And every one had four faces, and every one of them had four wings.
Ezekiel is a captive in Babylon when the heavens open and he sees four living creatures. The first detail about each one is a count: four faces, four wings. What do these numbers and shapes tell a man whose nation has just fallen?
Who are these creatures, and why does the number four keep repeating? One writer answers both.
The prophet is shown the four living creatures coming out of the cloud. They picture the powers God uses to carry out His will in heaven and on earth... These powers described by the living creatures are held by the angels, those beings who serve the heirs of salvation. There were four living creatures, and that suggests these powers reach everywhere; not one spot in the whole universe is outside God's control. Their four faces suggest that they understand every movement in the universe. Their four wings speak of activity everywhere, for they reach every point in creation.
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The number keeps returning because of what the chapter is about.
The number "four" is used again and again in that chapter because God's government of the earth is the subject.
Each creature carries the heads of four kinds of life at once. One writer sets out what the hands, the wings and the four faces stand for.
They looked like a man, though each had four faces and four wings (v. 6)... The hands of a man seem to stand for activity, for skill in doing. The wings stand for swift action from above, never turning aside for a moment from the task in hand; and there are four sides, so the creatures can move in every direction... These make up the symbolic supports of the throne. They are the heads of the creatures kept safe in the ark through the flood. The man stands for intelligence, the lion for strength, the ox for patience or stability, and the eagle for speed of action — the attributes of God, or the qualities of His judgments.
Ezekiel's creatures have four wings. One writer compares them with the six-winged seraphim of Isaiah 6 and finds meaning in the difference.
In Ezekiel (chapters 1—10) it is clear that the cherubim are majestic, awe-inspiring pictures of the power of judgment and how it advances. From Isaiah 6 we can see that the seraph pictures the power of mercy and how it advances. The cherub has four wings, the seraph six. So mercy is swifter than judgment.
Revelation also shows living creatures at the throne. They look similar, but they are not the same. One writer lists the differences and explains them.
In the account given by the prophet of the captivity, each of the four living ones had four faces and four wings (Ezek. 1:6). The seer of Revelation shows only the third living creature with a man's face, and each of the four with six wings (Rev. 4:7-8). Ezekiel's creatures had wheels; those in Revelation have none... One thing explains many of these differences: Ezekiel deals in particular with the judgment of Judah and Jerusalem. That judgment was to come from the north (Babylon), so the wheels would run on earth, picturing the course of judgment on earth.
Another writer names the sharpest contrast, then singles out the human face.
In the vision of Revelation the four forms are separate; here we find them united in each living creature... Of these different forms, the man alone speaks of a moral agent.
Ezekiel saw this while his nation sat in captivity. Each face names a strength at its highest degree.
The face of a man speaks of supreme intelligence; the face of a lion, supreme power; the face of an ox, supreme endurance; the face of an eagle, supreme movement... Satan and rebellious men have great intelligence, and they use it against God. But here are beings whose intelligence is greater. Whatever power or endurance the enemies have, and however fast they move to reach their goals, these living creatures will wear them down. They will out-think, out-last, out-wear and out-distance every opposing power.
- Four = everywhere. Four creatures, four faces, four wings. The number marks God's government of the earth, reaching every point of creation.
- Faces = qualities. Man means intelligence, lion strength, ox patience, eagle speed. These are the attributes of God, or the qualities of His judgments.
- Wings = the pace of judgment. The cherub has four wings, the seraph six. Mercy moves faster than judgment.
- Combined, then separated. Ezekiel's creature holds all four forms at once. In Revelation the forms stand apart, with six wings and no wheels.
- Reach becomes reassurance. These powers out-think, out-last and out-distance every opposing force. That gave a captive prophet confidence instead of despair.
And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot; and they sparkled as the look of burnished brass.
Ezekiel is a captive in Babylon when the heavens open and he sees four living creatures carrying the throne of God. Verse 7 stops at their feet. Every detail there says something about how God moves when He comes to judge.
These living creatures are the cherubim. Wherever they appear, they are doing one job.
Throughout the Old Testament, wherever the cherubim act, they have to do with the judicial power of God, or they carry out the will of that power. In Revelation they usually have to do with providential judgments, and they belong to the throne.
They are the moving parts of a throne, and their feet are where that throne touches the ground.
The first thing said about the feet is that they are straight. Wings and feet are named together, and each points somewhere different.
Their feet are straight and like a calf's. This speaks of the evenness of their course, and of the endurance with which they press on towards their goal. The wings would speak of their activity in heaven, and the feet of their movements on earth.
Nothing here wanders.
A human foot is long and flat. An ox's hoof stands upright and plants hard. Where the ESV says "burnished bronze", older translations say brass, and that gleam matters as much as the shape.
They have in general the likeness of a man, but their feet are like the feet of an ox, "upright," and not extended, as a man's foot is. They sparkle, giving the look of glowing brass. This reminds us once more of Revelation, but there it is said of Him who appears to John, who is the Lord Himself: "His feet like fine (or glowing) brass, as if they burned in a furnace." The treading down in wrath is plain. The sole of the foot is like that of a young bullock, for patient labour is manifest in the exercise of righteous judgment.
Two things meet in one hoof: crushing weight, and the patience of an animal built for long work. This judgment is not a burst of temper. It is labour.
In Scripture this metal carries a settled meaning, and it is not the same meaning as gold.
Looking at the details, I think there are two judgments of God here. First, the judgment of God about our responsibility where we are. Then, the judgment of God about what can come near Him where He is, and as He is. Both are His judgments, but the difference is the difference between the brass and the gold. The brazen altar was judgment about the responsibility of man where he was. He had to bring a sin offering, and meet God according to his responsibility and his failure in it. But the cherubim on the mercy-seat were all of gold, and that was approaching God according to what He was in Himself. "His feet like unto fine brass" — that is the firmness of His judgment as regards human responsibility.
The same metal marks the place where God met sinners.
Brass typifies God meeting man in his responsibility according to divine righteousness. The brazen altar of the tabernacle shows this. There God met man in his sins, and the offered sacrifice met His claims in righteousness.
In Revelation, John sees the Lord Himself, and he describes His feet in almost the same words. Commentators link the two visions, and note what John's vision adds.
Ezekiel 1:7 and Daniel 10:6 say the same thing, though the English versions read differently. But here we have "passed through the fire." I understand this to mean that God applied righteousness in judgment to man according to the full, absolute trial of the fire of God — that is, judgment that allows no evil.
Writers put the emphasis in different places. Some stress the steady, even course; others the patient labour. All agree the gleam means judgment, and that the feet in Revelation are the Lord's own.
- Throne — The living creatures are the cherubim. They carry out God's judicial power, and their feet are where His throne meets the earth.
- Straight — Straight legs mean an even course that keeps going. Wings speak of work in heaven, feet of work on earth.
- Sole — An ox's upright hoof, not a man's flat foot: treading down in wrath, yet with the patient labour of a working animal.
- Brass — The metal of the altar, not of the gold mercy seat. It is God's righteousness meeting man where his responsibility lies.
- Altar — At that same altar the offered sacrifice met God's claims in righteousness. The feet that tread evil down are the feet that passed through the fire.
And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings
Ezekiel is a captive in a foreign land. Heaven opens, and he sees four living creatures carrying the throne of God. Verse 8 adds a strange detail: under those wings, on all four sides, are human hands.
These creatures are the cherubim. God lived between them on the ark, at rest among His people. Now He is on the move against them.
The God of Israel, who lived between the cherubim on the ark, was among His people. People came near to Him by blood, according to divine righteousness, and that righteousness was guarded by the witness of His judicial authority. God let Ezekiel see His judgments in providence from outside. He would judge His guilty people by Babylon as His instrument.
Each part of the picture carries a meaning. One writer takes the hands, the wings and the four sides in turn.
The hands of a man seem to stand for activity, or skill in doing. The wings stand for swift action from above, with never a moment's turning aside from the task in hand. The four sides let them move in every direction.
Another writer goes through the creatures feature by feature, giving the sense of each face as well as the hands:
Their faces were like a man's — intelligence and authority; a lion's — majesty and vengeance; an eagle's — knowing everything and being everywhere; a calf's — patience and stability; and they have hands — the executive faculty.
The hands sit under the wings, joined to the part that flies. The feet touch the ground. One writer draws out what that means.
The wings would speak of their heavenly activity and the feet of their earthly movements. The hands under the wings would assure us that they are capable of serving God both in the heavens and on the earth.
Four faces, four wings, four hands. The number four runs right through Scripture wherever the whole created order is in view.
FOUR. Completeness in what is created or ordained by God. Four winds from the four quarters of heaven. Jer. 49:36. Four quarters of the earth. Rev. 20:8. In the arrangement of the camp of Israel there were four standards. Num. 10:14-25. Ezekiel saw four living creatures, each had four faces, four wings, and four hands. Ezek. 1:5-8: compare the four living creatures in Rev. 4:6.
The hands under the wings are human hands. That says something about who strikes the blow, and whose wrath it really is.
This reminds us of what we have seen before: there was the form of a man's hand under the wings of the cherubim. Human hands, we need not doubt, are to carry out that judgment. Still, that judgment is itself the wrath of God.
Later in the book, those hands reach out and take hold of fire.
So they are also seen with spread wings under the God of Israel (Ezek. 1). The Lord of Israel was about to leave His sanctuary, because His people had turned away from Him and disturbed His rest in Jerusalem. Here they also reach out their hands to take fire and throw it over the city, because the Lord had commanded the judgment of its sins.
Ezekiel saw all this as a captive, watching his nation collapse. The vision came to steady him.
They come out of this cloud to assure us of this: many clouds cross our pathway, but God is behind them all. He is using them to perfect His work in each one of us. That cloud had meant bloodshed, fire, captivity; yet the prophet has to learn that God was accomplishing His will by that very disaster. There were four living creatures. That suggests these powers are universal, for there is not a spot in the whole universe beyond the control of God.
- Hands mean doing. Faces show intelligence and wings show speed. The hands are the executive faculty — the part that carries out the will of God.
- Under the wings. The hands sit under the wings that fly and above the feet that walk. These servants work for God in heaven and on earth alike.
- On four sides. Four is the number of completeness in the created order. These hands reach in every direction, and no spot in the universe lies outside God's control.
- Human hands, God's wrath. Babylon's armies were real men doing real damage. Yet the judgment they carried out was God's own wrath, and the hands in the vision reach out to take fire for the city.
- Comfort in captivity. Ezekiel watched his nation fall as a prisoner. God was accomplishing His own will through the very disaster that crushed him.
their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.
Ezekiel sees this vision as a captive, far from Jerusalem. Four living creatures move with wings touching and never turn aside, which raises the question: with God's people scattered, is anything still under control?
Ezekiel is one of a band of captives by the river Chebar. The heavens open over him there, while the judgment on his people still stands.
Meanwhile the prophet is one among a band of captives by the river Chebar — the "great" or "abundant" river... Babylon has taken Assyria's place, and the oppressing hand gives no relief. Yet, though the judgment is not removed, this is what happens: over the head of a man who bows under it and accepts God's judgment, the heavens are opened and there are "visions of God."
So what do these creatures represent? One writer answers carefully.
These verses do not seem to give us a figure of Christ. What they do give us, in picture form, are the powers under His control that carry out the will of God.
Each part of these creatures means something. One writer reads the hands and the wings together.
The hands of a man seem to stand for activity, or skill in doing. The wings stand for swift action from above, without a moment's turning away from the task in hand. And there are four sides, so they can move in every direction.
The ESV says their wings touched one another. Older translations say "their wings were joined one to another." Either way, these four never act on their own.
Their movement was united. They were not flying off at tangents. They were not moving apart from one another. All was under the control of God Himself. Because they were "joined one to another," nothing could come between them to disrupt their movements.
Where does that unity come from? Not from the creatures themselves.
Their wings were joined together, so there was perfect unity of action among all four living ones. The face guided them in a straight course with no turning aside. A higher Spirit than that of the living creature itself guided and governed everything.
One writer reads each feature of the creatures as a note about God's judgments. The joined wings show how those judgments fit together.
They are four in number — they work everywhere. They have four faces — they look every way... Their feet are straight, like a calf's, and shine like polished brass — their progress is always steady and judicial. Their wings are joined — every act of judgment locks together with every other act of judgment, and they did not turn as they went.
Going straight forward has a practical edge. Human planners keep a fallback ready; these creatures need none.
Generals fighting a war would have what is called "a major plan". If that failed, they would fall back on "a secondary plan". But no secondary plan is suggested here: "each one of them went straight forward". God needs no secondary plan. They are invincible; nothing can deflect them or turn them aside. Nebuchadnezzar with all his power could not turn them aside.
The point of the vision is not light alone. One writer ties it to a treasure carried in fragile jars.
In 2 Corinthians 4:7 we read, "But we have this treasure in jars of clay"... We not only have the light of these things. We are also fully assured of the power God has at His disposal, so we can go steadily on in our service for God.
- Opened — God did not lift the judgment, yet the heavens opened over a captive who accepted it.
- Joined — Touching wings mean united movement. Nothing can come between them.
- Governed — The unity comes from above. A higher Spirit guides and governs all, so the course never bends.
- Unturned — Straight forward means God needs no fallback plan. Nebuchadnezzar's power could not turn these creatures aside.
- Strengthening — The vision gives more than light. It assures us of the power God has at His disposal, so His servants keep going.
And the likeness of their faces was the face of a man; and they four had the face of a lion on the right side; and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four had also the face of an eagle.
Ezekiel sees four living creatures under a throne, and each one carries four faces at once. Verse 10 names them — man, lion, ox and eagle — and the question is what those faces say about the way God rules.
The four faces stand for four qualities of God's rule. One reference work names each one.
Each living creature had four faces. The first was the face of a man, which speaks of "intelligence." The second was the face of a lion, which symbolises "strength." The third was the face of an ox, representing "patient endurance." The fourth was the face of an eagle, which implies "swiftness of execution." All show perfect organisation for carrying out the government of God according to His righteous judgement.
The verse does not say which face pointed which way. William Kelly gives his own reading, and says where these creatures come from.
I take verse 10 to mean this: the face of a man was in front and the face of an eagle behind, with a lion's face to the right and an ox's or steer's face to the left. These make up the symbolic supports of the throne. They are the heads of the creatures kept safe in the ark through the flood.
These figures appear at several points in Scripture. J. N. Darby traces the line through them.
The cherubim, I believe, are judicial power. After the garden of Eden they became the throne. In the tabernacle they stood in connection with the law or covenant. In Ezekiel they stand for providential government and judgment. In Revelation 4 they are still the attributes the throne rests on: stability, strength, speed of judgment, intelligence. But they also refer to the creation; they are the heads of creation on earth — government too is on earth, and refers to this creation.
No hostile power can outmatch these creatures. George Davison presses that point for anyone facing a force that looks unbeatable.
In every sphere in the whole creation these beings are supreme... Satan and rebellious men have great intelligence, which they use against God. But here are beings who excel in intelligence. Whatever the power, or the endurance, or the speed with which the enemies move to reach their goals, these living creatures will wear them down. They will out-think, out-last, out-wear and out-distance every hostile power. They will never fail to carry out every detail of the will of God in the universe.
Among the four, the man's face leads. James McBroom shows how a man's wisdom puts the other three faces to use — and who sits on the throne above them.
Man's face speaks of intelligence and spiritual discernment here. It has a wisdom and knowledge that can put to good use the great strength of the lion, the plodding feet of the ox on the earth, and the speed and height of the eagle's flight, sweeping through the heavens. Confirming all this, the throne, which seems to rest on this complex structure, is occupied by a MAN.
The same four features appear in the four accounts of Christ's life. Samuel Ridout matches each Gospel to a face.
The four Gospels present our Lord Jesus in this fourfold way. In Matthew we see Him as "the Lion of the tribe of Judah," Israel's King. In Mark we see Him in service, bearing, as the patient ox does, His burden, the load of human need. In Luke we see the face of the Man throughout — human intelligence, sympathy, love and example. John shows us the eagle from heaven, soaring back to the place where He was with the Father before the world was.
- Four faces. The man means intelligence. The lion means strength. The ox means patient endurance. The eagle means swift action.
- Four directions. Kelly reads the man in front, the eagle behind, the lion right and the ox left. These are the heads of the creatures saved in the ark, now set under God's throne.
- One throne. The same figures run from Eden to the tabernacle to Ezekiel and Revelation. Every time, they carry judicial power.
- No rival. These creatures are supreme in every sphere. No hostile intelligence, force, stamina or speed can outlast them. Every detail of God's will gets done.
- A Man above. A Man sits on the throne these faces carry. The same four faces mark Christ in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.