The Heavenly Host

The New King James Version of the Bible includes subtitles throughout the text of Scripture. These subtitles are not part of the original text, of course; nevertheless, they are frequently helpful in giving the reader a sense of what a section of the biblical text is about. At the opening of Revelation 4, we find this subtitle: "The Throne Room of Heaven." In the previous chapter, we looked at Isaiah's vision of the heavenly throne room, and here we find that subject revisited in John's vision. Just as there were angels in Isaiah's vision, so there are angels in John's vision, and so we can learn more about these beings in this passage.

Revelation 4 reads:

After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this." Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads. And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!"

Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:

You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created." (vv. 1-11)

This passage is packed with vivid imagery. Much of the imagery is included in the famous hymn "Holy, Holy, Holy" by Reginald Heber. In that hymn we sing:

Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore thee, Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea; Cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee Who wert, and art, and evermore shall be.

Here again, then, we are privileged to look into the interior chamber of heaven, where we see angels. As John's vision continues in Revelation 5, he tells us that the number of angels he saw in this throne room was "ten thousand times ten thousand" (5:11), or, as some versions render it, "myriads of myriads." These vast ranks of angels compose what we call the "heavenly host" (Luke 2:13). The word host does not refer to someone who is the master of ceremonies at a banquet or to a person who welcomes you to his home; here the term host is used as a synonym for army. This is why the Old Testament frequently refers to God as "the LORD of hosts" (1 Sam.

17:45; Ps. 46:7; Isa. 8:13). There is an army of angels who are sometimes called "seraphim," sometimes called "cherubim," terms that Scripture seems to use interchangeably.

Again we see here that the locale of the seraphim and the cherubim is in the immediate presence of God, where they praise and honor Him because He is worthy, and they shout that truth out day and night. Also, we're given more physical description here than in Isaiah 6. John describes four creatures that look like a calf, like a man, like a lion, and like an eagle, and they have eyes all over their bodies as they behold the presence of God.

These angels are enjoying that which is the highest hope of the Christian— the beatific vision—and they are given many eyes with which to enjoy it.

The beatific vision is so-called because it is the vision that results in the highest level of blessedness that any human creature can enjoy. This is the

hope Jesus held out to one particular group in the Sermon on the Mount when He said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matt. 5:8). The promise of the vision of God is given to those who are pure, and so we are told that we must become holy, for without holiness no one will see God (Heb. 12:14).

Elsewhere, John talks about the astonishing love that God gives to us: "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! ... Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:1- 2).

That's our greatest hope: We're going to have the vision of God; we are going to see Him.

We may wonder how, even in our resurrected bodies, we will be able to see God, who is by nature a spirit, and who is invisible. Jonathan Edwards gives a good answer to that question. In the first place, the big problem that hides the glory of God from our eyes is not a defect in our optic nerve. The defect is in the heart. Sin is the barrier between us and God, and as long as there is sin in our hearts, as long as we're not pure in heart, we're not going to see Him. That's why, after the fall, God made the universal prohibition, "No man shall see Me, and live" (Exod. 33:20b). Before sin entered into humanity, there was apprehension of His glory; there was the beatific vision. But Edwards speculates that the beatific vision will be even better than that which our first parents enjoyed, because it will be immediate.

I remember a brief conversation I once had with another fellow about a football game. I asked him if he had seen the game, and he said he had. I asked, "You mean you were there at the stadium?" He said, "No, I saw it on television." I said: "Well, then, you didn't see the game. You saw an electronic image or reproduction of the game—the game was mediated to you through the medium of television. You didn't see it live and in person."

But when we go to a football game, even then, if we're actually in the stadium, we see light bouncing off physical objects and creating certain responses in our eyes and in the optic nerves. Even then, what we perceive in the external world is mediated to our minds through our physical senses.

But Edwards says that when we see God in glory, we won't need eyes. We won't need optic nerves. The mind will have an immediate perception of the glory of God. That thought absolutely blows me away.

How amazing is the imagery of Scripture, the picture of these angels who enjoy the beatific vision with eyes all over their bodies, looking every possible way. There's no direction they can turn that will cause them to lose sight of the glory of God. It's a bit like a pack of turkeys. I can remember many times sitting in a tree stand when I was hunting turkeys, and I would be watching a group of turkeys making their way through the woods. My heart would start beating, and I would get more and more excited, hoping they wouldn't see me. They can see you bat your eye at a hundred yards.

Not only that, they move in a particular way in a pack through the woods that seemingly enables them to see in every direction at once. At all times, there's a turkey looking to the back. Another one's looking to the right; another one's looking to the left; and another one's looking forward. Sitting in the tree stand, I could only hope that none of them would be looking up.

By this arrangement, they have a panoramic view of their whole environment, so that if one of them sounds the alert, they all scram in an instant. That's why they're so hard to kill. They rely on teamwork, because no turkey can see behind itself. They need others looking back there. But the angels that are described here, the seraphim, have eyes all over, so that God never disappears from their line of sight as they enjoy the beatific vision moment after moment after moment.

Let me now turn your attention to the first chapter of the book of Ezekiel, which is one of the most difficult chapters to digest in terms of the richness of its imagery and symbolism. The book of Ezekiel begins with these words: "Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the River Chebar, that the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God" (v. 1). Just as Isaiah and John were given the privilege of peering into the inner court of heaven, so Ezekiel also is given this heavenly view. He goes on to say:

On the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of King Jehoiachin's captivity, the word of the LORD came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the River Chebar, and the hand of the LORD was upon him there. Then I looked, and behold, a whirlwind was coming out of the north, a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself; and brightness was all around it and radiating out if its midst like the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire. Also from within it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man. Each one had four

faces, and each one had four wings. Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the soles of calves' feet. They sparkled like the color of burnished bronze. The hands of a man were under their wings on their four sides; and each of the four had faces and wings.

Their wings touched one another. The creatures did not turn when they went, but each one went straight forward. (vv. 2-9)

I've seen some bizarre attempts to paint this scene in a way that people can capture it, but I'm not sure they succeeded. What is Ezekiel seeing? He sees several creatures with wings, but notice first of all the elements in which these creatures appear—a whirlwind, a great cloud, a raging fire, brightness, and radiation out of the midst of the fire. What we see here is a theophany. Theos means "God" and phaneros is "a manifestation." So a theophany is a visible manifestation of the invisible God. In the Scriptures, the primary theophany for God is fire or some form of fire, such as the burning bush or the pillar of fire. We also see this image in the shekinah glory, the bright, radiant light that accompanies the presence of God.

Ezekiel sees all of these signs of deity, of the presence of God. And just as God is accompanied by angels in the visions of His heavenly throne room, so He is attended by the angels as His presence comes to Ezekiel.

Much like what John beheld in his vision, Ezekiel sees four living creatures, and one particular feature about them that he records is that their wings touched one another. Where else do we find a description of angelic wings touching each other? When King Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem, he fashioned two cherubim of olive wood overlaid with gold (1 Kings 6:23- 28). They stood on either side of the ark of the covenant. The ark contained the law of Moses, the terms of their contract with God, as well as some manna and the rod of Aaron. The ark was the throne of God that was placed in the Holy of Holies, and the cover was the mercy seat, where the offerings were made on the Day of Atonement, the one day in the year when the high priest would go into the Holy of Holies and bring about "reconciliation" by pouring blood on the cover of the throne of God. The wings of these golden angels touched. The ark was an earthly replica of the heavenly throne of God, which is always attended by an army of angels, the cherubim and the seraphim.

Thus, the heavenly host is not just a small choir of angels. It is an army of specially created, spiritual beings whose task it is to honor and worship

God and to attend His throne.