6…and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.
7 And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.
8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
9 And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever,
10 The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
It is quite an easy thing to speculate at length about who [or what] these ‘beasts’ are. It offers some benefit to realize that the Greek word translated ‘beasts’ literally means ‘living creature’ as we have previously noted. In my own study of this passage, I have come to greatly appreciate what Seiss says about these ‘beasts.’
The Jewish writers tell us, that the standard of each tribe of Israel took the colour of the stone which represented it in the high priest’s breastplate, and that there was wrought upon each a particular figure—a lion for Judah, a young ox for Ephraim, a man for Reuben, and an eagle for Dan. These were the representative tribes, and all the rest were marshalled under these four standards (Num. 2); --Judah on the east, with Issachar and Zebulon; Reuben on the south, with Simeon and Gad; Ephraim on the west, with Manasseh and Benjamin; and Dan on the north, with Asher and Naphtali. In the centre of this quadrangular encampment was the tabernacle of God, with four divisions of Levites forming an inner encampment around it. It was thus that Israel was marched through the wilderness, under the four banners of the lion, the young ox, the man, and the flying eagle.[1]
Seeing these ‘beasts’ in this manner links them to God’s usage of Israel in His eternal redemptive purposes, which culminates here in the Revelation. It is enough for me. We now move on to consider other important details of our passage.
The most important aspect of these ‘beasts’ is their entire dedication to worshipping “him that sat on the throne.” Regarding this majestic Being these ‘beasts’ perpetually declare, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.” In the phrase translated ‘Lord God Almighty’ we encounter an interesting point in the Greek. All three of these words in the Greek are nouns.[2] We have these three Greek nouns, one after the other: Lord,[3] God[4] and Almighty.[5]
With this being the case, their declaration becomes something like, ‘the One that decides everything, the true God, He Who holds sway over all things.’ These ‘beasts’ began their praise of ‘him that sat on the throne’ repeating the word translated ‘holy’ three times. This word is quite strong.[6] It is clear that these ‘beasts’ fully understand that the Being on the throne is to be thought of in an entirely different ‘category’ than even the sacred things in the temple. They are deeply conscious that He is infinitely apart from all created beings.
So, up to this point their declaration embodies ‘Infinitely set apart from all things created, infinitely set apart from all things created, infinitely set apart from all things created is the One that decides everything, the true God, He Who holds sway over all things.’ It is quite a staggering declaration, and we have yet to consider its final portion.
The final portion of this declaration of worship offered by these ‘creatures’ is ‘which was, and is, and is to come.’ This is a definitive statement of the ‘eternity’ of ‘him that sat on the throne.’ And, it is the only place in the NT that we encounter it. But there are numerous Greek words that suggest ‘eternal.’[7] These ‘creatures,’ instead of using a simple Greek word, use a Greek verb in three different forms. This sets aside any kind of argument regarding their meaning: the eternality of this Being is indisputable.
This matters because of the meanings of the nouns used to define ‘him that sat on the throne.’ How could any being be viewed as ‘…the One that decides everything, the true God, He Who holds sway over all things if He did not pre-date all things and sustain that place of supremacy on into ‘eternity’ yet to be unveiled? The wording of their declaration establishes forever the absolute eternal nature of ‘him that sat on the throne.’
This brings us to the final few verses of our passage.
9 And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever,
10 The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
When these ‘beasts’ worship God on the throne, the elders on their thrones also worship Him in like manner. The impression left upon our minds is that there is never any lessening of these declarations of ‘glory and honour and thanks.’ Perhaps if the veil were to be taken away, we might all observe this worship perpetually. This certainly suggests the only appropriate response to ‘him that sat on the throne.’ How else could a heart of faith respond to the Being about whom we are told here: ‘thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created?’
Having come this far in our contemplations of The Revelation, we have enough placed before us to decide how we, ourselves, are going to respond to what we have seen. What is our sense of the Truth regarding Glorified Lord?
[1] Seiss, p.106.
[2] In our language we rarely use the word ‘almighty’ as a noun, but as an adjective.
[3] κύριος, he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord.
[4] θεὸς, deity.
[5] παντοκράτωρ, he who holds sway over all things.
[6] (G.B. Stevens, in Hastings' Bib. Dic.)"It is evident that hagios and its kindred words... express something more and higher than hieros, sacred, outwardly associated with God;... something more than semnos, worthy, honorable; something more than hagnos, pure, free from defilement. Hagios is... more comprehensive... It is characteristically godlikness".
[7] αἰώνιος used 71X in the NT; ἀΐδιος, used 2X in the NT; αἰών used 128X in the NT.