Change in Heaven part 2

Yesterday I wrote about a change in heaven brought about by the sacrifice of Jesus, our Savior; God wanting to have a personal relationship with His people.  Today I will write about another change, which concerns the positioning of the living creatures. This builds upon the believer being able to hear and be guided by God through His Holy Spirit.

In Ezekiel’s vision, the creatures were below the sea of glass and the throne. The sea of glass was like a ceiling above them, towards which they reached their wings. In John’s vision the creatures are positioned “in the center, around the throne” which rests upon the sea of glass. Their proximity to the throne shows God’s desire to talk to believers. The four creatures symbolize ministry to God’s servants.  Not only can they hear what the Lord is saying, but we can too, because Jesus provided a place for us in the heavenlies.  “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus . . .”(Eph 2:6). In John’s vision we no longer see a ceiling, but are near the throne and can hear the Lord directly.  As a side note, this angers satan, who was cast out of God’s presence. He no longer has access to the throne of God and so he will go after those who hear God (Rev 12:17).

Another difference between Ezekiel’s vision and John’s vision is that Ezekiel saw each living creature as having four faces; man, ox, lion and eagle. Each of the four creatures had the same four faces. These represent facets of God’s ministry to Man, for the four living creatures came with God to Ezekiel during a time of ministry. In John’s vision each of the living creatures had their own face; that of the man, ox, lion or an eagle. They were “differentiated”. Some would say each creature specialized.  This represents the fact that, before Christ, God’s words to men were “packaged” to contain that all that He had to say to men.  After Jesus rose from the dead He gave men gifts individually to accomplish God’s ministry. In reading God’s words in the Old Testament, we see Truth, Wisdom, Revelation, and Prophecy intermingled. Now they are individual gifts that are given to those that follow Christ, for the purpose of ministering to the body of Christ.

God is showing us the four living creatures so that we would see those spirits which are aspects of God’s ministry to us from heaven, and which are intended to reside on God’s ministers on earth. Facets illustrate aspects of the nature of someone or something. We are seeing parts of God’s nature in the four living creatures; parts that He wants to share with His believers. His Spirit is weakened when men’s ministries do not rely on what is imparted by God because men’s hearts do not contain His full counsel. God brings His full counsel through those who are seated with Christ in His Throne, listening so that they can impart in ministry to others (Rev 3:21).

Because the creatures are now before the throne, they receive from the Lord, and give to men. So we see that when the creatures speak, the elder’s reaction is to lay their lives down and worship God, submitting themselves to their Creator. There is a relationship between the creatures and the elders, not seen in Ezekiel’s vision. When these spirits minister to men, they are taking from heaven and giving to men, each creature according to the facet, or part of God that he represents.

I will write soon about the 4 faces on each living creature. Have a good day, and God bless.