Ezekiel's four living creatures
This chapter presents The Four 'Leadership' Faces of Ezekiel 1, Ezekiel 10, and Revelation 4 Paralleled by the Four Gospels. The four faces represent a lion, an ox, a man, and an eagle. Each face is a metaphor of what a leader or manager needs to be—all at the same time.
Cherubim are described in the Bible as having four faces: a face of an ox, a lion, an eagle and a man.
Beast from the Sea
The description of the beast is found in Revelation chapters thirteen and seventeen. Chapter thirteen gives the fullest description. John saw it "rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy."
In Chapters 12–13, at the transi- tion from trumpet disaster number seven to the series of plagues of the seven bowls,2 the powers of evil appear in the form of three monsters: the “great red dragon” (12:3), the “beast coming up out of the sea” (13:1) and the “beast coming up out of the earth” (13:11).
Ezekiel's four living creatures
Cherubim as minor guardian deities of temple or palace thresholds are known all over the Ancient East. Each of Ezekiel's cherubim have four faces, that of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle.
Each of the four Evangelists is associated with one of the living creatures, usually shown with wings. The most common association, but not the original or only, is: Matthew the King, Lion; Mark the lowly Servant, Ox; Luke the Son of Man, Man; and John the Eagle.
The four faces represent the four domains of God's rule: the man represents humanity; the lion, wild animals; the ox, domestic animals; and the eagle, birds.
Behemoth, in the Old Testament, a powerful, grass-eating animal whose “bones are tubes of bronze, his limbs like bars of iron” (Job 40:18). Among various Jewish legends, one relates that the righteous will witness a spectacular battle between Behemoth and Leviathan in the messianic era and later feast upon their flesh.
The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. Their hair was like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth.
The Lion of Judah on a Bezalel ceramic tile. It is also mentioned in the Book of Revelation of the New Testament as a term representing Jesus of Nazareth, according to Christian theology. The Lion of Judah was also one of the titles used by Ethiopian emperors from the Solomonic dynasty.
In book thirteen of Revelation, John describes two beasts: one that emerges from the sea and has seven heads, and another that springs from the earth and empowers the bigger beast. The seven-headed beast with its ten crowns has been interpreted as the demonic and powerful authority of the state.
Revelation 19–22: Jesus as the “Divine Lamb”
It is from this scene that the true nature of the Lamb is finally made known, as John witnesses “heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True” (verse 11).
In Exodus 19:4 and Deuteronomy 32:11 the eagle represents God and his loving care towards Israel. In both descriptions we read about God bringing his people out of Egypt and into Canaan as if on the wings of an eagle.
[14] And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. [15] And the cherubims were lifted up. This is the living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar.
Traditionally Seraphim are the red-winged angels which, with Cherubim, are among the first hierarchy of angels next to the throne of God. According to the Book of Isaiah in the Old Testament, they had six wings, one pair for flying, another covering the face and the third pair covering the feet.
The number refers to a triumph of "God's number" 7 over the Devil's number 666.
The right hand marginal text, from the Book of Job, describes Behemoth, who dominates the land, as 'the chief of the Ways of God. ' Leviathan, a Sea Monster, is 'King over all the Children of Pride. ' In his book 'Jerusalem' Blake has these two monsters representatives of war by land and by sea.
God told Noah, “And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female” (Genesis 6:19). A few small dinosaurs would have been on the ark. The larger species of dinosaurs were probably young and smaller on the ark.
Conclusion. Mysterious as they are, angels in the Bible are often described with human qualities, even speaking like people and bearing human-sounding names. Also, they do not appear to have wings. The cherubim are equally mysterious, said to have wild human and animal-like features, and yes—these beings have wings.
The Hebrew word nefilim is sometimes directly translated as “giants” or taken to mean “the fallen ones” (from the Hebrew naphal, “to fall”), but the identity of the Nephilim is debated by scholars.
In his Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, Jerome associated each Evangelist with one of the living creatures: Matthew is the Man; Mark is the Lion; Luke is the Calf and John is the Eagle. Fig.
The lamb was strongly associated with religious sacrifices in the ancient Near East, and was adopted as a symbol of Christ and his sacrifice on behalf of humanity.
The Ashoka pillar, erected by Emperor Ashoka, has four lions seated back to back which imply power, courage, confidence and pride. Other animals demonstrated on the pillar are horse, bull, elephant, and lion.