Chapter 4

We are starting chapter four which most people think is for Tribulational things and people living after the Church Age. Definitely not! It is all for us and there is a reason for every line in the book of Revelation. In the outline of the book of Revelation chapters four and five present the eight things in heaven: the beginning of prophetical historical trends.

The outline of the book of Revelation

The book of Revelation has nine major chapters or thoughts. They do not coincide with the chapters in the English Bible.

1. Jesus Christ is the key to history and prophecy — chapter 1.

2. The historical trends, or the Church on earth — chapters 2 and 3.

3. The Church in heaven, or when prophecy begins — chapters 4-5.

4. The Tribulation — chapters 6-18.

a. The panorama of the Tribulation — chapter 6.

b. Evangelism in the Tribulation — chapter 7.

c. The trumpet judgements of the Tribulation — chapters 8-10.

d. The two witnesses and the seventh trumpet — chapter 11.

e. The fall of Satan or Armageddon motivation — chapter 12.

f. The two dictators — chapter 13.

g. The principle of grace before judgment — chapter 14.

h. The vial judgements — chapters 15-16.

i. The rise and fall of ecumenical religion — chapters 17-18.

5. The second advent of Jesus Christ — chapter 19.

6. The Millennium and the last judgment — chapter 20.

7. The eternal state — chapter 21:1-8.

8. The eternal Jerusalem — chapters 21:9-22:5.

9. The termination of the canon of scripture — chapter 22:6-21.

We are about to launch into a study of eight things in heaven in chapters four and five. For example, we will see the Trinity in heaven, 4:2,3; we will see the 24 elders who are not elders at all, 4:4; we will see two signs of judgment, 4:5; we will see the Church at rest — 4:6. In chapter 5 we have in the KJV the four “beasts.” Not at all, they are the second highest angelic creatures in the college of heralds. We will see them in all of their glory as the fifth thing in heaven, 4:6-11; we will see in the Doomsday Book with its seven seals which are the historical trends of the Tribulation, 5:1-4; we will see the Judge of the earth or, better, the perpetuation of Jesus Christ controlling history, 5:5-7; will study finally a new hymn, the hymn of the divine plan, 5:8-14.

Before we begin the eight things in heaven we have one introductory verse which is chapter four, verse one, the Rapture or the open door of heaven. The chapter begins with a prepositional phrase, meta plus the accusative neuter plural from the demonstrative pronoun o(utoj, correctly translated “After these things.” The immediate demonstrative pronoun is for something which is relatively near in thought or next in the sequence of events. After the Rapture we have eight things in heaven. “These things.” The demonstrative pronoun refers to the time in which we live because o(utoj in contrast to e)keinoj is a near demonstrative. E)keinoj is a distant demonstrative and not used. “After these things,” after the Church Age and historical trends based on the believer’s volition.

Next we have a verb, the aorist active indicative of the verb o(raw, used for visions, used for prophetical utterances. We are now getting into eschatology and we find the apostle John looking beyond the Church Age. What occurs is after the Church Age terminates on earth. The constative aorist contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. The active voice: the apostle John produces the action of the verb as the human writer of the book of Revelation. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of this vision dealing with the Church in heaven and what transpires, at least in part, at that time.

Next we have the intensive use of the conjunction kai, translated “in fact.” So we will translate this way: “After these things [the Church Age and historical trends] I looked.” John begins an investigation of prophetical history. History after the Rapture is all prophetical and all historical trends are based on prophecy. That is one sentence. There is another which begins with the intensive pronoun kai, and we begin, then, with the words “in fact.” Next comes the demonstrative particle i)dou from the aorist middle imperative of o(raw. “Behold” is old English and anachronistic. We have already translated this, “Now hear this.” So,“In fact now hear this,” and that is the second sentence.

The third sentence begins with the nominative singular subject qura, for “door.” The perfect passive participle of a)noigw follows, “a door has been opened.”

Translation so far: “After these things [the Church Age and the historical trends] I looked. In fact, now hear this [a transitional sentence to remind us that we are going from the historical trends of the Church Age to the prophetical trends of the rest of human history]. A door has been opened.”

The perfect tense of a)noigw is an intensive perfect, it emphasises the finished product or the existing results of the action. This is an emphatic method in the Greek of presenting the fact that the Rapture has now taken place. John does not cover the Rapture, the covering of the Rapture is left to others like the apostle Paul. The door is opened and the Church is now in a resurrection body in heaven. The passive voice: the door receives the action of the verb. This is a way of saying that the Rapture which terminates the Church Age has already occurred when John begins this series of visions dealing with the rest of human history. The subject changes to world history from the standpoint of its future. The participle is circumstantial for the Rapture of the Church.

The second sentence, “Now hear this,” is a command, a mandate to all believers of the Church Age. We are the ones who must understand these things. The third sentence begins, “A door has been opened,” and then the prepositional phrase e)n plus the locative of o)uranoj, “in heaven.” The door in heaven has been opened to permit the royal family of God to be transferred from planet earth to heaven, thus ending the Church Age. Hence, this is an introductory verse to the eight things that we will see first of all in heaven. Before we go to the earth to see the rest of human history we have to have some concept of the structure of heaven, the angelic hierarchy, the fact that there is very definite organisation and authority in heaven, and under this organisation and authority there is not only great happiness, great appreciation of who and what God is, but phenomenal and fantastic worship.

There are two concepts of returning from the dead. The first is called resuscitation, there is a lot of it in the Bible. Resuscitation refers to people who have died and are brought back to life in their body of corruption, in their physical body, and therefore at some future time they will die again. There are many illustrations in the Old Testament. Elijah, for example, brought a young boy back to life, and then Elisha did the same thing. Lazarus was brought back to life by our Lord and then subsequently died. He just simply was resuscitated. The same thing is true of the apostle Paul who went to the third heaven and then was brought back to life. Resuscitation is not resurrection and this distinction must be learned because at this moment there is only one resurrection body in the universe and that body belongs to our Lord Jesus Christ. In resurrection the person dies or doesn’t die but he is given a body of incorruption, a body that does not wear out. Resurrection is the beginning of eternity whereas resuscitation is just simply coming back in time, finishing out one’s life and then subsequently dying.

Resurrection is one of the basic doctrines which all believers need to understand. It is an elementary doctrine according to Hebrews chapter six, verses one and two: “Therefore having graduated from the doctrines [the elementary doctrines of Christ] let us advance ourselves toward maturity, not laying again the foundation.” And then the writer mentions six of the things that are in the foundation. A change of mind about dead works is the first thing. You have to change your mind about human good otherwise you will be distracted and never advance to maturity. The first thing that you have to do is to repent, which means to change your mind. The only production that counts is life inside the divine dynasphere and there is service which results from it which is legitimate. The second is faith toward God and that is the faith-rest drill in its three stages. The third basic doctrine is the doctrine of baptisms [plural] of which there are seven, four which are dry and three which are wet. “ … and the laying on of hands,” another system of identification, and we only have one case where it is used and that is in the ordination ceremony where you lay your hand and that makes a person recognised as a pastor. It came from the Old Testament and it was necessary. It is really not necessary today, we just do it without any authorisation. By this sign people usually recognise someone as being a minister. It did have great significance before the canon of scripture was completed and it had greater significance in the Old Testament where the priest put his hand on the head of the lamb and put his hand on your head, and that transferred your sins that you confessed to the lamb. That was the rebound technique as practised in Israel to teach the principle. Then the next one is the “resurrection from the source of deaths,” resurrection from the dead, and that is a basic doctrine; “and of eternal judgment.”

Resurrection is a part of the gospel. It is so stated in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, “Now I make known to you brethren, the gospel [the good news] which I preached to you, which also you received, and in which also you stand; by which you are saved, you hold fast to the word of God which I preached to you, unless you have believed in vain.” In other words, we are talking about the gospel, “For I have delivered to you as of the first the importance of what I have also received, how that Christ died for our sins.” That is good news. When you are presenting the gospel you must always emphasise the good news or you are not preaching the gospel. Christ died for our sins, that is the good news. The fact that we are sinners and the wages of sin is death is the hopeless situation. But the fact that Jesus Christ was judged for our sins is good news, and the emphasis in witnessing, the emphasis in evangelism is the fact that on the cross Christ was judged for our sins. We were not judged for those sins, we were judged for Adam’s sin. When we were born Adam’s sin was imputed to us, “and that he was buried,” the fact that Jesus Christ died physically is also important. It isn’t important for salvation, the saving work of Christ was when our sins were imputed to Him on the cross and He started screaming, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” God the Father was judging those sins while He was alive on the cross, and it was only when He said, Tetelestai which is the perfect tense of telew. It is translated “It is finished” but it should be translated, “It has been finished in the past with the result that it stands finished forever.” Salvation was finished while Christ was alive otherwise He couldn’t have said it. Now, since His work was finished He could die physically and He dismissed His spirit. Christ died twice on the cross. The saving part was His spiritual death, bearing our sins, and while He was still alive He said “It is finished.” You can’t add anything to salvation. Then he dismissed His spirit and He died physically; “and that he was buried.” And why is that important? It has to do with the doctrine of resurrection. When Christ was in the grave for three days His body was in a state of corruption. Then He was given a resurrection body of incorruption. Our Lord in His resurrection body walked out of the grave before it was opened. The grave was opened in the morning to let the people in, not to let the Lord out. Furthermore, resurrection is important because it emphasises the difference between a theophany and a Christophany. A theophany is an appearance of our Lord prior to the incarnation; a Christophany is a technical term for the appearances of Christ in His resurrection body, of which there are nineteen.

The resurrection of Christ is also a part of the strategic victory of the angelic conflict, and this is stated in 1 Corinthians 15:20-25. “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who are asleep.” There is only one person who has a resurrection body right now, our Lord Jesus Christ, “For since by man came death [Adam is the source of spiritual death, when he sinned he didn’t die physically immediately, he died spiritually], by man came also the resurrection from the dead [the second Adam]. For as in Adam all die, so also Christ shall be all made alive. But each one [notice the corrected translation] in his own battalion: Christ the firstfruits; after that those who are Christ’s at his coming.” The word battalion, or tacij, is a battalion review. There are two battalions, the first is made up of four companies. Alpha company, our Lord Jesus Christ, has already passed in review. Next comes Bravo company, the Church Age believers, this is the open door of Revelation four, time unknown. But once the Church passes in review then we begin chapter four and following of Revelation. Then next is Charlie company made up of Old Testament believers and Tribulational martyrs. Finally we have Delta company made up of Tribulational believers who go into the Millennium and the Millennial saints. That occurs at the end of the Millennium.

It is important to note briefly that the Rapture as such is not taught in the book of Revelation, it is simply mentioned in the “open door” only. It was the apostle Paul who emphasised this in Philippians 3:20-21; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18; 1 John 3:1,2; 1 Peter 1:3; Ephesians 5:26,27. In our passage in Revelation the Rapture has already occurred, the termination of the Church Age.

The door is opened and that is where we are right now in the book of Revelation. “After these things [the Church Age and historical trends] I looked [John begins his investigation of prophetical history].” In fact, now hear this: a door has been opened in heaven [to permit the Rapture of the Church and John’s introduction to his prophetical discourse on the rest of human history].”

Because the Church Age is the dispensation of historical trends without prophecy there is no unfulfilled prophecy between Pentecost and the Rapture. Therefore the Rapture has been and continues to be imminent. And since the Church Age is the dispensation of no prophecy then the next prophecy has been imminent since Paul so mentioned it as such in his epistles. The fact that people say that this is the Rapture generation is not only speculation but it is emotion overcoming rationale, or it may just be ignorance of history because there have been other times in history which even looked more like the Rapture than it does now.

We start out now with the connective use of the conjunction kai, “and.” With this we have a subject composed of four words. It includes two definite articles, the nominative feminine singular, h( (two of them). There is one before the nominative singular adjective prwth and the other one before the noun fwnh which is the word generally for voice. Translated, “and the first voice” or “and the first sound.” It isn’t a voice, it is a sound. Then we have the accusative feminine singular from the relative pronoun o(j, “the first sound which,” followed by the reference to our Lord Jesus Christ who was previously described in Revelation 1:10 in terms of the sound of a trumpet. You can translate it “voice” because it is our Lord’s voice, but it is also a sound of a trumpet; “and the first voice or sound which I heard.” The aorist active indicative of a)kouw, which means to hear. The constative aorist refers to a momentary action and contemplates that action in its entirety. The active voice: John, the human author, produces the action of the verb by making the transition from the historical trends of Revelation chapters one through three to the subject of eschatological history in the rest of the book of Revelation. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of the continuation of world history, with one change: all historical trends in the future are determined by prophecy rather than by the individual volition of the believer. Only in the dispensation of the royal family of God does the individual volition become an historical trend. Your attitude toward doctrine determines the historical trends in this dispensation.

Because of ellipsis we insert the imperfect active indicative of e)imi, John’s growing excitement at what he is seeing in heaven. The door is open and he sees. With this we have a comparative particle o(j which denotes a corresponding analogy. O(j has many uses. As we advance in the book we are going to see o(j used in entirely different ways. Here it is translated “like,” “a door has been opened in heaven and the first voice which I heard was like.” We now note the trumpet. Again we have ellipsis, again the growing excitement, so we would translate, “like the sound of a trumpet.”

The word for trumpet in the Greek is salpiggoj, “the sound of a trumpet.” So it sounds like this: “and the first voice which I heard was like the sound of a trumpet.” It is used here and in Revelation 1:10 preceding a verbal mandate of our Lord Jesus Christ and it indicates the fact that while in heaven there is a wonderful interlude of great blessing, on the earth there is a tremendous amount of confusion. Therefore there is a mandate given. Often the word “trumpet” is used for the analogy to indicate we are getting a command from our Lord.

The trumpet was an instrument which could be heard above the noise of battle. Hence John is involved in the battle of human history and receives at this time a battlefield command, as it were, by the trumpet. Our Lord’s voice is the voice of authority just as the sound of the trumpet is the voice of authority to those in battle at the time of writing.

We begin now with the present active participle of the verb lalew, which means when used of children to babble, when used of adults it means to speak with those with whom you are intimate; hence to speak, to express yourself. We will translate it “speaking.” It has been translated in other categories of Greek to gossip; here it simply means to speak. The pictorial present has the force of presenting to the mind a picture of events in the process of occurrence. The active voice: our Lord Jesus Christ produces the action of the verb and the participle is circumstantial. With this we have a prepositional phrase meta plus the genitive of the first person personal pronoun e)gw, “with me.”

“And the first voice which I heard was like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me.” We add because of ellipsis the verb “and.” We have a right to do this because a circumstantial participle can be translated like a finite verb and preceded by the conjunction “and.” Next comes the present active participle of the verb legw, which means to speak, we will translate it “saying.” The historical present is used when a past event is used with the vividness of a present occurrence. In this case we are anticipating some prophecy and a historical present is John’s sense of humour. The active voice: our Lord Jesus Christ produces he action of the verb, He communicates the truth plus a mandate to the apostle. The participle, again, is circumstantial, “speaking with me and saying.”

Then we have a command, a mandate which takes John to heaven in a vision. He is still alive, he goes to heaven to see eight things which we will be noting hereafter. The aorist active imperative of the verb a)nabainw, correctly translated “come up,” plus the adverb of place, w(de, which here is referring to heaven. The constative aorist contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. It can also be a dramatic aorist as a way of emphasis, a device for emphasis. The active voice: Jesus Christ produces the action by giving John a command: “Come up to heaven.” There are eight things that John is going to report to all generations hereafter. These eight things will prepare the way to understand the rest of human history, the rest of the book of Revelation. The imperative mood is the imperative of command, a mandate to the human writer of the book of Revelation.

Then comes the second verb, the future active indicative of the Greek verb deiknumi, which means to point out, to permit to see, to make known or to reveal to someone or to explain, “and I will point out [explain, permit you to see].” The gnomic future tense is for a statement of fact or performance anticipated in conjunction with John learning the facts about the rest of human history. The active voice: Jesus Christ produces the action of the verb as the teacher, the writer of the textbook of the rest of human history. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of the fact that Jesus Christ as God knows the beginning and the end, and the end from the beginning, and therefore His omniscience comes into play as the one who actually puts into the computer of divine decrees all of history before man was created. Remember that omniscience is the second category of God’s knowledge and it has two facts: omniscience knew every thought, every motive, ever decision, every action of every person who ever lived and how it relates to the thoughts, actions motives, decisions of every other person. He also knows the alternatives, the things that could have happened and did not happen. The printout, of course, is foreknowledge. Foreknowledge cannot occur without the function of omniscience. The printout is given in the form of prophecy. Foreknowledge or the printout for all dispensations up to the Church Age, all historical trends, are based on prophecy. The only exception: after the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of our Lord, in the Church Age there is no prophecy, therefore all historical trends are based upon the volition of the individual believer with regard to the divine dynasphere versus the cosmic system. Then there is the Rapture and immediately we are going back now to see eight things in heaven and then we will begin to see the Tribulation. The Tribulation will have historical trends which we will see prophetically since the Tribulation has not occurred yet and they will be based on prophecy given in the Doomsday Book with its seven seals of chapter six.

Then we have the dative singular indirect object from su, “I will explain to you [point out to you].” In other words, now we are going to see the rest of human history. This is a dative of indirect object, it indicates the one in whose interest the act of revelation is performed, first to the apostle John and then, of course, to us. This is not only a deposition of future events but it is a text book of world history given to the royal family of God. While the Tribulational saints and Millennial believers will learn something from it in the future the rest of the book of Revelation is for the royal family of God. It is not only our Lord’s deposition as to our future in history, as well as eternity, but at the same time the textbook of world history. So if John is to be the human author he must first master the eschatological events under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit and this must be done using his own vocabulary and literary style, his own personality. He will then put down these events in sequence. And they have survived for the last two thousand years of the Church Age and will for how much longer the Church Age exists, and then they will be fulfilled beginning with the Rapture of the Church. You will note again that there is no prophetical history until the Church is in heaven. Hence what will follow is the history of the world after the Church receives a permanent change of station, after the royal family of God is moved permanently to heaven. The transfer of the Bride of Christ, the royal family, to heaven precedes all prophetical events of the book of Revelation. While the Church or royal family remains on the earth there is no prophecy to be fulfilled, merely historical trends based upon your attitude toward logistical grace. That means that the divine dynasphere with its eight gates.

Then we begin with the accusative neuter plural from the relative pronoun o(j, which refers to historical trends. We translate it “what things,” the trends of history in the future after the Church Age, and these trends of history are based on eschatology [prophecy]. Then we have a present active indicative from an impersonal verb dei, not exegeted because it simply is translated “must” and, of course, has to have a supporting infinitive. It is a reference here to the divine computer of history and/or the concept of divine decrees which we have studied. This is followed by the aorist active infinitive of the verb ginwmai, translated here “to occur,” “what things occur [must come to pass].” The constative aorist is for a succession of events from the Rapture to the end of time. The active voice: the sequence of historical events produces the action of the verb. This is an infinitive of intended result from the standpoint of prophecy. It blends purpose with results. The actual result would be from the standpoint of fulfilment of prophecy, the intended result infinitive anticipates.

With this we have a prepositional phrase repeated for the second time: meta plus the accusative of the immediate demonstrative pronoun o(utoj, translated “after these things.” It refers to after the Church Age.

Now we have an entire verse and this is the way it sounds: “After these things [the Church Age and historical trends] … ”

(We begin with the phrase “after these things,” we end the verse with “after these things.” The repetition of the preposition says this is merely an introductory verse, this is not a part of the general content of Revelation chapters four and five. Actually we are going to see eight things in heaven but they have not begun as yet)

“ … I looked [John begins his investigation of prophetical history], in fact now hear this: a door has been opened in heaven [to permit the Rapture of the Church and John’s introduction to this prophetical discourse]: and the first voice which I heard was like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me; and saying, Come up here, and I will point out to you [explain to you] what things must occur [must come to pass] after these things [after the Church Age and the Rapture].”

Everything in the rest of the book is pertinent to this statement; everything applies to the Church Age believer.

Principle

1. From this point on the content of the book of Revelation is just as pertinent to the Church Age believer as the first three chapters.

2. Everything in Revelation, chapters four through twenty-two has meaning or application to the royal family of God though it deals with subjects other than the Church Age.

3. Everything taught in Revelation chapters 6-18 deals with the Tribulation but it is written for the benefit of royal family, believers in this dispensation. Therefore the symbolism, the visions, the prophecies, the hyperbole, the historical events future to the Church Age, all have spiritual application and are pertinent to us right now.

4. Undoubtedly positive believers of the Tribulation will derive blessing from the application of these things, but they will also derive just as much understanding and blessing from the book of Daniel, the book of Zechariah, as well as Revelation chapters 6-18. But the primary purpose, then, of the rest of the book of Revelation is to brief Church Age believers about future history: things to come, the rest of history. It is a textbook of human history from the time of John in AD 96 to the end of time.

5. We have profited from the historical trends mentioned briefly in the first three chapters of Revelation; we shall also profit from the study of prophetical history in Revelation chapters four through twenty-two.

6. But avoid the curiosity approach which produces sensationalism (Revelation is sensational but that is not what we are here for) and leads to a manifestation of negative volition known as itching ears.

7. The Word of God is designed for our spiritual benefit, not our emotional stimulation. All spiritual benefit comes by the mind and the thinking of the soul dominating the emotion of the soul. There are several legitimate exceptions such as mourning for someone you love and has departed to be with the Lord, and we sorrow not as others who have no hope, but we sorrow. But you must be very careful because if you are not using doctrine regarding the happy condition of your loved-one in heaven then your emotions will go astray. Emotions must always be subordinate to thinking.

8. Inevitably we respond emotionally to certain doctrines but emotion is not the criterion for the spiritual life.

9. Neither should we seek for only those passages which arouse us emotionally but we must consider, concentrate, understand and know the whole realm of doctrine, regardless of where our personal interests lie. The Bible wasn’t written so that you could sort out just what you want to hear and forget the rest. The whole realm of doctrine is what you need.

10. The content of the rest of the book of Revelation, therefore, can either be a trap or a blessing. Therefore do not seek out the sensational but follow along, line upon line and precept upon precept. Concentrate on every verse as we study it.

There are eight things in heaven and the first is found in verses 2 and 3 of chapter four, the Trinity in heaven.

Verse 2, We are going to find that someone has added a great many words from time to time to the book of Revelation. They didn’t heed the warning at the end of the book and they brought in words that are not justified. Occasionally one Greek word will require three or four English words, and occasionally there are certain laws of ellipsis whereby you have the right to put in words that are not there. For example, if you have a circumstantial participle following a verb you are supposed to, and you can, put in the conjunction “and”; and it is not adding to the Word of God, the Greek demands that you put it into proper English. Translation is always the problem but interpretation in the translation is something else. So we are going to find from time to time that we will have to correct the text for many words have been added that are not found in the original text. This verse dose not begin with the word “and,” it begins with the word “immediately,” an adverb, e)uqeoj. Then comes the aorist middle indicative of ginomai which is like the verb to be, it usually means to become, and it means to occur. Now we are going to translate it, “Immediately I was” or “Immediately I became,” both are correct translations. The constative aorist tense contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. The middle voice is a dynamic middle, it emphasises the part taken by the subject in the action of the verb. John, as the human author of the book of Revelation, was filled with the Holy Spirit. He wrote under the doctrine of spirituality, hence he is inside the divine dynasphere while writing these things. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of John’s status under the control of God the Holy Spirit, gate one. You cannot see the Son apart from the Spirit; you cannot understand doctrine apart from God the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit not only indwelt John but He filled John and this is very important because of the accuracy problem on the original.

Then we have the prepositional phrase e)n plus the locative of pneuma. And here is what is meant by a translational problem. What is missing? A definite article. Yet we translate it “in the Spirit,” we throw a definite article in. Are we adding to the Word of God? No. The absence of the definite article in the Greek emphasises the quality of the noun and therefore for the quality of the noun when you bring it into the English you add the definite article. In other words, the absence of the definite article in the Greek does what the definite article is supposed to do in the English, emphasising the quality of the noun rather than the identity of the noun. So we add a word, “in the Spirit.” It is not found in the original.

One thing that has not been defined very clearly in the time in which we live is the concept of spirituality. What is a spiritual Christian? How can a spiritual Christian be identified as spiritual? It is your business to identify only your own spirituality or lack of it, not someone else’s. The long proboscis is definitely not spirituality, it is sticking your nose into someone else’s business. Spirituality is the filling of the Spirit and, of course, it links salvation adjustment to the justice of God with maturity adjustment to the justice of God. In other words, all of the power to execute the Christian way of life is in the Holy Spirit and, therefore the filling of the Holy Spirit or spirituality is the means of living the Christian life, the means provided to every member of the royal family of God in contrast to all other dispensations.

Never before in any previous dispensation and only in one future dispensation, the Millennium, is any believer filled with the Spirit. The indwelling of the Spirit occurs, of course, at the moment of salvation. Out of the thirty-seven things we receive at the moment of salvation, five of them are related to God the Holy Spirit. One of them is indwelling. God the Holy Spirit indwells the body of the believer, it is the human body of frailty that needs the sustaining, needs the power. The spirituality is synonymous with gate one of the divine dynasphere and the filling of the Spirit or spirituality is God the Holy Spirit indwelling the body. The soul must be controlled by God the Holy Spirit for spirituality to exist. Obviously inside the divine dynasphere you are not only indwelt by the Holy Spirit but you are spiritual. You could be a spiritual baby, you could be a spiritual adolescent, you can be spiritual as a mature believer but spirituality is an absolute. Once you make a decision to go into the cosmic system you are still indwelt by God the Holy Spirit, you never lose the indwelling of the Holy Spirit but you are now in cosmic one and you are said to be grieving the Holy Spirit. In cosmic two you are said to be quenching the Holy Spirit but you are still indwelt. When you rebound and you get back in through gate one you are filled with the Spirit again and you are still indwelt by the Holy Spirit but now God the Holy Spirit controls your soul. Spirituality is defined as God the Holy Spirit controlling the soul. It is a temporary status and is changed by your decision to sin, the same decision which put you into Satan’s cosmic system. When you are in the cosmic system for a short time the Bible calls you carnal; when you are in for a long time the Bible calls you apostate — or we prefer to call it reversionism.

At the moment of salvation God gives you 37 permanent things. Five of them, again, are related to God the Holy Spirit. The first is regeneration and is one of the things that God the Holy Spirit does for believers in every dispensation, not just in the Church Age. Regeneration means to be born again and to understand being born again you have to establish a fact that is very important: that you are born the first time! If you are not born the first time you can’t be born the second time. Human life was imputed immediately after birth and it was imputed to the human soul. That human life resides in the human soul forever. Adam’s original sin is simultaneously imputed to the genetically-formed old sin nature, we are born physically alive but spiritually dead because Adam’s sin is imputed to us. Why? because a lot of people die before they reach accountability and the only way they could be saved is to first of all be condemned. You have to be condemned before you can be saved, or there is nothing to be saved from, for, or about. Therefore condemnation must precede salvation. The old sin nature exists from birth and Adam’s original sin is imputed. Our personal sins are never imputed to us for judgment, they were reserved for the cross and were imputed to Christ on the cross and there they were judged.

Now, when we believe in Christ there are two imputations that occur. One half of God’s holiness is imputed to us. God’s holiness or integrity is composed of His justice and perfect, eternal, absolute righteousness. His righteousness is imputed to us and we have inside of us the righteousness of God establishing a pipeline between one half of God’s integrity and the other half. And down that pipeline comes every facet of logistical grace and every facet of supergrace if you attain maturity. All divine blessing goes from the justice of God to the righteousness of God. Righteousness demands righteousness, justice demands justice. What the righteousness of God demands the justice of God executes.

There is a second imputation. Having the same righteousness that God has is one half of salvation. You can’t live with God forever unless you are as good as He is and there is no way that we can be as good as He is and therefore He has to give us His perfect righteousness. You will have His righteousness forever and you will be qualified to live forever with Him. And you must add something else: you must have God’s life. Therefore eternal life is imputed at salvation. But wait a minute, eternal life has no place to go. Human life is already in the soul, you can only have one life in the soul and that is human life. So where is it going to go? Well, God the Holy Spirit creates a human spirit. The last man to have a human spirit from the start from creation was Adam. Adam was trichotomous, he had body, soul and spirit. The human spirit is constructed by God the Holy Spirit. He actually creates a human spirit and then eternal life is imputed to that human spirit. That is regeneration, that is one of five things that God the Holy Spirit does for us at salvation.

God the Holy Spirit is the agent for the baptism of the Spirit. At the moment we believe God the Holy Spirit enters us into union with Christ. Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father; We are in union with Christ; we share His life [eternal life]; we share His righteousness; we share His sonship; we share His heirship; we share His destiny [predestination]; we share everything that Christ has and is. But we share it currently, that is current positional truth. We also are entered into union with Christ retroactively. Christ was judged for our sins but at the cross He rejected human good and evil. Therefore this becomes an issue in our lives: we must reject human good and evil; both are produced by the genius of Satan in the cosmic system. So we are in union with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is God the Holy Spirit picking us up by the nape of the neck and entering us into union with Christ.

There is a third thing that God the Holy Spirit does — indwelling. That is permanent also.

The fourth thing He does is sealing, a guarantee that we are to be delivered into eternity.

The fifth thing He does is that He gives each one of us at least one spiritual gift. The exploitation of that spiritual gift depends upon your residence and function inside the divine dynasphere.

“Immediately [John says] I was in the Spirit.”

What is the concept of the spiritual life? For the Church Age there is a mandate which helps to clarify the issue: Ephesians 5:18 which begins with the concept of an imperative mood, the present passive imperative of the verb plhrow. The word means to be fully possessed, to be fully influenced. The first part of the passage says, “And stop becoming intoxicated with wine which is dissipation, but be fully influenced by the Spirit.” The Holy Spirit can only control the soul when the believer is in the divine dynasphere; that is the purpose of the filling of the Spirit. The iterative present tense describes what recurs at successive intervals when the believer is living in the divine dynasphere. The passive voice: the believer receives the action of the verb through the rebound technique. There can be no filling of the Spirit apart from rebound, recovery from the cosmic system. The imperative mood is a mandate for all believers to spirituality through living the spiritual life. The power of the spiritual life and its execution is strictly that of God the Holy Spirit. There is no human talent, no human ability, no human concept of sacrifice or morality that is a substitute for spirituality. The same concept is given in a little different way in Galatians 5:16 where we have the mandate, “Keep walking by means of the Spirit,” a present active imperative this time. We have the negative side in Ephesians 4:39, “Stop grieving the Holy Spirit,” referring to life in cosmic one. Or in 1 Thessalonians 5:19, “Do not quench the Spirit,” referring to life in cosmic two. Another way of describing spirituality is found in Ephesians 5:1, “Become imitators of God as beloved children.” The only way this can be accomplished in through life in the divine dynasphere. It was God who first lived in the divine dynasphere in hypostatic union. The prototype divine dynasphere was the place where the humanity of Christ resided during the first advent.

The idea that there are degrees of spirituality is a delusion. Spirituality is an absolute. There are degrees of growth, but not in spirituality. Any sin, regardless of category, puts the believer in the cosmic system.

“Immediately I was in the Spirit,” gate one of the divine dynasphere. Two members of the Trinity occupy the throne that is mentioned. We have the connective conjunction kai which in this case is translated “now,” plus the demonstrative particle i)dou, “behold” which demands perception. We translate it, “now look at something new.” It is an idiom. What is it? We have the nominative subject of qronoj, a “throne.” With this is the imperfect middle indicative of the verb keimai which means to place, to stand, to recline, to appear, to occur. Here it is simply translated, “no look at something new, a throne is standing.” The progressive imperfect tense denotes action in progress in past time. This is called the progressive imperfect of description. The middle voice is a direct middle describing the subject as participating in the action of the verb. The subject is a throne. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of the fact that there is a throne in heaven, and immediately when there is a throne that means that there is a system of authority, there is a hierarchy, an organisation. Heaven is a perfect place, there is authority in heaven. This is in heaven, the preposition e)n plus the locative of o)uranoj, “in heaven.” We have a definite article with o)uranoj. The generic use of the definite article denotes a category that does not have to be translated. “Immediately I was in the Spirit: now, look at something new, a throne was standing in heaven.” Two members of the Trinity actually occupy that throne; one is invisible, the other is visible. God the Father is invisible as the occupant of the throne; God the Son is visible because of the hypostatic union. God the Father was present but invisible to John, as per John 1:18, “No man has seen God at any time”; John 6:46, “Not that any man has seen the Father except the one who is from God,” the Lord Jesus Christ. Because of the hypostatic union our Lord Jesus Christ is visible.

That brings up the word “Trinity.” The word is not found in the Bible, it is a coined theological word and is a legitimate one. It was coined in the fourth century and it is pertinent, of course, the persons of the Godhead. Essentially, the Trinity recognises God as being one is essence but three persons who possess every attribute of deity equally and perfectly. The Godhead has plurality of persons and unity of essence. This is brought out by the basic name for God in the Old Testament, which is Elohim. The suffix im is plural. The plural noun in the Hebrew implies more than one person in the Godhead, and when the persons are distinguished then we go to the tetragrammaton which always refers to one person. That is the word Jehovah. The Trinity is found in this passage. The Trinity is in heaven. There are many passages that prove the Trinity: Genesis 1:26; 3:22; Psalm 110:1; Isaiah 6:8 — “who shall go for us?” The distinction between the persons of the Godhead is often very clear, as in Psalm 2:7; Isaiah 48:16; 2 Corinthians 13:14; 1 Peter 1:2.

In dealing with the human race God the Father is always said to be the author of the plan. For example, the Father planned salvation, the Son executed it, the Holy Spirit reveals it. This generally is the pattern found in anything where God is dealing with man.

We finish verse two with the connective conjunction kai, followed by the present active participle from the verb kaqhmai which means to sit. Here it is translated, “and one sitting.” The perfective present tense denotes the continuation of existing results from the ascension and session of our Lord Jesus Christ. It refers to a fact which has come to be in the past, our Lord’s resurrection and ascension plus the award of His third royal patent. But these are emphasised now as a present reality. The active voice: our Lord Jesus Christ seated at the right hand of the Father, or sitting on the throne, produces the action. The participle is circumstantial. With this we have the prepositional phrase, e)pi plus the substantive in the accusative, qronoj, “on the throne.” Translation: “and one sitting on the throne. The one sitting on the throne in this case is our Lord Jesus Christ, He is the visible member of the Godhead. Our Lord’s visibility is based on the fact of the hypostatic union plus the resurrection of His humanity.

Verse 2, “Immediately I was I the Spirit: now look at something new, a throne was standing in heaven, and someone was sitting on that throne.”

We are going to see later on in chapter five God the Father sitting on the throne, at least an anthropomorphism, His arm holding a very special book, the Doomsday Book. In the meantime and generally speaking most of the appearances either sitting on the throne or standing on the throne are references to the Lord Jesus Christ. A similar description of our Lord is found in 1 Timothy 6:13-16 which helps us to understand the concept of our Lord’s session at the right hand of the Father.

“I order you before God, who preserves all things alive [logistical grace], and Christ Jesus who has testified an honourable deposition before Pontius Pilate, to keep this mandate unsullied [the mandate has to do with grieving not the Spirit or avoiding cosmic one], irreproachable [quench not the Spirit, avoidance of cosmic two], until the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ [the Rapture of the Church], which He [our Lord] will bring about at the proper time. He is the one who blesses and only sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords; the only one having immortality [at the moment He is the only one with a resurrection body] dwelling in unapproachable light [the uniform of glory]; whom not one person of all mankind has seen [that is, His deity] nor is able to see [God is a spirit and, of course is invisible. His humanity is visible]. To whom belongs honour [the new order of chivalry] and eternal rule. Amen.”

The deity of Christ, like the deity of God the Father, is invisible but the humanity of Christ is visible at the right hand of the Father or, in this case, sitting on the throne. Christ has been sitting on the throne since His resurrection, ascension and session. Like the Father His deity is invisible, His humanity can be seen. Again, we will note an exception to this in Revelation chapter five, verse one.

Verse two anticipates the change of posture. Our Lord Jesus Christ is going to be pictured as standing in chapter five, verse six. Standing best fits the posture of our resurrected Christ when His death is mentioned. Actually, in Revelation 5:6 our Lord stands to take the Doomsday Book of historical trends of the Tribulation from the hand of God the Father, indicating once again that Jesus Christ controls history in all seven historical eras.

We move on then to verse three, the description of what is visible regarding our Lord in the throne room in heaven. Chapters four and five take place in heaven. From the eight things in heaven that we will see we are going to learn a great deal about the future as it relates to the present time. We start out with the connective use of the conjunction kai, used to introduce a result from what precedes, translated “Furthermore.” Then comes the articular present active participle of the same verb kaqhmai, which we have just noted, “sitting.” John never leaves anything to chance. Where you could omit repeating the verb, he repeats it. He doesn’t want anyone to misunderstand. Again, the definite article is used as a personal pronoun referring to our glorified Lord after His resurrection and ascension. It is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ after He has received His third royal patent. The perfective present tense refers to a fact which has come to be in the past after the ascension and the award of His third royal patent. This is emphasised as a present reality. The whole Church Age with its no prophecy and its historical trends based upon the decisions of the royal family, either for the divine dynasphere or for the cosmic system, is a result of our Lord sitting in the throne room of heaven. The active voice: Jesus Christ produces the action, again a circumstantial participle. The ellipsis demands the use of the verb e)imi, to be, and with it we have a predicate nominative. The very fact of a predicate nominative demands the verb to be. The predicate nominative is from an adjective of comparison called o(moioj, “like.” We translate: “Furthermore he who was sitting on that throne [our Lord Jesus Christ] was like.”

What He was like is now mentioned very simply in a locative singular, o(rasij, which means “in appearance like.” Then we have the instrumental of association of liqoj, a precious stone here although it isn’t always that way, but in the associating instrumental it is. So: “in appearance like a precious stone.” Now why use three precious stones, especially when they are not very identifiable from the old English and taken from a text where stones were called by various things? All we know is that they were very valuable stones. So first of all we will try to identify the stones and then try to explain what they mean in this context.

The word that follows doesn’t help us very much. It is i)aspij, and as is evident someone got the bright idea of translating the iota as a “j,” so it appears as “jaspis” which is as close as they could get to jasper. I)aspij is actually a transparent, translucent stone. From ancient descriptions it only applies to one stone, a diamond. The second stone is described by a second instrumental of association, sardion, and that is a name that comes from where they were mined in Sardis. The sardion has been described for us by ancient manuscripts as deep red or brownish red, and in some passages it refers to a carnelian, used for engraving seals. It is also, used to describe a ruby as well. So it can be either a ruby or a carnelian and, of course, immediately we have the first and last stones on the breastplates of the high priests, according to Exodus 28:17-20; 39:10-13. Our purpose at the moment, however, is to identify without giving any special interpretation.

Why talk about diamonds and rubies? One obvious thing immediately occurs to us. Diamonds, rubies and emeralds all have intrinsic value. What is intrinsic value? Gold has intrinsic value. Paper money has no intrinsic value even though it has a number printed on it which says it is worth something. It simply represents value. So there are two concepts, then, of value: true value, which we call intrinsic value, and then there is representative value which merely represents something which does have value but has no value in itself, like paper money. Now gold has intrinsic value; wherever you find it, it has value. What we are dealing with in this passage are three precious gems, the diamond, the ruby, and the emerald, and we establish something immediately: they are of intrinsic value, they are of absolute value in themselves and when our Lord is being described in heaven intrinsic values are used. Furthermore, these stones are related to the high priesthood of the first client nation to God. Obviously these stones refer to Jesus Christ as our High Priest and it is a reference to our mission on earth as the royal family of God or a kingdom of priests. And that establishes our principle: our Lord Jesus Christ is intrinsic value as our High Priest in heaven; we are of relative value as a kingdom of priests on earth. Our relative value depends on whether we are in the divine dynasphere or in the cosmic system. We are of relative value. When we become arrogant we assign to ourselves intrinsic value instead of assigning intrinsic value to our Lord Jesus Christ. We merely represent Him and our value is determined in terms of following His plan in the representation or not doing so. Therefore we, as believers on this earth, fluctuate as we fail to represent or as we succeed to represent our great High Priest in heaven. Our royal priesthood can only function inside the divine dynasphere where it is directed toward intrinsic value. Related to the breastplate of the high priest and emphasising our royal priesthood is the first and most obvious analogy of these gems since all three of them are actually found in the breastplate of the high priest. The stones themselves even suggest analogies. For example, the diamond emphasises the greatest intrinsic value. So the believer functioning under his royal priesthood and inside the divine dynasphere places the highest value on our Lord Jesus Christ. Gate five of the divine dynasphere becomes occupation with the person of Christ and motivation virtue is always directed toward God. You and I as believers living on this earth have the privilege, no matter what the circumstances, of being related to absolute intrinsic value, our Lord Jesus Christ sitting on the throne. Furthermore, the diamond suggests that number one priority in our life must be Bible doctrine. Just as the diamond has top value so Bible doctrine must be assigned number one priority in the life.

The Sardius, so-called, is not devoid of meaning. As the carnelian the sardius is our Lord’s seal related to His third patent of royalty. As the ruby, the sardius refers to the basis for our Lord’s strategic victory on the cross. “Furthermore he who was sitting [on the throne] was in appearance like a precious stone, a diamond and a sardius.”

Next we have an analogy to the integrity of Christ. We have the adjunctive use of kai, translated “also,” followed by the nominative subject from the Greek noun i)rij, which means rainbow. The significance of the rainbow is first mentioned in Genesis 9:12-16. It is a manifestation of our Lord’s integrity When you relate something of intrinsic value to something of relative value there must be a link called integrity; and, what relates us to the intrinsic value of our Lord is integrity. “Iris” or the rainbow represents our Lord’s integrity, the guarantee that the intrinsic value represented by the throne is brought into our lives as a relative value representing the intrinsic through the integrity of our Lord. No one ever saw a rainbow before the flood. For a few thousand years prior to the universal flood the earth was watered from underneath, there was no such thing as rain. The first time it rained it rained for forty days and forty nights and the entire earth was flooded. There was with it the destruction of the antediluvian civilisation which was necessary for the preservation of the human race and the perpetuation of the angelic conflict in human history. When it was all over God made a promise to Noah as the new representative of the human race, just as Adam had been the representative of the antediluvian human race. He promised Noah and his three sons, from whom we are all descended, that never again would rain destroy the earth, and the rainbow was the sign of God’s integrity. The divine promise to the human race would be perpetuated on planet earth throughout human history is backed by a sign — the rainbow. This means that neither natural disaster nor man-made disaster, like nuclear weapons, can destroy the earth during human history. Nothing will interrupt human history. In fact the next time we have the unbelieving population removed it will be done by divine judgment — the baptism of fire at the end of the Tribulation when all unbelievers will be removed from the earth. That is artificial, He doesn’t use natural resources in order to destroy the earth, and consequently the earth itself will never, never be destroyed again during the course of human history by either natural disaster or man-made disaster. It will be destroyed at the end of the Millennium.

From time to time God permits man-made disaster or provides some natural disaster to destroy some segments of the human race, a pruning out system which is extremely important to protect and perpetuate the angelic conflict. This is done not only to protect the human race from self-destruction but at the same time to guarantee the human race in existence until the end of human history.

The continuation of the angelic conflict demands the existence of the human race on planet earth. The spectrum or colour of the rainbow is caused by reflection of light from the rays of the sun on the mist or the drops of water. Hence, the formation of the rainbow indicates that the storm is abating or about to be discontinued, and this refraction of light from the rays of the sun becomes a marvellous token of the integrity of God based upon His divine essence. To the human eye a pure ray of light is white but actually it contains all of the colours and is in a harmonious blending of all possible combinations. The many colours of the rainbow are analogous to the many attributes of God which combine to form His integrity. One colour is emphasised in the rainbow, green, the colour of the emerald.

That brings us to the adverb of place, kukloqen, and it means to encircle. It is used here as an improper preposition with the genitive of qronoj again, translated “encircled the throne.” The connotation of a complete circle emphasises eternity. Eternal God cannot lie; what He has promised He will do. The integrity of God transcends all the problems of life, man’s failure, man’s success, everything.

Again we have the predicate nominative of o(moioj, the adjective of comparison. This demands again the insertion of e)imi and with that, again, o(rosij, an exact repetition of the phraseology we had before, in order to bring into view one more precious gem. The instrumental of association from the Greek noun smaragdinoj, which is the word “emerald,” “also the rainbow which encircled the throne was like an emerald in appearance.” The emerald emphasises the integrity of our Lord Jesus Christ related to His guarantee that history will continue until the end of God’s plan. Furthermore the green of the emerald is a guarantee of eternal life beyond human history for all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in any dispensation, and a reminder that God has guaranteed the perpetuation of the human race through the entire course of human history. Which means that God will never permit the entire destruction of the human race through either natural disaster or sophisticated weaponry invented by man. The emerald simply says that history is going to go on, with you or without you. History will pass you by in this dispensation if you neglect doctrine but history is going to move on whether you advance or retrogress.

Corrected translation: “Furthermore he who was sitting on the throne [our Lord Jesus Christ] was like a precious stone in appearance, like a diamond and a sardius [ruby or a carnelian]: also the rainbow which encircled the throne was like an emerald in appearance.”

Concluding concept

1. Three of the most precious stones, the diamond, the ruby and the emerald, all with great significance far beyond earthly value, are presented in this verse. Each one is related to the principle of value, the key to this verse, intrinsic value, value that does not change as things change.

2. The fact that precious stones are used for the analogy becomes very important as far as believers in Christ are concerned. These stones represent the principle that if we are going to utilise the intrinsic values God has provided, the capital that God has provided, we must have faith-confidence in the integrity of God. We must have the scale of values which belongs to God, which transcends any human system of priorities.

3. The diamond emphasises the fact that the divine scale of values is important. We are often ambitious and often motivated to go for relative values, and our ambition sometimes distracts us from intrinsic values. The diamond is a reminder of this.

4. The believer cannot have the divine scale of values apart from the perception of Bible doctrine and residence in the divine dynasphere. You will never understand intrinsic values apart from life in the divine dynasphere.

5. In the cosmic system human priorities destroy divine priorities; relative values are substituted for intrinsic values, and the true happiness and blessing of life is destroyed.

6. The sardius, either the ruby of the carnelian, emphasises the divine integrity, the link between intrinsic and relative values, and therefore emphasises the fact that the victory in life has already been won by our Lord Jesus Christ and we are not to reinvent the wheel, we are merely to associate ourselves with the strategic victory of the first advent.

7. Therefore the sardius emphasises the doctrine that the cross precedes the crown and that the divine dynasphere precedes our place in the eternal order of chivalry.

8. The cross was our Lord’s strategic victory of the angelic conflict, our advance to maturity is simply a recognition of intrinsic values and giving them first place in our lives. This is tantamount to a tactical victory of the royal family.

9. The carnelian was used for seals. The integrity of God possesses a new seal with His third royal patent. This seal guarantees the Millennial and eternal order of chivalry, or the greatest opportunity that God has ever given to individual believers. You live in the dispensation of opportunity, the opportunity of penetrating the facade of relative values in life and pseudo-priorities, breaking through that mesh of cosmic thinking, and establishing a relationship with intrinsic values. And the believer who fails is like a totally ugly, repulsive, gruesome woman wearing the most gaudy and beautiful gems.

10. The emerald guarantees the perpetuation of the human race, the continuation of history to its proper conclusion, plus the greater guarantees associated with eternal life to all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The book of Revelation is the textbook of world history, beginning in AD 96 when John wrote on the Island of Patmos down to the end of time. The history is divided into two categories: the historical trends which occur during the Church Age totally apart from any prophetical concept; and then the rest of human history as given through prophecy. In the seven historical eras or dispensations from the viewpoint of God there is only one in which there is absolutely no prophecy. In all other dispensations historical trends are determined by means of prophecy. That includes four in the past time and two in the future. We are now at the end of the Church Age as far as our study is concerned and we have seen or are about to see the Church in heaven and eight things which occur in heaven. In the first chapter we noted that Jesus Christ controls history; in chapters two and three the historical trends of the Church Age. In chapters four and five eight things in heaven. In chapters six through eighteen we have the Tribulation described in great detail: first of all the panorama of the Tribulation in chapter six, evangelism in the Tribulation in chapter seven, the trumpet judgements of the Tribulation in chapters eight through ten, the two witnesses and the seventh trumpet in chapter eleven, the fall of Satan or the Armageddon motivation in chapter twelve, the two dictators of the Tribulation in chapter thirteen, the principle of grace before judgment in chapter fourteen, the bowl judgements in chapters fifteen and sixteen; in chapters seventeen and eighteen we have the rise and fall of ecumenical religion. In chapter twenty we have the study of the Millennium, preceded by chapter nineteen where we have the second advent of Christ and events related to it. In chapters twenty-one, verses 1-8, the eternal state, and in chapters twenty-one, verses 9 through chapter twenty-two verse five, the eternal Jerusalem. Finally, in verses 6-21 of the last chapter we have the termination of the canon of scripture.

We are in the process of studying eight things which occur in heaven after the resurrection of the Church. In verses two and three we have the Trinity in heaven and that is the basis of our present study. We will move on next to studying the angelic general staff in heaven in verse four, and then the administration of historical judgment in verse five, the Church at rest as a part of verse six, the angelic college of heralds in verses 6b through 11, and then another principle on how Jesus Christ controls history in verses five through seven. Finally, we will terminate chapter five, verses 8-14, with a new song in heaven, the great hymn of victory.

Verse three, “Furthermore, he who was sitting on the throne was in appearance like a precious stone, both a diamond and a sardius.” This becomes very significant when we go back and look at the breastplate of the high priest in the Old Testament. Obviously these stones refer to our Lord Jesus Christ as High Priest because the diamond was the first stone in the breastplate and the sardius was the last stone in the breastplate. The two of them together represent the function of the high priest. In this dispensation our Lord Jesus Christ is the High Priest — this is the subject of the book of Hebrews — and as our High Priest He has certain functions in heaven related to us. This is an unusual time for believers in history because in this dispensation every believer is his own priest. A priest is a person who represents someone to God, and since the day of our Lord’s resurrection and the beginning of the Church Age all believers constitute royal family of God. Each member of the royal family has two commissions. He is first of all given the commission of a priest. Every believer is a priest and therefore represents himself to God. The believer is also an ambassador and therefore represents God to the human race. So we have the function of the priesthood directed toward God inside the divine dynasphere; we have the function of the ambassadorship directed toward man and circumstances inside the divine dynasphere. We are emphasising here the fact that the first two stones find our Lord Jesus Christ functioning as the High Priest in the prototype divine dynasphere, and as such He paved the way for the modus operandi of Christianity in the time in which we live. You as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ privately represent yourself before God and to become spiritually self-sustaining means that you must have certain values and you must understand certain things with regard to that representation. You not only represent yourself before God but that becomes motivation for all virtue. A motivating virtue, for example, is personal love for God based upon the perception of doctrine at gate four. There is a functional virtue which is the counterpart: impersonal love toward all members of the human race. The priesthood is the key to your life on this earth for all absolute values in your life must be related to who and what our Lord Jesus Christ is. So we have a royal priesthood and it can only function inside the divine dynasphere where it is directed toward God. The breastplate with the two stones, the first and the last, is a reminder, then, that the priesthood of the past has been superseded and there is a new priesthood in which every believer represents himself before God.

The stones themselves, of course, suggest many analogies. For example, the diamond emphasises the principle of intrinsic value. This is the major principle that we will be noting. The believer functioning under his royal priesthood inside of the divine dynasphere must learn what is intrinsic value. All intrinsic value, of course, is related to our Lord Jesus Christ who is the ultimate in this field. Gate five of the divine dynasphere becomes occupation with Christ and motivating virtue directed toward God. Furthermore, the diamond suggests that the number one priority in the life of the believer must be Bible doctrine. Since Bible doctrine is the mind of Christ it also has intrinsic value. And the principle that we will note is a very simple one: intrinsic value must precede relative value or relative value has no meaning in life. This is the story, then, of the diamond and the sardius.

In the rest of the passage we also tie in divine integrity before we begin our study of relative and absolute values. The intrinsic value of divine integrity is the subject of the last part of the verse, “also the rainbow which encircled the throne was like an emerald in appearance.” God has great integrity when He says that the earth will never be destroyed again and, as a matter of fact, the earth will never be reduced to eight people ever again. We know this from our study of the book of Revelation where we have so many prophetical concepts. Our Lord Jesus Christ made it very clear that there would be wars and rumours of wars until He came. Man does not have the ability to stop wars, he does not even have the ability to control wars, and we are seeing right now a degenerate trend in our history where people are all upset about nuclear weapons. The book of Revelation makes it very clear that the most sophisticated weaponry that man can design will not destroy the population of the earth. The earth and the people on it cannot be destroyed until the end of history and this is based upon a very important principle: the rainbow, the integrity of God. There are many colours in the rainbow and they are analogous to the many attributes of God which combine to provide His wonderful integrity. In other words, no category of disaster, whether it is a natural disaster or whether it is a man-made disaster such as warfare, will ever destroy the entire population of the earth. From time to time God permits man-made disasters to provide a basis for clarifying issues in the human race and purifying issues in the human race. This is done actually to protect the human race from self-destruction, and therefore to perpetuate the human race under the principle of the angelic conflict. The continuation of the angelic conflict demands the existence of the human race on planet earth. The spectrum of colour in the rainbow is caused by the refraction of light from the rays of the sunlight on the mist or drops of water, and the formation of the rainbow indicates that the storm is abating and about to discontinue. This refraction of light from the rays of the sun becomes a token of the integrity of God and the precious stone related to it is called the emerald. So we have therefore three precious stones in this particular verse.

Three of the most precious stones, the diamond, the ruby or the sardius, and the emerald all have great significance far beyond even their earthly value. The fact that precious stones are used for the analogy as far as the function of believers in Christ and our faith-confidence in the integrity of God. Our scale of values must be based on not relative values but absolute values, values which are intrinsic. There is first of all the diamond which emphasises the divine scale of values. A diamond has intrinsic value, it always has value; and in our context it is important to remember that our subject is not diamonds, rubies and emeralds, it is intrinsic value and relative value. The diamond reminds us by way of application the importance of having a scale of values which is based on what is intrinsic in value, what is absolute in value; whereas the ruby emphasises the divine integrity of the one who won the strategic victory at the cross. The emerald guarantees the perpetuation of the human race and the perpetuation of history to its proper conclusion plus a greater guarantee of eternal life for all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Principles

1. Everything related to our Lord Jesus Christ has intrinsic value rather than relative value. And notice: the intrinsic value is invisible. So since it is invisible to our eyes how do we understand intrinsic value? Our Lord sitting on the throne in His third royal patent is compared to a diamond, a ruby, and an emerald; all of these are stones with intrinsic value but they are visible to us. The greatest intrinsic value in life is invisible and immaterial, therefore it must be understood by analogy.

2. All real values in life are related to the only saviour and the one who controls history, the King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ.

3. Since the diamond and the sardius are the first and last stones in the breastplate of the high priest they speak of our Lord Jesus Christ as the High Priest of the royal family, and remind us that as members of the royal family of God each one of us is a priest. And if there is one thing that a priest must have clearly in his soul it is understanding of absolute and intrinsic values. Life is meaningless without intrinsic value.

4. Our priesthood has intrinsic value in life and the priesthood functions in the field of intrinsic values just as our ambassadorship functions in the field of relative values. But we bring through relative values the absolutes of integrity, honour, virtue from the production of the divine dynasphere. So our priesthood has intrinsic value in life and its function inside of the divine dynasphere relates our lives to the most important of all intrinsic values — thought, doctrine, truth.

5. For example, gold has intrinsic value while paper money only represents some form of intrinsic value. When paper money is related to gold you limit prosperity. There isn’t enough gold in the world concentrated in one place to bring prosperity by relating paper to gold. You must relate paper money to that which is productive. Gold is not productive it is intrinsic value without production. Intrinsic value which has production must be related to thought, to concepts, to integrity, to courage. There are no intrinsic values unless you can think in terms of truth.

6. Bible doctrine has intrinsic value, while happiness and the pleasure of this life only has relative value. And there is no true happiness unless it is related to intrinsic things. That is why so many people are doing so many things they thought would make them happy but they are not happy at all because true happiness, like everything else, must be related to something intrinsic. When people have doctrine and capacity for life then they often have great happiness and blessing in whatever they are doing.

7. Relative values are only meaningful when related to intrinsic values. Life is only meaningful for the Christian when he relates it to the intrinsic values of Bible doctrine. We are sustained by an intrinsic valuable concept called logistical grace, not by gold and silver, not by diamonds, not by anything that is overt and visible and considered of intrinsic value. Bible doctrine is the mind of Christ and is the only thing of intrinsic value we can claim, own, use and apply for happiness and blessing in this life. The believer who lives in the divine dynasphere has a scale of values which is intrinsic while the believer who lives in the cosmic system has a scale of values which is relative. Relative values cannot bring happiness in this life. Values in the divine dynasphere are all intrinsic — thought, doctrine, truth. The values in the cosmic system are all relative and therefore detrimental. Relative values are meaningless without the backing of intrinsic values.

Values apply to people

1. Only people with virtue and integrity have intrinsic value, hence the believer in the cosmic system has only relative value and becomes disappointing to friends and lovers.

2. The relative value of people depends on their beauty or attractiveness. How many people have selected their friends, their wife, their husband, on the basis of overt beauty and attractiveness. But here is the problem with that: that is relative, it isn’t intrinsic. It is what is in the soul that is intrinsic.

3. None of these relative values in people are the basis for permanent relationships of any kind. That is why some people never have any permanent friends. They have nothing in life but relative values and these relative values have no basis in intrinsic value.

4. Only intrinsic values in people are important in human relationships.

5. Therefore an enemy with integrity is far better than a friend with hypocrisy.

6. Integrity from doctrine and the divine dynasphere has intrinsic value in human relationships.

Values apply to things

1. Things with intrinsic value include gold, precious gems, manufacturing capabilities including the gross national product. In other words, things that you can see and things that you cannot see, principles which are invisible and real and things which are visible and real. Bonds, bank books, paper money, stock certificates, credit cards, letters of credit, have no intrinsic value, hence they are assigned to the category of relative values.

2. The relative value of things depends upon the intrinsic value represented on the scrap of paper, whether it is a stock certificate or a paper dollar.

3. Therefore relative values cannot exist legitimately without the backing of intrinsic value. The terrible economic collapse of France during the French Revolution came from this principle that there was nothing of value to back their paper currency.

4. Our economy is off the gold standard which means that paper money is not redeemable with gold and silver of intrinsic value. But it doesn’t mean that it is valueless. As long as we have the functions of free enterprise economy and production and markets that currency is far better off than if it were backed by gold. This does not imply that we are devoid of economic intrinsic values, in other words. Our economic intrinsic value is based upon free enterprise manufacturing: in other words, factories, products, markets, profit. When you destroy profits you are violating the very concept of intrinsic value in category #1 of the laws of divine establishment.

Corporations should not be taxed for their profits. The incentive is gone and the ability to redo all of the factories, to refurbish, to bring them up-to-date, to compete with on world markets, demands that they have the freedom to use their own profits to improve their own status, otherwise you destroy intrinsic value. The gross national product represents intrinsic value in our economy and as long as these factories produce goods and these goods are sold at profit we have made the principle of intrinsic value. Free enterprise as the principle of intrinsic value is a doctrine from the Word of God — category #1 truth. Bible doctrine is a far greater principle of intrinsic value and free enterprise is advocated by the Word of God.

Values apply to thought

1. Intrinsic value is related to truth, John 8:32: “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”

2. Truth is Bible doctrine in three categories and is the basis for freedom, free enterprise. Truth which makes us free is category #1, the laws of divine establishment, which also includes free enterprise economy; category #2, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; category #3, Bible doctrine for the believer, the manufacturer of virtue and integrity inside of the divine dynasphere.

3. Therefore freedom has relative value and can only exist when based on an absolute value — truth. Freedom is meaningless without truth. Freedom without truth is some form of tyranny, obvious or subtle.

4. The existence and function of freedom depends on truth or Bible doctrine in its three categories.

5. Doctrine has intrinsic value; freedom only has relative value. Freedom is like the paper money in your pocket, it is no good unless it is based on intrinsic value — truth, doctrine.

6. The freedom of the French Revolution, again, illustrates the relative value of freedom for it was not based on truth and therefore it did not exist.

7. Relative values only exist when based on and backed by intrinsic values. So when you see the diamond, the ruby and the emerald in this passage you are merely looking at illustrations of a far greater system of intrinsic value.

The first thing we saw in heaven was the Trinity on verses two and three. Now we notice the second thing in heaven: the angelic general staff or the twenty-four elders. So we begin a study of the organisation of elect angels, a general staff which is going to teach us a great deal about life, even about our own personal lives.

In verse four we begin with the adjunctive use of the conjunction kai which means “also.” With this we have the adverb of place kukloqen, used as an improper preposition with the noun qronoj. Kukloqen plus the genitive of qronoj means “around the throne,” “Also around the throne.” The ellipsis demands the repetition of the verb o(raw, “I saw,” inserted. The direct object is composed of three words, all of which are the objects of o(raw, “Also around the throne I saw,” and then we have the indeclinable number e)ikosi which is correctly translated “twenty.” With it we have the accusative plural of tessarej, “four.” Since these two words go together, four plus twenty, and since four is in the accusative we have no problem in translating it “twenty-four additional thrones.” These thrones are reserved for the angelic general staff who have authority in the heavens during the period of the Church Age, the Tribulation and the Millennium. These thrones are occupied by angels who in the pristine angelic conflict have achieved great status. We might say angels who advanced to maturity. They became very mature, as it were, when there were no human beings.

One thing should be very clear. The person who is going to be happy in this life, the human being who is truly happy, has to be well organised. Being well organised means many things. It means being able to relate yourself properly to time and to the scale of values you possess, utilising therefore your scale of values and your time so that you do what you want to do and what you do the best and give it plenty of time without pressure. If you are well organised you avoid pressurising yourself. If you are smart enough not to make a lot of snap decisions about a lot of things you are even smarter yet. The first thing that we are going to learn about this angelic general staff is that they are well organised. Not only are their lives personally well organised but this frees them to do a job that has to be done in heaven even as it has to be done in any organisation on earth. That job is to collect correct information and relate it to any given situation.

“and around the throne I saw twenty-four thrones.” Then we have a connective kai, and e)pi plus the accusative of qronoj. E)pi means on or upon, “and on the thrones.” Then we have the present passive participle from kaqhmai, they were sitting.

The posture becomes very important when you understand that people who sit think. Action is only meaningful as it is backed by correct thought. It is the people who think in life who make it. The emphasis is on the body when you stand but when you are seated the emphasis is on the brain, and these twenty-four general staff officers are sitting. Sitting is the posture of thinking. There is no integrity in the body, it is all in the soul. The soul must direct the body.

So thy were sitting. The perfect present tense denotes what has come to be in the past — the angelic reward before human history — but is emphasised as a present reality. The fact that they were sitting and the fact that these twenty-four angels out of millions of angels who could have been sitting there is very important. Twenty-four were sitting, not millions of the other elect angels. These 24 are higher in rank, they are smarter, they are doing a greater job, and they are obviously rewarded from something that happened long before man was created in a conflict that existed longer than time and Adam. In that pristine conflict there was the achievement of some over others and as a result of that achievement we now see promotion and eternal success. Twenty-four elect angels are given a higher rank than almost all the other angels. And what a privilege they have. They are allowed throughout all eternity to think, they have the privilege and the opportunity of being able to use their minds and to be able to make decisions throughout all human history.

We have already noted that when the judgment seat of Christ occurs some are going to have the order of the morning star, they are going to have the crown of life, the crown of glory, they are going to be presented in the court of heaven, they are going to have the translucent uniform of glory and all kinds of decorations. They are going to return with Christ and throughout the Millennium they are going to rule a nation for 1000 years. They will exert great authority, they will have great thought and tremendous opportunity.

Long before Adam and the woman there was the angelic conflict in which 24 angelic creatures advanced in spiritual momentum far beyond their contemporaries of elect angels. They were given a special reward: a general staff throughout all of human history from Adam to the end of the Millennium. The passive voice: the 24 staff angels receive the action of the verb and they received it before human history began. The participle is circumstantial. The indeclinable number, 20 plus four, now has something else added to it, the accusative plural of the verb presbuteroj. In Attic Greek the word meant an elder in the sense of someone who was a leader. It was occasionally used for a person who was older in age but it was generally in the sense of a leader, a ruler, someone who has authority. And so while presbuteroj does connote and older person it is used here is the sense of authority. Presbuteroj is used in a spiritual sense for the pastor’s authority over the congregation. It always carries the connotation of authority, of leadership in both administrative and judicial functions. Hence, it means in actuality an office bearer, someone who is a ruler, an administrator with authority to make decisions and provide information for even a greater hierarchy. Since we have a council of twenty-four the term staff officer is used as approximating the meaning here, “and twenty-four staff officers were sitting on the thrones.” The rest of the sentence indicates that these 24 staff officers in the heavenly palace had received the second highest decoration for their part in the angelic conflict prior to the creation of man. This is given in part by the perfect passive participle from the verb periballw which means to be clothed, “having been clothed.” “Having been clothed” means, of course, and honour and a decoration coming up. The perfect tense is the intensive perfect imperfect, it emphasises the completed action in providing eternal reward and privilege for angelic winners. Born again angels are not called born again angels, the Bible calls them “elect.” So this is a special award for winners among elect angels. All elect angels do not have the same status quo. There is special attention on the award of the uniform of glory. The intensive perfect therefore emphasises the eternal results of the action. In other words, this is a strong way of saying a thing is in the Greek. Certain angels prior to human history were winners in that phase of the angelic conflict and were rewarded with the uniform of glory. They were therefore published on the honours list before the creation of Adam. The passive voice: elect angels who were winners in the previous conflict actually received the action of the verb — reward and decoration. The participle is circumstantial for the fact that something comparable to the judgment seat of Christ existed prior to the creation of man, prior to this phase of the angelic conflict.

What they were clothed in is now mentioned. The preposition e)n plus the instrumental of leukoj. Leukoj means white and it also means translucent or shining. With this i(mation means a robe, or simply clothing. The translation would then read: “having been clothed [honoured or decorated] with shining [or translucent] clothing [the uniform of glory].”

Now we can see a parallel. The angelic conflict which preceded the history of man ended up with certain angels receiving high awards and then human history began so that these awards could be exercised both in heaven and on earth, just as at the second advent of Christ believers of this dispensation in resurrection bodies are going to rule nations. They will have the order of the morning star, they will have certain crowns, they will have the uniform of glory, they will have a new knighthood, the new order of chivalry, a new coat of arms. And all of these things are related to the same concept. Angels not only are in eternity but their eternity includes certain supervision and certain activities of blessing for them in the human stage of history. The same thing will be true of human being s in the royal family; they will have certain privileges and honour at the end of human history, the last 1000 years.

“and they had on their heads golden crowns,” e)pi plus the accusative of kefalh which means the head,“on their heads,” the possessive genitive a)utoj. Then we have the accusative and direct object, stefanoj for crowns, xrusoj, “golden crowns.” This is comparable to crowns awarded to winners at the judgment seat of Christ. It is only given to angels prior to human history as a decoration. This means that angelic creatures are already in their eternal state and in eternity past after the fall of Satan they made their decision for Christ and whatever salvation was offered, and they made the right decision. After that there is a long period of angelic conflict after which the elect angels were evaluated just prior to the beginning of human history.

Well, how do we know all of this? The Bible reveals the existence of a higher category of creatures which we simply call angels. The two categories of angelic creatures today are designated saved angels and unsaved angels. However, that isn’t what the Bible calls them. In Mark 8:38 saved angels are called “holy”; in 1 Timothy 5:21 they are called “elect.” In both cases we are talking about angels who have eternal life. But then we also have a large number of angels that are said to be unsaved. They are imprisoned because of Genesis 6:1-9, as related in 2 Peter 2:4 and Jude 6. There are also angels that are not imprisoned. Hades has a place called Tartarus which has millions of angels that are imprisoned from an early part of human history (Genesis 6) but there are still millions of fallen angels that are operative today and they are known as demons. They are covered in some passages in great detail, like Mark 5; 1 Corinthians 10:20,21; 1 Timothy 4:1 and other passages. So we have obviously then the results of a great conflict that existed over an undetermined period of time long before man was created.

During the course of human history the angelic conflict is under appeal. Satan is the chief of the unsaved angels although he is not the highest ranking of all angels. He is a brilliant genius, however, and he had a special job. He occupied the throne room where the four angelic heralds now occupy and he was the most beautiful and attractive and personable of all creatures that came from the hand of God, so much so that he became arrogant. As a result of his arrogance we have the first sin among creatures followed by the first revolution. During the course of time there was a final reckoning in which everyone made a decision. And when the decisions were all made Satan had taken one third of all angelic creatures. These are the unsaved angels, the fallen angels, the demons that operate at the present time, and they operate under his command. Then there came the courtroom scene and when it was all over Satan and all fallen angels were sentenced to the lake of fire, which at this moment doesn’t even exist. Satan, being very smart, appealed his case on a principle: How can a loving God cast His own creatures, i.e. fallen angels, into the lake of fire? That was his appeal and human history results from it.

First of all God answered the objection by saying that Satan had every opportunity to have an eternal relationship with God, as did all fallen angels, and a new creation was necessary to reveal the principle by which these angels were condemned. Angels have super souls and the centre of that super soul is volition. From their own free will they chose for Satan rather than choosing for God. However, two thirds of the angelic creatures chose for God, Hebrews 2:2. The answer to the objection by Satan is found in the character of God, His essence box. He brought into existence creatures who could be self-determining. They could be independent of God or for God and by bringing self-determination into the issue He created man to prove the point of every part of the objection. This is the reason for human history, to resolve the angelic conflict, to resolve the objection of a courtroom case that took place before the creation of man.

The pattern of angelic negative volition is expressed in two ways. First of all in Isaiah 14:12-14 we have Satan’s original sin of negative volition, very similar to Adam’s in certain ways. Angelic rejection of the Lord is hinted in Hebrews 2:2. The creation of man then reveals the fact that the angelic conflict is resolved by the function of human free will. To resolve the angelic conflict an inferior creature is placed on planet earth possessing one thing in common with angels, free will, the bona fide function of self-determination within the environment of a magnificent soul. Human volition is tested exactly in the same pattern as angelic volition. Angels began in status quo innocence; mankind began in status quo innocence. Angels sinned — negative volition of Satan; mankind sinned — negative volition of Adam. God provided salvation for the angels (whatever it was); God provided salvation for mankind. In both cases salvation is acquired or attained by a non-meritorious function of volition. As a result angels are divided into two categories, according to Revelation 12:7, and today mankind is divided into two categories, according to John 3:18, 36.

Just as angels in eternity past were tested under two categories, innocence and sinfulness, so man is tested under two categories, innocence and sinfulness. Under perfect environment mankind was prohibited the use of one tree in the garden, just one. Everything was provided for his blessing, nothing was lacking. There was just one test. There has to be a test. There had to be one tree in the garden whereby man’s free will can result in some form of self-determination and there had to be a prohibition with regard to that tree. No! And that is a test for volition. The only way that man could sin in the garden was simply to disobey one command from God. In status of innocence man can only sin by negative volition toward divine prohibition. Innocence means that morality was not an issue and in the garden. It is an issue in sinfulness but not in innocence. The only way that man could sin was negative volition toward the divine prohibition of Genesis 2:17. The penalty of sin, of course, is spiritual death, Romans 5:12ff. When man sinned through negative volition he died spiritually immediately, the wages of sin is death, and immediately Adam died spiritually. He was still alive physically because the wages of sin is not physical death, it is spiritual death. The issue, therefore, was changed from innocence to sinfulness. When man sinned through negative volition the first time he died spiritually immediately but he did not die physically until 930 years later. This proves that the wages of sin is not physical death, neither then nor at any time. Physical death is merely a result of certain factors of self-determination in the human race.

Sinfulness was another story. After the fall of man salvation is promised and offered to the human race in Genesis 3:15. Such salvation involves Christ dying twice on the cross. The fact that Christ died twice is the subject of Isaiah 53:9; 1 Peter 2; 2 Corinthians 5; Colossians 2, and many other passages. The issue is now positive volition, in the garden it was negative volition. Now it is positive volition toward God’s provision of salvation and, furthermore, positive volition expressed in a non-meritorious manner compatible with grace. The pattern: “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Man’s entrance into the plan of God through faith in Christ destroys the devil’s appeal and resolves the angelic conflict. In all of human history only one person had to be saved but in human history apparently, when it is all over, there will be more people saved than in the angelic realm, thus demonstrating in a saturation situation over a period of unknown thousands of years that Satan’s appeal was wrong. At the end of the Millennium and at the end of the Gog revolution there will be a phrase that will be the final declaration: Appeal denied!

Man’s entrance into the plan of God through faith in Christ not only destroys the devil’s appeal but it also brings up another issue to resolve the angelic conflict. Will man, inferior to angels but equipped with the same free will in his soul, choose for or against the plan of God? — beginning, of course, at salvation. The solution again: if even one member of the human race believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, accepts by faith (non-meritorious function) the plan of God, the angelic conflict is resolved. This is the subject of the first two chapters of the book of Hebrews and Colossians 2:14,15. And it is related to the greater subject, operation footstool, Psalm 110:1; 1 Corinthians 15:24,25; Hebrews 10:13 and other passages.

Because man was created to resolve the angelic conflict it means that we are in the arena and the stands are invisible but they are filled with millions of angels. This is the subject of angelic observation. We have elect angels observing us; we have fallen angels observing us. We have, as it were, a testimony to angels every moment that we draw a breath on this earth. Angels learn through the conversion of the sinner that the free will of man does not necessarily choose against God as Satan and the fallen angels did in pristine times. This explains the rejoicing if elect angels over one sinner who changes his mind in Luke 15:7, 10. And this means that the issue is resolved by faith in Christ.

We have studied before the plan of God for the believer. Phase one: salvation; phase two: the believer in time; phase three: the believer in eternity. Especially in phase one and phase two there is the resolving of the issue. In phase one regenerate mankind is positionally higher than angels in this dispensation. When you accept Jesus Christ as saviour you receive 37 things from God and the book of Hebrews points out that the royal family of God is right now positionally higher than angels. “To which of the angels did he say at any time, Sit down at my right hand?” He didn’t, but He said it to the humanity of Christ after the ascension, and when He said it to the humanity of Christ — and we are in union with Christ — positionally we are now higher than angels. Otherwise, of course, on this earth we are inferior to them in so many ways.

In phase two, the believer in time, through the suffering as well as being the recipient of blessing mankind uses the pertinent doctrines that he has learned in the divine dynasphere, and through his right decisions in suffering and in prosperity he demonstrates to the entire angelic creation that making one decision for Christ, salvation, was not accidental but that it can result in making many, many other decisions in spite of the fact that Satan has invented the greatest trap of all time. The genius trap comes from the fact that Satan has been the ruler of this world since the fall of man, and his trap we have studied before in great detail — cosmic one with its 26 gates of interlocking systems of arrogance; cosmic two with its 9 gates of interlocking systems of hatred. This is the greatest trap of all time and to advance to maturity we have to go through nine different tests in order to reach maturity, each one requiring the application of doctrine which we have learned in the divine dynasphere.

Through the fall of man, then, Satan gained control of the world but not necessarily the control of mankind, for in eternity or phase three the believer will have a resurrection body which is physically superior to that of the angels. The freedom that we enjoy at the present time under the concept of human self-determination or free will makes us, therefore, free agents in the devil’s world. Man can choose between the plan of God, operation grace, and the plan of Satan which is the cosmic system. The issue, salvation through faith in Christ, frees mankind from the control of the cosmic system, but only temporarily. We must make literally hundreds and even thousands of decisions to maintain that status quo and logistically we are given tremendous support to do so. The fact that Satan is the ruler of this world is well documented, 2 Corinthians 4:4; John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; Ephesians 2:2 are just some of the passages. And the fact that angels are observing us also adds great credence to the concept. Angelic observance of the incarnate Christ is found in 1 Timothy 3:16. Elect angels observe and rejoice over the conversion of mankind, Luke 15:7. Fallen angels are organised under Satan’s command to resist and oppose the believer, Job chapter one is a great illustration, Job 1:6; 2:1-3; Ephesians 6:12. Angelic creatures observe believers in phase two, 1 Corinthians 4:9; 6:3; 11:10; Ephesians 3:10; 1 Timothy 5:21; 1 Peter 1:12 and many other passages.

This also explains other questions that are generally not answered. Why does man exist on this earth? Inside of man’s soul is volition. Linked with the work of the cross it resolves the angelic conflict. Why sin? Sin resolves the issue of phase one of the plan of God. Man’s free will is the source of all sinfulness in the human race. Why suffering? Answered by the same principle. Why the Church? Why chaos on the earth? Why two kinds of spirituality, one for the Church Age and one for the Millennium? All of these and many other things are answered by the angelic conflict. But we are not dealing with the angelic conflict here, we only note its existence and its result, and its result is found in our passage, “Also around the throne I saw twenty-four additional thrones: and twenty-four angelic staff officers were sitting on the thrones, having been clothed [decorated] with shining clothing [the uniform of glory]; and golden crowns on their heads.”

In the concept of the angelic general staff there is the concept of having the smartest and the wisest of all the angelic creatures, wise as far as their perception of doctrine. General staff is a term that is almost obscure, abstruse, meaningless in terms of civilian thinking and, above all, theological thinking. And yet here we are faced with the fact that we are going to have to study from time to time this angelic general staff called “twenty-four elders” and see what applications it has to the lives of each one of us. For starters, every believer is equipped with his own general staff. In effect it is the divine dynasphere and your volition related to the divine dynasphere. Also, as we have seen, no business, no social organisation or spiritual organisation, and no economic organisation can be effective without authority and without a constant feeding of good ideas and the provision of correct and accurate information to whomever is making decisions in a big organisation. Knowledge is power. We have to learn in Christianity that knowledge of doctrine is power and with it the believer has his own built-in general staff. But the general staff isn’t working in the soul of most believers today. They are not organised, they can’t think straight, they can’t discern; yet, that is why they learn doctrine.

In verse 5 we notice the administration of historical judgment. We begin with the adjunctive use of the conjunction kai, meaning “also,” followed with the prepositional phrase e)k plus the ablative of source from qronoj, “Also from the throne,” a reference to the throne occupied by God the Father who is invisible and God the Son who is visible. And this prepares the way for the principle that we have noted from time to time: Jesus Christ controls history.

Next is the present middle indicative of the verb e)kporeuomai, and it means to proceed. The customary present tense denotes what habitually occurs when Jesus Christ controls history. The direct middle voice is one in which the subject participates in the outcome of the action. Jesus Christ participates in historical judgment. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of Jesus Christ controlling history through the administration of historical judgment where no pivot exists or the pivot is too small to have historical impact.

Crusading is one the great enemies of historical trends and prosperity. There are two kinds of crusading. First of all there is crusading in your periphery and then there is crusading on a national or international level out of your periphery. All this crusading comes from one source: arrogance. People who are crusaders within their periphery are generally gossips. They are self-righteous, they are gossips, they are maligners; and when they get out of their periphery and into international areas, whether they are liberals or conservatives, arrogance distorts their judgment so that their historical impact is adverse rather than being beneficial. In other words, crusading is a waste of time. The only solution to the problems of life is the formation and expansion of the pivot of mature believers. Crusading is definitely a manifestation of arrogance while the formation of a pivot leads to historical solution and blessing. It is the difference between confusion and the function of the general staff. And, again, you have a general staff in your soul.

“Also from the throne there proceeded.” As yet there is no subject but the subject now follows with three categories of divine judgment mentioned. These are all categories related to divine judgment through nature. Each one of them is in the nominative plural, each one of them is a part of the subject. First of all the nominative plural subject from the noun a)straph, and it means “lightnings” (plural). Lightning always indicates the approach of a storm. In this case lightning indicates the approach of historical disaster in the Tribulation. The tribulation is a period of spectacular historical disasters which culminate a whole section of history. They simply bring together without any restraint left since God the Holy Spirit and the Church have moved out and are in heaven, and therefore all of the bad decisions are brought together to cause great disaster. We are the products of our own decisions. Bad decisions produce disaster and the Lord wraps that disaster up in His own just and fair administration of punishment to the human race, a concentrated period of punishment such as the world has never before known. So lightning indicates the approach of that time of great disaster. There is a second noun, the nominative plural subject from the word fwnh referring to sounds here, the sounds of disaster, the sound of a tornado, a hurricane, a volcano or a typhoon. While lightning is a visual warning of disaster this is an audible warning of disaster.

And then a third, the nominative plural subject from bronth, and it means crashes or peals of thunder. Crashes of thunder, again, the warning of a coming storm, hence it is used in the same connotation as the other parts of the subject, the warning of great historical disaster in the Tribulation. We will translate it this way: “also lightnings and loud noises and peals of thunder [the analogy between the warning of the coming storm and the actual storm] proceed from that throne.” These are only warnings. We are looking at eight things in heaven and this is number three, simply a warning of things to come. This is not the actual historical disaster, we will see that under prophetical historical trends, the Doomsday Book with its seven seals.

The principle behind all of that is that once the Church has been removed from the earth, the royal family has departed and with it concept pivot. There is no pivot as we have known it in the past in the Tribulation. The concept of a pivot of believers who have advanced to maturity is gone. There will be 144,000 Jews who are going to be evangelists; they are not a pivot. The largest pivot that will be seen in the Tribulation is when Moses and Elijah start broadcasting on TV from Jerusalem when they are resuscitated and brought back to the earth. So the concept of pivot is gone. There will be believers reaching maturity, very few of them, and with the fact that the Church has been removed all mature believers have gone to heaven.

We fail to realise that not only is the pivot the basis for prosperity and blessing in a given area but at the same time the pivot is a restrainer. There are two restrainers in history: the pivot of mature believers and God the Holy Spirit. With the Rapture of the Church whatever pivot that exists at the point of the Rapture is gone and with the departure of the pivot we also have the removal of the divine dynasphere, including gate one, God the Holy Spirit.

With the removal of the pivot of mature believers historical disaster becomes characteristic of the Tribulation. What is true in the Church Age is amplified in the Tribulation: no pivot means historical disaster. In the time in which we live a reduced pivot means some form of disaster. But all disaster in the Church Age, no matter how it affects you personally or how it affects others personally, has restraint. Unrestrained disaster does not exist in the Church Age. The restraint on historical disaster is the existence of the pivot of mature believers whose residence and function in the divine dynasphere becomes the means of historical blessing as well as restraint. The Tribulation, however, is characterised by a lack of historical prosperity. There is no historical blessing due to the absence of the pivot in heaven. The Tribulation is only a shortened seven years and there is hardly time for anyone who is really positive even to get to maturity. It can be done and at the end of the Tribulation there will be a small group of mature believers but there will be no pivot as we know it in this dispensation, or in previous dispensations. The pivot is being rewarded and decorated in heaven while unrestrained historical disaster occurs on earth during the Tribulation.

While the Tribulation is the greatest period of concentrated unrestrained historical disaster it is not the worst, it is not the intensified stage of the angelic conflict. That is the Church Age. We will note the difference later on. Even the greatest of historical disasters and judgements will not annihilate great portions of the population of the earth; that will occur in the Tribulation. There is no doomsday for the entire human race except for unbelievers at the great white throne judgment, and that comes at the end of history at the end of the Millennium. So not matter how bad things become historically the human race will never be totally destroyed. God has guaranteed the perpetuation of the human race on planet earth until the end of human history which is the end of the Millennium. Nevertheless, there will be times worse than others and the Tribulation being one of the titles for that historical era comes from the fact that there is unrestrained historical disaster. All historical disasters today have restraint.

The Church Age with its adverse trends in a given generation is still a doctrinal portrayal of the principle of grace before judgment. The Millennium with its perfect environment for 1000 years of our Lord’s rule portrays the principle of grace before judgment. Grace before judgment and grace after judgment therefore become a part of the principle of historical trends. Before the Tribulation can occur there will be great opportunity for people to be saved and to avoid great historical disaster. After the Tribulation there will be perfect environment on the earth with our Lord’s rule, so you have grace before judgment, grace after judgment. This means that there is a certain category of historical disaster as divine judgment which is concentrated in the Tribulation. In fact it is so concentrated that it requires a detailed development and Revelation 6-18 deals with that subject.

Judgment never strikes the earth or its human population without warning and without a chance for people to change their minds, called in the KJV “repentance.” For those who repent grace also follows judgment. So we have grace before judgment: the Church Age; we have grace after judgment: the Millennium; we have judgment, a concentrated dose, in the Tribulation. And yet in that worst of all periods of unrestrained disaster, both human and natural, there will still be the preservation of believers. There will still be the potentiality for great happiness and blessing from the perception of Bible doctrine. In the worst of all dispensations from the standpoint of concentrated disaster there will still be among believers in their own souls a general staff so that they can have happiness and blessing, and in a time of great confusion and disorganisation believers with doctrine will still be organised in their souls. That is the principle.

Many of us have had the opportunity of studying the martyrs of the first century and their tremendous poise and courage and integrity as they went to their deaths. They died in many horrible ways and yet not for one moment were they upset or disturbed. The reason: they had a general staff in the soul. They were organised in their souls, they had doctrinal resources. In other words, they could think under pressure. That is exactly what courage is. The person who is a coward is disorganised in his thinking. He becomes emotional, he becomes upset, he panics. Panic means lack of thought. People get upset and disturbed and frightened by things they can’t understand or explain — the hurricane, the volcano, the typhoon, violence, etc., but one of the great demonstrations we will study in the Tribulation is the fact that a general staff never panics. If you can’t think now when things are quiet what do you think you are going to do in time of disaster?

Divine warning of judgment always gives time to utilise the grace of God in the three areas of divine truth — the laws or divine establishment, the gospel, Bible doctrine — and, as a result survive disaster. God never brings great historical disaster to any group of people without giving them time to learn what it takes to handle the disaster, to develop their own general staff in the soul. The survivors of historical disaster, then, have a grace period in which to fulfil the plan of God for their lives. Today in the Church Age historical trends are used as a doctrinal warning system of the coming storm, of historical disaster in the future. Therefore historical trends accomplish for believers collectively what personal divine discipline accomplishes for the believer individually. So the Millennium with its 1000 years of perfect environment of our Lord’s rule portrays the principle of grace after judgment. The Church Age with its adverse trends in a given generation is still a doctrinal portrayal of the principle of grace before judgment. Grace before judgment and grace after judgment becomes therefore an historical trend in any period of history. Judgment never strikes the earth or its human population without warning and a chance to change your mind or repent, in other words. start making good decisions. Divine warning and judgment gives time to utilise the grace of God in the three areas of divine truth and survive the disaster.

The survivors of historical disaster, then, have a grace period in which they have the opportunity of making good decisions and fulfilling the plan of God for their lives. Today in the Church Age historical trends are used as doctrinal warning systems, warning of the coming storm or historical disaster. In this passage there are three different systems of warning; all people are not warned the same way, “lightnings” [visual]; “loud noises” [audio]; “peels of thunder” [intensified audio]. They are not all sensitive to the same warnings so different categories of warnings are given.

Historical trends accomplish for the believers collectively what personal divine discipline accomplishes for the believer individually. The grace warning gives the opportunity for the exploitation of grace and the fact that grace precedes judgment provides the opportunity for survival in any historical disaster in any era of human history.

Moving on in our verse we have “and,” the connective use of the conjunction kai, followed by the indeclinable numeral e(pta and a noun lampaj, “seven torches.” Then there is the descriptive genitive from the noun pur, “of fire” plus the present passive participle of kaiw, “burning.” The descriptive present tense is for an event in the process of occurrence in the vision. The passive voice: the torches receive the action. The participle is circumstantial and with it we have the improper preposition e)nwpion plus the genitive of qronoj, “before the throne.” The preposition is called improper not because it is immoral but simply because it is an adverb used as a preposition. The definite article can be used as a demonstrative pronoun and it can be translated “that throne,” “and seven torches of fire were burning before the throne.”

In Zechariah 12:6 the flaming torch is a symbol of great judgment or historical disaster: “In that day [the end of the Armageddon campaign] I will make the generals of Judah like a firepot among pieces of wood and a flaming torch among sheaves, so they will consume [annihilate] on the right hand and on the left the attacking people [besieging armies], while the inhabitants of Jerusalem will again live in their own homes in Jerusalem.”

In our context there is a similar meaning of the flaming torch: historical disaster in the form of military judgements, religious judgements, economic judgements, social judgements, national or political judgements, natural judgements, disease judgements. Each torch represents a different judgment from the essence of God. At this moment they are burning before the throne, they have not been unleashed upon the population of the earth because there must be a time of grace before judgment.

There are seven flaming torches and they have not yet been thrown into the world. Number one: catastrophe from military judgment; number two: catastrophe from religious judgment; number three: catastrophe from economic judgment; number four: catastrophe from social judgment; number five: catastrophe from political judgment; number six: catastrophe from natural judgements; number seven: catastrophe from disease judgements. All of these seven categories of historical disaster are represented by the seven flaming torches and all of them will be found in the Tribulation. But right now they are in heaven, they are seven torches before the throne not as yet thrown to the earth. Obviously then the Tribulation is one of the most traumatic periods in history.

We have an explanation of the flaming torches in verse five in the phrase beginning with the nominative plural from the relative pronoun oo(j, “even flaming torches which.” We have following a present active indicative of the verb e)imi, correctly translated “are.” The static present tense is for a condition assumed as perpetually existing. The active voice: the seven torches produce the action and, again, the seven torches include military, religious, economic, social, national, natural and disease epidemic historical judgements. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of the seven torches having an analogy to the seven spirits of God.

Next we have the indeclinable numeral e(pta, “seven.” With this we have pneuma plus the genitive of qeoj, “which are the seven Spirits of God.”

Translation: “Also lightnings and loud noises and peals of thunder [the analogy between the warning of the coming storm and the warning of comic historical disaster] proceed from that throne: and the seven torches of fire were burning before that throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.”

The seven Spirits of God were first mentioned in the book of Revelation in 1:4, followed by 3:1 and 4:5. The final one is in chapter 5 verse 6. Already in 1:4 we have noted that the seven Spirits before the throne refer to God the Holy Spirit as the power system for both the prototype and the functional or operational divine dynasphere. The relationship between the two is very important and we had to study Isaiah chapter eleven to define each one those Spirits as an attribute of God the Holy Spirit in His special function during the Church Age. Then in Revelation 3:1 we again encountered the seven Spirits. The Lord Jesus Christ is said to be one who has the seven Spirits. And again this is a reference to the prototype divine dynasphere powered by God the Holy Spirit as the means of sustaining the humanity of Christ during His first advent and the strategic victory of the angelic conflict. Then we have the concept in both of these passages that the seven Spirits are merely attributes of one God the Holy Spirit. The seven Spirits are one Spirit, God the Holy Spirit, whose divine power not only sustained the humanity of Christ during the first advent but also believers during the Church Age. The great principle here is that the Holy Spirit has another ministry as well as gate one of the divine dynasphere. It is the restraining of the function of the seven torches, and that is the subject of the end of this passage. The seven torches remain in heaven until God the Holy Spirit is removed with the Church at the Rapture, after which the flaming torches will become part of the historical trends for the Tribulation. That is the principle found in this concept. In order to understand that we must realise that the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in the Tribulation is related to judgment whereas in this dispensation it is related to restraint. All disasters have restraint and that should be comforting because neither a nuclear holocaust nor a natural disaster can destroy the population of the earth.

There are two words which help us to understand the concept of the seven Spirits. The first is the word “sustaining.” God the Holy Spirit sustains the royal family as the power system of the divine dynasphere. Later on in chapter five we are going to see the word basileia which is generally translated “kingdom” but it has another meaning that is just as important, royal power, and we are going to see the divine dynasphere called basileia. It is the royal power for the royal family and that is a sustaining function which occurs only in the Church Age. Secondly, as long as the royal family is on earth until the Rapture and as long as the divine dynasphere is the modus operandi of the Christian way of life there is a restraining function, the restraining of the human race, and therefore limiting to some extent the various categories of historical disaster. For example, the flaming torches. They remain in heaven before the throne until the divine dynasphere is removed from the earth. The removal of the restraint of God the Holy Spirit and/or the seven Spirits is actually the subject of 2 Thessalonians chapter two verses three through twelve.

“Let no one in any way deceive you” — you are a deceived believer if two things are true: if you are in the cosmic system and if you are ignorant of Bible doctrine; “for it [the restraining function of the seven flaming torches before the throne] will not come unless the falling away from doctrine comes first, and the man of lawlessness [the anti-Christ] is revealed, the son of destruction [so-called because he makes decisions that bring destruction on himself and on certain portions of the population of the earth]; who opposes and exalts himself above every god [so-called] or object of worship [involvement in cosmic one in maximum arrogance]; so that he takes his seat in the temple of God [the Jewish temple of the Tribulation] displaying himself as being God” — he is the equivalent to the abomination of desolation and the statue of Antiochus as Zeus Olympius which we have noted in relationship to the Maccabaean wars in the past. Once more there will be an abomination in the temple in the Tribulation — “Do you not remember that while I was still with you I was teaching you these things? [People do not remember doctrine because they limit their exposure to it. Inculcation is the real secret to momentum in the Christian life] And you know that what restrains him [the great dictator. What restrains him? The seven Spirits of God or God the Holy Spirit using His power inside the divine dynasphere resulting in a pivot of mature believers that restrains disaster] so that in his time [in the Tribulation] he may be revealed. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work [there are military, economic, social, and national disasters, etc. in the Church Age, they are already at work]: only he [God the Holy Spirit] who now restrains them will do so until he is taken out of the way [the Rapture of the Church]. And then shall that Wicked [the lawless one, the anti-Christ, the great dictator] be revealed, whom the Lord will slay with the breath of his mouth [at the second advent], and will bring to and end by the appearance of his coming [the second advent]: that is, the one whose presence is in accord with the activity of Satan [this dictator will be living in the cosmic system and he will be following the policy of Satan].” Restraint on the cosmic system exists therefore at the present time but the restraint on the cosmic system will be removed during the Tribulation, making way for the full impact of the seven flaming torches of historical disaster, “with all power and miracles and false wonders, and with every deception of evil.” Evil is always deception because evil functions on that which is false; “for those who perish; because they do not receive the love of doctrine so that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send on them a deluding influence [the activity of error], so that they might believe what is false [the total life of the believer or unbeliever in the cosmic system. This illustrates the fact that man is the product of his own decisions]: in order that they all might be judged who did not believe doctrine, but approved [or took pleasure in] evil.”

With the removal of the Church at the Rapture or resurrection there is no more pivot of mature believers, no client nations to act as a further restraint on historical disaster, and no God the Holy Spirit of the seven Spirits related to the divine dynasphere, and therefore the seven flaming torches function without restraint in the Tribulation. Therefore the Tribulation is a time of unrestrained historical disaster with emphasis on the seven categories of the flaming torches. The Tribulation is the most traumatic period of human history from the standpoint of historical disaster. Just as the Church Age is the intensified stage of the angelic conflict the Tribulation is the era of unrestrained disaster resulting from human decisions. Never will human decisions be allowed to follow to their own logical conclusions without restraint as in the Tribulation. Therefore the third thing seen in heaven is the anticipation of unrestrained historical disaster resulting from man’s bad decisions. Bad decisions means living in the cosmic system. The manner in which the seven historical catastrophes will be administered is reserved for our study of Revelation chapters six through eighteen.

While planet earth is the place of historical disaster and unprecedented judgment during the Tribulation the Church, having been removed by the Rapture, does not have any more disaster to face. The Church is going to be in heaven and the next half of the next verse will tell us about unprecedented blessing and tranquillity with regard to the Church. The next thing seen in heaven is the antithesis of the turmoil and catastrophe of unrestrained historical disaster during the Tribulation. So we anticipate the sea of glass in heaven which can never be disturbed again. While the Tribulation is occurring on the earth there is a sea of glass or crystal in heaven. This means fantastic tranquillity and blessing which cannot be experienced on earth due to Satan’s rulership.

We move, then, to number four out of the eight things seen in heaven: the Church in tranquillity, verse 6a. We have the adjunctive use of the conjunction kai and it should be translated “also.” Then the improper preposition e)nwpion plus the genitive of qronoj, “before the throne.” The definite article is used simply as a demonstrative pronoun. This is a reference to the throne of God in heaven and the ellipsis demands the use of e)imi, “there was.” Then the relative adverb o(j as an expanded translation, which is legitimate, “as it were.” This is followed by the predicate nominative from qalassa, referring to the sea. We have an anarthrous construction here which means no definite article. The absence of the definite article emphasises the qualitative aspect of the noun. This is no ordinary sea. While the seas of planet earth are unstable, disturbed by atmospheric pressure, wind, currents and temperature, there is no storm on this sea. With this we have the nominative feminine singular from the adjective u(alinoj and it refers to either glass or crystal. We translate is “sea of glass.” Then we have a particle of analogy, o(moioj, indicating what kind of glass, the best kind of glass, and it means “like,” plus the instrumental of association, krustalloj, “crystal.” The sea of glass is translucent and undisturbed, it symbolises a large group of people which in this case refers to the royal family of God in heaven and the analogy is obvious. The Church is in heaven, it cannot be disturbed by the storms of the Tribulation. It is undisturbable, it is in absolute tranquillity. This means that the resurrection body is enjoyed by everyone and it means also that there is no way that we can again be affected by disaster on the earth.

Number five is the angelic heralds of heaven. Heraldry is going to be one of our greater studies and in anticipation we move to the doctrine which we must have before we can interpret anything else in heaven.

The doctrine of angelic hierarchy

1. The angelic hierarchy is divided into two categories and two ranks.

2. The categories include the college of heralds and the army of elect angels.

3. Angels do not have wings but there are several exceptions: wings are used as insignia of rank.

4. Insignia of rank belong to the seraphim — “im” is a plural suffix and we would say “seraphs.” The seraphim are found in Isaiah 6:2 in the Old Testament and Revelation 4:8 in the New Testament. Seraphim simply means six wings. They possess the highest rank insignia. The second category of angels that have rank are called the cherubim (Hebrew) or cherubs (English), found first in Genesis 3:24. We will study them in Ezekiel chapter 10 and in note them in chapters 1 and 28:13ff. The cherub possesses four wings as rank insignia plus the uniform of wisdom.

5. The order of rank is found in both the college of heralds and the elect army of angels.

The order of rank in the college of heralds

1. Number one rank in the college of heralds is the king of arms or the officers of arms. They are special seraphs like the powerful angel, or as we have in the KJV, the strong angel of Revelation 5:2.

2. Number two in order of rank are the angelic heralds, Revelation 4:6, 8. They are seraphs with rank insignia of six wings.

3. The third order of rank are the pur sui vant, the angels without rank or insignia or wings. They are often called messengers; they appear in the form of man. The man clothed in linen in Ezekiel 10; the death angel of the Passover; the angelic messengers that destroyed Sodom in Genesis 19:13; the messenger pur sui vant who destroyed the sinful of Jerusalem in Ezekiel 9:1ff.

The order of rank in the angelic army

1. Adonai Sabaoth, “Lord of the armies.” Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Commander-in-Chief of the many angelic armies.

2. The archangels who command armies of elect angels. For example, there is Michael, the “prince of Israel” of Daniel 10:21. He commands an angelic army that protects Israel and therefore he is also known as the great prince who stands in the time of conflict for “the children of thy people [Israel],” Daniel 12:1. He also defends Israel from the wrath of Satan, Revelation 12:7. It was Michael the archangel who disputed with Satan over the body of Moses after Moses died, Jude 9; 2 Peter 2:11. Another angel commanding angelic armies is Gabriel who also functions as the king of arms in the college of heralds. It was he who was sent to Daniel to explain the visions of Daniel 8:16 and 9:21. Gabriel is one of the kings of arms or officers of arms who was sent to announce the birth of John the Baptist in Luke 1:11, and the birth of Messiah to the virgin Mary in Luke 1:26. In the book of Enoch, which is an extra biblical book of history, four archangels are mentioned — Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel.

3. The angelic general staff which we have previously studied as the twenty-four elders in verse four.

4. We have Sabaoth, the hosts of angelic armies.

In the middle of verse six we actually have number five scene in heaven, the angelic heralds of heaven, verses 6b-11. What we are going to see in verse 6b is the uniform of wisdom worn by four cherubs of the angelic heraldry. They are not “beasts” as in the KJV. A better translation would be “living creatures.”

The sea of glass refers to the tranquillity of the Church in heaven during the Tribulation. In the middle of verse six we read in the KJV: “and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.” We note first the location of the angelic heralds. In the rest of verse six we have the uniform of wisdom worn by the four cherubs of angelic heraldry. From now on we should understand the word cherub and the word seraph. These are the insignias of rank. Angels do not have wings, with several exceptions. In the angelic order of battle and in the angelic hierarchy there are five and even six angels out of the billions of angels that were created that were higher than Satan always, but none of them apparently had the personality or the beauty, for Satan is described in great detail by Isaiah and Ezekiel in terms of tremendous beauty. He is said the be the sum total of beauty and have a magnificent personality and these attributes led to the original sin of any creature, which is arrogance, and from that his attempt to overthrow the entire order of God.

But long before we get to Satanology we are going to see a great deal of Christology where we are going to discover that the key to prophecy is the Lord Jesus Christ and that the subject of prophecy is the Lord Jesus Christ.

We resume now with the connective conjunction kai emphasising a fact as surprising or unexpected, and therefore translated “furthermore.” Then the prepositional phrase e)n plus the locative of mesoj and the descriptive genitive of qronoj, “in the middle of the throne,” and then the connective conjunction kai, “and,” and the locative of place kukloj, which is used as an improper preposition, and finally the genitive of qronoj, “and around the throne.” Kukloj means “around” as a preposition. “Furthermore in the middle of the throne and around the throne” is simply giving the locale of the four angelic heralds. Their identification comes next with two words. The ellipsis demands the insertion of e)imi, “were,” then the predicate nominative from the numeral tessarej, implying that these four took the place of Satan after the fall of Satan. So they occupy a very high rank and place in the angelic hierarchy, and the predicate nominative from the noun zoiwn which is not “beast,” is a living, rational creature. The word has been used of animals but in such cases it is always preceded by an adjective a)loga, which means an unreasoning or non-reasoning creature. When used of man it also has an adjective logika, and when used with zoiwn it means a rational creature, and it is used only for man. Heretical teachers are described by a Greek phrase: a)loga zoia. This means unreasonable animals and is found in Jude 10 and 2 Peter 2:12. The whole cosmos is also called e)n pseuchoj, having a soul, and when it is so described it is called zoiwn, which merely shows why we are translating this way. People point out that “beast” is a good translation here because the word is used for beast. Yes, but always used with the adjective a)loga and never translated “beast” any other way. But here we don’t have a)loga, we have simply zoh plus yuxh which is called zoia and it refers to a living rational creature. It also means a superior rational creature which establishes it as an angel, not an animal. From the descriptions that follow we can tell exactly what type of an angel, an angelic herald.

The word “herald” doesn’t mean just an ordinary messenger. Remember that in the college of heralds you have three categories: the king of arms as the highest category, sometimes called officers of arms; the formal word “herald”; and, pur sui vant, the messenger type. The “living creatures” are the second category and are cherubs or seraphs, and the king of arms is a seraph, the highest possible rank that angelic creatures could have.

Translation: “Furthermore, in the middle of the throne and around that throne [of God in heaven] there were four angelic heralds [four living creatures].”

The heralds were the communicators for the king. A herald, for example, in medieval times held highest rank. He would be a prince or a duke representing the king. In this case the four angelic heralds are representatives in the angelic realm of our Lord Jesus Christ related to His third royal patent. As the messengers of the King they wore the coat of arms of the King as their badge of office. Even the Greek word for a herald was used by Homer for the most trusted person in the king’s order of royalty, khruc, which meant a trusted retainer, the chief under the king, the king’s chief of staff. In performing confidential services for the king the herald became the spokesman for the king and, therefore, the inviolable messenger between states in time of peace or in time of war. In mythology Hermes was the messenger or the herald of the gods. Paul was often mistaken for Hermes because he was eloquent. Even in the Latin the word carried a very high connotation. In the breech of international law by a neighbouring state Rome always sent to that state two heralds to declare the objection of SPQR and a warning to cease and desist on threat of punishment from Rome. The herald was both the representative of a king and the administrator of punishment from the king, and that is its use in this heavenly scene. The angelic heralds not only communicate the policy of our Lord Jesus Christ as the King of kings but they also carry out His plan for history and they lead in angelic worship.

They also have at this time special uniform of distinction, the uniform of wisdom. We have the nominative plural neuter, present active participle of the word gemw. Gemw means to be full, to be covered. The participle is used here, however, as a noun and we will simply translate it that way, “full.” Then the descriptive genitive from o)fqalmoj which means “eyes,” “full of eyes.”

Matthew 6:22 begins to help us with the subject of eyes. What do eyes mean? Obviously these are not eyes working physiologically. It is not a literal eye here. “The lamp of the body is the eye.” Immediately we understand something from that. The eye in the ancient world represented a literal physiological function, seeing, but it also represented something beyond seeing. The eye represented perception. “If therefore your eye is healthy,” a reference to perception of doctrine; “your whole body is full of light,” full of truth, full of doctrine.

We have a phrase that begins in Genesis 18:2 and is used constantly throughout the Old Testament, “to lift up the eyes.” To lift up the eyes means to be inquisitive and therefore to seek information. It often is used for help. In Zechariah 5:5 it means maximum ability to understand truth; in Proverbs 17:24, to “cast the eyes about,” to “cast the eyes to the end of the earth” is synonymous with silly curiosity of a fool, or inability to concentrate on one’s subject and therefore to flitter from subject to subject.

The eyes are used, then, figuratively for doctrinal perception on Psalm 119:18, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things out of your law [Word].” This is not the Mosaic law but the Old Testament. The opening of the eyes has a perceptive connotation, it doesn’t mean to literally, physically open your eyes.

In Ephesians 1:17,18 — “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom [the uniform of wisdom worn by mature believers in time], even from the source of revelation by means of e)pignwsij [full knowledge] knowledge of him.” Why? “That the eyes of your right lobe [not the eyes physiologically], having been enlightened so that you may know [knowledge and perception] what is the hope of his election to privilege, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints”. The darkening of the eye is construed as ignorance. Furthermore, the eye is the index of the mind, what you are thinking, what you are not thinking. Eyes also reveal virtue or lack of virtue. In Job 22:29 lowly eyes speak of the virtue of humility; in Psalm 18:27 lofty eyes speak of the greatest of all sins and motivating evil — arrogance; the “seven eyes of the Lamb” which we will study in Revelation 5:6 speak of our Lord’s omniscience. The eyes of the four angelic heralds refer to a special honour, the uniform of wisdom. These four angelic creatures were apparently below Satan at one time. Satan was up high under the title “Anointed Cherub,” but they persisted in the angelic conflict long before man was created. They plugged along and they learned doctrine, they learned doctrine, they were not embarrassed to come to Bible class every night! And when Satan in his arrogance went down they plugged along until they received the highest honour that can be received by an angelic creature for learning doctrine, the uniform of wisdom, a robe “full of eyes” representing consistency in perception of doctrine. In other words, they have replaced Satan as the anointed cherub, they now hold a higher rank. They arrived at that through their positive volition toward doctrine.

The application to us is very simple. It isn’t the smart Christian, the personable Christian, the enthusiastic Christian, the “Ra, Ra, Ra” type, who is going to make it. It is the plugger, the person who learns today, tomorrow, the next day, and the next day. He is the person who is often ridiculed as being an imbecile. The person who sticks with it is the person who is going to make it. This is very important because eternity is a long, long time, and there are going to be great distinctions of believers in eternity. Wisdom demands consistency of perception; wisdom is not “flash in the pan,” it is not instability; wisdom is having all the facts and having accumulated them over a period of time through consistent perceptive activity.

The uniform of glory is awarded to believers at the judgment seat of Christ; the uniform of wisdom was in eternity past a reward to those elect angels who advanced to spiritual maturity prior to human history. The system of advance is delineated by the nature of the award, the eyes, a robe with many, many, many eyes [perception]. The award was given before man was created to those angels whose maximum perception of doctrine and resultant wisdom resulted in the highest achievement in the spiritual life. All spiritual advance, then, whether angelic in the past [the angels are now in their eternal state] or man in human history is related to perception of Bible doctrine, persistent positive volition toward truth. Therefore their eyes represent wisdom, or what is comparable to us: gate four of the divine dynasphere, perception and application of Bible doctrine.

“Full of eyes” in our verse refers to the uniform of wisdom which means maximum perception of doctrine in eternity past, in the angelic conflict after they had gone through whatever was their salvation. They first of all became elect angels, they followed the plan of God in the perception of truth, they advanced to maturity, some more than others, and the highest achievement is found in this uniform of wisdom. At least four of the elect angels possess, therefore, the highest honour of angelic chivalry, the uniform of wisdom. The uniform of wisdom indicates the highest possible spiritual IQ at the time of their evaluation, or whatever their judgment seat was, came to pass, the highest possible IQ for all eternity. These four heralds replace Satan as the guardian of the throne room.

There is another principle that will come out of this as the passage develops: the smarter the creature — the elect creatures in the case of the angels — the more they love God and the more they are motivated by God. We are not talking about human IQ but perception of doctrine and its accumulation in the soul.

Please notice that man or other creatures are not even in the picture. The smarter the person spiritually the more they love God. Man isn’t even in it at this point. All true honour and integrity must come from being motivated by God, not motivated by people. You see, most people in their human relationships are motivated by being attracted to someone. If someone is attractive they are motivated to be nice to them and that becomes the most fundamental motivation in human history, and it is a very false one. Human beauty and human attractiveness is a false motivation. It is a false motivation for a relationship and this is why relationships are unstable, why they never reach any fruition, why they fluctuate in every possible way. This is why people cannot maintain a friendship or love for the opposite sex, because they base everything on human attractiveness. By so doing they eliminate integrity and that is why society declines and moves into degeneracy because the basis for good human relationship is love for God — motivating virtue. These angels in eternity have reached the peak of that concept and they teach us a great lesson. They had during the time of angelic history before the time for eternity for angels began — divided into two parts: elect and fallen angels — they had through their perception of doctrine a greater love for god than any creature. At the point of Satan’s fall through arrogance, “I will be like the most high God,” was the start of the whole thing, and so angelic history began, the angelic conflict began. And Satan who is the most attractive of all creatures coming from the hand of God and who was elevated to the highest position, is out. Now truth is presented in at least two forms, what we call category two, the gospel, whatever it was, and category three for those who believed the gospel [those were the elect angels]. Truth took four angelic creatures even to a higher place than Satan ever occupied because when Satan occupied the highest place he was a cherub. That means he had four wings, the second highest rank. But these four go higher, they go to the seraph rank [six wings], and they did it through perception of truth for that truth gave them a love for God and motivation from God and, therefore, the highest form of virtue and integrity. The more they loved God, therefore, the more they worshipped God.

We often think of worship as genuflecting, as sitting in an uncomfortable chair called a pew, as singing a hymn or doing a couple of things like taking the communion elements. We are going to get an entirely new concept of worship that will come up very shortly.

The more these angels loved God the more they worshipped God but you must understand that this love and worship is the basis for fantastic relationship among creatures. If you put creature relationship above love for God you are going to be miserable all of your life. Your social life is going to be a mess; your spiritual life is going to be a mess. It works that way. Most people have a bad spiritual life because they have a bad social life, not vice versa. It is the social life that goes bad and then the spiritual life goes bad. People are influenced by people rather than being influenced by doctrine and because they are not influenced by doctrine they have a very bad spiritual life. But it only starts with the social life. People leave churches, people get disappointed, people get distracted by people, not by God. God doesn’t distract them. Therefore a bad social life guarantees a bad spiritual life. You will never straighten out creature relationships until you have a genuine love for God. And you don’t hang around singing hymns to work up a love for God, emotion is not love. At best emotion is one of the responders in true love. Expression for loving God comes in two forms: perception of doctrine is the way it is developed and then the response to that doctrine in your soul toward God is worship; and then your love for God in true worship — we haven’t defined true worship yet but we will — comes to motivating love. If you truly love God you have motivating virtue, and if you have then your relationship with people is going to be wonderful. You will have friends who will love you dearly. You can have, if the Lord provides, a wonderful relationship with a member of the opposite sex and you will fulfil functional virtue by your attitude toward all humanity, those who hate you, those who despise you. You will not seek revenge, you will not malign, judge or fight back.

It takes wisdom, maximum doctrine to love God; it takes wisdom [Bible doctrine] to worship God; it takes wisdom from Bible doctrine to produce motivating virtue for this life and no believer can succeed in human relationships or produce virtue toward man and circumstances in this life without love of God, which is a motivating virtue. Motivating virtue is relationship with God through perception of doctrine. Life is meaningless and human relationship is disappointing apart from motivational virtue. Motivational virtue cannot exist even as the believers love of God is not real unless he possesses that maximum doctrine in his soul. And you don’t get it all at once. It takes today, tomorrow, the next day, and so on.

The four angelic heralds are doctrinally the smartest elect angels, that is, in the eternal state. Satan, by his creation, was the super genius. His genius was manifest by his development of the cosmic system for the rulership of the world. But these four creatures are the smartest creatures, even though they were not originally, by attainment. To be smart naturally certainly brings no credit to yourself; to be smart by attainment certainly does. It is far, far better to be learning all of your life and to increase in wisdom than to have been born with great IQ and decline. So the four angelic heralds are doctrinally the smartest of all angelic creatures and they demonstrate their wisdom in several worship passages we will study. They will demonstrate at that time the function of the uniform of wisdom. We have only just begun this study.

Principle

1. The eyes (“full of eyes”) must be defined in terms of other scripture. When you have hyperbole, analogy and some form of setting up things that occasionally spiritualised you must have some justification from some other portion of the Word. Our justification begins at Matthew 6:22. What are these eyes? “The lamp of the body is the eye,” meaning perception. Obviously the eye is used here not in its literal sense but in its figurative sense. “If therefore your eye is healthy” — a reference to perception of doctrine — “then your whole body is full of light.” You have doctrine in your soul.

2. To “lift up the eyes” is a phrase used quite frequently, especially in the Old Testament. To lift up the eyes and to look up, or to lift up the eyes and look around means to seek for information and often for help. This is especially true of passages like Genesis 18:2 and Zechariah 5:5.

3. To “cast about the eyes” is also a phrase found in the Old Testament. To cast about the eyes so that they are at the ends of the earth doesn’t mean that your eyes jump out of your head and go to the ends of the earth obviously. In other words, we are talking about a figurative use of the eyes and Proverbs 17:24 says exactly that, and it is synonymous with silly curiosity. There is genuine interest and silly curiosity. This is the silly curiosity of the fool who is unable to concentrate.

4. The eyes are used figuratively for doctrinal perception in Psalm 119:18, “Open thou mine eyes that I might behold wonderful things out of thy law [the Old Testament].”

5. Ephesians 1:17,18, “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom, even from the source of revelation [the Word of God] by means of e)pignwsij [full knowledge] knowledge: that they eyes of your right lobe having been enlightened,” the perceptive concept is again the connotation of eyes.

6. The darkening of the eyes can be construed as ignorance.

7. The eye is the index of the mind, what you are thinking or not thinking. Lowly eyes speak of humility in Job 22:29; lofty eyes speak of arrogance in Psalm 18:27.

We have been studying the concept of the uniform of wisdom and how it relates to worship, and what the true connotation of worship is from this passage. So we review the concept before moving on.

1. Like the uniform of glory awarded to believers at the judgment seat of Christ the “full of eyes in the front and in the back” is the uniform of wisdom and as such is an eternal reward to certain elect angels who advanced to spiritual maturity in angelic history.

2. The reward, the uniform of wisdom, was given to angelic creatures before man was created and it was given for maximum perception of whatever revelation God gave during the course of angelic history. Whatever form of revelation of doctrine they had there were those who accepted it and those who rejected it, and varying degrees, just a we have it among believers in the time in which we live. A lot of believers are even more anti-doctrinal than liberal unbelievers! And, of course, we have very positive volition, we have negative volition and we have everything in between. This was true in a previous creature history, the angelic conflict.

3. All spiritual advance, whether angels or mankind, is related to perception of doctrine, perception of truth, as it is presented to that phase of history whether it is angelic history before man existed or human history after the creation of man.

4. The eyes, therefore, represent wisdom in the angelic creation, exactly what gate four and its function in the divine dynasphere means to us, the royal family.

5. “Full of eyes” describes the uniform of wisdom which means maximum perception and application of doctrine or its equivalent, in angelic history, that is, pre-human history.

6. At least four saved or elect angels possess this highest honour of wearing the uniform of wisdom.

7. The uniform of wisdom indicates the attainment of the highest possible spiritual knowledge, and that is for all eternity. Therefore the principle out of which comes the concept of worship in this concept: the smarter they are the more they love God, and the smarter they are and the more they love God the more they are motivated by God. That is true for elect angels and it is also true for believers. Being smart here has to do with persistence in positive volition toward revealed truth resulting in the accumulation of information and, where necessary, its application for this is one of the parallel situations between angelic history of the past and human history of the present.

8. The more they love God the more they worship God (worship as a quality, not as a time) filling concept. The expression for loving God comes therefore in two forms which applies to us right now: the expression comes first in the form of worship and, secondly, in motivation — motivating virtue. It takes wisdom or maximum doctrine to love God and there is no love of God apart from cognisance of doctrine. It takes wisdom from Bible doctrine to worship God; it takes wisdom from Bible doctrine to produce virtuous, honourable motivation in life.

In other words, the principle: no believer can succeed in human relationships or produce virtue from self-righteousness. Self-righteousness is arrogance and it destroys virtue. In fact the most evil people are not the most obviously sinful people. The most evil people are the self-righteous, moral people who have the worst form of arrogance and who are constantly trying to change the lives and adjust the lives or malign the lives of other people, and who will not function under the great principle of live and let live. They even build whole systems of what they call Christianity, but it is really religion, on their purity, and they form the “purity circle”: we don’t do this, therefore we are better than everyone else. What they are saying is effect is: “We do not have an old sin nature.” But what they are in reality is involved in Satan’s cosmic system. Self-righteous arrogance inevitably leads to crusader arrogance, they want everyone to be as they are: self-righteous, arrogant, horribly evil people. They are not obviously carnal, they are subtly evil which is far worse. The arrogance factor, once it is linked with some form of self-righteousness, becomes a motivating system for evil. And these people inhabit all kinds of churches and they utter all kinds of pious phrases, and they are always looking down their nose at someone and maligning and judging someone. And yet, they themselves are the lowest form of Christian, and that is truly tragic because they are blinded by their arrogance to their own condition. They are too busy setting themselves up as an example.

One of the most overworked things in Christianity is the setting an example thing. In other words, setting an example in not Christianity. Setting an example is far from it The whole basis of Christianity is the integrity of the soul and all setting an example is is “monkey see, monkey do.” That’s all. It is superficial, it is overt, it is conforming to an overt mould and it is not Bible doctrine in the soul. It isn’t integrity and, above all, it is not love of God. So no believer can succeed in relationship with people or produce virtue toward man and circumstances unless he is motivated by genuine love of God. And that means lots of doctrine. All of your self-righteousness comes from ignorance of doctrine.

Motivating virtue is relationship with God through perception of Bible doctrine. And that same perception that produces the motivation has a base called “love of God,” category #1 love. It produces something in the soul in the individual believer called worship, and they always go together: love of God from perception of doctrine produces worship as the expression of that love toward God and motivation as the honourable function toward the human race. All of this is related to the eyes, the uniform of wisdom. In other words, life is meaningless and human relationship is disappointing apart from the true motivational virtue. The true motivational virtue is love of God. Motivational virtue cannot exist, even as the believer’s love for God (Being a believer doesn’t mean that you love God at all; most believers do not love God) can only be real and genuine and not a superficial, emotional statement when that believer has maximum perception of doctrine. Christianity demands one thing that this generation of believers has ignored: it demands love for God. How can you fulfil the principle of virtue in impersonal love and how can you have good relationships with people if you are a born-again believer and you have no love for God?

The wisdom of gate four of the divine dynasphere is comparable to the uniform of wisdom worn by these four angelic heralds. These four angelic heralds are doctrinally the smartest of elect angels in their eternity. When Satan said, “I will be like the most high God,” he began the history of the angelic conflict. That lasted for an unknown length of time but there came a point of eternity. All of these angels were either what we call saved angels, i.e. elect angels, or they were fallen angels, and the judgment of the lake of fire (Matthew chapter 25) had already been pronounced. The lake of fire was created for the devil and his angels, not for human beings. So Satan made his appeal and in order to resolve that appeal in a totally just and fair manner compatible with the holiness of God, the righteousness and justice of God, then man was created and placed on planet earth so that every reference to angelic creatures in prophecy is where they are already in eternity. The angelic conflict continues but as far as these angels are concerned all of them are in eternity, it is not a question of any more evangelism among angels.

The fallen angels are divided into two categories: demons and those who are in Tartarus as a result of Genesis 6. So whatever their function in the angelic conflict their eternity has begun, just as those who win the order of the morning star and the uniform of glory and the new knighthood and the coat of arms, and all of the other things we have noted, when they return with Christ they return in resurrection bodies and they rule with Christ during the Millennium, but they are in eternity. The existence of their resurrection body means eternity. But there are a lot of believers, like the Tribulational believers who survive the Tribulation, who go into the Millennium under the baptism of fire. They are believers who become a cadre for the new population of the Millennium and they are still in physical bodies, they are still in time. But the believers who rule them will be in eternity. This is very important in interpretation; it is rightly dividing the Word of truth. You must distinguish where eternity begins for any form of rational creature who has a relationship with God or has rejected a relationship with God. That is why the first resurrection is an echelon resurrection, “every man in his own order [tacij, battalion],” says 1 Corinthians 15. Right now there is only one form of humanity that has a resurrection body — Alpha company is the only company that has passed the reviewing stand, and that is the resurrection of Christ. Coming up somewhere along the line, whether today or tomorrow or a hundred years or a thousand years, we have Bravo company. That is the Church. Once the Church passes the reviewing stand that is eternity. The fact that people die during the Church Age and have an interim body and have great interim blessing is preliminary to eternity. It is the resurrection body, the final state of the body, that determines eternity. All angelic creatures are in their final state, they are in eternity and they are functioning in eternity. And then Charlie company will pass in review at the second advent. That is the Old Testament believers. You might point out that they died first so why don’t they get the resurrection body first. The principle is: rank has its privileges. It will always be that way. The believers of this dispensation are royal family and royalty comes first. Then we get Moses and Elijah and the Old Testament saints and the Tribulational martyrs (including the believers who died in the Tribulation, they are not all martyrs). Then there is Delta company made up of the Millennial believers, the people who are evangelised during the Millennium. At the end of the Millennium they will receive their resurrection body without physical death, unless they are criminals because in the Millennium crime is going to be punished by death immediately.

So the principle then: the four angelic creatures are doctrinally the smartest of the elect angels in eternity. There are one or two possible exceptions we will note but they are only possible.

Principle

1. God is the most important person to know. If you don’t know God, “you ain’t nothin’.” But being acquainted with God is one of the most detrimental things in life — not in eternity, in life. It isn’t knowing God that counts, it is loving God that counts. You are given time after salvation to love God. You don’t fall in love with God instantly and have maximum love. Love, both in the human race and in any creature situation, is not an instant thing. That is emotion; that is response in ignorance. All true love must be cognisance. If you say you fell in love instantly what you are really are saying is that were attracted to an attractive person in ignorance. You don’t know anything about them, you just liked the way they looked. True love comes from cognisance. The attraction is still there but you have to know the person.

2. The uniform of wisdom, “the eyes,” emphasises knowing God through Bible doctrine and it refers to the angels during the course of their history before their eternity began. And these angels were the highest, so when you are talking about capacity for love you are looking at four great lovers, these four angelic heralds. We are going to see that each one of them bears one quarter of the arms of the King of kings. When our Lord Jesus Christ received His third royal patent He received a complete coat of arms but it is so great that not one herald can bear it. And when you see the eagle and the lion and all of these various symbols that you find in the King James Version we are talking about a total coat of arms, we are talking about the arms of the Lord Jesus Christ from His third royal patent. And one angel couldn’t bear it, but the fact that these angels are bearing the coat of arms and millions and millions of other angels are not tells that they achieved something in their history that no other four angels achieved. They learned enough doctrine to have maximum love for God, the highest perceptive point. They are the smartest of all creatures in the angelic realm and angels, at this point at least, are infinitely smarter than human beings.

3. Furthermore, the uniform of wisdom is an angelic reward for elect angels who advance to the equivalent of spiritual maturity through their positive response to truth [doctrine] as it was presented in angelic history.

4. There are many subjects about which man is ignorant and no one can know everything about every subject, but the gaps of human ignorance is not really the issue in the human stage of the angelic conflict. The gaps of human ignorance comes from the fact that only what the Bible reveals about the prehistoric angelic conflict we can know. Only what we need to know at this time is revealed in the Bible. To have all of the distinctions among angels there had to be certain things that happened in their history. But we don’t know all the things that happened. Only when it is necessary for us to know in order to establish certain things, in order to learn certain principles in order to apply those principles to our own experience. Therefore, inevitably it is the principle that counts.

5. The only way to compensate for human ignorance in the many areas of human knowledge is to know all about God, and God has put in His Word everything we need to know about Him.

6. Therefore Bible doctrine is the one field which the believer cannot afford to neglect.

7. Ignorance of Bible doctrine is disastrous to the Christian.

8. The uniform of wisdom is an eternal reward, a monument to the persistent positive volition toward doctrine on the part of certain elect angels. Their coat of arms is the coat of wisdom and with their coat of arms each one of them bears one quarter of the arms of our Lord’s third royal patent. Understand that bearing arms is the same as carrying a coat of arms. You don’t carry a coat of arms, you bear it.

We now have the two adverbs at the end of this verse, e)mprosqen which means “in front,” and then o)pisqen which means “behind.” Translation: “full of eyes both in front and in back” of that coat of arms.

Anticipating chapter six, these angelic heralds, each one bearing one quarter of the arms of our Lord’s third royal patent, will be proclaiming the judgements of the Tribulation. That is, they will announce as heralds from the throne certain historical trends which will occur in the Tribulation. For example, the first herald, once our Lord breaks the seals, will make the announcement. He will announce the first historical trend of the Tribulation in Revelation 6:1. The second herald will announce the second historical trend, and so on. Secondary to the angelic heralds we will also see the pur sui vant [French for “the pursuers” or “the followers”]. The pur sui vant functions as a state messenger, as an officer who executes warrants under the heralds. There are actually four pur sui vant, that belong in the English college of heralds. There is the red cross, there is the blue mantle, the gate herald of the castle, and the red dragon. That is actually the four pur suit vant that function under anyone who is a herald. In other words, a herald is a high nobleman. Under him there may be a pur sui vant who is a commoner, he has no title at all. But he is learning the thing and some day he may be knighted. He may be, of course, the gate herald of the castle, but some day he may move up and become the red cross, the highest. The from there he may be knighted and then some day he will be a herald. This is the background for this concept we have here. These angels are actually heralds and this is the reason for using it. They actually announce policy of the King and issue mandates in the name of the King.

All of this helps us to distinguish between the various ranks of heralds because what they do in the book of Revelation depends on their rank. The higher in rank the more important things you do; the more you advance spiritually the more important your production for the Lord becomes.

Verse 7, the four heralds bear the arms of the King of kings and Lord of lords. The first herald: we start with the copulative conjunction kai, introducing him under the word “Now.” Then we have the adjective of sequence in the nominative neuter singular from, prwtoj. Then we have that word that is so horribly translated in the KJV. We have the nominative singular neuter subject, zoiwn. The nominative neuter subject is translated “herald.” It means a living creature. These living creatures are designated heralds because they bear the arms of the King [the Lord Jesus Christ] and because of their modus operandi in context through several chapters. The ellipsis demands the verb to be, “Now the first angelic herald was.” Then we have a comparative adjective in order to give the portion of the King’s arms which he is bearing. The instrumental of association of a noun plus a comparative adjective, o(moioj, which means “like.” The noun is leon, “lion,” “like a lion.” The lion is the first part of our Lord’s escutcheon under His third royal title because it goes back to His second royal and relates the two titles He earned from His humanity.

Our Lord, up until the time of the virgin birth, was eternal God. That means He was coequal with God the Father, He had the same identical essence, He had the same sovereignty, the same eternal life, the same infinity, the same omniscience as the Father and the Holy Spirit. But at the point of the virgin birth, the hypostatic union with His deity now linked forever with His humanity, He was born a King. He was directly descended both from His real human mother [of His humanity, not the mother of God] from David and Bathsheba through their youngest son, Nathan, and through His not real father, Joseph he is descended directly from David and Bathsheba through Solomon. So we have two lines. The line of Joseph is traced back to Solomon and the line of Mary is traced through Nathan. So He was born a King and therefore out of this comes His second royal title; it was one into which He was born physically, He is the King of Israel. Immediately you can see where the lion comes in. He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

After His death, burial, resurrection and ascension He received His third royal patent but He had no royal family, and therefore the Age of Israel is halted and the Church Age begins so that He can call out a royal family which is formed by the baptism of the Spirit, or being entered into union with Christ at the point of salvation.

The lion, then, is that part of the coat of arms that recognises His relationship to Israel. It refers to Christ as the future ruler of Israel forever. This part of our Lord’s coat of arms refers to His second royal patent and it results from the virgin birth. The title of the second royal patent is Son of David and the coat of arms bears the Lion of the tribe of Judah. This title, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, will be used in Revelation 5:5. As the Son of David, as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, our Lord will fulfil the unconditional covenants to Israel. The first herald bears the coat of arms related therefore to our Lord’s second royal patent. This will be exercised at the second advent when He regathers Israel. Generally speaking, this part of our Lord’s coat of arms is comparable to the content of the first gospel, the Gospel of Matthew. Each one of the quarters of the coat of arms will relate to one of the gospels in a general sense. Matthew is the gospel of the King; Matthew is the gospel of His second royal patent.

We have been noting order of battle in the angelic hierarchy, an extremely important principle as far as the interpretation of the book of Revelation is concerned. We have seen several categories of this hierarchy, first by badge of rank: the seraphim with their six wings. Angels do not have wings, only those who have unusually high rank, and the seraph is a six-winged badge indicating the highest rank in the angelic realm; the cherub with four wings in next in order of rank, with four wings; the rest have no wings at all.

There are two categories: the military category; the angelic hierarchy; and we have seen, for example, our Lord Jesus Christ who is described under His title of Adonai Sabaoth [Lord of the armies] and He is the Commander-in-Chief of the angelic hierarchy in the military category. Under Him we have the various categories such as the archangel and the 24 General Staff officers who are called in our passage “elders.” These Staff Officers will play a very important part later on in the book of Revelation. It is the college of heralds that comes into focus at this time since this is the first category of doctrine with which we must deal in understanding the Tribulation and making the proper application to the Church Age.

In the college of heralds we first of all have the king of arms or officers of arms as the highest rank in the angelic creatures. Next we have the actual heralds, four of which we are now studying. Each one of these four heralds, called “beasts” in the KJV, and obviously poor translation that cannot even be blamed on anachronism, bears one quarter of our Lord’s arms, the coat of arms of our Lord Jesus Christ related to His human and humanity patents of royalty. This coat of arms is actually divided into four parts so that each one of these heralds bears a part of it. Then we have in chapter seven, especially verse two, the pur sui vant, the third order in the college of heralds. As we have noted, in the British system of heraldry there are four categories of pur sui vant. There is the red cross, the highest; the blue mantle, the second highest; the gate herald of the castle in ancient times but who now have different functions, the third highest; finally, there is the red dragon.

So pur sui vant has played a very important function wherever royalty has existed in the past, and royalty always means success. Royalty often fails in generations that follow but no one ever achieved any form of royalty without being successful, without being great, without having integrity, without having honour, and without having overcome a tremendous number of obstacles in life. So royalty stands for success in past history and, of course, in angelic history even more so because these are permanent and eternal rewards from infinite God whose wisdom and justice only gives reward on the basis of the execution of His perfect plan in the angelic conflict.

Now we must get back to a principle since we are dealing with the first angelic herald and we are dealing with one quarter of our Lord’s coat of arms. We are dealing with that part of the coat of arms which is related to Israel and His second royal patent. In order to understand this in detail we have to remember another principle, that the book of Revelation is union station for the Bible and many times the explanation for what we find very briefly stated in the book of Revelation is given in greater detail, or an explanation is given of the terms and the usage, in some other portion of the Word.

We have to begin somewhere and we must recognise the fact that all races were defined and classified from Noah and his three sons after the flood, Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. All races come from these three sons. That is, all races except one. One race was invented, descending from Shem, the Semitic side, with the circumcision of Abraham. Abraham was Semitic but the circumcision of Abraham at age 99 was the beginning of a new race, the Jews. From this, of course, we have historical eras.

For example, historical era #1 was the age of positive volition plus perfect environment on the earth — from the creation of man until the fall of man.

Then the next age is the historical era of negative volition — dispensations are merely historical eras from the divine viewpoint — and that went from the fall of man to the Tower of Babel. Internationalism from the first United Nations (Babel) meant that there had to be a system of establishment to protect the human race from destroying itself.

So there is a third category, and that is the historical era of establishment. The laws of divine establishment were presented and nationalism became the order of the day to protect the human race. Number four is the one that is pertinent.

Historical era #4 has some overlaps but it is the first nation to God, Israel. But to become a client nation to God it became necessary to have a new race for from a new race comes a new culture. Establishment wasn’t even working in the third historical era from the Tower of Babel to the times of the Gentiles.

The founding of Israel as a client nation began with a new race and so first of all we have the first era in the Age of Israel which is the new race era. That takes us from Abraham to Moses. Abraham is the father of the Jewish race. Then at the time of Moses and after 400 years of training in slavery, a very important part of Jewish history, they learned many things there that were to help them later on. Then from Moses to Christ we have the age of the nation, the first client nation to God. Israel was the first client nation and the only client nation to God until AD 70. So we have some overlap in these historical eras.

Number five is the era of the royal family of God, the Church Age, and included also is the times of the Gentiles, beginning in 70 AD, which means that today only Gentile nations are client nations to God.

Then there is era #6 which is the Tribulation, also known as Daniel’s seventieth week. It is the era of unrestrained historical disaster, a very short period of history, seven years, and it is shortened because unrestrained disaster perpetuated for any length of time would eventually destroy the population of the world.

Number seven comes at the second advent, the Millennial reign of our Lord Jesus Christ where there is 1000 years of perfect environment.

Now the thing that is least understood is this period, the fourth era of human history, as the extension and perpetuation and conclusion of the angelic conflict. The first problem in understanding it is that we don’t understand what a contract is. In the Old Testament the contract was called berith, and it is translated “covenant” but that may not be a very good translation. It is better than “testament” however, there is no such thing as and old testament and a new testament, it is really old covenant and new covenant. Testament is really an inferior translation because it destroys half of the meaning of the berith. When this came into the Greek in the New Testament berith was called diaqhkh, and it means a contract. It means that only once in history has there ever been a contract with individuals and groups totally apart from any other race or people, and that is with Israel.

So in order to understand the first part of our Lord’s royal arms and His second royal patent it becomes necessary to go back and examine very briefly the contracts, the covenants of Israel. The contract simply was a system where God is party of the first part and He makes a favourable disposition toward party of the second part, client nation Israel which came out of the youngest race called Israel. In understanding this we have to go back to the fact that God as party of the first part guarantees the fulfilment of the contract whether party of the second part does their job or not. In other words, nothing depends on the human part of the contract. Eternal God has made a contract with Israel and in this contract He has recognised their failures, their successes. But their failures and their successes, while temporarily eliminating the client nation, cannot eliminate God keeping His promises to Israel in the future.

There are five contracts to Israel, generally classified as conditional and unconditional. Understanding the difference becomes, of course, very important. So let us very briefly, then, begin to look at some of these contracts so that we can appreciate what is meant here in this beautiful coat of arms of the herald. The first angelic herald was like a lion, and all that it means and all that it will mean as it comes up in the future is very important to us. By very definition a contract eliminates the concept of the testament, it doesn’t depend on death, it depends upon the grace of God. It depends upon party of the first part having integrity. God has perfect integrity as indicated by our studies of His holiness, His righteousness and His justice. The primary issue is grace or favour, therefore conditional or unconditional is always a secondary consideration as these covenants are enumerated. The key to the contracts to Israel is Jewish client nation status which, again, eliminates categories conditional and unconditional. Once understood under the client nation connotation neither a conditional nor an unconditional covenant is a proper issue regarding the subject. The law was always called conditional and the others were called unconditional.

The actual contracts are five in number. First there is the Abrahamic contract. God made a contract with Abraham and it dealt with the race for the client nation. Secondly there was a land contract which is called the Palestinian covenant by theologians of orthodox persuasion. This is the land for the client nation to occupy in the future. The third is called the Mosaic law and it is a policy for the client nation, both spiritual and temporal. The fourth is the Davidic covenant or contract and it is the dynasty for the client nation forever. Then there is a fifth called the new covenant or new contract to Israel which deals with the restoration of the client nation Israel at the second advent and its Millennial modus operandi and permanent function as the client nation to God.

Each one of these covenants must be distinguished from other covenants or contracts which are found in the Bible. For example, there are also five contracts dealing with the Messianic line. The Adamic covenant of Genesis 2:15 or Genesis 3:15 talks about the seed of the woman, the woman being Eve, and the seed of the woman, the humanity of Christ or His coming in hypostatic union; in Genesis 6:18 and 8:21 through 9:17 there is a Noahic covenant, the contract to Noah in which the seed of the woman, the humanity of Christ, will descend through Seth the son of Noah; the third is the Abrahamic contract beginning in Genesis 12:1-3, and mentioned in 13, 15, 22; Exodus 6:2-8, in which the seed of the woman, the humanity of Christ, will descend from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This means that our Lord’s humanity is by race Jewish. Then there is the Davidic covenant, the one that is pertinent to our passage in verse 7, found in 2 Samuel 7 and Psalm 89, in which the seed of the woman, the humanity of Christ, will descend from the tribe of Judah in Israel and specifically from the family of Jesse through his son David. Then, finally, there is the new covenant to Israel in Jeremiah 31; Romans 11:27; Galatians 4:4; Hebrews 8 and 10, in which the seed of the woman, the humanity of Christ, will return to the earth at the second advent to restore Israel from its present status. They are scattered and under the fifth cycle of discipline. This means that during the times of the Gentiles which began in AD 70: the Church Age began in 30 AD and the first 40 years of the Church Age, in part, was devoted to warning Israel of coming disaster, the fifth cycle of discipline. In fact that was the only purpose of the gift of tongues because, you see client nation Israel was responsible for the evangelism of the world as well as their own nation. They failed. So the big warning that Isaiah gave was, “Look along are going to come some people who are going to evangelise you in Gentile languages miraculously. You are Jews but you are going to hear the gospel given miraculously in Gentile languages and that is a warning that you are going to be cut off as a client nation and that throughout the Church Age the time will come, 70 AD, when we will have the times of the Gentiles when only a Gentile nation can function as a client nation to God.”

Now a Gentile nation, the USA, is the prominent client nation to God. It is not a Jewish nation. It is true that we have a Jewish nation functioning in Palestine, and periodically throughout the Church Age this has been true and it will continue to be true. There will be Jewish nations and they will continue to come and go. In the Tribulation we will see a Jewish nation and number one target for Satan throughout the Church Age and the Tribulation is the Jewish nation. The reason for this will be dealt with in a detailed study of Revelation chapter twelve where anti-Semitism is covered in great detail, both historically and prophetically. But that isn’t the issue at this time. But there is always one issue: Satan seeks to destroy the Jew wherever he can. While many Jews live in the cosmic system as his slaves it is still Satan’s objective to destroy the Jew, because it is the only way that Satan could ever win that court case that was tried before man existed on the earth.

The court case had to do with the fact that eternity came for all angels and all fallen angels under Satan were sentenced to the lake of fire for all eternity. And Satan appealed the case and as a result man, an inferior creature, was created. He was created with one thing in common with angels: the soul and the volition. And in the creation of man the case is being won and will be won by God because during the course of human history if even one person believes in the Lord Jesus Christ the case is lost. Therefore Satan’s only chance to keep the case from being won is to destroy every Jew on the face of the earth. That is because God has made a contract with Abraham, reiterated to Isaac and to Jacob. He has made a contract with regard to land in the Middle East, land that includes everything from Saudi Arabia to part of Persia. He has also made a contract with David and He also made a new contract to Israel scattered under the fifth cycle of discipline. But the major issue is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Lion that is found in Revelation 4:7, for if all Jews can be destroyed before the second advent then God is a liar, does not keep His word, has not kept His word, and He has in effect destroyed His case against Satan.

It all began with Abraham. God promised Abraham that throughout human history there would always be Jews and that if anyone turned against the Jews God would punish that individual or that nation. He also made it very clear that Israel would need punishment but it would come directly from God, and that He did not need any help — same concept that we have with regard to gossip. When people gossip about other people inevitably they are punished for it and they suffer for it. They manufacture their own pain. God doesn’t need any help in handling believers even as God does not need any help in dealing with Israel, whether He is giving them blessing or whether He is punishing them. So we have, then, the concept and it all began with the contract with Abraham. It is called the Abrahamic covenant. This is a grace contract in which God as party of the first part has made a favourable disposition to Abraham. Up until Abraham was aged 99 he had been a Gentile, now he is made a Jew, the first Jew in history. As a Jew he would be the father of Jews, the entire Jewish race. It is a new race and a race which has a purpose as far as the plan of God is concerned. As a matter of fact it has an even more important purpose in heaven for when God established a new race called the Jews and when God gave that race certain promises all Satan has to do is to keep those promises from being fulfilled and in effect he has won his case. And God, as it were, to use an anthropomorphism, stuck His neck out all the way for the Jew. This has nothing to do with the individual personality of any Jew, this has nothing to do with Jews as individuals as Jews or any other factor. It has to do with God. God said he would punish Jews when necessary but He would not tolerate interference from other members of the human race in punishing the Jews. And so we have the Abrahamic covenant defining the Jewish race as the citizens of the first and last client nation to God.

Furthermore, He gave the Jewish race under the Mosaic law a system of culture, a system of spiritual life, and this emphasises the fact that no client nation to God, whether it is a Gentile client nation today or the Jewish client nation of the past, can survive with a multicultural system. One culture, always one culture, and the vigour of any nation historically is dependant upon a single culture. No nation has ever survived a multiplicity of cultures and all vigorous nations have one culture, many religions under freedom but one culture. When you have a multiculture nation you destroy any possibility of continuing as a client nation to God. Multiculture is the greatest attack on freedom.

You see, once you get away from the English language in the United States and go to any other you do not have the whole back ground of our history, our Constitution, our definition of freedom, our concepts of a republic, the responsibility of the voting franchise, all of the individual responsibilities we have as citizens and how these have been defined. These are the things that made us a vigorous nation. The whole concept of free enterprise, the whole concept of the sacredness of property and life, except in the case of criminals who violate those principles, the whole concept that freedom cannot exist without authority, and without establishment. All of these things are lost once you add even one to the culture that gave the vigour to the client nation.

The original presentation of the Abrahamic contract or covenant included both the race and the nation. The real estate promise and the boundaries were also first stated in the Abrahamic covenant. These boundaries, by the way, have never been achieved by Israel even at its greatest point under David and Solomon. It is a future fulfilment. In other words, Israel must have a future to fulfil the Palestinian covenant. The boundaries are first described in Genesis 13:14-16, then in 15:18-21. They include part of Egypt, all of Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Iraq, a tremendous chunk of land that they have never possessed, indicating the eschatological implications of the divine contract with Israel. The covenant was confirmed to Jacob instead of Esau in Genesis 35:12. Esau was not a Jew under the sense that he was an unbeliever and the Jewish race was founded on regeneration. It took three generations for the Jewish race to crystallise and after that it became a matter of physical birth. But in the first three generations it was a matter of spiritual birth. Then, of course, the covenant was the basis for the divine deliverance of Israel from the slavery from Egypt in Exodus 6-8. The mechanics of the Abrahamic covenant demanded ultra-supergrace, it demanded sexual prosperity, Romans 4:16-21 as well as Genesis 17:1-7. The new race and the client nation was brought together in the Abrahamic covenant as stated in Genesis 17:8 and circumcision is the ritual of confirmation and acknowledgement, Genesis 17:9-14. This is both an individual imputation of blessing to a mature believer, Abraham, as well as by association, the development of the client nation Israel. So we have the Abrahamic covenant which had the basis for all future contracts between God and Israel.

The next covenant was a real estate contract. God as party of the first part made a favourable land grant to Israel as His client nation forever. The Palestinian covenant guarantees a Middle East land grant to the Jews forever. This grant has never been occupied, this covenant has never been fulfilled and will not be fulfilled until the second advent of Christ. Therefore, Israel as a nation today (not as a client nation) must fight to maintain its freedom, its national sovereignty, and the land that rightfully belongs to it from the 1920s until now, a land which will be given to them at the second advent.

This land grant was confirmed to Isaac in Genesis 26 and it was again confirmed to Jacob in Genesis 35. In Exodus 6 it was conformed again to Moses and therefore Moses described in great detail the geographical boundaries of this land grant which is an unconditional contract. Of course, it is a future fulfilment. It is described in Numbers 34:1-12; Deuteronomy 30:1-9. To encourage Joshua to conquer Canaan the land grant was again mentioned in Joshua 1:2-4. Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel confirmed the fact that this land grant will not be fulfilled until the second advent, until the Millennial reign of Christ, Jeremiah 32:36-44; Ezekiel 11:16-21; 36:21-38. And the boundaries are very important. For example, the western boundary is the Mediterranean and it includes western Turkey because of the phrase “the land of the Hittites.” The southern border is the Nile, the Red Sea, Saudi Arabia. The eastern border is Trans-Jordania and Iraq. The northern border is the Euphrates river. This is a land grant that will not be given until the Millennium.

In addition to this a contract had to be made with the Jews to provide for them a culture, the greatest culture the world has ever known. It is the only culture that completely defines freedom in terms of truth. It defines freedom in terms of authority, freedom in terms of individual responsibility. It is called the Mosaic law or the Mosaic covenant. It is sometimes simply called “the law.” The recipients of this covenant are the nation Israel, Exodus 19:3; Leviticus 26:46; Romans 3:19; 9:4. It was definitely not given to the Gentiles, Romans 2:12-14. And definitely it was not given to the Church, therefore we do not set aside Saturday, the seventh day of the week, as the Sabbath. All so-called Sabbath laws and Sunday blue laws are wrong — misapplication. Free enterprise is the order of the day and if people want to work seven days a week that is strictly their business and not a matter for legislation.

So party of the first part is Jesus Christ, the God of Israel, while party of the second part is every citizen of client nation Israel. And as the policy for the client nation to God the covenant of Moses was divided into three parts. Part one, the freedom code called the ten commandments: the decalogue defines freedom in terms of morality, privacy, property and authority. The basic heritage of the client nation is freedom, a necessity for self-determination, for evangelism, spiritual growth and missionary function; part two, the spiritual code known as the ordinances, the function of a client nation demands regeneration plus momentum in the plan of God. The spiritual heritage of Israel includes a complete Christology and soteriology taught through ritual and oral communication, but it also includes the structure of the tabernacle and the temple. But in addition to the spiritual heritage there was the third category, known as the judgements. Every principle related to freedom and prosperity is given in this area and this is the cultural side of Israel. For example, freedom, privacy, marriage, military policy, taxation, diet, health, sanitation, quarantine, criminal law procedures, when no nation in the world ever had anything remotely resembling it. In addition to that it included the function of free enterprise. Profit motivation is legitimate and honourable and it indicates that capitalism is the only true base for prosperity. It rejects socialism, the welfare state, revolution or any use of violence against establishment authority and it very definitely delineates the fact that problems cannot be solved by violence.

The Mosaic law establishes both policy and blessing for patterns in any client nation. It authorises the function of the Levitical priesthood, it authorised the function of the tabernacle and the temple, it authorised the blood of animals as shadow dedications in the field of Christology and soteriology. And it was set aside in two ways. One third of the Mosaic law was set aside when Christ went to the cross and received the judgment for our sins. It was set aside as the policy for the client nation when Israel sent out in 70 AD for the last time under the fifth cycle of discipline. And since the Mosaic law has no application to Israel during the times of the Gentiles the question arises: What is the purpose of the Mosaic law in the Church Age? The answer is very simple: a pattern for Gentile client nations because of the truth of establishment, category #1 truth.

Next is the covenant to David. That is the contract that is pertinent to our subject in Revelation 4:7, “Now the first angelic herald was like a lion,” he had a coat of arms, one quarter of our Lord’s coat of arms. He has the coat of arms of the second royal patent of our Lord as the ruler of Israel, the One who will personally fulfil each one of these contracts. In the covenant to David, party of the first part, God, makes a gracious disposition to party of the second part, king David. Part of David’s supergrace blessing was the perpetuation of his dynasty in Israel forever, and while the Davidic line would continue for 400 years in Judah, from about 1000 BC to 586 BC, and 72 years in the southern kingdom, this is not the fulfilment of the Davidic covenant. In other words, the northern kingdom, when they split, only lasted for a few years, 72 years (998-926 BC), whereas the southern kingdom lasted from 1000 to 586 BC. That is not the fulfilment of the covenant. The fulfilment of the covenant is given right here in Revelation 4:7 where part of our Lord’s coat of arms is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. It is Jesus Christ future to the existence of Israel in the past who will actually fulfil this contract. The fulfilment of this contract and the statement of this contract is the subject of 2 Samuel 7:8-17; Psalm 89:20-37, and it is this contract that is so important. For example, in 2 Samuel 7:8, where God said to David: “Thus saith the Lord of hosts [Adonai Sabaoth, ‘Jehovah of the armies,’ the title of our Lord Jesus Christ as the Commander-in-Chief of the elect angelic armies]” — so it is the Lord Jesus Christ functioning as party of the first part, “I myself took you [David as an individual] from the pasture.” It is interesting that the two greatest nations in all of history, one Jewish and one Gentile, both started in sheep pastures. The Romans started as a group of shepherds on seven hills; David started as a shepherd in the hills of Judea, “from behind the sheep to become the prince over my people, over Israel; and I have been with you wherever you have marched, and have destroyed all of your enemies from before you, and I have manufactured [out of grace, out of doctrine] for you a celebrityship, a name of greatness, like the fame of the great ones who have been on the earth [historically]. Also, I will appoint a place for my people, Israel, where I will plant him in order that he may sit under it in prosperity [the Millennium], and no longer be disturbed” — Israel will be restored as a client nation in the Millennium, “because the sons of apostasy will never again oppress him as formerly.” Please notice that any oppressors of Israel are called sons of apostasy.

2 Samuel 7:11, “Even from the day when I ordered judges [dictators] to be over my people, Israel,” there had to be law and order in Israel, “even to the time when I caused this peaceful interlude to you from all of your enemies. Therefore the Lord has made a formal proclamation to you that a dynasty will be yours,” Jehovah will manufacture that dynasty for you, “And it shall come to pass when your days shall be fulfilled, and you shall lie down with your fathers, that which I cause to raise up your seed after you [those who follow you], I will cause to establish the kingdom with them.”

Psalm 89:20, “I have found David, my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed him” — that is the beginning of the contract , “my hand shall be firm with him; my arm shall also make him strong. The enemy [Satan and the policy of evil] will not lead him astray, nor the son of wickedness [the attractive reversionist] control him. I will destroy his enemies before his face, and strike down those who hate him.” But then He goes on to point out what is going to happen in future days. “My faithfulness and my grace will be with him; and in my name his horn [authority] will be exalted. I will establish his hand in the sea [the Mediterranean], his right hand on the rivers. He will call to me, My father, My God, My rock, My salvation … Forever I will guard for him my grace, therefore my contract will be permanent to him [David]. Therefore I will appoint his seed [our Lord] forever.”

David’s seed is Jesus Christ coming in the flesh. He was born directly in the line of David. “If his sons forsake my law, and they do not walk in my judgements [laws of divine establishment], if they profane my ordinances [Codex #3 of the Mosaic law], and do not keep my commandments [the destruction of freedom — Codex #1 of the decalogue]; then I will punish their transgressions.” This is not an avoidance of punishment for failure. “But with regard to him [the progeny of David, the son of David] I will never void my grace, and I will not violate my faithfulness. I will not violate my contract, I will not alter what proceeds from my lips. One thing I myself have sworn and by my righteousness and justice [by my integrity] I will not alter what proceeds. One thing I myself have sworn by my integrity, that I will not lie to David. His seed [Jesus Christ] shall be forever, and his throne as the sun before me [Millennial reign of Christ]. He [Jesus Christ the Son of David] will be established forever as the moon, and the witness in the sky is faithful. Selah [This is it].” This is what is going to happen in the future, therefore it must become a part of the Davidic coat of arms.

But now let us recognise the fact that in the line of David there were very evil kings. For example, the was Coniah. In Jeremiah 22:28, “This man Coniah is a shattered jar [He is a broken jug], an undesirable vessel [as an unbeliever]. Why has he and his descendants been cast out into a land they have not known [fifth cycle of discipline]? … Thus saith the Lord, Write this down, this man will be childless.” In other words they recognised in every generation that between David and Bathsheba that would eventually bring Messiah. There would eventually be four sons to David and Bathsheba. Number one, who was the ruler, was Solomon; number four was Nathan. These two lines would intermingle from time to time but they would remain separate. The line of Solomon went down, for example, to Joseph; the line of Nathan went down to Mary.

Jeremiah 22:30 puts it this way: “Thus saith the Lord, Write down this man [Coniah] childless, a man who will not prosper in his days; for no man of his descendants will prosper, sitting on the throne of David or ever ruling again in Judah.” At point Coniah that line quit. Coniah had children but “childless” means that this line would not be the seed of David, that the literal seed would come through the virgin Mary and a virgin birth, and the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ would be descended through this part of David’s line.

The second son of Josiah was Jehoiakim or Eliakim and who as king of Judah was made a vassal of Nebuchanezzar after the battle of Carchemish. As a reversionist who not only rejected doctrine but destroyed scripture and ended up under the sin unto death he was disciplined, Jeremiah 36:29ff. He saw his son executed before his eyes and then his eyes were put out. He suffered a terrible thing. The son of Eliakim is Coniah who ruled from BC 597 for three months and ten days before Nebuchadnezzar came back and took him away prisoner. For 36 years Coniah was a prisoner of Nebuchadnezzar. This is called the curse of Coniah. While the line continued to have children — Joseph is directly descended from Solomon and Coniah — they are legal but not the real heirs to the throne. Joseph is the legal but not the real father of the humanity of Christ. The virgin birth fulfils this curse. Matthew traces the genealogy of Christ as a legal genealogy — David, Solomon, Coniah. Luke traces the genealogy of Christ through Mary who is descended from David and Bathsheba through Nathan. This is emphasised in 1 Chronicles 3:5 and is the conclusion of Luke 3:31.

The problem of the physical death of Christ still came into the picture here. Once our Lord Jesus Christ died physically — first of all He bore our sins on the cross then He had physical death — it was said at that point: “God can’t keep His word.” This was the great issue in heaven. But from three days later we have resurrection and ascension and the son of David actually appeared in heaven.

Now they have convocations where fallen angels assemble with elect angels. This was true in Job chapter one, for example, and Satan will never be thrown out of heaven until the middle of the Tribulation. But now when our Lord appeared as the Son of David, the Lion of the tribe of Judah in a resurrection body, He was given His third royal patent. At the virgin birth he received His second royal patent and the combination of the two guarantees the defeat of Satan in the angelic conflict, for God will keep His word. And to make sure that this was understood the highest and smartest of all angels, one of the four, was an angel who came forward as an angelic herald. He was wearing the uniform of wisdom, the mantle with the eyes in front and the eyes in the back, and as he stepped forward a coat of arms was given to him to bear, both then and forever, the great honour to show that God keeps His word and that when God promised David that he would have a son who would reign forever neither the curse of Coniah nor the problem of our Lord’s physical death nor any other human problem can hinder the faithfulness of God. What appears to be a problem when God works it out. Therefore we have a fantastic memorial to the grace of God, the faithfulness of God, and the source of all blessing and solution to problems in life. Our Lord’s faithfulness is depicted in the first angel who will bear forever this part of our Lord’s arms.

The corrected translation as far as we have gone in verse 7 is: “Now the first living creature [angelic herald] was like a lion.” We noted that this has to do with our Lord’s second royal patent. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of David, the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

Before we continue with the other three parts of our Lord’s coat of arms we need to review two doctrines that are pertinent to the other three heralds. Actually, the doctrines begin with one word found in the Old Testament in the Hebrew: neshimmah. This word explains why you are here and why you belong to the category human race. God imputes neshimmah to every person after birth. The fact that you born is attested by the fact that you are here and at the moment that you were born God took neshimmah and imputed it to your human soul. That means of course that there is no neshimmah in the womb. Life belongs to God, life is the invention of God, life cannot be reproduced by anyone except God for the human race. And human life is imputed to every member of the human race immediately after birth. There is no human life in the womb and that means neither the embryo or the foetus contain human life, not until the foetus emerges from the mother’s womb. At that moment, after birth, God imputes from His own integrity the spark of life.

The home or the target foe that spark of life is the human soul and human life then resides in that soul forever. The fact that you are now living in time simply means that human life residing in your soul is also residing in your human body. But when physical death occurs the human life residing in the soul moves from earth to heaven and therefore the believer is absent from the body and face to face with the Lord. In other words, human life is never separated from the human soul once God imputes it and that is true no matter whether the person is good or evil, saved or unsaved. Human life is never separated from the soul whether the person goes to heaven or to hell. Once God imputes human life, or the spark of life, neshimmah, to the soul that human life resides there forever. Nothing can separate life from the soul, even physical death. At physical death the soul leaves the body but the human body is still there as it moves to heaven. There is nothing that man can do to separate human life from the soul. This includes suicide. Furthermore, even God Himself cannot and will not separate human life from any soul and that means that by that imputation God has a plan for the human life of every human being. Whether the plan is accomplished depends upon the use of volition which is the extension of the angelic conflict.

Simultaneously with this imputation there is condemnation. The justice of God at the same time imputes Adam’s original sin to the genetically-formed old sin nature. So we have human life being imputed by God to the human soul. We have Adam’s original sin being imputed to the genetically-formed old sin nature. The old sin nature is formed genetically, it is passed down through Adam. This is because Adam deliberately sinned whereas the woman sinned in ignorance. So the justice of God imputes Adam’s original sin to every member of the human race for condemnation and just as there is affinity between the spark of human life and the human soul, so there is affinity between Adam’s original sin and the old sin nature. This is the wisest thing that God ever did and this is one of the things that demonstrates that God is wiser than any creature could ever hope to be. In fact, Adam’s original sin is the origin of the old sin nature in the human race, according to Romans 5:12, as well as Genesis chapter three. So factor one, Adam’s original sin, plus factor two, the old sin nature, is an affinity with antecedents dating back to the garden of Eden where Adam deliberately sinned. While the woman was just as guilty she did commit her transgression in ignorance, she was deceived. While the old sin nature originates from Adam’s original sin it is now transmitted through 23 male chromosomes which fertilise the female ovum in copulation. And this imputation of Adam’s original sin to the old sin nature is a facsimile of Adam at the time of his fall. Adam was condemned at the time of his fall and therefore we are born physically alive but simultaneously condemned.

This is, of course, a real imputation. It has two factors: Adam’s original sin and the genetically-formed old sin nature. It demonstrates the wisdom of God for many reasons but included is the fact that condemnation must precede salvation. In fact there is no need for salvation unless there is first of all condemnation. Condemnation must precede salvation just as the cross precedes the crown, and therefore those who do not reach the point of responsibility or accountability are automatically saved because they are condemned at birth. Furthermore, they are not condemned by their own personal sins which follow, they are condemned by the imputation of Adam’s original sin. This means those who die at childbirth are automatically saved. Those who die before reaching accountability are automatically saved. Those who never reach accountability, such as some with mental deficiency of the soul, are automatically saved no matter how long they live in this life. So there are many wonderful factors from that standpoint. But in addition to that it eliminates any possibility of linking your salvation and mine through faith in Christ to any norm of arrogance. All of us are condemned on the basis of the imputation of Adam’s sin at birth. This becomes very important in understanding the coat of arms as we will study it in the rest of Revelation 4:7. No one is condemned on the basis of his personal sins. Condemnation occurs at birth and all the personal sins in the human race are never imputed to any member of the human race for condemnation. Instead, they were all imputed to Christ on the cross for condemnation. This is the basis of our so great salvation. Personal sin is not the basis of spiritual death. One of three manifestations of the possession of the old sin nature is personal sin, the others being human good and evil. Therefore we are born physically alive but at the same time we are born spiritually dead. This brings us to the coat of arms. The coat of arms have several implications. All of the coat of arms is related to the humanity of Christ and therefore it becomes necessary to understand: How can the humanity of Christ come into the world without being condemned, without having spiritual death? For if Adam’s original sin is imputed to Christ at the same time that neshimmah, the spark of life, is imputed to our Lord Jesus Christ’s human soul then there is no way that He is qualified to go to the cross and be judged for our sins. When He comes to the cross He has to be impeccable and that means freedom from imputed sin, freedom from the old sin nature or the inherent sin, and freedom from personal sin; for we, as members of the human race all have three strikes against us. First of all Adam’s original sin is imputed; secondly, the genetically-formed old sin nature in our bodies when life is imputed; and thirdly, the fact that through our own function of free will, volition, self-determination, we sin personally.

This means, of course, that all the cells of the human race are contaminated by the old sin nature. There is only one exception and that is through meiosis and the function of polar body when 23 chromosomes are thrown off in the ovum leaving 23 uncontaminated chromosomes in the female ovum prior to fertilisation. Those 23 chromosomes thrown off through meiosis and the function of polar body are the basis for understanding the heraldry, the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ. This phenomenon in the female is based on the fact that when the woman sinned from her own free will she was deceived in the transgression even though she committed a sin of ignorance. Ignorance, in other words, is no excuse. Ignorance does make a difference on who bears the embryo and, of course, it is the woman in the human race who has born the embryo by which the human race is eventually perpetuated. While both man and woman are carriers of the old sin nature only the man can transmit the old sin nature through fertilisation. The woman has in her ovum 23 chromosomes. Those 23 are totally free from the old sin nature. In fertilisation the man brings his 23 chromosomes to fertilise that ovum. These 23 are contaminated by the old sin nature, so we say theologically that the old sin nature is passed down through the man who in the original sin knew what he was doing. He looked at the first sinner and deliberately partook of the fruit, not from the tree but from her hand.

In copulation all people receive the old sin nature but it is passed down through the man. Mary, when she became pregnant according to Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3, had other children by Joseph. In other words, Joseph in copulation provided 23 chromosomes at least seven times. Mary was pregnant at least seven times after the virgin birth and in each case the children had the old sin nature as Mary herself had the old sin nature from her father.

Now the exception. If an ovum, like Mary’s, can be fertilised with 23 chromosomes not contaminated by the old sin nature then it is possible to have a birth without a genetically-formed old sin nature. Minus a genetically-formed old sin nature means you cannot impute Adam’s sin. Therefore the extreme importance of the doctrine of the virgin birth. More correctly, it is the doctrine of the virgin pregnancy. The virgin pregnancy was induced by God the Holy Spirit who fertilised the ovum of Mary with 23 perfect chromosomes. Therefore we have a virgin pregnancy which resulted in a virgin birth. But this birth was quite different. When God the Father took neshimmah and imputed it to the human soul of God the Son He did not impute simultaneously Adam’s original sin because there was no old sin nature. The virgin pregnancy eliminated the possibility. At the same time, of course, there was in our Lord, since He did not have the imputation of Adam’s sin, a human spirit. So our Lord was born as Adam was created, trichotomous. Adam was created with a body, a soul, and a spirit and without any sin nature. Adam’s volition produced his negative volition directed toward the prohibition of God which produced the old sin nature and from then on it was genetically-formed through his chromosomes. The old sin nature resides in the cell structure of the body and moves to the soul when man from his own free will commits a sin. So we have, then, the one exception: the virgin pregnancy resulting in the virgin birth. And remember that while Mary was a virgin she was not perfect, she was not impeccable; only her Son, the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, was perfect. But in the case of our Lord Jesus Christ God the Father imputed human life to His soul but divine justice could not impute Adam’s original sin. There was no target, no home, no antecedent, no system of affinity whereby this could occur due to the virgin pregnancy. Just as Adam was created perfect, so our Lord Jesus Christ was born perfect. And because of the virgin pregnancy, followed by the virgin birth, there was no genetic formation of the old sin nature. There was no sin nature and that meant no imputation of Adam’s sin, and that means that our Lord had to use His volition in this world just as Adam used his volition in the garden. The only way that our Lord could sin was through negative volition and, of course, that did not happen.

That brings us around, then, to the fact that when the embryo of Jesus Christ came from the womb God the Father imputed life, and that was the beginning of the hypostatic union. In the person of the incarnate Christ are two natures which are inseparably united. They are without mixture or loss of separate identity; they are without loss or transfer of properties or attributes. The union is composed of His deity and His humanity, and the union is both personal and eternal as reflected by the coat of arms in Revelation 4:7. In other words, since the virgin birth Jesus Christ is both true humanity and undiminished deity in one person forever. Jesus Christ, then, is the God-Man. He is different from God in that He is true mankind; He is different from mankind in that He is God. He is therefore unique and He is the unique person of the universe. He is infinitely superior to man and angels as humanity he is now superior to all angels and human beings, so that whether you are looking at it from the standpoint of His deity or His humanity we are not only looking at the unique person but we are looking at the perfect person.

The pre-incarnate person of Christ was eternal God. Jesus Christ as God had all of the attributes of deity. In that sense He was coequal and co-eternal with the Father and with the Holy Spirit who had identical characteristics. God is said to be one because they all have the same sovereignty, the same holiness, the same eternal life, in the same amount, infinitely and eternally. But they are distinguished as persons and it is the second person of the Trinity who is unique because He now has, in addition to His deity coequal with the Father and the Spirit, perfect humanity. The issue of perfect humanity: it could have gone the other way if He had made a wrong decision during His thirty-three years of the incarnation, but He did not. He was therefore qualified to go to the cross and bear our sins in His own body on the tree, not in His deity. Because He is true humanity, because He has a physical body, soul and spirit, He is different from the Father and the Holy Spirit. He is coequal with them in His deity; He is different from humanity in that He is God. But He is superior to both man and angels being seated at the right hand of the Father where He received His third royal patent. So the pre-incarnate person of Christ has deity, coequal with the Father and the Spirit, and the post-incarnate person of Christ includes not only His undiminished deity but His true humanity in one person forever. And through the virgin birth Jesus Christ was born without the old sin nature, without the imputation of Adam’s sin.

This is one of the issues that we have noted because at the moment of His birth He was, through the virgin Mary, descended from David and Bathsheba through Nathan. Joseph, who is the legal but not real father of our Lord, is descended from David and Bathsheba through Solomon. Each one of these lines is brought down to the cross. Joseph was cut off through the Coniah curse. At the moment that God the Father imputed life to His Son, Jesus Christ had His second royal patent. He was the Son of David. “Now the first angelic herald was like a lion.” That is the coat of arms of our Lord’s second royal patent as the ruler of Israel under the title Son of David, Lion of the tribe of Judah.

That brings us now to the concept that we must note in some detail. The hypostatic union is a major issue in Christology. Comparing John 1:1-3, describing the deity of Christ, with John 1:14 we have the principle: “the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-born one from the Father), full of grace and doctrine.” “Only-born” refers to the fact that when God the Father imputed the spark of life, neshimmah, to our Lord Jesus Christ it was unique; He was the uniquely-born one.

In Romans 1:3-5 we have: “Concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David,” His second royal patent, “according to the flesh,” at the moment of birth He was the Son of David and is qualified to rule Israel forever, “who has been demonstrated the Son of God by means of power,” the demonstration of His deity is the subject of the gospel of John, “according to the Holy Spirit,” the power according to the Holy Spirit was the prototype divine dynasphere in which His uniqueness was demonstrated, and then once more was demonstrated because of His resurrection from the dead, “by his resurrection from the dead; through whom we have received grace and apostleship.”

Add to that Romans 9:5 where the subject is picked up again: “And from whom is the Christ, according to the flesh, who is over all, the God blessed forever.” So His flesh and His deity are mentioned simultaneously in this verse.

The same thing is found in 1 Timothy 3:16, “And by consent of all great is the mystery with reference to godliness: the unique one [Jesus Christ in hypostatic union] became visible by means of the flesh [the moment of the virgin birth]. The same one [Christ in hypostatic union] was vindicated by means of the Holy Spirit [His function inside the prototype divine dynasphere], he was observed by angelic creatures [this was the major issue in the angelic conflict], he was proclaimed among the nations, he became the object of faith in the world, he was taken up into His place of glory [His third royal patent].”

Hebrews 2:14, “Since, therefore, the children share blood and flesh, he [Christ] also himself in the same manner took hold of the same blood and flesh [hypostatic union] in order that he through spiritual death might neutralise and destroy the one having the ruling power of spiritual death, that is, the devil.”

These are simply a few references to the importance of His hypostatic union. The incarnate Christ, therefore, is deity; Jesus Christ is eternal God. He is so-equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit, there never was a time when His deity did not exist, there never was a time when He was not coequal with the Father and the Spirit. We, therefore, call Him undiminished deity forever. The incarnate Christ, however, includes true humanity with a body, soul, and spirit [trichotomous]. Because of the virgin birth He was born without the old sin nature, without the imputation of Adam’s sin. Because He lived His entire life in His humanity inside the prototype divine dynasphere He lived a perfect life without any personal sin, and therefore was qualified to go to the cross and become our substitute. To be our substitute, to be judged for us, to bear our sins, absolutely required perfection. He had to be like the first Adam in the garden before sin. So at the point of birth we receive physical life, we receive spiritual death, and we receive the potential for eternal salvation because Christ became flesh.

In hypostatic union the two natures of Christ are united without any transfer of attributes. The attributes adhere to their corresponding natures. In other words, Jesus Christ is eternal God and He has certain attributes of deity that always adhere to His deity. He is also true humanity and He has certain attributes in His true humanity that always adhere to His true humanity. The essence of His deity cannot be changed — immutability. Jesus Christ is the same today, yesterday, and forever; the infinite cannot be transferred to the finite. To take from God even a single attribute of His deity would actually destroy His deity but in the hypostatic union His deity remains intact with all of the attributes of deity remaining intact with it. To take from the humanity of Jesus a single attribute of His humanity would destroy His true humanity and therefore would disqualify salvation. No attribute, therefore, is changed in His humanity. For example, Jesus was thirsty on the cross. He said: “I thirst.” That is an attribute of His humanity; His deity did not thirst. Therefore the attributes of each nature always adhered to the nature and they never crossed over to the other nature. That is why it was a legitimate test when the stones were placed in front of our Lord and Satan said to Him: “Turn these stones into bread.” He had the power to do it; He is God. To our Lord it was a genuine temptation because the attributes adhered to their corresponding natures.

In the fulfilling of the Father’s plan for the first advent certain attributes of His deity, however, were not used. He didn’t use His power to turn stones into bread. Instead He functioned in His humanity under hunger and did not in any way try to satisfy His hunger by creating any form of food. This does not imply that these attributes were surrendered or destroyed, that is what we call the false doctrine of Kenosis. In the true doctrine of Kenosis our Lord Jesus Christ from His own sovereignty voluntarily took on Himself the form of mankind in order to redeem man from sin, to reconcile man to God and, furthermore, to propitiate the Father. In completing this mission of the first advent Christ did not exercise His divine attributes for His own benefit or to provide for Himself or to glorify Himself. In other words, He did not use His divine attributes contrary to the plan of the Father. This is why the temptations recorded in Matthew chapter four are absolutely unique. They are above and beyond any temptation that would ever come our way because we do not have the corresponding deity with which to be tempted to solve the problems through our deity.

There is a branch of fundamentalism today that wants God to solve all of their problems. They make a lot of mistakes and they want God to come along and overrule them and bail them out. That is trying to solve a problem by the use of deity and our Lord Jesus Christ didn’t so that. God will manufacture ten grand and dump it back in your lap! Or, Let’s pray about it! Pray about what? Pray about your stupidity in losing your money in the first place? Stupidity cannot be corrected by prayer, stupidity can only be corrected by doctrine, and that takes time.

Our Lord faced this in those temptations in Matthew chapter four. Therefore the union of the divine attributes and the human nature of the incarnate Christ must be considered as hypostatic and personal. “Hypostatic” is a Greek word. It is derived from the Greek noun u(postasij, and it means standing under, it means substance, essence, taking a thing on one’s self, or combining an essence with an essence without compromising either essence. Therefore Jesus Christ took upon Himself true humanity, as per Hebrews 1:3, “Who, being the radiance [flashing forth] of the glory [eternal God], and the exact image of his divine essence, also sustaining all things by the verbal expression of His power.” When Jesus Christ was here on earth during His first advent he also held the universe together. But that is a function of His deity, He didn’t switch it to His humanity or the first and second advents would have blurred into one function. Hypostatic refers to the whole person of our Lord Jesus Christ as distinguished from His two natures. So u(postasij means that when you put the true humanity and the deity together without compromising the essence of either you have an entire person. So hypostatic refers to the entire person of our Lord Jesus Christ from the virgin birth and forever, He is the God-Man. His true humanity in resurrected form will always exist, there never will be a time when the hypostatic union will be broken up, it is that way forever. That is the basis for His third royal patent.

So when we look at the hypostatic union we first of all look at the entire person. But then we have to recognise the personal aspect. From the unique person of Christ in hypostatic union we have His deity and His humanity. His deity is coequal and coeternal with the Father and the Spirit while His humanity is absolutely impeccable. The false interpretation of the hypostatic union came from gnosticism. Jesus Christ, then, is the God-Man and that is the only form of ritual given to the Church. All ritual of the Old Testament was wiped out. We have no ritual, we have no altar, we have no holy temple, we have no sanctuary, we have no animal sacrifices. All that was wiped out. The only ritual that even came over to the Church Age for a little while was water baptism, and it is wiped out. It was a part of Jewish ritual, as per John the Baptist. Now we only have one ritual and to put any other ritual, including water baptism in, is blasphemous. And what is that ritual? The hypostatic union is represented by the Eucharist. The only ritual given to the Church as the royal family of God is that which represents something that never occurred before in history and it will never occur again. Just once, one person in hypostatic union, Jesus Christ the God-Man. And we are to remember Him as the God-Man, therefore the importance of the hypostatic union, not only in the interpretation of the passage in which we are embarked, but in fulfilling the mandate of observing the Eucharist or the communion table. Jesus Christ is the God-Man forever. The attributes of His divine nature belong to the person of Christ. That means that all of the attributes of His humanity adhere to His humanity; all of the attributes of His deity adhere to His deity. They never cross over.

During the first advent Jesus Christ could be simultaneously omnipotent, because He is God, and weak, because he is a human being. This does not mean weak in the sense of being sinful, it means weak in the sense of physical exhaustion. He could be omniscient and at the same time ignorant. You see, attributes adhere to their proper place. When our Lord was born like a baby He in His humanity had to learn. He was omnipresent and yet located in one place at a time.

Why did Jesus Christ have to enter into hypostatic union? Why the humanity of Christ? There are four reasons for it.

First of all, the one who provides eternal salvation had to be true humanity. True humanity sinned; true humanity must bring it out. Adam went from perfection to sinfulness; our Lord went from perfection to bearing our sins. When He reached the cross He was absolutely perfect in His humanity. When He was on the cross it was His humanity that received the imputation of our sins and their judgment, though His deity was there and the hypostatic union was present at the cross. Therefore you never separate the humanity from the deity and there is no problem as long as you remember that the attributes of deity always adhere to deity and the attributes of humanity always adhere to humanity. He was perfect in His humanity, therefore He was qualified to bear our sins on His body [humanity] on the cross. Christ had to be true humanity to do that. As God He can have nothing to do with sin. As God He cannot solicit sin, He cannot bear sin, He cannot do anything except condemn sin. He had to be true humanity, Philippians 2:7,8; Hebrews 2:14,15.

Furthermore, Jesus Christ is said to be the mediator between God and man. There is one mediator between God and man, only one. Why? A mediator must be equal with both parties in the mediation — Jesus Christ in hypostatic union. Jesus Christ as eternal God is coequal with the Father and therefor qualified to mediate on that end. As true humanity He is on a par with man and therefore qualified to mediate on that end. As the God-Man He is the only one who could ever be mediator between God and man. This was taught first in Job 9: 2, 32, 33, and is the subject of 1 Timothy 2: 5,6. Then, of course, you must remember that a priest must be a human being representing human beings before God. The Levitical priest, for example, was from the tribe of Levi, the family of Aaron, and he represented the rest of the Jews before God in their Old Testament type worship. The fact that a priest must be a man to represent man to God is taught in Hebrews 7 and 10. Jesus Christ could not become our High Priest until He became true humanity. As true humanity Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father representing us as High Priest. Only the high priest could go from the altar outside of the tabernacle into the holy place and then, once a year, into the holy of holies. The holy of holies represents heaven. Our Lord Jesus as our High Priest is in heaven on our behalf. We are on earth as a kingdom of priests. Each one of us as a believer represents himself to God but we do so as true humanity. Jesus Christ had to be true humanity to be our High Priest and He had to be true humanity to fulfil the Davidic contract.

Therefore these are the four reasons why Christ is unique and had to become a human being: to be our saviour, to be the mediator between God and man, to be our High Priest, and to fulfil the Davidic covenant under His second royal patent. Notice that in each case a royal patent is involved. We will not be surprised, then, to discover in Revelation 4:7 our Lord Jesus Christ as saviour, High Priest, King, mediator. Every verbal communication by Christ during the first advent, came, therefore, from one of three sources. First of all, certain things that our Lord said. Sometimes our Lord spoke from His deity. When He said in John chapter 8, “Before Abraham lived, I existed eternally,” corrected translation of verse 58, that means simply this: our Lord was speaking from His deity. He always existed. There never was a time when His deity didn’t exist and, remember, they picked up stones to stone Him. Sometimes He spoke from His humanity. For example, in John 19:28, “I thirst.” That came from His humanity, His deity didn’t thirst. Then sometimes He spoke from His hypostatic union, the entire person, as when He said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

All of this is necessary to appreciate the coat of arms of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord’s marvellous coat of arms is so great that it cannot be born by one herald, it is born by four heralds.

We now move on to the second angelic herald. We have the connective conjunction kai, followed by an numerical adjective deuteroj, which means second. Then we have zoion, referring to a living rational creature, the highest of rational creatures, an angelic herald. The ellipsis again demands the use of e)imi, “and the second angelic herald was.” Then the comparative adjective o(moioj, “like.” This is followed by the instrumental of association from the noun mosxoj, which means an ox or a young bull. The best translation is “young bull.” It is a reference to our Lord’s kenosis, the humility of the first advent. It includes such doctrines as the virgin birth, the hypostatic union, our Lord’s humanity residing and functioning inside the prototype divine dynasphere, the resultant kenosis and impeccability which qualified Him to go to the cross and bear our sins under the greatest possible humility. Hence it includes the saving work of Christ on the cross and it is comparable to the Hebrew word par, and it is unfortunately translated in the Levitical offerings, “bullock,” the bullock offering. But it is a “young bull” offering. It is similar to another word also translated “bullock,” baqar. This takes us to the Levitical offerings.

Each one of the Levitical offerings had an expensive animal sacrifice and it went down to cheaper sacrifices, including a couple of young pigeons. The most expensive was what is called in the KJV, the bullock, the ox, or the young bull offering. Next comes the lamb offering, and so on. A young bull represents the victory of the first advent of Christ. It is a direct reference in His shield, His escutcheon, to the strategic victory of the angelic conflict. Anticipating the rest of our study in this verse and the context you will notice that four majestic symbols are on our Lord’s escutcheon: the eagle, the greatest of the birds; the bull, the greatest of domestic animals for power; the lion, the greatest of wild animals; and the man, the highest of all living creatures visible today on the earth. While the first herald bears that part of our Lord’s coat of arms dealing with His sovereignty and rulership over Israel the second herald bears that part dealing with the strategic victory of the first advent of Christ. In other words, just as the first herald bears that part of the coat of arms emphasising Matthew, the second herald bears that part of the coat of arms emphasised in the gospel of Mark.

“Now the first angelic herald was like a lion.” This is the escutcheon of our Lord’s second royal patent as the ruler of Israel, seed of David, Son of David, Lion of the tribe of Judah; “and the second herald was like a young bull,” the coat of arms of our Lord’s first advent emphasising His mission as the Servant of Jehovah to the plan of God the Father and the resultant victory from it.

One of the primary considerations in the study of the coat of arms of our Lord as worn by each one of the angelic heralds is to understand the principle of the hypostatic union. Remember that in this doctrine there is the deity of Christ and also the humanity of Christ united in one person forever. The attributes of deity always adhere to deity and never cross over to humanity. This issue was settled in Matthew chapter four. The attributes of humanity never cross over and merge with the attributes of deity. Each nature has attributes that correspond only to that nature: deity to deity; humanity to humanity. Therefore when our Lord was on the earth everything He said came either from His deity, His humanity, or His hypostatic union. Everything related to the first advent pertains to some facet in our Lord’s heraldry. His escutcheon is divided into four parts and each one of the four angelic heralds carries one of the parts of His arms.

We now resume with the third herald bearing the third part of our Lord’s escutcheon. We begin with the connective conjunction kai, translated “and,” plus the adjective nominative neuter singular from tritoj, translated “third.” With it is the nominative singular neuter from zoion, which is not an animal. It means a living rational being and it refers to angelic creatures, specifically angelic heralds, “and the third angelic herald.” Then we have the present active participle from the verb e)xw. The present tense is a historical present which views the past event with the vividness of a present occurrence. The active voice: the third angelic herald produces the action. The participle is circumstantial, and with it we have the accusative singular direct object from proswpon, which means “face,” “and the third angelic herald had a face.” And then the relative adverb o(j and the ablative of comparison, a)nqrwpoj, “like a man.” The third angelic herald had a face like a man. That is, he is bearing arms of a man. The heraldry device here emphasises the hypostatic union as the basis for our Lord’s third royal patent. The fact of the man represents the third royal patent of our Lord just as the lion represented His second royal patent. So pertinent to this part of our Lord’s coat of arms is the humanity of Christ in His physical death because His work was finished, followed by His resurrection and session and receiving His third royal patent at the right hand of the Father. The emphasis on our Lord’s third royal patent is the strategic victory of the angelic conflict which produced titles of that patent, including King of kings, Lord of lords, the bright morning star. The heraldry device is comparable to the cask and the plumes in heraldry. Furthermore, the cask faces to the side to indicate royalty. When the cask faces forward it refers to non-royalty. It is from this third royal title that the Age of Israel came to a halt and a new historical era or dispensation was inserted to call out the royal family of God, the body of Christ, the Church Age believer. And, of course, in this dispensation royalty is formed by the baptism of the Spirit at the point of salvation. The third part of the arms is comparable to the gospel of Luke which is often called the gospel of the Son of Man. This cannot be pressed in detail but we have already noted in the three synoptics that the first part of the arms is comparable to Matthew, the second part to Mark, and the third part to the gospel of Luke.

“Now the first angelic herald was like a lion.” This is comparable to Matthew where our Lord was presented as the King; “and the second angelic herald like a young bull” — the heraldry of our Lord’s first advent emphasising the servant of Jehovah which is the subject of the gospel of Mark; “and the third angelic herald had a face like a man,” the coat of arms of our Lord’s strategic victory of the first advent, the award of His third royal patent.

Then we move to the fourth. We have a connective kai, plus the numeral adjective tetaroj which means “fourth,” and with it again we have zoion for the herald. The ellipsis demands the verb to be, e)imi, and we have the adverb of analogy, o(moioj, “was like,” plus the instrumental of association from the noun a)etoj, which is the word for eagle. A)etoj means not only eagle but vulture as well. The bird here is the eagle and the translation in the KJV is correct. The instrumental of association from the present active participle petomai tells us the attitude of the eagle. Petomai means to be flying, “and the fourth angelic herald was like a flying eagle.” Petomai is a participle but it is used in the ascriptive sense and therefore becomes and adjective.

The first reference to the flying eagle in the Bible helps us to understand the meaning of this part of the escutcheon, Exodus 19:4, “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I carried you [the children of Israel] on eagles wings and brought you to myself.” The eagle is a part of the escutcheon of the original client nation. The client nation was formed by liberation from slavery and it was the Lord who did it all in grace. Therefore the eagle speaks of the client nation connotation. This part of our Lord’s coat of arms denotes two things. First of all He is the founder of the first client nation in history — Israel. Secondly, it denotes the fact that Jesus Christ controls history. There was no way that with Egypt at the peak of its power the Jews could have been delivered from slavery, but they were. The eagle represents the fact that they were weak, they were helpless, they were in a hopeless situation, with absolutely no way they could cope, and so the Lord delivered them. The flying eagle, then, emphasises how Jesus Christ controls history, how He controls it directly through client nations and through historical judgements. The flying eagle even emphasises the fact that he uses a pivot to control history and this is brought out in Psalm 103:5, “Who satisfies your desires with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” This is not individual youth, this is the perpetuation of each generation of the client nation Israel.

They say, and it is a very true statement: “Every third generation, shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves,” meaning that you have one generation growing up. You have ability, you have hard work, and you have success. Then the next generation perpetuates the success. But the third generation becomes decadent and they are on their way down and out. This is generally true in history. The exception is the fact that when Israel first became a client nation for the first 400 years of its function as a client nation there was the perpetuation of those things that made it possible for Israel to fulfil the client nation function and preserve the human race as a part of the angelic conflict.

In controlling history our Lord often removes that wealth and prosperity on which we come to depend instead of Him. This is taught in Proverbs 23:5 in connection with eagles — “When you set your eyes on it,” once God provides prosperity for supergrace believers it includes material prosperity, physical prosperity, wealth, success. And so when you set your eyes on “it,” on the money you have made, the wealth you have accumulated, the success that has been recognised by others, when these things become your number one priority then the next phrase adds it is gone. When you set your eyes on “it,” the prosperity that the Lord gives you, and you begin to assume in arrogance that your prosperity is based upon the fact that you are great, that you have done something, that you are the source of it all, then your prosperity is gone. The money or the wealth or the success may still be around but the capacity is gone — “like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.” In other words, the eagle that brought it [our Lord Jesus Christ who controls history] also removes it. Prosperity is a very wonderful thing when it depends on the Lord because it is obviously there, provided your scale of values is correct, and your capacity is perpetuated. And the easiest thing in the world to do is to perpetuate capacity. That simply requires the daily intake of Bible doctrine.

The eagle is also a symbol of Christ controlling history and this is used for divine judgment regarding time. Job 9:25,26, “Now my days are swifter than a runner; they flee away, they see no good,” the rapid passing of time without blessing, “They slip by like reed boats [moving gently down the Nile], like an eagle that swoops on its prey,” an illustration of the principle that because man has an old sin nature and because he has a predilection for many forms of arrogance it becomes necessary to teach him the hard way rather than the easy way. The hard way is by suffering, by discipline, by hurting. The judgment of a client nation by military disaster is also compared to the flight of the eagle in Deuteronomy 28:49 — “The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops down.” The eagle emphasises the fact that Jesus Christ controls history and that He uses any kind of a nation, usually a very evil nation, a very unjust nation, to punish and discipline under the third and fourth and even fifth cycles. The eagle emphasises also divine protection under the principle that Jesus Christ controls history in Deuteronomy 32:9-11, “For the Lord’s portion is his people [Israel as a client nation to God]; Jacob is the allotment of his inheritance.”

When the word “Jacob” is used it means the Jews are presented in all of their worst possible approach to life. In other words, an obnoxious Jew in the Old Testament is called Jacob; a great Jew is called Israel. Many times the vocative “Israel” is used in the Old Testament to indicate the Jews of that generation are honourable and have integrity. Then the word “Jacob” is used when they are obnoxious and evil. And everywhere you find these two vocatives, Israel and Jacob, it is always the Lord who handles the situation. He doesn’t need our help.

Verse 10, “He found them in a desert land,” helpless, in slavery, “and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled them, he cared for them, he guarded them as the pupil of his eye.”

Verse 11, “Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young, he spread his wings, and caught them, he carried them on his pinions.” This is what we have as a part of our Lord’s coat of arms. The very fact that in every generation of human history since the Jew was begun as a race there will always be Jews in spite of the fact that Satan does everything he can to destroy them. In the angelic conflict the major objective of Satan is to discredit and destroy the Jews. And here is a statement of our Lord’s faithfulness. And the very fact that in spite of every possible type of persecution in so many generations of history the Jew has not only survived but has prospered is indicative of the fourth part of our Lord’s coat of arms. He is the God of Israel; He is also the one who protects them. And Satan with all of his great power and ability the Jews continue to live on the face of the earth.

A description of our Lord’s blessing of the pivot makes reference to the eagle in Isaiah 40:31, “Yet those who have confidence in the Lord will gain new strength” — confidence in the Lord is the momentum of the believer in the Old Testament. “They shall mount up with wings like eagles,” this is not talking about believers in general, it is talking about believers specifically: positive believers, “they shall run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.” Interestingly enough the last three lines of Isaiah 40:31 actually deal with the tremendous production of energy, great nervous energy, to those who have spiritual momentum from doctrine resident in the soul.

The eagle device, then, in our Lord’s heraldry emphasises His control of history, not only from the standpoint of His faithfulness to the believer who is advancing but His faithfulness to believer and unbeliever in judgment, divine discipline. Hosea 8:1, “Put the trumpet to your lips! Like an eagle the enemy invades against the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed my covenant, they have rebelled against my doctrine.” So the eagle is reversed. The eagle on one side delivers Israel when there is integrity from doctrine. But then the eagle is reversed and is the basis for an army invading. And why does a military organisation destroy Israel? “Because they have transgressed my covenant, they have rebelled against my doctrine.” And who does the disciplining? The Lord, of course. So the eagle has two sides: one side says deliverance for Israel; the other side says punishment for Israel. And the reason that the eagle is on the coat of arms is because God does both without our help.

What happens to the people who try to help God? What happens to the people who say that the Jews are behind all the problems in life? What happens to the people who persecute the Jews? These people become the subjects of terrible divine discipline. None of us as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ can afford anti-Semitism. Describing the invasion of the Chaldeans to administer the fifth cycle of discipline, Habbakuk 1:8, “Their horses are swifter than leopards [the cavalry of the Chaldeans], more eager to attack than wolves of the evening.” The wolves, by the way, always attack the weak ones, the stragglers of the flock, implying that the weak ones of Israel would be destroyed by the Chaldean invasion. “Their steeds paw the ground,” they can’t wait to get at you; “Their horsemen come from afar, they fly like an eagle swooping down to devour.”

The eagle on our Lord’s escutcheon says, “Take your choice: blessing or discipline.” You have a choice as a believer and one way that you can get involved in terrible discipline and suffering is to be anti-Semitic. Verse 9 adds: “All of them come for violence.”

The entire college of heralds and the pur sui vant wear the arms of our Lord, as per Ezekiel 1:10 and Revelation 1:7. The highest ranking of the angels are the seraphim. They have six wings. Under them are the cherubs or cherubim. The cherub is an angel with four wings as rank insignia. All seraphs and cherubs possess the uniform of wisdom. The cherub is found first in Genesis 3:24. When God put a guard on the garden of Eden it had to be someone of equivalent rank to the one who got into the garden, indwelt the serpent and carried on a conversation with the woman, resulting in her fall. So the ones who guard the garden of Eden are cherubs and they possess four wings as their rank insignia, plus their uniform of wisdom. The order of rank, by the way, is found in the two categories of angels we will be studying in Revelation. We have the college of heralds and the hosts of heaven, the elect army.

The angelic order of battle includes two categories. First of all, the order of rank in the elect army of angels. Number one in that order of rank is the Lord Jesus Christ who as Commander-in-Chief has the title Adonai Sabaoth — “Lord of the armies.” Number two are the archangels. An archangel commands an angelic army, perhaps of millions. Two are mentioned in the Bible: Michael who commands an army of elect angels whose responsibility in every generation is to defend Israel. He is known as the prince of Israel in Daniel 10:21. In Daniel 12:1 the following translation helps to understand his duties:

“Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people [the Jews in every generation], will arise. And there will be a time of distress [reference to the Tribulation] such as never occurred since there was a client nation until that time; furthermore, at that time [the Tribulation] your people [the Jews], everyone who is found written in the book if life [saved Jews], will be rescued.” The implication is that Michael will have a great deal to do with that.

Michael as the prince of Israel defends the Jews in the Tribulation from the wrath of Satan, according to Revelation 12:7, and Michael in the past fought with Satan over the body of Moses, as per Jude 9 and 2 Peter 2:11.

The other army commander is Gabriel. He is not only an archangel but also an army commander who functions as one of the kings of arms in the college of heralds. He was sent to Daniel to explain his very important vision of Daniel 9. This is found both in Daniel 8:16 and 9:21. It was he who announced the birth of John the Baptist in Luke 1:11, and the birth of our Lord in Luke 1:26. This classifies Gabriel not only as an archangel but as a seraph.

Extrabiblical sources such as the book of Enoch add several more — Raphael and Uriel.

Number three in the order of rank is the angelic general staff composed of the 24 elders of Revelation 4:4,10; 5:11. Number five is the rank and file called “hosts.”

The order of rank in the college of heralds: #1 is again our Lord Jesus Christ under the title of Malak Adonai, the “Angel of the Lord” or “Angel of Jehovah.” It is a reference to our Lord Jesus Christ who is above the order of heralds.

There are four appearances of our Lord in history. First of all He appears as number one in the college of heralds. He appears in the theophany “the Lord of hosts.” The theophanies describe our Lord before the first advent. The incarnation is His second appearance where He appears in the hypostatic union. His third appearance is in the Christophanies, His post-resurrection appearances in hypostatic union. Finally, the second advent where He returns in hypostatic union to supersede Satan as the ruler of this world.

As the Angel of the Lord Jesus Christ is identified as God in Genesis 16:7-13; 22:11-18; 31:11-13; 48:15,16; Exodus 3:1ff compared with Acts 7:30-35; or Exodus 13:21; 14:19; Judges 6:11-23 or 13:9-20. All of these simply indicate that Jesus Christ is number one in the order of the college of heralds.

Number two are the seraphim. Two categories of seraphim exist in the college of heralds: the kings of arms or officers of arms, like the powerful angel of Revelation 5:2. Or, secondly, the angelic heralds or the four living creatures, Revelation 4:6-8. The insignia of rank are the six wings.

Number three in the order of the college of heralds are the cherubim, the angels with four wings as insignia of rank. These are actually officers of the pur sui vant, and just as there is rank among the pur sui vant in the English college of heralds so there is rank among the biblical college of heralds. The pur sui vant officers in the angelic college include those who guard the gates of the garden of Eden in Genesis 3:24, or the chariots of fire in Ezekiel 1 and 10. Satan or Lucifer the son of the morning is also in this category, or was, Ezekiel 28:14. He lost that status although he is now the ruler of the world.

Number four is the rank and file of the pur sui vant, the messengers. These are elect angels without wings, without rank. Most angels without wings who have anything to do with restraining or carrying messengers or stating policy are in this group. For example, the angelic messengers who destroyed Sodom after spending the night with Lot, Genesis 19:13, or the executioners of the city of Jerusalem in Ezekiel 9:1ff, or the man clothed in linen in Ezekiel 10:6 who acts as a messenger for the chariots of fire, or the four angels who hold back the four winds in Revelation 7:1, or the messenger from the east in Revelation 7:2.

We continue our study of the angelic college of heralds in verse eight. Before we finish this verse we will have to examine certain portions of two chapters in Ezekiel and a small section of one chapter in Isaiah. We begin now with description of the angelic heralds in the first part of Revelation 4:8. The usual beginning is the connective conjunction kai, translated “now,” with the nominative plural from tessarej, meaning “four,” plus the nominative plural subject of zoion which can be translated “living creatures,” and it actually refers to the four angelic heralds, “now the four angelic heralds.”

We have also a verb in the present active participle of the verb e)xw, “had.” E)xw is used here as a part of a three-word idiom beginning with the numeral e(n, meaning “one.” The preposition kata, again plus the numeral e(n, “each one of them” is the correct translation.

So we are off to some kind of a start in the verse. “Now each one of the four angelic heralds.” These are the highest rank as far as their insignia, they are seraphim which is the highest rank in the college of heralds, “each had.” The morphology of e)xw includes the present tense which is a historical present viewing a past event with the vividness of a present occurrence; also a retroactive progressive present which denotes what has begun in the past and continues into the present time. The active voice: the angelic heralds produce the action. This is a circumstantial participle followed by the distributive use of a)na. A)na goes back to Homeric Greek for its meaning, it means “each” or “a piece.” And then the accusative plural direct object from the noun pteruc, and it refers to wings. We have noted that most angels do not have wings so when an angel has wings he is in a very special category. With this we know the exact number of wings from the indeclinable numeral e(c, and it means “six.” Remember that only seraphim and cherubim have wings as an insignia of rank. From this passage and the description in Isaiah 6:2 it is concluded that these angelic heralds are seraphs and therefore the highest possible ranking among the angels.

The word seraphim is a Hebrew word, a noun in the plural. The “im” is the plural suffix. We would simply translate it “seraphs.” It comes from the Hebrew word saraph, meaning to burn, and therefore these angelic heralds are messengers of divine judgment on planet earth. Saraph also means to be high and lofty. It is used for nobility, it is used for a prince in two forms: the form sar and then for more than one prince, seraphim. The angels with six wings, then, are seraphs in contrast to cherubs who only have four wings. Again, wings are the insignia of rank. As angelic heralds seraphim always are used to announce the greatness of our Lord Jesus Christ in worship, plus announcing the policies of our Lord with regard to His control of history. This means that they announce historical judgements. They do not carry them out, they announce them.

The six wings in our passage are amplified by Isaiah. He said that one pair shields the face, one pair conceals the feet, and the third pair is used for moving rapidly. Mobility is a necessary function for a herald. Therefore heralds lead in divine worship as well as proclaim divine policy. They announce divine punishment or any other expression of the integrity of God. The pair of wings that cover the face are analogous to their humility and equivalent to the function of gate three of the divine dynasphere. The pair of wings that cover the feet are analogous to their respect for authority and equivalent to the function of gate five of the divine dynasphere. The pair of wings with which they fly indicates their function as angelic heralds, the communicators of divine policy. It is very interesting that one of the words for a minister in the Church Age is the Greek word khruc, and that is the word for a herald.

Isaiah 6:1-10, an Old Testament description of seraphim.

Verse 1, “In the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of his robe filling the temple.” The throne room in the temple of Isaiah is exactly the same throne in the vision of John in chapters five and six.

Verse 2, “Seraphim stood above him, each having six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.”

Verse 3 — “And one [of them] called out to another [seraph] and said, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of the armies [angelic armies], the fullness of the whole earth is his glory.”

The word holy means integrity, the honour and the integrity of two divine attributes, divine justice and divine righteousness. The seraphs have the privilege of making this statement in the presence of God.

Verse 4, “Now the door sockets trembled at the sound of his [the seraph] voice who called out while the temple in heaven was filled with smoke.”

Verse 5, “Then I [Isaiah] said, ‘Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips [unclean thoughts]’ ” In other words he recognises the fact of his own weakness, his own helplessness, and therefore he is number one candidate for grace in the time in which he lived, “ ‘My eyes have seen the King, the Lord of the armies’.”

Verse 6, “Then one of the seraphim flew to me, with a burning coal in his hand which he had taken from the altar with tongs.”

Verse 7, “Then he touched my mouth with it and said, ‘Now hear this, this has touched your lips; therefore your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is forgiven’.” That, by the way, was an actual case of where the forgiveness was actually proclaimed by the highest rank in the college of heralds, perhaps one of the same four heralds we are studying, indicating the importance of Isaiah. And notice the basis for his importance: it is in his humility. Humility is the key to happiness in life, blessing in life, and almost everything else that is wonderful in life.

Verse 8, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I replied, ‘Here am I. Send me’.”

Verse 9, “And he said, ‘Go and tell this people: You keep on listening, but you don’t learn anything; you keep on looking, but you don’t understand’.”

Verse 10, “Make the right lobes of these people callused.” How do you make people callused? By consistently teaching them the truth which they reject. They build their own hardness of heart. All Isaiah had to do was be consistent in teaching doctrine. “Make their ears dull.” There is nothing duller than a person who rejects doctrine; “And close their eyes, otherwise they might see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,” systems of perception at the time of Isaiah, “And understand with their right lobes, and turn around and be delivered,” the deliverance of client nation Israel.

Each one of the four angelic heralds had six wings a piece. Next we are going to see the uniform of wisdom for the second time. It begins with two adverbs, the adverb kuklothen which means “all around,” and e)swqen, “outside,” “inside and outside.” Then we have the third person plural present active indicative of the verb gemw, and it means to be full, “inside and outside they are full.” The perfective present tense refers to a fact that has come to be in the past, wearing the uniform of wisdom which they received at whatever is comparable in the angelic conflict to the judgment seat of Christ. Remember that all angels are in their eternity.

The same thing is going to be true in human history at certain points. So far only our Lord Jesus Christ has received His resurrection body but at the Rapture of the Church, the terminating point of the Church Age, the royal family only will have a resurrection body. For them the point of the Rapture is the beginning of eternity. Certain ones who have the uniform of glory and who have received decorations like the order of the morning star, the crown of life, and so on, are going to come back and rule for one thousand years; but they are in their eternity, they are in resurrection bodies just as throughout all human history all angels are in whatever is their eternal and final form.

All this is background for what is described here. Inside and outside they are “full.” The declarative indicative is for the reality of the great decoration, the great honour that has been bestowed upon them, the uniform of wisdom, one of the highest decorations awarded to elect angels. This uniform is described in terms of perception. The objective genitive plural from o)fqalmoj, meaning eyes. They are full of eyes [the uniform of wisdom] inside [perception of doctrine] and outside [application of doctrine]. The uniform of wisdom was awarded to angelic creatures, before man was created, for perception of doctrine and its application. All of the perception of doctrine is manifest in its application. To learn doctrine is not enough, it must be learned so that it can be applied. Therefore it must be e)pignwsij in the right lobe.

In the college of heralds in heaven we have the two ranks, the six and the four wings. Only these two rank groups have the uniform of wisdom. In other words, the highest rank in eternity among angels is determined by perception and application of doctrine, a reminder of the importance of doctrine to us at the present time. Eyes are used for perception of doctrine, as we have previously noted. Believers are warned about spiritual blindness, 1 John 2:11.

Comparing this verse to Ezekiel chapter one this system of rank based on wings in quite apparent. In Ezekiel we have a description of the cherubs as those who have rank in the third order of the college of heralds, the pur sui vant. Remember that the pur sui vant rank lowest. Number one is the Angel of the Lord, Jesus Christ, who heads the college of heralds. Number two in rank are the seraphs who have six wings. There are two categories: the kings of arms, sometimes called officers of arms; and the heralds. Both of these categories have six wings. The third category are the officers of pur sui vant, and finally we have the rank of pur sui vant. The officers of pur sui vant are cherubs, they have four wings. The function of the pur sui vant includes both warning and execution of divine judgment on any client nation to God.

Ezekiel 1:4, “And as I looked I saw a storm wind.” The Hebrew really means a fire storm, the most dangerous and destructive of all fires; “coming out of the north,” the Chaldean invasion of Israel to administer the fourth cycle of discipline. The year is BC 625, “a great cloud with fire flashing out continually [a divine warning of military disaster] and a bright light was around it. Furthermore, the centre of that fire was like glowing metal.”

Verse 5, “And inside of the fire cloud were figures resembling four living creatures,” the four angels we are studying, the four angelic heralds; “in appearance their form was like that of a man.”

Verse 6, “Each one of them had four faces and four wings,” so they are cherubs and not seraphs. The four faces, by the way, represent the four Gentile nations which God used as the fire storm to deal with client nation Israel from Ezekiel’s time onwards from 625 BC -70 AD. The first face is the Chaldean empire which will administer the fifth cycle of discipline to the southern kingdom in 586 BC. The second face is the Persian empire which would restore client nation Israel, first through the edict of Cyrus the Great in BC 538, and then in the return of the remnant to build the temple in BC 536. The third face is the Hellenistic empires, the Syrians under the Seleucids, called by Daniel the king of the north, and Egypt under the Ptolemies known as the king of the south. The fourth face is the Roman empire which administers the fifth cycle of discipline in AD 70 introducing the times of the Gentiles.

So we have now four in the college of heralds, but these four are pur sui vant in contrast to the seraphs which are heralds. The four sings are their insignia of rank in the college of heralds.

Verse 7, “Their legs were straight and the soles of their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze,” the bronze speaks of judgment, the sole of the calf’s foot means firmly planted, and therefore the fact that divine judgment of apostate client nations is a trend in history you can count on. No client nation ever gets away with a thing.

Verse 8, “Under their wings on their four sides they had hands of a man.” Note that the pur sui vant are often described in analogies related to man. They appear as man, “all four of them had faces and wings,” the hands of the pur sui vant indicates the temporal and historical security of mature believers in the midst of historical disaster. The hands also speak of grace before judgment. The hands of Christ began human history with creation. Psalm 19:1 tells us that the world was brought into being by the hands of our Lord. Psalm 122:25; John 1:3; Hebrews 1:10; Colossians 1:16 all tell us that Jesus Christ actually created the world. The hands of Christ which created the world are the hands of the saviour — Psalm 22:16. The hands of Christ are the hands of security, John 10:28. While these passages have eternal security in view they also remind us that the mature believer is protected in a special way in time of historical disaster to the client nation. The hands of this verse, Ezekiel 1:8, emphasise grace before judgment, a principle found in Isaiah 65:1,2. The hands of Christ also administer divine judgment, including the fifth cycle of discipline.

The hands, then, of the pur sui vant angels indicate our Lord’s delegation of authority to angels for the actual administration of historical disaster. The last phrase of Ezekiel 1:8 emphasises both authority delegated from God to the administration of historical judgment and the badge of rank in the college of heralds to carry out His justice.

Verse 9, “Their wings [insignia of authority] touched one another; they did not turn as they went, they went each one in the direction of his face.” The joining of the wings, according to verse 11, was limited to the upper pair so that each pur sui vant angel’s top pair of wings was joined to the next one. This means simply that the angels never act on their own in the administration of divine punishment. In other words, the application of professionalism. Their function in the college of heralds is to carry out the policy of God. Of all of the areas of life where professionalism should exist it should exist with fundamentalist Christians. If ever there was an area where believers are absolutely idiotic and non-professional it is the “fundies.” What is meant by professionalism? Good manners, thoughtfulness of others, integrity, honour, many things that “fundies” seem to be totally lacking in.

So divine punishment in historical disaster is the policy of God from His perfect integrity. The angelic heralds merely carry it out.

Verse 10 — “And the form of their faces was that of a man [one of the four sides], in addition on the right all four had the face of a lion,” cf. Revelation 4:7, where they are seraphs, with six wings. The ones in Ezekiel chapter one are lower in the college of heralds, they have four wings. Now you begin to see why it is necessary in interpretation to understand the order of battle, the order of rank in the college of heralds, “and on the left all four had the face of a bull, and all four had an eagle’s face.” These are not the same angels, only a reminder one of the other. The seraph bear the coat of arms of our Lord Jesus Christ, four seraphs, each one carries one quarter of the escutcheon. The cherubs in Ezekiel one, each one has the coat of arms of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The “face of a man” we should remember refers to our Lord Jesus Christ, a part of His coat of arms dealing with His third royal patent celebrating His strategic victory. The face of a lion: our Lord’s second royal patent, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. The face of a bull: our Lord’s escutcheon dealing with His first advent in submitting to the plan of the Father bearing our sins on the cross. An eagles face: the coat of arms which emphasises the fact that Jesus Christ controls history. There is, therefore, a parallel between the cherubs in Ezekiel 1:10 and the seraphs in Revelation 4:7. What they have in common is the escutcheon of our Lord Jesus Christ. All the heralds bear the arms of our Lord Jesus Christ in Ezekiel one but in Revelation four each herald simply bears one quarter of the escutcheon.

Verse 11, “And such were their faces. Their top set of wings spread out upward; each one had two top wings touching one another, and two wings covering their bodies.”

Verse 12, “Furthermore, each one went in the direction of his face,” that is, each one went straight ahead; “furthermore, wherever the wind would go they would go, without turning as they went,” this emphasises concentration as well as professionalism. As pur sui vant in the college of angelic heraldry they did not function according to their own will independently of our Lord Jesus Christ in His administration of historical judgment. Historical trends are inevitably the result of human volition whether they are manifest through prophecy or not. This verse implies that as the highest form of angelic life they had volition but they did not use it independently of God in their modus operandi on their historical mission. It is interesting to note that the word “wind” in verse 12 is the Hebrew word ruach, the same noun as used for both wind and the Holy Spirit. Here it refers to wind as historical trends but in Ezekiel 1:20 it refers to God the Holy Spirit. So these angelic heralds follow historical trends to administer both divine warning and divine judgment. In other words, man is the product of his own decisions, and God always gives him plenty of time to reverse those decisions and start making good ones. Bad decisions create historical disaster and the pur sui vant angels first warn in time for that warning to sink in. Then, if it is not heeded, they administer divine judgment for perpetuation of negative volition. Man must therefore take the responsibility for his own decisions, whether good or bad, which includes of course all economic depression, the result of not one person but many people.

Verse 13, “And the appearance of the living creatures [the pur sui vant angels] was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of flaming torches, and the pur sui vant angels went back and forth like bolts of lightning,” and what are they doing? They are simply administering judgment brought on by the volition of the hoi poloi.

Ezekiel 1:15-28; 10:2, 5-10.

In verses 4 through 14 of Ezekiel chapter one we have a description of the officers of the pur sui vant. The pur sui vant angels have officers who are called cherubs. Pur sui vant have two ranks: the rank and file and then their officers.

The seraph is the highest angelic rank. Above the seraph is only the Angel of the Lord. The seraph bears the arms of our Lord, he has six wings. The cherub only has four wings but these cherubs in Ezekiel 1:5 are very special because they each bear the entire escutcheon, coat of arms, of our Lord, whereas each seraph only bears one quarter of our Lord’s escutcheon, as per Revelation chapter four. The reason for that has to do with its placement. The cherubs are placed in Ezekiel, a prophecy pertinent to that day, whereas Revelation is for the Church and therefore has a different connotation.

In Ezekiel 1:15-28 we see the function of the officers of the pur sui vant category.

Verse 15, “Now as I looked out at the pur sui vant [living creatures, the cherubs], behold, there was one wheel,” this wheel is called orphan, “on the ground beside each pur sui vant angel.” We have a wheel of a chariot, an orphon, we have an officer, one of the four cherubs, and he also bears the entire arms of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The first question is, What is the orphon or the chariot wheel? For the exact meaning of the Hebrew we have to go back to Exodus 14:25 where the Egyptian chariots were going through the Red Sea and when suddenly the water moved back over them. The wheels of their chariots were called orphon. In Proverbs 20:26 the wheel of the chariot is used for capital punishment and administered to criminals, “A wise king weeds out the criminals in his kingdom, therefore he drives the orphon over them,” talking about judgment. The chariots of fire represent judgment and the administration of this judgment is in the hands of the officers, the cherubs, the pur sui vant.

Keep this in mind. Seraphs have six wings. Two categories: the kings of arms and the heralds. That is what we have in Revelation four each bearing one quarter of the arms of our Lord Jesus Christ. But cherubs are lower than seraphs, they have only four wings, and they are related here to the chariots of fire in Ezekiel chapter one. They bear the arms of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In the vision of the Ancient of Days, meaning the eternal one in Daniel 7:9, we have a description of our Lord’s throne mounted on chariot wheels: “I kept looking until the thrones were set up, and the Ancient of Days [the eternal God] took his seat; his robe was white as snow [like Revelation 1:13], and the hair of his head was pure as wool [like Revelation 1:14]. His throne was flames of fire, its wheels a burning fire.” So in Daniel 7:9 we have the chariots of fire which carry the throne of our Lord Jesus Christ. These wheels are the wheels of the chariots of fire. In Ezekiel 1:15 these are again the wheels of the chariots of fire. These are the same wheels as are found in Ezekiel 10:2, “And he spoke to the man clothed in linen [pur sui vant] and said, ‘Enter into the whirling wheels under the cherubs.’ The cherubs are the chariots of fire administering judgment but they merely proclaim and indicate the divine policy. The man in linen carries it out, he is rank and file pur sui vant, or messenger. So the cherubs have under them messengers, ‘and fill your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubs and scatter them over the city.’ We are talking about the city of Jerusalem. This is the prophecy of the fall of Jerusalem in BC 586, the prophecy of the administration of the fifth cycle of discipline, and you will notice that the discipline came from the chariots of fire.

So on top of the chariots of fire is the throne. This is where our Lord Jesus Christ controls history. At the wheels of the chariot are the cherubs, each one a pur sui vant officer, each wheel of the chariot has a cherub. The man in linen here is simply a rank and file pur sui vant messenger. He goes into the wheels, picks up the coals, carries them to Jerusalem, a prophecy of the fall of Jerusalem in BC 586, the administration of the fifth cycle of discipline to the southern kingdom. So Ezekiel is prophesying from the standpoint of heaven. The whole point is that it comes from the integrity of our Lord Jesus Christ who controls history.

In this particular prophecy you will notice that the seraphs are not mentioned. Reason: the royal family is not involved. The seraphs that we are studying in Revelation deal with the royal family. In Revelation chapter four we are talking about the royal family in heaven, we are talking about the Tribulation where the highest ranking angels in the college of heralds come forward. Here in Ezekiel we are talking about Israel in the fifth cycle of discipline.

Notice that in Ezekiel 1:15 there were four wheels to the chariot of fire, and by each wheel is a cherub or the officer of the pur sui vant bearing our Lord’s coat of arms. Always, anytime when you are dealing with historical disaster in any form of judgment there is always somewhere the coat of arms indicating exactly who is controlling history. Our Lord is controlling history. His coat of arms merely indicates the fact of His integrity and His right to administer any form of judgment and historical disaster to any group at any time in history.

In Ezekiel 10:5-10 we have exactly the same judgment scene from the chariot of fire. By the way, when Elijah was picked up he was picked up in a chariot of fire. Elijah did not die physically, he was taken to heaven without dying because his work isn’t done. But he also had fouled up by running away from the revival. He will have another crack at it in the Tribulation but when he left the earth he left in a chariot of fire. Ezekiel 10:5, “Moreover, the sound of the wings [badge of rank] of the cherubs was heard as far as the outer court, like the voice of God [El Shaddai, actually] when he speaks.

Verse 6, “And it came to pass when he commanded the man in linen [a cherub], saying, ‘Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubs,’ and he entered and stood between the wheels.

Verse 7, “Then the cherub stretched out his hand from between the cherubim to the fire [the judgment] which was between the cherubim, and took some and put it in the hands of the one clothed in linen [the rank and file messenger] who took it and went out.”

Verse 8, “And the cherubs appeared to have the form of a man’s hand under their wings.”

Verse 9, “Then I looked, and behold, four wheels beside the cherubs, one wheel beside each cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was like the gleam of an emerald [representing God’s promise to always protect the mature believer no matter how great the disaster].”

Verse 10, “And as for their appearance, the four of them [the pur sui vant officers] look alike, each as it one wheel were within the other wheel.” In other words, they were exact duplications as far as their appearance.

Now back to Ezekiel chapter one.

Verse 15, “Now as I looked at the pur sui vant officer [cherub], behold, there was one wheel on the ground beside each pur sui vant angel [living creature] with their four faces” — the four faces are the devices of heraldry on our Lord’s coat of arms.

Verse 16, “And the appearance of the wheels and their workmanship was like the flash of an emerald, and all four looked alike.” The emerald represents the fact that no matter how great the judgment God always preserves the mature believer. God always protects the pivot and in our dispensation the wall of fire is for those inside the divine dynasphere; “their appearance and their workmanship was as if one wheel were within another,” an idiom for exact duplication, the wheels were exactly the same.

Verse 17, “And as they moved they would go in any one of four directions the pur sui vant angels faced, the wheels did not turn as the pur sui vant moved.”

Verse 18, “As for their rims they were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around,” maximum perception of doctrine, and this is again a representation of the fact that those who are the recipients of judgment always get a fair shake.

Verse 19, “And when the pur sui vant angels moved, the wheels beside them moved. And when the pur sui vant angels rose from the earth, the wheels rose also.”

Verse 20, “Wherever the Spirit,” now we have the Hebrew, ruach, again. This time it isn’t wind, it is a reference to God the Holy Spirit, would go, they would go in that direction. And the wheels would rise with them, because the Spirit in the pur sui vant angels was also in the wheels.” The wheels are an integral part of the angels. In other words, they are integrated with the chariot. The chariot wheels represent divine judgment during human history, the source being our Lord Jesus Christ. The function of judgment is delegated to the angelic college of heralds. The fact that the wheels have the uniform of wisdom in verse 18 and are filled with the Spirit in verse 20 indicates that the wheels are the judgment administration, and this administration is given to the cherubs who in turn delegate it to the rank and file under their command. The integrity of the divine justice as administered to the college of heralds is stated in Ezekiel 1:21.

Verse 21, “When the former [the cherubs] moved the latter [the wheels] moved also; and when the former stood still, the wheels also stood still.” This indicates, of course, a system whereby motion or lack of motion depended upon the officers. “Furthermore, when the former raised themselves from the ground, the wheels raised themselves beside them; for the Spirit [God the Holy Spirit] in the pur sui vant angels was also in the wheels.”

Verse 22, “Now over the heads of the pur sui vant angels here was something like an expanse, like the awesome gleam of crystal extended over their heads,” which means there was no help from heaven in the administration of judgment. The cherubs or pur sui vant angels did not turn as they changed direction. They went straight forward, as we have noted, and the wheels moved with the cherubs; hence the cherubs are the moving force in the chariots of fire. The judgements in human history, apart from those which result in bad decisions, are mandated by the sovereignty of our Lord Jesus Christ and are carried out by the officers of the heraldry who delegate the actual detailed function to the rank and file.

Verse 23, “And under the expanse their wings were stretched our horizontally [straight], one toward the other; each one also had two sets of wings covering their bodies, one on the one side, one on the other,” four in all. These four sings are the badge of rank again.

Verse 24, “I also heard the sound of their wings like the roar of rushing waters.” The roar of rushing waters is use as an analogy for the armies invading Israel to administer either the fourth or the fifth cycles of discipline. And, of course, this applies to any client nation at any time; “like the voice of the Almighty, like the sound of an army in bivouac; when they stood still they lowered their wings.” Lowering of the wings means that the cherubs or the chariot of fire do not use their authority apart from the sovereignty of our Lord. While the angelic college of heralds have all kinds of agents for judgment the source of their agency function is always the same: Jesus Christ who controls history. In other words, they do not abuse their authority.

Verse 25, the source of the judgment is now stated. “And there came a voice from above the expanse that was over their heads; as they stood still with lowered wings.”

Verse 26, “Furthermore above the expanse that was over their heads there was something resembling a throne of sapphire; and high above that throne was the figure like that of a man” — our Lord Jesus Christ who controls history.

Verse 27, “Then I notice that from what appeared to be his waste up he looked like glowing metal as full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire and a brilliant light surrounded him” — meaning that all judgment comes from integrity, is fair, is perfect, and it is never in any way discriminatory or unfair or unreasonable.

Remember once again that we must keep in mind the angelic order of battle. It is the basis for interpretation of numerous verses in the next eight chapters of the book of Revelation. Furthermore, we are going to learn a great deal from angels during our study of Revelation. One of the next things we are about to learn is how to worship. The fact that people do not know how to worship and often think they are worshipping when they are not is one of the great issues in the Word of God. Of course, once a believer in Jesus Christ knows how to worship his relationship with people should improve tremendously for worship is a major factor in category #1 love — occupation with the person of Christ and fulfilment of all the principles related to Him. All motivating virtue and worship is tied in together as far as the divine dynasphere is concerned.

In the angelic order of battle there are two classifications. First of all there is the angelic army, and secondly there is the college of heralds. Number one in both categories is our Lord Jesus Christ. Under the army His title as Commander-in-Chief is Lord of hosts, better translated Lord of the armies, Adonai Sabaoth. As number one in the college of heralds His title is Angel of the Lord, Malak Adonai. Number two in the army is the concept of army commanders. The title is archangels. There are two archangels mentioned in the Bible, Michael and Gabriel. Number two as far as the college of heralds is concerned is made up of a category which we call seraphs. A seraph is simply an angel with six wings. Wings simply denote the rank of angels: six wings, the seraphs; four wings, the cherubs. Most angels do not have wings.

In the college of heralds there are two categories of the seraph. The first is the king of arms or the officers of arms. The second category are the heralds.

Number three in the army is what we have studied as the “twenty-four elders,” and they are actually the general staff. Number three in the college of heralds are the pur sui vant officers. The officers are the ones that we have been noting in Ezekiel chapters 1 and 10. The pur sui vant officers are always cherubs. They are distinguished from the rank and file pur sui vant which are simply called messengers and have no wings.

In Revelation 4:8 the worship function of the angelic heralds is only summarised in the next phrase we will study. It is the same phrase given by Isaiah chapter six but it doesn’t tell us anything about worship, except this: All true worship is based on knowing and understanding the integrity of God, not the love of God. In the rest of verse eight we have the object of worship mentioned but you cannot worship God as a born-again believer until you know those doctrines which pertain to integrity and those doctrines which pertain to Christology. And they are all merely mentioned briefly because it is assumed that by the time you get to the book of Revelation you understand the integrity of God. That is what we studied in the book of Romans.

We begin with the connective conjunction kai emphasising a noteworthy fact about the highest rank of elect angels in the college of heralds. The Lord Jesus Christ is not an angel, He commands the college of heralds. The highest ranking are the seraphs. The kai here, therefore, being used to indicate a noteworthy fact about this highest order in the college of heralds, is translated not “and” but “furthermore.” Then we have a verb that John uses constantly whenever he is describing any category of elect angels and their function, the present active indicative of the verb e)xw, but with this we also have the negative o)uk. In this case they do not have, literally. The descriptive present tense of e)xw plus the negative, and the active voice: the four seraphs or angelic heralds produce a negative action. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of a perpetuation of a function in their life in heaven. With this we have the accusative singular direct object from a)napausij, which means a stopping or a rest, “Furthermore they do not have rest.” This is a Greek idiom meaning without ceasing. Then we have two genitives of time: h(mera for day; neuc for night, “day or night,” “saying,” the present active participle from legw. And what follows is simply a summary of their worship. There are six words that are exactly the same and then we have three words which are basic to the title of the object of worship. First of all we have a(gioj three times. It is translated in our Bibles as “holy” and that is all right if you understand its meaning. It is a very nebulous and abstruse word without assigning a meaning in modern English. It means integrity. A(gioj translated “holy” refers to the integrity, specifically of our Lord Jesus Christ but also the other members of the Trinity as well. The noun is repeated three times because each member of the Trinity has the same identical integrity called holiness, made up of two divine attributes, righteousness and justice.

Out of this comes the first of many principles we are going to learn from angels: all worship, which is respect for God expressed, plus all human love for God must begin with the divine attribute of integrity. The basis for worship is understanding and therefore having total respect for the integrity of God. This is where all worship must begin. Divine holiness or integrity is our first reality contact with God in worship. Now our first contact is when we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; our first reality contact in worship is understanding the integrity of God.

The triple repetition, “Holy, holy, holy,” is addressed to the Lord Jesus Christ. Each repetition is directed toward one category of His title. All three members of the Trinity have the same integrity but Jesus Christ is the manifest person of the Godhead. He is the saviour and, furthermore, all we know about God is what we know about Jesus Christ. So when they say, “Holy, holy, holy,” they are not excluding the other members of the Trinity but in this particular passage what follows indicates that each one of these titles has the same identity, the same equality of integrity. The first title is kurioj, “Lord,” and it refers to the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is also a title of His third royal patent where He is called Lord of lords, and the absence of the definite article emphasises the quality of the noun. This would emphasise to us a number of things. Since kurioj is used here in the sense of Lord it refers specifically to His third royal patent. The hypostatic union comes into focus. It was at the conclusion, the resurrection, ascension and session of our Lord, of the first advent that the hypostatic union came to heaven and there received the third royal patent. And remember the key to the hypostatic union is the three factors: first of all Jesus Christ is eternal God; secondly, He is true humanity; thirdly, these are combined in one person forever.

The second title here is o( qeoj, the God. This emphasises the deity of Christ only, the fact that Jesus Christ is eternal God.

The third title is pantokrator, it means “all-powerful one” and is a reference to the total power of Christ over creatures as the God-Man, the uniqueness of His person in the universe. It emphasises His royal patents, all three of them.

“furthermore, day and night they never stopped saying, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy’, Lord God the Almighty one.”

Now we have the rest of the phrase which is merely a summary of their worship and not a detailed expression. Our Lord in the past: we have the definite article used with the indicative mood which is Ionic Greek. It is used for both the personal pronoun and the relative pronoun both, which was Ionic rather than Attic. In the Attic Greek you would have the definite pronoun, like su, and then you would follow it by o(j. It would state both. The Ionic Greek doesn’t go to all that trouble, it just uses the definite article. So we have the definite article here indicating both the personal and the relative pronoun, “he who was,” the imperfect active indicative of e)imi, the verb to be. Since there was no imperfect participle the verb e)imi is used in the indicative. Therefore the imperfect indicative is used to denote eternity past plus human history up to the time of the incarnation.

Eternity past is divided into three categories: the time when only God existed [indefinite, eternity past]; the time of the angelic conflict; the time of human history. That is eternity past up until the time of the virgin birth, e)imi being used in the imperfect tense, in the indicative since there is no imperfect participle. The imperfect tense is a progressive imperfect of description representing linear aktionsart in past time — all phases of eternity past, up to the time of the virgin birth, when Jesus Christ was eternal God, coequal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. The active voice: our Lord Jesus Christ as eternal God produces the action. The indicative mood is declarative for a dogmatic statement of Bible doctrine: Jesus Christ is eternal God.

Next in the item of worship is our Lord at the present time. Again we have the Koine Greek, kai to connect it, the articular present active participle from e)imi. This time it is translated, “and he who is.” We switch from the Ionic to the Koine Greek which used primarily the articular participle. This time the definite article is used as the personal pronoun. The relative pronoun comes from the circumstantial participle. We have a static present tense representing a condition which is perpetually existing, it will go on forever. Our Lord will be unique forever, the God-Man. Jesus Christ at the right hand of the Father also possesses in His humanity two royal patents, one which He received at birth — He is the ruler of Israel in the line of David, and one He received after the ascension in which He became the King of kings and Lord of lords, minus a royal family. The active voice: the resurrected Christ in hypostatic union plus His glorified state of His third royal patent produces the action. The participle is circumstantial for the award of the third royal patent.

Finally, we have the articular present active participle of the verb e)rxomai, and it means “who is to come.” The definite article is used for the personal pronoun. The futuristic present tense denotes an event which has not yet occurred, the second advent of Christ and the tactical victory of the angelic conflict. But this is regarded as so certain that in thought it is contemplated as already coming to pass. The active voice: our Lord Jesus Christ produces the action of the verb. The participle is circumstantial, this is a reference to the second advent.

The principle: all prophecy after the conclusion of the Church Age with the Rapture focuses on the second advent of Christ. Therefore you will not be surprised to find in the book of Revelation that there will be a number of things on the second advent. There is no prophecy to be fulfilled in the Church Age, this is the dispensation of no prophecy. This is the only dispensation in which a royal family is being called out. All other dispensations have prophecy, in fact in all other dispensations prophecy is the basis for delineating historical trends. But in the Church Age historical trends are delineated by the volition of the royal family, our Lord’s special salute to believers of this age. Your attitude toward doctrine and whether you live in the divine dynasphere or the cosmic system is the determining factor of historical trends. In other words, the uptrend or the downtrend of history depends on the attitude of the believer.

The next prophecy in history is the Rapture of the Church which is and has been since the Church Age began and the Rapture became imminent. All prophetical history centres around the second advent. All prophetical history before the Church Age centred around the first advent of Christ; all prophetical history after the Rapture centres around the second advent of Christ. That is the concept “and who is to come.”

The basis for understanding many of the verses found in this section of the book of Revelation is dependant on our understanding of the angelic order of battle. The elect angels have a very specific order of battle and they are divided into two categories, the army of the elect angels and the college of heralds.

As we approach to subject of worship, for that is the subject of the next three chapters, we find the category seraphim or angelic heralds are going to lead in divine worship. So in our order of battle we are now looking at the heralds who are seraphs. They will be the leaders and on the army side the general staff will have a very prominent place in the worship in heaven. The next three verses deal with the subject of worship and we are going to learn a great deal about worship from these angels in heaven.

We begin verse 9 with the connective conjunction kai, “and,” followed by the temporal particle o(tan which is used with the future active indicative and it means “when,” and it introduces a temporal clause of definite time. Most temporal clauses have indefinite time; this is one of definite time. Definite time means that the time limit may be indicated as a specific point of time when this angelic worship occurs, hence the temporal particle o(tan refers to those periods of worship in the throne room of God which were specified in the previous verse. This doesn’t occur all of the time but it does occur at specific periods. The absence of the particle a)n precludes this from being an indefinite temporal clause and therefore a definite time for worship is specified by this particle, just as there is a definite time for worship among those of us who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ in the dispensation of the royal family of God.

A specific time of worship is always set aside. That specific worship of course includes several concepts. We do not worship on the Sabbath, the Sabbath being Saturday — that went out with client nation Israel, but the first day of the week. And the very fact that it is the first day of the week means that if you start the week with a dedication of a certain portion of your day to worship then that is perpetuated throughout every day. In other words, it is a matter of your scale of values and it is a reminder to put first things first. While the first day of the week was the day of assembly worship for the local church even as early as the first generation of the Church Age it was never designed to be anything but a reminder to start your week right, to start it by putting first things first in worship which, of course, basically to us is the perception of Bible doctrine.

Next we have our nominative plural subject zwon, “living creatures,” which refers to the angelic college of heralds and specifically to the four seraphs, each one bearing one quarter of our Lord’s royal arms. Translation: “And when the angelic heralds.”

Then we have the future active indicative of the verb didomi which means to give, and it is translated “shall give.” The gnomic future tense is for a statement of fact or performance which may be rightly expected under normal conditions of angelic worship in the throne room of heaven. The active voice: the angelic heralds produce the action of the verb when worship is conducted in the throne room of God. Again the temporal conjunction o(tan does indicate that worship is not conducted perpetually, only that the angelic heralds have a perpetual function in whatever periods of worship are set aside. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of worship from the angelic heralds, the highest creatures in rank in all of creature activity.

The categories of worship are now expressed. We have actually three of them, each one is an accusative singular direct object from three nouns. There are three categories of worship and they are pertinent to us as they are pertinent to the elect angels. The angelic being are called doca, so the word “glory” is our first word for worship. Doca is translated “glory” and it is found is Jude 8 for angelic beings as well as 2 Peter 2:10. Therefore it becomes a very important concept.

In Jude 8, “Yet in the very same way [as fallen angels of Genesis 6 and the men of Sodom] these degenerate men by dreaming pollute the flesh, reject authority, and slander angelic majesties.” However, the word “angelic majesties” is really doca in the plural and refers to elect angels and the equivalent of our resurrection bodies.

In 2 Peter 2:10 this is especially true of those [mankind in the cosmic system] who follow the old sin nature or “pursue the flesh in its corrupt or abnormal desires and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander angelic majesties.” Again, the reference to whatever elect angels have for resurrection bodies, the word doca in the plural.

This is the word which is used first in our passage, “And when the angelic heralds shall give glory.” This is category #1 worship and it is limited to the eternal state or resurrection body. So there are certain types of worship of which we are not capable as long as we are in the body of this flesh. This category of worship involves, therefore, the eternal state, and it simply indicates that these angels in their angelic conflict, long before history existed, made their right decision [whatever salvation was] and they have all received their resurrection bodies [doca, “glories”] and now are in heaven entering in to a form of worship which is limited to the resurrection body or its equivalent called “glory.” They give glory, and this word “glory” simply means they give a form of worship in the eternal state, a form of worship which we will enter into when we have resurrection bodies. Therefore we learn from the first category that there is a limitation to our worship. God has provided everything necessary for us to worship, He has provided Bible doctrine, but there is still a limitation.

The same thing is true, then, of the believer in the royal family of God. At the point of the Rapture and the big genuflect in the sky, that will be the first time that he will be able to give that same category of worship.

Now the point is that category #1 worship, called glory, is the highest form of worship. It requires the possession of glory and/or the resurrection body for the believer to fulfil it. Elect angels are in their eternal state or glorified state and therefore they can execute this form of worship. Glory means face to face worship in the resurrection body. This form of worship will not exist for human beings until after the Rapture of the Church when believers of this dispensation will receive their resurrection and their resultant capacities for this form of worship.

The principle from this first phrase: capacity for worship must precede the function of worship. The body of corruption cannot give glory to God as the highest category of worship. Corruption must take on incorruption, we must have a resurrection body to fulfil this form of worship. Note also an additional principle: the fallen angels, including Satan, while waiting for the lake of fire, as per Matthew 25:41, are expressing the arrogance of gate one, cosmic one through jealousy and slander of these elect angels. That is the concept that we noted in both Jude and 2 Peter. Remember that Satan himself invented the cosmic system and that all motivating evil comes from cosmic one, gate one. Therefore the tremendous amount of slander that comes to the elect angels in resurrection bodies comes from Satan. It also adds a principle to us: arrogance, jealousy, bitterness, vindictiveness, implacability, self-pity, all forms of pride, absolutely preclude any possibility of true worship. So there is, then, category #1, glory, and it teaches us the principle that capacity for worship must precede the function of worship.

Next we have category #2 worship, another accusative singular direct object from the noun timh. It means honour, reverence, respect, a form of worship which must also demand capacity. All three meanings of timh are used in the concept of worship. The first meaning is respect, the second is reverence, the third is honour, and all three meanings teach us something about the second category of worship.

Let’s start with the word “respect” as a meaning for timh. The believer can only respect our Lord Jesus Christ by knowing His thinking, which is Bible doctrine resident in the soul, for the object of our worship is the second person of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ. Without doctrine resident in the soul the believer cannot worship God and therefore respect for doctrine precedes reception of doctrine as a future function of worship. Respect for doctrine precedes the reception of doctrine which is the prerequisite for worship. You will never learn doctrine unless you respect it; you will never learn doctrine unless it is number one in your scale of values. Add to this the filling of the Holy Spirit — gate one of the divine dynasphere — and you have a picture of this category of worship. John 4:24 expresses the principle: “God is a Spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit [Gate one of the divine dynasphere] and in doctrine [Gate four of the divine dynasphere]”.

Then timh also means reverence. This is a reference to motivating virtue which is classified as personal love for God inside the divine dynasphere. Remember that when you are living the Christian life there is only one place to live it: inside the divine dynasphere. You have, first of all the function of your royal priesthood which directs your Christian life toward God from inside the divine dynasphere. You have the function of your royal ambassadorship which directs your Christian life toward people and circumstances. All virtue directed toward God becomes motivating virtue. All function of your ambassadorship inside the divine dynasphere toward people and circumstances becomes functional virtue and motivating virtue must precede functional virtue. In this case the motivating virtue is personal love for God which results from the function perception of doctrine at gate four, and it results in that great functional virtue, impersonal love for all mankind directed toward the human race. Out of it comes the concept of timh as reverence. All reverence toward God is the motivating virtue of personal love for God. Personal love for God originates from Bible doctrine resident in your soul and there can be no expression of worship apart from knowledge of doctrine producing this personal love for God, the fifth gate of the divine dynasphere.

Then timh also means honour. To honour God in worship requires both residence and function inside the divine dynasphere plus the production of honour as functional virtue. This, therefore, gives us the three concepts from our second word.

Principle

1. Compliance with the royal family honour code and the production of functional virtue is necessary for the fulfilment of the worship principle.

2. The point is that all worship directed toward God must come from virtue, honour and integrity, the production of the divine dynasphere. Remember that in the cosmic system there is both morality and immorality. Satan works through two antithetical concepts, just as the communists do through peace movements and war. He invented the cosmic system as the administration of the rulership of this world, and in the cosmic system there is morality and immorality, he uses both systems. Most moral Christians today, because they are not living in the divine dynasphere where virtue, honour and integrity is produced, are the servants of Satan, their morality is nothing more than arrogance and self-righteousness. This, of course, is a great tragedy because these people have deluded themselves into thinking that because they are moral that somehow they are honouring God. In reality they are serving Satan in the cosmic system for they use their morality as a means of maligning, gossiping and judging, and they use their morality as a system of crusading. You are not worshipping God because you sit in a church and are moral. Genuine morality comes from the filling of the Holy Spirit, it cannot be reproduced by human ability.

3. The believer must possess honour to honour the Lord in worship.

4. Honour in the soul must precede the expression of honour in worship so that the principle emerges in point 5.

5. Only honourable believers can honour the Lord or give honour to the Lord. You cannot express worship by giving honour to the Lord if you have no honour to give. The only accumulation of honour to give to the Lord is the honour which you develop inside the divine dynasphere.

6. Therefore you cannot give in worship what you do not possess yourself.

7. To give God honour in worship you must possess honour. You cannot possess honour in the cosmic system. Most Christians live in the cosmic system. Worship, therefore, demands momentum inside the divine dynasphere, the function of perception and application of doctrine.

The third category of worship mentioned is the accusative singular direct object from the noun in the Greek, e)uxaristia. It means gratitude, thanksgiving, or the rendering of thanks. This category of worship is open to believers in time also. Category one is open only to the resurrection body, giving glory to God. The second category is honour and, of course, that is open now. The third category is thanksgiving and is open to believers in time also but there must be capacity for thanksgiving before gratitude can be expressed to God in worship. Believers in the cosmic system have no capacity for gratitude therefore they cannot fulfil this category of worship. In order to have genuine gratitude it must be backed by humility.

The principle: Arrogance is devoid of gratitude. No matter what you do for the arrogant believer he will never appreciate it. Obviously then the arrogant believer does not appreciate what God has done and is doing for him in logistical grace. In other words, people who are ungrateful to people are also ungrateful to God.

Believers involved in the cosmic system are arrogant. Arrogant believers never appreciate anything that is done for them. Arrogance destroys capacity for appreciation and consequently capacity for love, capacity for life, and obviously capacity for happiness. Arrogance either destroys worship or distorts worship into a system of ritual without reality.

We close out this verse by noting the object of the worship of the royal family of God, the articular present active participle from the Greek word kaqhmai, meaning to sit. Sometimes as a participle we will translate it “the rider.” When we get to the four horsemen of the apocalypse in Revelation 6 we will translate it “rider.” Here we have someone sitting on a throne. The definite article in the Greek is the dative singular direct object, it indicates that our Lord Jesus Christ is the object of this angelic worship in heaven. Furthermore, as a definite article it is used as per Koine Greek for a personal pronoun and is translated “to him.” It refers to the Lord Jesus Christ. The static present tense represents a condition as perpetually existing. The active voice: our Lord Jesus Christ produces the action of the verb, He is seated at the right hand of the Father, He has received His third royal patent and, as it were, He is making intercession for us as our great High Priest. The participle is circumstantial.

With this we have a prepositional phrase, e)pi plus the locative of qronoj, meaning “on the throne.” There are actually two members of the Trinity sitting on that throne, one is invisible [God the Father, the author of the plan], the other is periodically visible in order to delineate certain principles in the visions of John on the Island of Patmos. So we translate: “to him who sits on the throne,” our Lord Jesus Christ. And then we repeat an articular present active participle from the verb zaw, and it means to live, “to him who lives.” And again the dative singular indirect object from the definite article used again as a personal pronoun. The static present tense is for the perpetual existence of our Lord Jesus Christ in hypostatic union. As God He exists eternally; as true humanity in resurrected form He also exists eternally. The active voice: Jesus Christ in hypostatic union produces the action of the verb through His third royal patent. This is a circumstantial participle. With it we have an idiomatic prepositional phrase, e)ij plus two uses of a)iwn. It is e)ij plus a)iwn in the accusative plural and then plus the genitive plural. Literally, “unto the ages of ages,” but it is an idiom in the Greek that means “forever and ever.”

Verse 9, “And when the angelic heralds shall give glory [category one worship limited to the eternal state or the resurrection body] and honour [category two worship, only honourable believers in time can honour the Lord in worship] and thanksgiving [category three worship for believers in the divine dynasphere] to him who sits upon the throne [our Lord Jesus Christ], to him who lives forever and ever [the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ will be in hypostatic union forever].”

Principles

1. Since Christ is the manifest person of the Trinity worship of Christ is worship of God.

2. Since Christ is the victory in the angelic conflict worship of Christ is recognition of the function and the provision of all three members of the Godhead, all three persons in the divine Trinity.

3. However, without doctrine and the filling of the Spirit there can be no gratitude or capacity for thanksgiving. God has provided for the believer in this dispensation only gate one, the filling of the Spirit, the power for worship; gate two, objectivity in learning doctrine; gate three, enforced and genuine humility, teachability in learning doctrine; gate four, perception of doctrine which must precede worship. So there must be an interlock between gate one and gate four, and the result is gate five. First of all there will be love of God, that is the beginning of worship, but eventually there will be occupation with Christ, that is the maximum expression of worship in the human body of the believer.

4. Love must precede gratitude and the expression of thanksgiving in worship. This love of God comes from perception of Bible doctrine.

5. While capacity for gratitude can be expressed either to a stranger or someone we personally love all capacity for thanksgiving or expression of gratitude must come from impersonal love which is both capacity and the virtue.

6. Without impersonal love there is neither capacity for personal love nor capacity for thanksgiving, the expression of gratitude in worship.

7. Virtue must precede and motivate both personal love and the expression of thanksgiving.

8. When directed toward God thanksgiving is motivated by personal love for God, and personal love for God can only exist to the extent that you have taken in a maximum amount of Bible doctrine. When directed toward mankind gratitude and thanksgiving is motivated by impersonal love. In either case virtue is the basis for all true thanksgiving and all true gratitude, whether expressed toward someone in the human race or expressed toward God in worship.

Four heralds lead in the worship of our Lord Jesus Christ in the heavenly scene we are studying.

In verse 10 we have antiphonal worship of the angelic general staff. The angelic elect army now comes into the picture with its number two rank expressing the antiphonal part of the worship. In the King James version it is the “four and twenty elders” which is far off base. These are twenty-four angelic staff officers. We have noted before the indeclinable numeral with the nominative plural definite article to indicate the subject. We have noted the Greek word for twenty, i(ekosi, and the word for four, tessarej, and we have seen the nominative plural subject presbuteroj, a word for both the human race and four angelic creatures. We are now talking about angelic creatures and the second highest rank in the elect army of angels, and the future middle indicative indicates their attitude. It is the word piptw, translated “fall down,” “And the twenty-four angelic staff officers will fall down.” The future tense is a gnomic future for a statement of fact or performance which may be anticipated when throne-room worship is conducted by some of the highest orders of angelic creatures. We also noted that they are not constantly doing this, they have other duties, but it is mentioned first because if you start the day under the concept of worship, if you make worship a daily habit, then your priorities are straight. This is why the royal family does not meet on Saturday and this is why the Sabbath connotation is strictly legalism.

There is no specific worship day. The early church assembled on the first day of the week for a purpose. It was not the Sabbath day it was the first day of the week. They started their week properly and with the correct connotation. The principle is a very simple one: if your scale of values is right before the Lord and Bible doctrine has first place, then you start with worship and everything else falls into place. This is the connotation, of course, of the daily perception of Bible doctrine and it is also the concept of the gnomic future in this passage. The indirect middle emphasises the agent or the subject as producing the action rather than participating in its results. The action is produced by four of the highest-ranking angelic creatures. They are seraphs. The indicative mood is the reality of antiphonal worship of the general; staff. It is also the reality of their humility and their subordination as a prerequisite for heavenly worship of our Lord Jesus Christ. If heaven requires humility and subordination for worship the same must be true for worship of our Lord Jesus Christ on earth. Therefore the importance of gate three of the divine dynasphere, not only in the perception of doctrine but in the perception of doctrine as an expression of worship.

Next comes the improper preposition e)nwpion, which means “before,” and sometimes “face to face,” plus the genitive singular of the definite article tou, used as a personal pronoun and translated “before him.” Then the present active participle of the verb kaqhmai, which means to sit. It will simply be translated “fall down before him who sits.” The static present represents the permanent status of our Lord Jesus Christ honoured by God the Father in sharing His throne. The active voice: our Lord Jesus Christ produces the action of the verb, and He has since His ascension and the reception of His royal patent. This means that two out of the three members of the Trinity are actually depicted in heaven carrying out this particular function. God the Holy Spirit has other functions which separate Him from the throne but not as far as His coequality. This is a circumstantial participle followed by that prepositional phrase e)pi plus the genitive of qronoj.

The corrected translation as far as we have gone: “The twenty-four staff officers [angelic general staff] will fall down before him [our Lord Jesus Christ] who sits on the throne.”

We note now some of the principles related to the army worship. We have seen the college of heralds in their leadership expressing worship and we have learned some principles from them. Now we see the general staff. First of all we note one of the most important functions in worship is humility and subordination to our Lord’s authority. This is a principle expressed by the general staff.

1. God cannot be first in your life apart from enforced humility which is defined here as submission to divine authority as delegated through Bible doctrine. God cannot be first in your life apart from enforced humility and genuine humility. Genuine humility is the capacity for loving God from perception of doctrine. Note then that there are two concepts in worship: the first is submission to divine authority as delegated through the Word, and the second is capacity for loving God through perception of doctrine.

2. Love of God is a motivating virtue which comes from residence and function inside the divine dynasphere, persistence in the perception of Bible doctrine.

3. This gives us the result and prepares us for worship. Genuine humility is the result. It is the first issue in two factors: worship of God and happiness in life. Without genuine humility it is impossible to worship God and it is impossible to have happiness in life.

4. Genuine humility increases as perception of Bible doctrine parlays love of God into occupation with the person of Christ. In other words, the function of gate five of the divine dynasphere.

5. The same genuine humility provides capacity for life, for love, for happiness in human relationships.

6. The same genuine humility also provides the base for the function of impersonal love in the application of doctrine to human relationships. Now here is the shocker. There is a definite relationship between worship of God and human relationship. Worship is a successful relationship with God and it results in successful human relationships. Take God out of life and human relationship in a successful pattern cannot exist.

7. This means your ability to worship results in good human relationships. There is a definite relationship between worship of God and human interaction.

8. Without genuine humility and impersonal love the believer is incapable of happiness and blessing in human relationships just as he is incapable of worship in his relationship with God.

9. Both category #2 and category #3 personal love cannot be sustained or perpetuated without the stabilised foundation of impersonal love. Your personal love cannot exceed your humility and virtue.

But we learn a second principle as well from this first phrase of verse 10. We learn something of their efficacious worship. Worship is not worship unless it is efficacious, i.e., having the power to produce the intended effect. This comes up from the next phrase. So we have the connective kai, “and,” followed by the future active indicative of the verb proskunew which means “worship,” “and they will worship.” Again we have the gnomic future for a statement of fact or performance which may be anticipated when the throne room worship is conducted by the angelic general staff. Notice, the heralds begin the worship. They are second only in rank to our Lord Jesus Christ and one or two angels who are kings of arms or officers of arms. The angelic general staff now forms the antiphony. The active voice: the angelic staff produces the action of the verb. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of the highest form of worship from the second highest ranking angels in the elect army order of battle. The highest rank goes to our Lord Jesus Christ and He is not an angel.

Next comes the articular present active participle from zaw which is translated “to live.” The dative singular indirect object from the definite article is used as a personal pronoun referring to our Lord Jesus Christ who is the object of all angelic worship in heaven, “to him.” The present tense is a static present for the perpetual existence of our Lord Jesus Christ in His hypostatic union. It is His hypostatic union that is perpetuated, not His deity, the humanity part and therefore the person of Christ in hypostatic union. The active voice: our Lord Jesus Christ in hypostatic union produces the action of the verb after His ascension and reception of His third royal patent. The participle is circumstantial. Once again we have the repetition of the phrase e)ij plus a)iwn in the accusative plural and the genitive plural which is literally “to the ages of the ages” but is an idiom meaning “forever and ever.”

Translation: “and they [the angelic general staff] will worship him [our Lord Jesus Christ] who lives forever and ever.”

The principle that comes out of this: Only one Man is ever worshipped by angels, that part of the hypostatic union which is the humanity of Christ.

1. The humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ in His glorified state is the object of angelic worship. Man was created lower than angels. In heaven there will be that remarkable phenomenon of angels worshipping the humanity of Christ.

2. The deity of Christ has always been glorified as eternal God with all the divine attributes.

3. The humanity of Christ from the virgin birth to the cross was in a state of perpetual humility, but after He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, then in resurrection, ascension, session and His third royal patent, the resurrected Christ receives a glorification that makes all elect angels worship Him.

4. That glorification includes and starts with His resurrection, ascension, session, the award of His third royal patent. With His third royal patent, though man is created lower than angels, the glorified humanity of Christ is the object of angelic worship.

5. In the state of glorification with kenosis set aside our Lord Jesus Christ is the object of the highest angelic worship. While during the first advent our Lord’s humanity was made lower than angels His same glorified humanity is now higher than angels forever. Therefore angels worship Him. The fact that angels are subordinate to Christ in hypostatic union is the subject of Hebrews chapter one.

The basis for all of this is threefold. The basis for angels worshipping our Lord’s glorified humanity began with the virgin birth, the hypostatic union, the function of the humanity of Christ in the prototype divine dynasphere, the doctrine of kenosis, the doctrine of impeccability. Then comes the saving work of our Lord in humility, His redemption, reconciliation, propitiation and imputation, the four categories of the saving work of Christ on the cross. Then in His glorified state, His resurrection, ascension, the reception of His royal title, and the fact that Jesus Christ controls history brings us now to Hebrews chapter one, the principle that is brought out in the angelic general staff entering into antiphonal worship.

Verse 1, “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various places.”

Verse 2, “However, in these last days [New Testament] He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, and through whom He has designed the dispensations [the ages, the historical eras].”

Verse 3, “Who being the radiance of His glory [flashing forth of His glory] and the exact image of His divine essence, also sustaining all things of creation by the word of His power, after He had provided purification for our sins He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty [God the Father] in the highest place [the third heaven].”

Verse 4, “By so much [His resurrection, ascension. session and third royal patent] He became superior to angels, as the royal patent He has inherited is superior to theirs.”

Verse 5, “For to which of the angels did He [God the Father] ever say, ‘You are my Son, This day I have given birth to you [the virgin birth]’? And again, ‘I will be to Him for a Father [not a human father], and He Himself shall be to me for a Son [Christ in hypostatic union]’?”

Verse 6, “But on the occasion when He [God the Father] again introduces His firstborn into the world [second advent], He says, ‘Let all God’s angels worship Him’.”

Verse 7, “And speaking of angels He says, ‘The one who makes His angels spirits and His angelic ministers a flame of fire’.” Cf Ezekiel chapter 1, the chariot of fire.

Verse 8, “But speaking of His Son He says, ‘Your throne, O God [Jesus Christ is God], is forever and ever, and the righteous sceptre is the sceptre of your kingdom’.”

Verse 9, “ ‘You have loved righteousness [our Lord’s humanity in the prototype divine dynasphere] and hated evil [He stayed out of the cosmic system]; therefore God [God the Father], your God, has anointed [or commissioned] you above your associates [the angels are associated with Christ in operation footstool] with the ceremonial oil of optimum happiness’.”

Verse 10, “And, ‘In the beginning, O Lord [Jesus Christ], you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands;”

Verse 11, “ ‘They [the heavens] will perish [at the end of the Millennium], but you remain; and all they will become worn out like a garment [the old universe],”

Verse 12, “ ‘And you will roll them up like an old robe; like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never come to an end’.”

Verse 13, “But to which of the angels has He [God the Father] ever said, ‘Sit down at my right hand until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet’?”

Verse 14, “Are not they [elect angels] all subordinate servants, spirits sent into action [cf. Ezekiel chapter 1] to render service to those [the royal family] who are about to inherit eternal salvation?”

So we have noted, then, the humility and subordination of the twenty-four angelic staff officers who will fall down before our Lord Jesus Christ who sits on the throne. We have also noted their efficacious worship, “and they will worship him who lives forever.”

Next we note the gift of their glory. They are qualified to give glory because these elect angels have it to give. Not all elect angels have it to give, just as in the future not all believers will have crowns or the order of the morning star or the uniform of glory or the other rewards and decorations.

In the first part of verse 10 in the antiphonal response of the twenty-four staff officers we noted their humility and subordination. The correct translation:

“The twenty-four staff officers [angelic general staff] will fall down before him [our glorified Lord Jesus Christ] who sits on the throne.” Next we noted that their work was efficacious, “and they [the angelic general staff] will worship him who lives forever and ever.”

We move on now to the third part of the general staff worship. We begin with the connective conjunction kai, followed by the future active indicative of the verb ballw, which generally means to throw. But it also means to place or to lay down, and that is the way we are going to translate it, “and they will lay down [or place].” No one does any throwing in the throne room! The future tense is a gnomic future for a fact of performance expected under the conditions of their expression of worship. The active voice: the angelic general staff produces the action of the verb in their antiphonal worship with the angelic heralds. The indicative mood is declarative representing the verbal action from the viewpoint of reality. And with this we have an accusative direct object composed of the word stefanoj. We have already seen that they are wearing crowns. With it we have the intensive pronoun in the possessive genitive used as a personal pronoun and translated “their crowns.” We have previously noted that these were golden crowns.

Then we have an improper preposition e)nwpion, and with it the object is qronoj from which we get our English word throne, “before the throne.” And then they said something. The present active indicative of the verb legw is the beginning of the recording of their verbal worship, “saying.” The present tense is a progressive present for an action in the state of persistence, when they worshipped. The active voice: the angelic general staff produces the action in the antiphonal part of the worship. The circumstantial participle expresses the attendant circumstances, an additional factor thought which is often best rendered in the English by translating the participle as a finite verb and preceding it with the conjunction “and,” “and say.”

Translation: “they [the angelic general staff] will lay down their crowns before the throne and say.”

This is an antiphonal form of worship without precedent as far as human worship in eternity is revealed in the Word of God. So the question arises: Why? What is the significance?

Principles

1. First we note that “casting crowns” is a bad translation. The Greek word ballw implies here placing. When you cast, that implies impulsive and emotional worship rather than rational and spiritual worship. All true worship is rational and spiritual.

2. Therefore the verb ballw is translated “lay down” or “place.”

So: Why this?

1. In placing their crowns at the foot of the throne the angelic general staff made their last and highest decision. This is an optimum expression of creature worship directed toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

2. At something similar to the judgment seat of Christ for elect angels in eternity past God provided those golden crowns as rewards or decorations for highest achievement in angelic history.

3. In angelic history God had provided what is comparable to logistical grace for all the elect angels who through multitudes of good decisions advanced to maturity during the course of prehistorical angelic conflict. The angelic conflict comes in two phases: angelic history prehistoric; human history historic.

4. Fallen angels under the leadership of Satan oppose elect angels. Therefore elect angels must make decisions in facing that opposition on their spiritual battlefield.

5. Elect angels through positive volition toward the communication of prehistoric doctrine made their thousands of good decisions in expressing positive volition towards God’s plan and God’s truth.

6. The result was decoration and reward such as the uniform of wisdom and the golden crowns.

7. These elect angels subordinated their volition to God in achieving those crowns. Now again they subordinate in worship by removing those crowns from their heads and placing them at the foot of the throne. The same good decisions, the same humility, the same subordination to the authority of God by which they won them is now used in one decision whereby they place them at the foot of the throne.

What is the principle behind this ultimate expression of worship?

1. Worship is the expression of both capacity and the appreciation for that divine policy known as the grace of God.

2. Worship is the expression of doctrinal orientation to the person and plan of God. The visible person in the Godhead is our Lord Jesus Christ and we have noted that worship of Christ is worship of the entire Godhead.

3. The capacity for this worship is found in both enforced and genuine humility.

4. Since God is the source of the golden crowns as an eternal reward and decoration placing those crowns at the foot of His throne is the optimum expression of their humility; therefore their capacity for worship. We can see that true worship in the Church can only exist inside the divine dynasphere.

5. The presenting of their crowns at the foot of the throne represents maximum doctrinal application and resultant subordination on the part of the angelic general staff to our Lord Jesus Christ.

6. Included in the ultimate expression of worship is also their personal love for God. God is invisible; God is unseen; and there is no love for God apart from maximum doctrine in the soul.

7. Personal love always expresses itself in giving. So they gave their most precious eternal possession to the Lord as an expression of their love and worship. The most important thing they have for all eternity: their golden crowns. And they set a pattern for worship, they establish a principle: no creature can worship God in giving what he does not possess.

When we worship, first of all we give our concentration. We give the mentality of our soul in concentration on the teaching of the Word of God. We give our attention. Concentration is a combination of thinking and subordination, thinking and humility. We give our time, we set aside time to go and listen to the teaching of the Word of God. We give what we have. You cannot give if you do not have and in the cosmic system we have nothing by which we can give, and therefore no worship.

8. What was more important to them was that they gave to our Lord to express their worship in terms of personal love. Their love was so perfect that they gave the most valuable thing that they had. In giving to our Lord their crowns the angelic general staff still had the source of that gift, they hadn’t lost the Lord. All worship recognises the source.

9. In giving our Lord their crowns the angelic general staff still had the Lord, the source of their blessings forever and ever. In giving their crowns to Him they still have the Lord and, actually, still have their crowns. Under the highest principle of worship everything we have is His.

A second principle

1. Having the source of blessing means that we never lose the blessing of eternal reward even though we express our love and worship by parting with it. We never have anything of value which came from Him, which is given to Him in worship, which we have lost because we have not lost Him. And since our relationship with Him is secure anything that He gives us is secure, and the highest expression of love is given by taking the most valuable eternal possession and laying it at His throne.

2. Therefore the principle of worship: the source of blessing is more important than the blessing.

3. When we lose the blessing we still have the source.

4. Therefore worship is a matter of priorities. Doctrine resident in the soul brings us to the place of putting Christ first. Everything else is secondary.

5. With the first always first there are seconds and more seconds both in time and in eternity, and anything that is secondary that comes from Him is never as important as He is. In other words, it is not the gift, it is the giver.

6. When the source supersedes the prosperity then the prosperity can never be distorted, destroyed or lost.

7. Therefore this function of the 24 angelic staff officers gives the pattern for passing the prosperity test in time and relating it to worship. As long as the prosperity does not take precedence over the source of prosperity the prosperity will continue to be a blessing and a source of worship. Prosperity without the right priorities is a trap, a source of misery and unhappiness, and one of the major sources of cosmic involvement. The 24 angelic staff officers teach us an important lesson regarding both worship and the prosperity test.

Verse 11, the liturgical summary of this angelic worship. We begin with the vocative o( kurioj. It is used for deity and it is used here for Jesus Christ in hypostatic union. With this we have the present active indicative of the verb e)imi, “O Lord you are.” The static present tense is for a condition which perpetually exists. The active voice: Jesus Christ, addressed as Lord, produces the action . The indicative mood is declarative for a dogmatic statement of Bible doctrine in angelic worship of our Lord Jesus Christ. Next comes the predicate nominative a)cioj which originally meant bringing up the other beam of the scales, bringing into equilibrium. Then it came it mean deserving of praise, and finally had a connotation of merit. It comes to mean worthy, valuable, deserving, meritorious — “O Lord, you are worthy,” worthy to be praised, worthy of ultimate worship. Jesus Christ is worthy in both categories of His hypostatic union. Jesus Christ is worthy as eternal God; He is worthy as impeccable humanity living inside the prototype divine dynasphere. Jesus Christ is worthy as the strategic victor of the angelic conflict. Jesus Christ is worthy in His three categories of royalty. “You, O Lord, are worthy [possessing the ultimate merit for optimum worship].” As the manifest person of the Godhead Jesus Christ, then, is the object of our worship. In worshipping Christ we are worshipping the Trinity, for God the Father is the author of the plan, God the Holy Spirit is the power for execution of the plan, and our Lord Jesus Christ is the unique person of the universe fulfilling that plan by becoming true humanity and our saviour. Of course to understand this we go back to the concept of the hypostatic union, Christ in His prototype divine dynasphere, the function of the doctrine of kenosis and the impeccability of Christ.

The angelic conflict, then, is resolved in the human race; it is resolved by one member of the human race, the humanity of Christ in the incarnation, living inside the prototype divine dynasphere, going to the cross, bearing our sins and taking our place. The creation of one man, Adam, and his fall plus the virgin birth of one Man, Jesus Christ, and His execution of the plan of God on the cross is the basis for resolving the angelic conflict which began with the fall of Lucifer, that cherub called the anointed one.

Three factors in worshipping Christ are now presented. We have an aorist active infinitive of the verb lambanw which means to receive. The gnomic aorist tense is for a fact or truth so fixed in its certainty, so axiomatic in character, that it is described in the aorist just as if it were an actual occurrence. For this idiom we commonly employ the present tense of the English in translation. The active voice: Jesus Christ produces the action of the verb as the recipient of the following three forms of worship. The infinitive is the infinitive of actual result. The actual result of our Lord’s strategic victory of the first advent results in certain angels performing worship before the throne room in heaven. “You are worthy to receive,” and then the accusative singular direct object from doca, “glory.” This introduces the first form of angelic worship in the throne room of God. We have with this the generic use of the definite article which sets up this form of worship apart as a special category, “You are worthy to receive glory.” This category of worship is the highest form.

The principle of the first category of worship: glory

1. Glory is the highest form of worship. You cannot give in worship what you do not possess. At the present time we do not possess glory, i.e. a resurrection body, and therefore are not qualified to enter into this form of worship. The category of worship known as glory demands the eternal state. These angelic creatures are in their eternal state and therefore can give this category of worship.

2. Therefore since elect angels are in their eternal or glorified state they are the only ones at the present qualified to perform this category of worship.

3. The Lord can only receive glory in worship from those creatures who are in their eternal state — which in this context refers to the elect angels.

4. We can, however, learn from angels and we anticipate the time when in our resurrection bodies we will give glory to our saviour, Jesus Christ.

5. Elect angels are in their eternal and glorified state, they are qualified to perform this category of worship.

6. For us this category means face to face worship in our resurrection bodies, at which time we will receive glory from the Lord and will give glory in worship. This refers to the time of the big genuflect in the sky when this will occur for the first time in the royal family of God.

7. This form of worship does provide us with a general principle regarding the subject of worship. We can’t enter into it but we can learn from it. The principle: Capacity for worship must precede that worship. The prerequisite for worship is the capacity for it.

8. The eternal state in the resurrection body provides maximum capacity for optimum worship. In this body of corruption believers do not have the necessary capacity to give glory to our Lord Jesus Christ. When we die and go to heaven we have an interim body but it is not the body of glory; it is not the resurrection body; and we still do not have that capacity.

The second category is also found in the accusative singular direct object of the verb, and this is our word timh, meaning honour. It introduces the second form of angelic worship and it is one in which we are qualified while in this body of corruption. While this context, of course, has in view angelic worship in heaven this category is pertinent to us today under certain conditions. Remember once again that time means three things: respect, reverence, and honour.

The believer can only respect the Lord Jesus Christ by knowing what He thinks. According to 1 Corinthians 2:16 the Bible is the mind [the thinking] of Christ. Worship is the application of doctrine directed toward God. You cannot apply what you do not know. To worship God or to give respect to our Lord Jesus Christ as believers we must know Bible doctrine. Knowledge of doctrine is the prerequisite to worship. There can be no respect in worship apart from perception of Bible doctrine inside the divine dynasphere. There can be no respect in worship apart from the application of doctrine inside the divine dynasphere — doctrine applied to the person and the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, like the communion table. Hence the importance of the interlocking gates in the divine dynasphere and the principle of John 4:24, “God is a Spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit [Gate one, the filling of the Spirit] and doctrine [Gate four].”

The second connotation of time is reverence. Reverence is motivating virtue. This is classified as personal love for God. All love begins with respect and moves to reverence. Personal love for God originates with the perception of doctrine which gives respect for our Lord. Then it moves to reverence as it intensifies. The difference between respect and reverence takes us to gate five of the divine dynasphere. Gate five begins with love of God from perception of doctrine. That is respect. But as you continue to grow — the momentum, moving toward gate eight — that becomes occupation with the person of Christ, and that is reverence. Occupation with the person of Christ is reverence; love of God is respect. So there is an advance in the connotation of worship. There can be no reverence in worship apart from knowledge of doctrine.

Then there is the third aspect of time. To honour God in worship requires residence and function inside the divine dynasphere, the development of integrity and the fulfilment of the royal family honour code. Compliance with the royal family honour code and the production of both motivational and functional virtue is necessary for the fulfilment of worship.

All worship directed toward God must come from a person who has virtue, honour and integrity. You cannot give honour in worship unless you possess honour in your modus operandi; honour in the soul must precede the giving of honour in worship. You can’t give God honour if you have none. Therefore the importance of the royal family honour code. Only the honourable believer can honour the Lord or give honour in worship. You cannot give in worship what you do not possess in life. To give honour to the Lord in worship you must possess honour in the soul. Hence the prerequisite to worship in both residence and function is the momentum of the divine dynasphere; there is no worship of our Lord while living in the cosmic system.

Then there is the accusative singular direct object, the third part of this worship concept. The word dunamij, meaning power, and it is a reference to the divine dynasphere for man’s worship of God and the ministry of the Holy Spirit for angelic worship is involved there. All royal family worship must come from power, and that power is the divine dynasphere. We have the adjunctive use of kai with it, “also power.”

Corrected translation: “You, O Lord, are worthy [possessing the ultimate merit for optimum worship] to receive glory [category #1 worship for the eternal state] and honour [category #2 worship based on residence in the divine dynasphere, maximum perception of doctrine], also the power [worship must be conducted inside the divine dynasphere].”

In the subject of worship there are many things that people associate with worship. For example, prayer, some form of singing, the Eucharist, concentration on the teaching of Bible doctrine, giving, etc. All of these, of course, are not worship unless they are related to the divine dynasphere. Worship, as we have noted, is an expression of love for God. All worship must be conducted inside the divine dynasphere. Worship cannot exist without the perception and application of Bible doctrine, John 4:24.

All of the results of worship are related to gate five. We start out loving God by persistence in residence in the divine dynasphere and as our motivation from gate four moves us toward gate eight that becomes occupation with the person of Christ. Gate seven is the concept of virtue and honour in worship. The ultimate is the ability of the mature believer in the function of worship.

The ultimate reason for that worship is given in a causal clause in verse 11b. It begins with the conjunction o(ti which is correctly translated here “because,” “because you,” the nominative singular personal pronoun su, “you” [the Lord Jesus Christ]. And then the aorist active indicative of the verb ktizw which means to create, “and because you have created.” This is a culminative aorist tense, it views the event in its entirety but regards it from the viewpoint of existing results. The existing results in this context include the believer’s worship of the Lord Jesus Christ. The culminative aorist is best translated by the English perfect tense which indicates that the worship is the result of something. The active voice: our Lord Jesus Christ produces the action of the verb, He is the one who has created. The indicative mood is declarative for a dogmatic statement of Bible doctrine. All creation is the function of the second person of the Trinity, our Lord Jesus Christ.

With this we have the accusative plural definite article ta. This is a generic use of the definite article representing a category. And the category: all created things whether the material or immaterial, creature or any other category. It is translated with the accusative plural direct object of the adjective paj, “all things,” “because you [the Lord Jesus Christ] have created all things.” Note that the generic definite article is rarely translated, it is not necessary to bring it into English since its use is a designated category not to be a translatable word.

The fact that our Lord Jesus Christ created the universe and all creatures in it is the subject of John 1:3, which says: “All things came into being through him, and apart from him nothing came into being that has come into being”. Or Colossians 1:16-17, “By means of him [the Lord Jesus Christ] all things were created, both in the heavens and on the earth, the invisible things and the invisible things, whether human governments or systems of authority or rulers or functional authorities, all things were created by him [our Lord Jesus Christ] and for him. And he has existed prior to all creation, and by means of him all things of creation are held together.”

Next comes the adjunctive use of the conjunction kai, translated “also.” Then the prepositional phrase dia plus the accusative of the noun qelhma. Dia plus the genitive means “through,” but dia plus the accusative means “because.” We also have a possessive genitive from the personal pronoun su and it is translated, “because of your will [your purpose, your desire].” Qelhma is used here for the will of our Lord Jesus Christ as eternal and infinite God, the second person of the Trinity. It is followed by the imperfect active indicative of the verb to be which is e)imi. The imperfect tense is voluntative, used for the expression of divine sovereignty in eternity past. It is the sovereign decision of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring into existence creation. The active voice: both the material and immaterial are actually created by our Lord Jesus Christ. The indicative mood is declarative for a dogmatic statement of Bible doctrine.

The voluntative imperfect tense recognises the existence of creation before it occurred. Long before the universe or any creature, angelic, human or animal, existed or was invented they did exist in the mind of God. The potential existence of all things in God’s will and purpose in eternity past first was in His mind. The imperfect active indicative from e)imi looks at us, then, before we were created.

The next verb mentions the actual creation which followed in the aorist passive indicative of ktizw. The passive voice: “and they were created” is the translation. The constative aorist contemplates action of the verb in its entirety. The passive voice: all forms of creation receive the action of the verb, whether man or angel or animals. The indicative mood is declarative for a dogmatic statement of doctrine.

The principle: The universe and the creatures in it have purpose and design from the standpoint of the plan of God. The purpose and design of creation demands respect for the creator. That respect we have called worship. Any deviation from His perfect plan or design, or the expression of His sovereign will in the function of rational creatures using their free will independently of God is related to the angelic conflict. But every compliance is related to God’s plan and God’s purpose which, of course, centres and focuses on worship. Two categories of creatures were actually given free will and the environment of freedom to express their volition either for or against God. And while it is unthinkable would he ever act independently of the creator or His perfect plan the reality of the situation is that he has through his own arrogance and invention done so. The first creature to act in arrogance was a cherub by the name of Lucifer the son of the morning. That was what started the ball rolling. Recovery from angelic failure or the fall of man sets aside the perfect environment of creation and it substitutes the gracious provision of both creation and recreation, eternal salvation, where creature volition totally apart from human merit chooses for God’s plan apart from arrogance or works. This is illustrated by faith in Christ as the only way of salvation in the human race. There was also some form of salvation, unknown as far as the scripture is concerned to us, where angelic creatures in prehistorical times existed. Whatever the way of salvation for angels the entire angelic creation finally decided one way or the other and their eternity has begun except for the interlude of human history which vindicates the person, the plan, the decision, the sovereign will of God. These angelic creatures, of course, express this concept both in the worship of God in heaven and their observation of mankind on planet earth. While this is only a liturgical summary of angelic worship in verse 11 it does teach the believer in the human race principles of worship.

Translation of verse 11: “You, O Lord, are worthy, possessing the ultimate merit for optimum worship. You are worthy to receive glory [category #1 worship] and honour [category #2 worship], also the power [all worship must be conducted inside the divine dynasphere]: because you [the Lord Jesus Christ as eternal God] have created all things. Also, because of your sovereign will, they existed and they were created.”

This brings us to another problem with regard to worship, and that is that we should have a brief statement on the contrasting forms of worship. We live in the Church Age and the Church Age is quite different from the previous dispensation. For example, in Israel they had an entirely different form of worship than we have in the Church Age. Furthermore, when we get over to the Millennium at the second advent again there will be a different form of worship.

In the Old Testament dispensations mankind functioned under a specialised priesthood. For example, in Israel the tribe of Levi, the family of Aaron, became the priests of Israel. They represented all mankind in their periphery to God. Because the canon of scripture was not completed and because Jesus Christ had not come in the flesh (the incarnation) their priestly function was related to the ritual of training aids, the Levitical offerings, the modus operandi of the holy days, the symbolism of the tabernacle and later on the temple, its furniture, its function, its compartments. But once the Church Age began two things contributed to a new form of worship. The first was the incarnation, the first advent of Christ and His strategic victory on the cross. The second was the fact of the universal priesthood of the believer. Every believer now represents himself and he represents himself in something God has provided, the divine dynasphere. So add to this the completion of the canon of scripture and that means that Church Age worship is entirely different from anything that has preceded. That means that the ritual is generally removed. We do not have animal sacrifices; we do not have a specialised priesthood; we do not have holy days, every day is to be lived as unto the Lord. We have, therefore, something entirely new and something entirely different.

The object of worship in the Church Age is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the manifest person of the Trinity and therefore worship of Christ is worship of the Trinity. But Jesus Christ is not only eternal God, He is also true humanity. This is the result of the strategic victory on the cross. He is therefore no higher than angels. That is why we took a quick look at Hebrews chapter one in order to see the fact that these highest of angelic creatures in the angelic order of battle, whether they are on the side of the category of the elect army or the category of the college of heralds, actually worship a member of the human race.

We should also notice in concluding this particular chapter the ingredients of worship. They include, of course, personal love for God, humility, subordination to divine authority. God cannot be first in your life and the object of true worship apart from enforced humility. That is submission to the authority of Bible doctrine. All doctrine is not necessarily interesting to you but in subordination to the authority of the Word of God you must concentrate, understand, every subject as it comes up in a passage whether you are interested in it or not. Before you die you will have need of it. So genuine humility which follows enforced humility is not only the basis for perception of doctrine but it is also the basis for true worship of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is also the basis for capacity for life, capacity for love, and capacity for happiness. It is the basis for all wonderful human relationships. There cannot be true love in any category apart from genuine humility in the soul. The ingredients of worship actually include, then, the first four gates of the divine dynasphere. The result in worship is the function, the modus operandi, of gate five which is best described by 1 Peter 1:8, “Though you have not seen him [the Lord Jesus Christ] yet you love him, and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious happiness.” In worship you can give only what you have.

In Revelation 4:10 the 24 angelic staff officers laid down their crowns before the throne as the expression of their worship. The angelic general staff had these crowns because of their utilisation of God’s grace in the prehistorical angelic conflict before eternity began for them. In prehistoric angelic history God had provided for these elect angels something very similar to logistical grace for us and through positive volition toward doctrine and the multitude of good decisions in expression of positive volition toward God and His plan these angelic creatures at the point of their eternity were rewarded and decorated. We have already seen their uniform of wisdom, their uniform of glory, and their golden crowns. These 24 angelic staff officers subordinated their volition to God in achieving these crowns, now they subordinate their volition in worship by removing these crowns from their heads and placing them at the foot of the throne. Worship, then, is the expression of their love, their reverence, their humility, their capacity and thanksgiving directed toward God. In their worship, then, these 24 angelic staff officers gave what they actually possessed and the principle is always true in genuine worship: you cannot give in true worship what you do not possess. If the believer has doctrine in his right lobe he can express worship commensurate with the capacity produced by doctrine; if he has love of the truth or doctrine, he can express worship in giving concentration. Those of you who are concentrating right now are actually engaged in worship; it is the highest form of worship, the concentration and perception of doctrine.

The other highest form is the application of doctrine at the communion table. If the believer can apply doctrines of soteriology and Christology he can participate in the communion service by linking the ritual in which he engages with the doctrine resident in his soul. If he has time he can give time to assemble for the study of the Word or listening to doctrine on a tape recorder. If he has money he can give money but only as God has prospered and only as he is motivated to give, never pressured. While the 24 general staff officers gave their crowns they still had and will always have the source of those crowns. In giving their crowns they still have the Lord, they still have the source. Therefore the final principle of worship: everything we have belongs to the Lord, therefore everything we have is secure. When we part with what we have in worship we express the fact that we haven’t lost anything because we still have the source of that blessing. And because worship expresses our love for the Lord we still have, and always will have, the object of our love. Personal love for God expresses itself in worship which includes giving, our love, our thinking, our time, our energy, our honour, our total respect and devotion. If you do not have the filling of the Spirit and if you do not have Bible doctrine in your right lobe, if you do not have virtue, honour, integrity, you have nothing to offer and, as a matter of fact, you can’t even worship God though you go through the motions. You are in effect Satan’s slave.