The Face of An Angel

I heard what Mr. McNeely said to the ABC graduating class by video, and I thought it was a very, very fine message for all of us to hear. You know, as he talked about running with the horses, it made me think of so many other things in life, because when we look at God's creation, you know, He puts the marvelous things on this earth for us, and we can appreciate the plants that we have, we can appreciate the grass, we can appreciate really everything on earth, but the animals sometimes we take for granted, and God put those animals on earth, and they really do, they really do enhance our life in so many ways.

We just often thought about what animals do and how they benefit us. It would be staggering to imagine an earth with no living creatures on it. And so when God created the sea animals and the birds of the air and the beasts of the field and the cattle and every creeping thing on earth, before He created man, He knew what He was doing.

And animals on earth have quite an effect on us. We use them as analogies because they all have their individual properties, they have advantages and strengths. Sometimes our weaknesses as well, but we can use them as analogies, and sometimes we learn a lot from the animals around us on how we might be acting and what we need to improve or what we may need to be like.

So when you talk about running with the horses, it's something we can all aspire to because none of us would be able to physically keep up with the horses. But God expects us to be running with the horses and living our lives that way. Turn with me back to Revelation 19. Speaking of horses, the horses and animals have a prominent place also in heaven, or at least likenesses of them. In Revelation 19, part of our future, when we look forward to the return of Jesus Christ, He comes back on a horse out of heaven.

In Revelation 19, verse 11, it says, I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And he who sat on him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. He comes closed, and he comes with armies in heaven, and they come on white horses. So Jesus Christ becomes the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

A white horse in heaven and a likeness of a horse here on earth. Not the only place in Revelation that we see that in heaven there are animals that at least look like the animals that God put here on earth. Let's go back to Revelation 4. We find a few more animals that are represented up there around His throne.

The Apostle John is envisioned in Revelation 4, and he is seeing things in God's throne, as he writes this. In Revelation 4, it says, I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. Let's drop down to verse 6. 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.

They're in heaven. Things that John, when he looked at it, they may not have been a lion, and they may not have been an eagle and a calf, or an actual man, but they had the face of it, and when he saw them, it reminded him of, and that's the way he described it. These are things on earth, and seeing them in heaven as well. The four living creatures, each having six wings, were saved, were full of eyes around and within, and they don't rest day or night, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.

They recognize. They spend not all their time, because they have functions in heaven. There's things that they do, and those four living creatures who have the likeness of animals that we would see on earth have something that they do, but one of the things they do are the same thing we should do.

They are always praising God. They are always aware of where they came from. They are always aware and thankful for the opportunity that they have to serve Him, and day and night they praise Him, just like you and I should always be in a thankful state of mind where God is conserved.

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. Created all things. Even these four living creatures, even the twenty-four elders, even you and me, even the beasts of the field and the cattle that roamed the earth, and the eagles that fly and the birds that fly in the air.

When we find these four, same four living creatures in Ezekiel's vision, back in Ezekiel 1, he finds himself in a vision that God's throne in Ezekiel 1, and he sees the same thing that John saw, and he records it for us. In Ezekiel 1, in verse 1, you'll see at the end of the verse there, it says, The heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.

Let's drop down to verse 4. Ezekiel 1, I looked, and behold, the whirlwind was coming out of the north, a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself, and brightness was all around it, and radiating out of 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. The kind of stood is like him, and I reminded John of that. 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 prawns. 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 didn't turn when they went, but each one went straightforward. As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a man, each of the four had the face of a lion on the right side, each of the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and each of the four had the face of an eagle.

The same faces that John saw. Ezekiel, there at the throne of God, sees faces on beings that had four faces, and there at the throne of God, and their glorifying God day and night. Well, John or Ezekiel goes on to talk about what they do, but over in Ezekiel 10, he identifies what those creatures he saw were. And you can imagine if you had a vision like Ezekiel or John, it would stay in your mind.

It would be thinking about it. What does that mean? What were those beings that I saw? I never saw being with four faces that moved the way they did. In Ezekiel 10 and down in verse 8, he uses the word cherubim. He's recounting the vision that he saw. It says, The cherubim appeared to have the form of a man's hand under their wings, and when I looked, there were four wheels by the cherubim, one wheel by one cherub, another wheel by the other cherub. The wheels appeared to have the color of a barrel sown, and then he talks about the wheels. But let's start down to verse 14 to see that he's talking about the same thing here in chapter 10 that he had seen in chapter 1. Each one had four faces. The first had the face of a cherub, the second the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

And the cherubim, verse 9-15, were lifted up. This was the living creature I saw by the river Kavar. This is what I saw. I saw cherubim. I saw an angelic being. They were around God's throne, day and night. They were honoring God, day and night. They really exist. They have functions that they do. Now cherubim, cherubim are a type of angel, and I don't know exactly what the hierarchy of angels are, but cherubim would be near the top based on what they do and the fact that they're in God's presence day and night. Ezekiel isn't the only place that we read about cherubim. You'll remember back in Genesis 3, after Adam and Eve sinned and God blocked the way into the Garden of Eden, what did he place at that garden to keep man out? He placed cherubim there to keep them out. When God instructed Moses in the building of the Tabernacle, they built the Ark of the Covenant, a place that only a high priest would go in once a year. Remember what was above? The Ark of the Covenant? The likeness of cherubim. There's even a place in the Bible where it talks about cherubs, carrying God, but we'll get to that a little bit later. And, of course, here in Ezekiel 1 and 10 and Revelation 4, we see that those cherubim are there in God's throne, right where he is.

So, we can learn a little bit, maybe, about cherubs as we look at the four faces that they have.

Because, you know, when God put something in the Bible, and John and Ezekiel saw that, and they talked about what these cherub reminded him of, there's a lot we can learn about what those cherubim do. Because they do more than just say, holy, holy, holy, everything that God creates has a purpose, and everything that God creates has a mission and something that they're to do.

So, let's look at the four faces of the cherub today and see what we can learn about them. And, in the process, we're going to learn something about us and something about what God values. Let's look first at the face of a lion. Now, we have, we have, not so many here today, but we have some young children here with us today. And, if they've ever seen a movie called The Lion King, they would all be able to tell you, the lion is what? The lion is the king of the jungle. The lion is the one that all the other animals look up to. He's the one who has the power. He is the one that holds the might. He is kind of the king of kings of the jungle. And the beasts, the wild animals of the field, they look to him. When he speaks, if you will, they fear. When he speaks, they run. But everyone knows, and even our children know, the lions have these reputations. That they are the king of the jungle.

Let's see what the Bible says about lions, because the Bible interprets itself. Let's go back and look at 1 Kings 10. Let's see if a lion in the Bible, because it represents some things. And we can see in the Bible what God would be doing when he said and inspired John and Ezekiel to write. It had the face of a lion. One of its characteristics, one of its properties was, it looked like this. In 1 Kings 10 and verse 19, we find something that we might even see in the world today. Here we are at Solomon's throne, and he's completed a place for himself, and he's, of course, had some things that he's adorned it with. Here in verse 18, 1 Kings 10, Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with pure gold. The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round at the back. There were armrests on either side of the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the armrests. How fitting! How fitting! The king would have a symbol of a king, of authority right there by him. So when people came and they saw lions, they think, this is an important guy. This is someone we need to pay attention to. This is the king. This is the king. He's supreme in the land. Going on in verse 20, it says, 12 lions stood there, one on each side of the six steps. Nothing like this had been made for any other kingdom, but for Solomon it was adorned, and the steps leading up to his throne were typified by a lion. The symbol of authority, the symbol of government, the symbol of majesty, the symbol of royalty. Over in Proverbs 20, we'll go through a few scriptures here, Proverbs 20 and verse 2.

Proverbs 20, verse 2. The wrath of a king is like the roaring of a lion. Whoever provokes him to anger, sins against his own life. Now, you and I live in a time where we don't know what it's like to have a king roar at us. We don't live in a time where we've had a royal ruler who tells you where to go, where you're going to work, what you're going to do, what you're going to eat, where you're going to live, how much money you're going to make. He pretty much tries to dictate your whole life. But back in the day, for most of humanity, until the last few hundred years, that's how they lived. There was a monarch, a supreme being who told you exactly what you were going to do, and you had better listen to him. So when the king roared, he paid attention.

Now, for us, we know that in the future, that time is coming again. There will come a time when there is a beast on the earth, and he's going to roar, and he's going to make some proclamations, and the world is going to listen. And part of what they're going to say is bow down and worship me. And you and I are going to hear that roar, but we're not going to follow what he has to say. But the world will! They'll marvel after that, because the king is roaring, the lion is roaring. And when the lion speaks, people listen. Over in Proverbs 30 and verse 30. Proverbs 30 and verse 30. A lion, which is mighty among beasts, does not turn away from any. And this is in the midst of Solomon writing about three things that are majestic in pace. And I think when we go to the zoo and we watch lions, it's fascinating to watch them walk. They are majestic in their pace. They're majestic to look at. They look the part. And he says here, they don't, they're mighty among beasts, they don't turn away from any. Lions and the beasts of the jungle, they know when they come across a lion, they've got their hands full. And even you and I, if we can't face the face to a lion other than in the zoo, we would realize we've got a battle on our hands. They don't turn away from any. And they don't scare easily. They are a symbol of might, of power, of majesty, of authority. A few chapters, a few books later in Isaiah, Isaiah 31, and Isaiah 31.

In verse 4, through Isaiah, God says, as a lion roars. And we all recognize the sound of a roaring lion, right? I mean, this is very distinctive. You know, we lived in Indiana, and not too far from where we were, well, a few miles away. Someone had a, I mean, they had several acres, but they had a wildlife permit, and they had a lion. And sometimes you would hear that lion roaring even from a few miles away. And it's kind of a, it always caught your attention. You never got used to it. But you know, you hear a lion roar. A lion roars and a young lion over his prey.

When a multitude of shepherds is summoned against him, he won't be afraid of their voice. He won't be disturbed by their noise. So the Lord of hosts will come down to fight for Mount Zion, and for its hill. He'll come down with force, with might. He's not going to be afraid of the armies of the world. He's not going to be afraid of what's going on down here. He will get what he has come for and what he is going to do. And the share of them had the face of a lion, a symbol of authority, a symbol of might. Not their own might, but a symbol of authority and might.

Hosea 11, right after the book of Daniel. Hosea 11 and verse 10. In this chapter, God is talking about Israel, who's gone away, and that he will gather them back when Christ returns.

And in verse 10, he says this, they, Hosea 11 and 10, they will walk after the Eternal.

He will roar like a lion. When he roars, his son shall come trembling from the west.

They shall come trembling like a bird from Egypt, like a dove from the land of Assyria.

When the lion roars, they'll listen. They will come to the king. He's got the voice of authority. He's got the voice of government. He's got the voice of majesty. When he speaks, people will listen. Amos 3. A couple books further into the Old Testament. Amos 3, verse 8. Now, let's pick it up in verse 7. A verse everyone knows. It says, Amos 3.7, Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants, the prophets.

Those who follow Him, He lets us know. Maybe not decades ahead of what's going to happen, but He reveals His secret to His servants, the prophets. A lion has roared, who will not fear, the Lord God has spoken, who can but prophesy. A lion has roared. He has spoken. Listen. That's a warning sign. It's something that we pay attention to. A lion has roared. So, as we see the face of a lion as one of the faces of the cherub, John would have recognized it as a face that had authority, a face that had power, a face that had no fear, a face that had majesty, a face to be reckoned with and was going to accomplish what it had come to do.

Back in Genesis, back in Genesis 49, we find that God ascribed the analogy of a lion to one of the tribes of Israel. Of course, in Genesis 49, we have Jacob speaking over the twelve sons and telling them what will befall. It's done in the last days, it says. And in Genesis 49, verse 9, He's talking about His... We'll begin in verse 8. Genesis 49, verse 8, He's talking to the tribe of Judah, the Jews of today. Verse 8, He says, Judah, you are He whom your brothers will praise. Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's children will bow down before you. Judah is a lion's wealth.

From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down. He lies down as a lion. And as a lion, who will rouse him? He's ferocious.

He's got dominion. He's got majesty. He's got power.

Going on in verse 10, The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the people.

He's the king. That's where rulers will come from. Kings will come from you. A lion.

The majesty. The royalty.

All wrapped up in the face of an angel. Finally, back in Revelation 5.

In Revelation 5, we see the lion ascribed to Christ. In Revelation 5, in this chapter, John sees the scroll, and he wants it opened. He wants to see what the scroll has to say, and he weeps in verse 4 because there's no one worthy to open it.

But in verse 5 it says, It's seven seals. The lion of Judah. Jesus Christ.

Majesty. Authority. King of kings.

And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders to the Lamb, as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He's a lion. He's a lamb too. And he took that scroll, and he opened it, and the prophecies were unveiled. So when we look at the face of a lion, when we look at the cherub, that cherub had those properties. Authority. Might. Government. Stand strong.

Let's look at another face. So let's look at the face of the bull.

Ezekiel the other, the next face, the face of a bull that was there. Now, in Revelation 4, we read that there was one of the beasts, or one of the living creatures, looked like a calf.

Ezekiel said it looked like a bull. Indeed, there are four Hebrew words that describe cattle and the cattle kind in the Old Testament. When we're talking about cattle in general, it's the Hebrew word vakar, B-A-Q-U-A-R, Strong's number 14, number 1241. If you're talking about a non-castrated ox, not the kind that was relegated to field work, that would be the Hebrew word par, number 6499.

And the young bull, or the calf, was called an egal, number 5695. But the ox in Ezekiel is none of those. The ox in Ezekiel is the field-working sacrificial animal with the word shor, number 7794. So when Ezekiel saw the face of a bull, he didn't see what maybe you and I see. Now, we see a face of a lion today. We think of many of the same things we just read about. But when I see a face of a bull, I can't say that I see. Now, maybe now from now on, I'll see. But before, I don't know that I would see what the Bible would describe as bull. I would think of something that I wouldn't want to run into in a farm field. I would think of something that happens in Spain, the running of the bulls, and think that's not something that I would have on my bucket list. But many people find that entertaining, or at least challenging. But when the Bible talks about a bull and the people of the Old Testament and the people of the whole time, when they saw a bull, they saw something totally different than you and me. To them, it was a very valuable animal. It was something that God created. Remember what it says in Genesis 1. When He created the beasts of the field, He created cattle, domesticated animal. And cattle and bulls had a significant place in Israelite history and in the history of people down through the ages. They have a significant place in our life today. Imagine life that there were no cattle, there was no such thing. We wouldn't have beef, we wouldn't have McDonald's, we wouldn't have leather, we wouldn't have butter, we wouldn't have the things that we're so used to. So many things come from cattle. They're a very useful animal. And they were back then, too. But they were useful in more ways than just what we get from them, as we do today. They were so valuable that God says a few things about bulls and cattle. Let's go back to Proverbs 14 and see what He says about that as we look at another face of the carob there, of the angel, and what John and what Ezekiel would have seen when they saw this face and what that characteristic was. Proverbs 14 and verse 4. It says, Where no oxen are, the trough is clean. If you don't have an ox, you don't have to feed it, you don't have to clean up after it, the trough is clean. But much increase comes by the strength of an ox. Ah, if you want to be prosperous, if you want things, if you want to have a life that produces a lot, you need an ox. Much increase comes by the strength of an ox.

It was so important in Israel's life that God even included it in the commandments.

You know where He concluded it in the commandments? Where He mentioned it? Let's go back to Exodus 20.

It's part of the commandment, not one of the Ten Commandments. But in Exodus 20, we have the commandments listed, and the tenth one is, Thou shalt not covet, or do not covet.

In Exodus 20, God gives some examples of things that He doesn't want His people to covet.

Of course, we don't covet anything, not just the list that is here in Exodus 20, 17. But in the Ten Commandment here, He says, You shall not covet your neighbor's house. Now, we can look at our neighbor's house and say, Man, I'd really like to live there. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. She's a really good cook. Nor his male servant, nor his feed male servant, nor his ox, or donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's. Don't covet that ox. He may be the superstar of oxes. You don't covet him. He may do wondrous things for their neighbor, but he's not yours.

You pay attention to what God gave you, and be thankful for that, and don't covet that ox. He's really important, but He's really important in a different way than a lion.

A lion has majesty. A lion has authority. A lion civilizes government. The ox doesn't symbolize that at all. The ox symbolizes something totally different in an animal, a totally different attitude, if you will. Let's go back to Isaiah 1. Now, we know the ox, and we know cattle in general, provided food, but the ox was a very—today we have tractors. Today we have all the machinery that can plow our fields and that can make things happen in our farm life. But back then they didn't have tractors. John Deere wasn't even known, right? Back then, ox was a very important animal. Without it, you didn't have much going on.

It was a very useful animal, a service animal, if you will. It spent its life doing the things that others wanted it to do. One other thing it did here in Isaiah 1, verse 3. Here God is talking about His people, Israel, and He compares them. He compares them to an ox. He says, the ox knows its owner, now the donkey, its master's crib. But Israel doesn't know.

My people don't consider. You know, the ox has a service attitude. The ox is a domestic animal. It knew who its owner was. It knew who took care of it. Now, lions, they're independent. They're going to and throw on the earth, and they have a different attitude, useful attitudes for what they need to do. But the ox knew its owner. If you owned an ox, when you came home, you'd probably wag his tail, right? He knew his owner. God said, Israel, even the ox knows its owner.

Even the donkey knows its crib. But you don't know me. You don't even pay attention to me.

Even the ox does this. Can't you be learned from them? Can't you learn something from them?

And know who your owner is, and know who butters your bread and provides everything that you need.

The ox knows. The ox has dedicated the service. Its life isn't its own. It's not running around wild through the jungles and the farmlands of Asia and Mesopotamia. It had a function in life. It worked. It worked, and it worked hard, and it served its master well. A lot of things the ox would do. It also sacrificed a lot. Now, it didn't make the decision to sacrifice, but God used the bull as a sacrifice, sacrificial animal in ancient Israel. Let's go back to Leviticus 4.

And see that this animal was useful even as people approached God and remembered what they had done and how they needed to reconcile in the way they did in the Old Testament with God. Leviticus 4, verse 1.

The eternal spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, If a person sins unintentionally against any of the commandments of the Lord in anything which ought not to be done, and does any of them, if the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, let him offer to the eternal for his sin, which he has sinned, a young bull without blemish as a sin offering. Take that bull and sacrifice his life.

That's a valuable animal in Israel. Sacrificing it meant something to them.

But take that bull and offer it as a sacrifice. He shall bring the bull to the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the eternal, lay his hands on the bull's head, and kill the bull before the Lord.

It'll give its life. Part of its purpose for living is to sacrifice, to be sacrificed, a tool, sacrifice for people as a sin offering. Back in Leviticus 9. Leviticus 9.

Let's begin in verse 1. It came to pass on the eighth day that Moses called Aaron and his sons of the elders of Israel, and he said to Aaron, Take for yourself a young bull as a sin offering, and a ram as a burnt offering without blemish, and offer them before the Lord. And to the children of Israel you shall speak, saying, Take a kid of the goats as a sin offering, a cap and a lamb, both of the first year without blemish as a burnt offering. Also, a bull and a ram as peace offerings to sacrifice before the Lord. And then a green offering as well. Sin offering, peace offering. Use that animal. That's valuable. That serves in so many ways. It's a tool for sacrifice as well. Offer it as a peace offering. Verse 18, you see that Aaron followed through with exactly what God had said to do. So we have the face. One of the faces of the carob is that of might, power, government, authority. The other face, or the next face, is almost the opposite. Put a part of who he is, or it is, if we don't want to ascribe a gender to an angel or a carob. Part of who he is is a servant, the servant to his master, willing to sacrifice anything for his master.

Knows who his master is, a domesticated animal who understands his position, is grateful for his position, who does exactly what God asks him to do.

Now back to Hebrews 1.

Talks about angels in general, and not carob or carob, however you say it, in specific. But let's look at a verse here in Hebrews 1 and see the characteristic of angels. And there are many, there are different classes of angels. Not all, as I said, not all carob, not all angels are carob, all carob, those carob are angelic beings. Hebrews 1. Let's pick it up in verse 13.

Author of Hebrews writing here, he says, Which of the angels has he, as God ever said, said at my right hand, till I make your enemies, your footstool? Are they not?

Are they not all these angels? Are they not all ministering spirits, set forth to minister or serve those who will inherit salvation?

Those who will inherit salvation? You and me. You and me, if we believe, if we do, if we follow through, and if we remain steadfast to the end, they're there to serve mankind, as God sends them forth. And they willingly do it.

Part of the attributes of the carob is a total attitude of service, committed to whatever they are called to do or asked to do.

Let's move on to the face of an eagle. Eagles are fascinating creatures. One of the, you know, when people think of the king of the birds, they think of the eagles. When you think of the king of beasts, you think of lions, when you think of the king or the majestic one of birds, you think of the eagles. They say that eagles fly higher than any other bird. They have a majestic appearance to them. They have a personality all their own. So many nations, including the one we live in, use eagles as the symbol for their nation because of the properties that it has.

And you know, the eagle, even in secular life, is used as an example to people. In business, often you will see some analogies to what an eagle does and what a good leader will do, what a good CEO of a company will do, what a good manager will do. Because eagles are fascinating creatures. They are something to behold. And when John looked at this carob and he saw the face of an eagle, we'll go through some scriptures where the Bible will talk about what eagles do. Let me give you four characteristics. And there's six or seven that you'll generally find when you go through the business courses or look online at the things. So that's just four characteristics of eagles. The carob would have these characteristics and we might look at ourselves and say, is God looking to us to develop these characteristics as well? One characteristic of an eagle, they don't fear. They're not afraid. They don't find anything in life that really scares them.

They have the properties and they have the ability to fly through what went away from anything they need. But they're not afraid. They're not back off from anything that comes their way either.

They don't fear. Now, the eagle has been entrusted by God and given, you know, instincts by God that he knows what to do. God tells us over and over, don't fear. Carob's don't fear. They go. They go straight forward, it said. They don't look back. They just keep going forward. The same thing God would have us do. Don't fear. They're also tenacious. What they begin, they finish. They don't. They don't stop. There's videos of eagles, you know, talking about fear and fear and tenacity go kind of hand in hand. There's videos of them attacking goats and animals much larger than them. Now, these animals should be able to overcome them because they're bigger than an eagle, but you can see the eagle just going after him and after him and after him. And pretty soon he, you know, the one who just pushes the goat right over. He figures out, I'm not going to give up. I'm not going to let this go. I will overcome this. I will conquer whatever it is that I set my mind to do. And the goat goes over the cliff and the eagle's God is prey. Let me read this. Let me read this from one of the business articles on eagles. We're talking about tenacities, you know, tenaciousness. You know, we can talk about your prey and overcoming, but storms in life often confront us. And sometimes we can be frayed by those storms. Sometimes we can be pushed back and we can say, I need to go back to my nest. I need to kind of just think about this for a while and whatever. When storms come, and you can imagine eagles that is said that they can soar up to 10,000 feet far above whatever other birds can. When they run counter storms, they don't turn around and go back. They don't say, gotta sit it out, gotta pull over under the viaduct, and wait till the storm passes. Now they go right through it. Listen to this. Watch an eagle. It says, when the storm comes. While other birds fly away from the storm, an eagle spreads its mighty wings and uses the current to soar to greater heights. The eagle takes advantage of the very storm that lesser birds fear. I don't even have to expound the lesson for us, do we, to that? When storms come our way, we don't retreat. We go back to our way of life. It causes us to soar even higher. God uses trials. He uses storms in our life to propel us above. He gives us the spirit. He gives us the might. He gives us the power. He gives us the ability to soar above those and become stronger, just like the eagle does. Where other birds retreat, the eagle soars higher. He uses that storm and takes advantage of it, so he becomes even stronger. He doesn't fear. He's tenacious. He sticks to it. Eagles, they say also, nurture their young. Every bird nurtures their young. Eagles do it in a different way. When you read about, well, you've heard the stories of eagles, you know, taking their babies out, their eaglets out, and they drop them, and the mother soars above them, and they watch to see, are they going to fly? And if they don't fly, she comes down and swoops them up, takes them back to the nest. If a baby doesn't eventually fly, the nest begins to be pulled apart a little bit by little bit, so the baby understands a little bit by little bit, you are going to fly, you are going to be an eagle. You are going to do what you were called or what you were born to do.

But they nurture their young. They want them, and they know what to do, and God has built into them what they need to do in order to make that baby, that eaglet, an eagle. You know, when I hear the word nurture, a few years ago, I gave a sermon, remember the Greek word, the dia? God nurtures us.

He looks at us like those baby eagles. He looks at us, and He nurtures us, and He will do whatever it takes to have us become who He wants us to become. Some of us grow faster, some of us fly quicker. God doesn't give up on us. He never leaves. He never forsakes. He will be there to do whatever and provide whatever we need to become who we need to become. The eagles of the face of an eagle, the characteristics and the personality and the character that we need to have to be who He wants us to be, He nurtures us. He takes care of us. He brings us along. You know, I think of nurtured, I mentioned the dia, I also think of Revelation 12, where it talks about how God nourishes His people for a time and times and half a time from the face of the serpent. He brings us along. He wants us to have, and He's patient with us, the mother eagle. He's very patient with her young. Another trait, maybe you thought about it when I said the word eagle, eagle eyes, right? Eagles have great vision. When they say eagle eyes, they say it for a reason. It's reported, and I don't know how scientists do this, but that an eagle can see another eagle 50 miles away.

I don't know. You know, sometimes you read these things and you think, that's incredible, but, you know, whatever. They can see a far way. When eagles are soaring high up, high up in the air, they can see the prey down there on the ground. They don't have to come down within 10 or 15 feet of it, like you or I might have to do. They see it. They hone in on it. They know exactly where they're going. They know exactly what to do, and they can get down there because they can see so clearly what the mission is. They can see so clearly what it is that they're honing in on.

Again, I don't have to draw the analogy yet, do I? Eagles have eagle eyes. God wants us to have the eagle eyes. He wants us to see clearly we need to have vision. We need to have it honed. We need to see exactly where God is leading us, and He will show us that clearer, more and more clearly, as time goes on and as we yield to Him and as we allow Him to do His work in our lives, and as we rely less and less on self and more and more on Him.

The carob had that type of vision, but you know the carob, remember, is full of eyes all around. It sees every direction. It sees what's going on in front and back. You know, sometimes you wish, as a parent, you had eyes in the back of your head, right? The carobs have that. Reminds me of a couple verses. Second Chronicles. Second Chronicles 16.

Second Chronicles 16.

Second Chronicles 16, verse 9.

For the eyes of the Lord, the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. Hmm. Carobs with eyes in front and back and all around. Eagle eyes, eagle vision, face of an eagle, going back and forth. The eyes going back and forth on the earth.

Seeing what's there and understanding what's there. Nothing's hidden from an eagle.

Nothing's hidden from God. He sees what's going on. He knows what's happening.

And the carobs are blessed with that as well. Peter talks about this as well. 1 Peter 3.

1 Peter 3, verse 12.

The eyes. The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous. He's watching. He's watching out for His young. He's watching out for His children. He's nurturing them. He sees what they need.

He sees what they're doing. He sees where they need to be propped up and he sees where they need to be strengthened and where they need to be developed.

Ah, the eagle. There's a lot to see when we see the face of an eagle.

Let's look at a few scriptures, a few more scriptures here, where the Bible talks about eagles because there are some interesting references to eagles in the scripture. Exodus 19. Exodus 19. God has brought Israel out of Egypt. They didn't have to muster an army.

They didn't have to solicit any allies. They just needed to follow God. And He brought them out of Egypt and He was going to take them to the promised land. Exodus 19, verse 4. God says, You've seen, Israel, you've seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself.

How I brought you out on those eagles' wings, they're very strong.

They're very swift. They fly very high. When they set their course, they don't regress from it.

They stick to it and they finish what they begin.

Let's go to Deuteronomy 32.

Deuteronomy 32. Moses is here because he's speaking to Israel before he dies.

He has some things to say in verse 11.

He continues in verse 10. He's talking about how God bound Israel, loved him, kept him into the apple of the eye in verse 11. He says, An eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, taking them up, carrying them on its wings, so the Lord alone led him, and there was no foreign God with him.

God brought Israel out of Egypt, like on the wings of an eagle.

Isaiah 40.

Isaiah 40, verse 31.

Those who wait on the Lord, those who have faith in Him who are patient with God, who let Him work out the process, always obeying Him, always moving forward, always having faith, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. Those strong wings that can soar so high, fly so fast, soar above the clouds, soar above the storms. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary.

They shall walk and not faint.

To mark down Psalm 103, verse 5, it was in the letter yesterday, your youth, God said, will be renewed like the eagles. You'll have the vitality. You'll have the strength. You'll be able to do what God wants you to do. Let's go all the way back to the book of Revelation, Revelation 12. Speaking of the end time, and the time times in half a time, three and a half years before the return of Jesus Christ, God talks to His church, and He talks about when Satan will be cast down to earth, and there will be a time unlike any other time in human history when that time happens. And in verse 14 of Revelation 12, it says, But the woman, referring to the church, woman is church, but the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, for she is nourished for time, times, and half a time from the presence of the surfer. That's where she is going.

He'll take her on the wings of an eagle. He'll take her where he needs to take her, just like he took Egypt or Israel out of Egypt. I mentioned that there's a place where it shows Christ writing the cherub. Let's turn back to 2 Samuel.

2 Samuel 22. 2 Samuel 22, David, is talking. He talks about God being His rock and His fortress, the one who He looks to.

In verse 7, 2 Samuel 22, he says this, In my distress I called upon the Lord, and I cried out to my God. He heard my voice from his temple, and my cry entered his ears.

Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations of heaven quaked and were shaken.

Because he was angry, smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth, coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also and came down with darkness under his feet. He rode upon a cherub and flew, and he was seen upon the wings of the wind.

Of the cherub. The face of a lion. The face of a knox. The face of an eagle. And all those things must be up. The Bible tells us they represent all their in a cherub.

There's one face left. I'm not going to spend too much time on man because you know man. She knows that as I was putting this together, I was thinking about the four faces.

Now we have a face of the king of the beasts, and we have the ox who's domesticated animals, and we have the eagle who's the king of the bird. When you go back to the book of Creole, you go back to the chapter of creation in chapter one. What's the one beast that's missing from that? Well, man's there too, in Genesis 1, 26. Something from the sea, right? There's no whale, there's no shark, there's no dolphin, there's no face on the cherub of something of the sea.

Revelation 21, verse 1, when it talks of the new heavens and the new earth, what does it say about the new heavens and the new earth? There was no sea. There was no sea. I don't know what that means. I just thought it was very interesting. Let me take it a step further.

We see the faces of the cherub. When you look at modern-day Christianity, what symbol do they use?

Do they use an ox? Do they use an eagle? Do they use a lion? No. You see them on the backs of cars, right? They use a fish. Not one of the things as mentioned on the face of a cherub.

Anyway, just an FYI. Let's talk a little bit about man, because the fourth face was the face of a man.

We know that man, when God created him, it says in Genesis 1, 26, he created him in his own image.

God put more into man than he did those animals. The animals lived by instinct. They had tremendous popular properties. We can learn a lot from them. We see their ferociousness. We see their attitude of service. We see them face their trials and the storms of life and go above it. Mankind doesn't have instinct, but mankind has a brain. In 1 Corinthians 2, verse 11, we talked about this a couple weeks ago. God put the spirit in man, the spirit of man. It opens up the knowledge of the world to them. So we can build houses and we can make bricks out of sand and water and the things that we do. We can find out and learn as man how we can ride the airwaves and have things like television, how we can have internet and things that just boggle your mind when you see it. God built all those things into the earth. The spirit in man allows him to do those things and to create those things and to invent those things, if you will, to really guide who invented them.

But it also gives man the ability to think, reason, and choose. You know, animals don't choose. They have the instinct. The eagle has the instinct to go after it and don't give up. We don't have that instinct. We have the choice. Run if we're afraid or go forward in faith. We have the choice if we're, as a service, to know we're not going to give ourselves that way. Or, yes, we will. The animals don't have that choice. Man does. He alone of all the creatures, God gave him dominion over all the earth. And the fourth face of the cherub was that of a man. Now, as men, who God will call children because he has a position and he has ideas in mind of what man is going to do, we have choices to make in life. And God nurtures us. He wants us to be trained. If we're just left on our own, if we're just wild, we're going to end up in nothing. If we listen to the world as the opposite of God, we're going to end up with a miserable life. We're going to end up in ridiculous things.

If you want future, if you want permanence, if you want stability, if you want happiness, if you want joy, God says, follow him. And so, he's a garden of Eden. From the very beginning, he put two trees there. The garden of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the tree of life. He said, choose the tree of life. Mankind didn't. He chose the other way. He tells us in Deuteronomy 13, I said before you, life and death, blessing and cursing, choose life. Mankind chooses the other way. And so, we have the choice, you and me, since God has called us. Do we choose life? Do we choose God's way? Do we choose the world's way? Because God is looking for people, and the face of that man is the one who is going to choose who chose God's way, not one who chose the other way. Back in Proverbs, Proverbs 1, as God inspired Solomon to write, there's words that he would tell us. Yeah, wisdom. Get understanding. Understand what it is. Don't take away what leads to nowhere.

Proverbs 1, verse 1, Proverbs and Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, to know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, judgment and equity, to give prudence to the simple, to the young man, knowledge and discretion. A wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel, to understand the proverb and an enigma, the words of the wise and their riddles.

And in verse 7, he says, without the fear of God, you're not smart. You're not as intelligent as you may think you are. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Fools despise it. The wise man, the face of a man, he'll choose wisdom.

He'll be, he'll sacrifice itself. He'll deny self. He'll choose wisdom. James 1.

James 1, verse 5.

If any of you lacks wisdom, you're not going to go to the local bookstore and get it. You're not going to go to the internet and get it, unless you're reading the right things. Not going to go to the TV, not going to go to the world, not going to go to school and get it. If any of you have lacks wisdom, ask God. Ask God who gives to all liberally and without reproach. Ask him in faith, ask him without a double mind, ask him because you want to please him and do his will. James 3.

A couple chapters over. James 3 and verse 13.

Who is wise? Who is wise in understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. Remember, meekness power brought under control of the Master.

Let him show by God conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.

But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, don't boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. That's the wisdom that God is seeking to put in man. Now, when John and Ezekiel, and we see a man on the face and the throne of God, it's a man who has chosen in his life to follow God, who has learned wisdom, who has let God nurture him, who has let God build him and develop him into who God wants him to be.

So, we have the four faces of an angel. We have majesty. We have authority. We have government.

We have total service. Total usefulness to the master. Knows his master. We have honed vision.

We soar above the clouds and the storms of life. We nurture our children. We nurture each other.

And we have wisdom. And we are seen, and God sees this, as the children of God.

It's very interesting as you look at the cherub and you look at the four faces of a cherub and see this is a majestic being. He or she or it really exists. Now, one day, if you and I endure the end, we'll see those cherubim. We'll see them as they are. And maybe we'll see the same characteristics that John and Ezekiel saw in them. And how majestic and how mighty and how service and how awesome they are, God says that today he has made man a little lower than the angels.

But what he's called them to be, if we follow, is to be higher than the angels. Just like Jesus Christ was made, lower than the angels is today above them. Now, I will say that tongue-in-cheek. I don't know where cherubs stand on God as they are at God's throne. But for the general angelic beings, God says mankind, your potential is to be greater or to be at a higher level than the angels. Isn't that an awesome thing to think about?

Kind of defies the imagination when you think about it.

Revelation 19.

We read verse 11. Jesus Christ coming down on a white horse, another animal on earth that we recognize that is in heaven. In verse 14, it says, the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. That's you and me, if...if...

You know, you've heard the saying, the face of an angel. And maybe when you hear the term, the face of an angel, it conjures up all sorts of ideas in your head. Maybe from here on out, when you hear the face of an angel, you'll think about what John, you'll think about what Ezekiel saw, you'll think about what God wants to create in you and me.