. So this creature is a figurative expression symbolising the humanity of Christ, as the only MAN who could set in motion the original intent and eternal decree of God’s kingdom agenda; He became the LAST ADAM in order to put an end to the corrupt nature/technology of MANkind, and also became the SECOND MAN in order to birth a new nature/technology of MANkind upon the EARTH!
Jesus Christ became Son of Man, and please we need to understand that the “son of man” is not a name or special title for Christ, it was also used for prophets like Ezekiel in the old testament before Jesus came, it’s actually a general term for humanity, in pidgin, it’s called “man pikin”, so we all are son of man/sons of men!
The WORD became MAN, being born of a woMAN, He became one of us, dwelt among us, and He precedes us as the FIRSTBORN from the dead, yet remains close to us, seeking to sup and abide with us (1Cor.15:45,47, Rev. 3:10, Galatians 4:4-5, John 1:1,14).
LIKE an EAGLE
The fourth creature was like an eagle. The eagle flies to the highest altitude of mountains in order to RENEW its strength, it sheds off its claws, feathers, etc and wait till New ones grow, here, the eagle sheds the old to take up the new! This creature is a figurative expression symbolising the divinity and immortality of Christ.
Christ stepped from ETERNITY into time, he was crucified and buried, but He rose ANEW and having risen from the dead, He ascended on high, lives forever and exalted far above all things (1Timothy 6:16).
Now, all these 4 expression of Christ, from the LION phase to the eagle phase are transferable expressions to THE CHURCH by virtue of the truth that we are partakers of His divine nature.
What I’m trying to say in encapsulation is, CHRIST by the extension of His Dominion incorporates THE SAINTS into these figurative expressions; our being made kings and priests reflects the expressions of THE LION and THE CALF phase, our humanity reflects THE MAN phase, and as we engage an ACTIVE WAITING in the process of touching IMMORTALITY, it reflects THE EAGLE phase where we are transited from humanity phase to divinity phase!
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Twitter: @afolabidollars1Website: www.afolabidollars.com
