The four living beings, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME" (Revelation 4:8).

         In Scripture, the number four is a number for “whole,” such as when the “four corners of the earth” speaks of the whole earth. Because man was created on the sixth day, six is usually the number of man. Later we will see how the “man of sin,” who personifies the sin of man, has the number 666, or three sixes. This is a revelation of how the sin of man in its full maturity seeks to displace the worship of the Trinity with the worship of man. This is the ultimate maturing of humanism.

         These four living beings are a prophetic metaphor of mankind as it is before the throne of God. With “eyes around and within,” we have been given a magnificent ability to see externally and internally. The wings speak of the ability to soar above the earth. Even though these remarkable abilities of mankind are now marred and distorted because of the corruption of the Fall, God gave these abilities to man. He put it in us to want to see, understand, and explore things around us and in us. We also have a constant yearning to reach for the heavens. These are from God, and when mankind is restored and again abiding in His presence, they will be perfected.

         The way that these attributes will be perfected is declared by these beings in this text—worshipping the Holy One by seeing His holiness, and seeing Him in our past, our present, and our future. This is to see Him as the ultimate understanding of everything. Once we see Him on His throne, we will not continue to worship the creation but only the blessed Creator. When we have a right relationship to God, we can then have a proper relationship to the creation, including to ourselves. Then we will, like the four living beings, be captivated night and day by our awesome, holy God.

         We are created for God’s pleasure. Therefore, there is nothing that can be more fulfilling to us than doing the things that bring pleasure to God. This begins with loving Him. If we do this as we should, we will also love all others and will love the creation. “God so loved the world” not just mankind. As we see in Revelation 11:18, the Lord will “destroy those who destroy the earth.” Those who wantonly destroy the creation have lost the essence of who they were created to be.

         As we grow in our love for God, we also grow in our love for all that He loves, and we will not needlessly destroy or mar what He loves. The first command given to man was to take care of the garden. This too is part of the purpose of mankind. As we are restored to who we are created to be, our care for the creation will grow with our love for the Creator.

         Every love, or devotion, that mankind has will be distorted if we do not abide in the Lord. Although some things are distorted by fallen men, this does not mean that we avoid them. Rather, we must endeavor to do them in the right spirit with excellence that comes from being changed by the glory of the Lord and living in His presence.

         He is declared to be “He who was and is and is to come.” To know Him, we must see Him in all three. We come to know Him as the Creator who “emptied Himself” to become a man and live on earth among men to make the propitiation sacrifice for the world. He is no longer “Jesus of Nazareth” but is the Lord of Glory, sitting on His throne at the right hand of the Father. That is how we know Him now, but we must also know Him as He will be—the King of kings who will come again with His hosts to restore the earth. We will expand upon all of this as we continue our study of the awesome Revelation.