The Lion, Eagle, Ox and Man, part 2

Previously I wrote about the Living Creatures, found in Ezekiel’s vision and in John’s Revelation. I spoke about the Lion, and today I will write about the Eagle, Ox and Man.

The flying Eagle represents the Spirit of Wisdom (Eph 1:17). When an eagle flies, he sours on high where he can take in the whole picture of what is happening. The Eagle sees God’s purposes and how they can be accomplished on the earth. Before time began, God destined that wisdom should come to us (1 Cor 2:7). One with the Spirit of Wisdom will understand, and help implement, God’s purposes.

 God’s plans are eternal, and therefore He gives insight about the times and the season, as He did with the sons of Issachar (1 Chron 12:32). Because of their understanding, they knew what the people of God should do. This aspect of the Spirit of Wisdom helps men to implement the appropriate words and actions. This believer will glimpse what has gone before, what should take place in the present, and for what purpose the works are being done. Those who are interested in this present life, who love the world and what they have to gain by it, will not be given the Spirit of Wisdom.  Just as earthly wisdom begins with the fear of God, so the Spirit of Wisdom comes to the same. Those who love the world are not in love with God, neither do they honor and fear Him (1 Jn 1:15-17).

The Ox represents the enabler of the works of God, the reason we become human sacrifices (Rom 12:1). He is the Spirit of Prophecy. Jesus told His disciples that He could “do nothing by himself; He can do only what He sees the Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does” (Jn 5:19). Seeing God’s works is important. The only way we can do them on this earth is to “see” them in heaven. We can know what His “good, pleasing and perfect will” is by laying our lives down as a living sacrifice (Rom 1:1-2), just as an ox was laid down as a sacrifice in the Old Testament Temple.

Though most Christians believe prophecy is the ability to foretell the future, that is not its entire ministry. Foretelling the future occurs not because of a special anointing, but because God’s plans and the works He appoints to men are on a continuum that is from the beginning of time, to its end. The ability to see the future is connected to that which the Lord has on His heart to share, and not on “seeing” into events that have not yet taken place. Simply put, prophecy is hearing and seeing from God. This enables men to do the works of God, which is a pleasing sacrifice to Him.

John the Baptist said that Jesus would be One who “testifies to what he has seen and heard,” (Jn 3:32). The Testimony of Jesus, therefore, is the Spirit of Prophecy (Rev 19:10). One who hears the Lord speaking within, and does those works He sees from on high will be given the Spirit of Prophecy so that he can grow in his sensitivity to what God is showing and speaking of concerning the works of the Kingdom. The Spirit of Prophecy equips one to become perfect in obedience, as Jesus was when He walked the earth. Any man who does not lay his life down as a living sacrifice eventually will not want to

say and do what he hears and sees, and therefore will not receive the Spirit of Prophecy. However, the wise will see that it is the Testimony of Jesus by which they overcome their enemy, satan (Rev 12:11).

The fourth creature has the face of a man, and represents the Spirit of Truth. Man is called to be the “amen” to God’s words through his obedience. Satan challenged God’s words to Adam and Eve in the garden, bringing doubt and eventual separation from God (Gen 3:1). God has purposed that the final “amen”, or agreement to His words would come from Man himself, therefore defeating satan.

Jesus told His disciples that the Spirit of Truth would “come to teach you all things and (He) will remind you of everything I have said to you,” (Jn 14:26). Love of the truth keeps God’s people from falling away, or becoming deluded (2 Thess 2:10-12). The Word of God, written on our hearts, is an ever-present sword which divides truth from error. Therefore we see His promise of discernment to those who fear Him. “They will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not,” (Mal 3:18).

The Spirit of Truth ministers to Man by laying the foundation of the Word in order that Wisdom, Revelation, and the Prophetic Works of God can be built upon it. When he speaks of what is “yet to come,” (Jn 16:13) the Spirit of Truth equips men to pray, speak and act in order to bring those things to pass. This is an example of how the Spirit of Prophecy builds on the foundation of Truth. The Spirit of Truth also divides the intentions of the heart and the words and actions of men between good and bad, and truth and error so that one will use the Spirit of Wisdom to build on the foundation of truth. And he uses the Word of God written on our hearts to bring Revelation to us. In all these ways God’s ministry through the Spirit of Truth equips us to be like Jesus, the Word of God in the flesh. Without loving truth, we would lack the foundation upon which true ministry is built.

Let us seek God for all His gifts so that we may be complete, equipped for the works He predestined for us to do from the foundations of time (Eph 2:10).