Face of an Angel

You know, we live in a fascinating world. And I don't know if you ever take the time to go out and just look at creation. But you know, when you look at the variety of plants that we have on earth, just the trees, just the grass that covers the earth, the sky that covers us, it is amazing to me how much detail God has built into our earth.

Just a fascinating, fascinating and inspiring thing to look at and just contemplate what God has done. And Genesis 1 has always been, I think always will be, an inspiring chapter for everyone to read when you see how God, in essence, recreated the earth and made it possible for man to live on there and how He painstakingly, you know, separated the dry land from the seas, how He created the firmaments, how He created the lights in the sky for times and seasons, how He put the plants on earth, and even the animals, you know.

We are living creatures on this earth, but the animals on earth, they provide so much to our lives. Sometimes I think we take them all for granted, but without animals, our lives wouldn't be much different. If we take the time to think about it, you know, we have cattle, we have the beasts to the field, we marvel at what we see in creation, we're fascinated by the way the animals act, and then we use them for so much.

Without the animals, it would be such a different life. And that's all on earth. And maybe it's not so surprising that when we look at some of the animal life on earth, we see them in heaven as well. Turn with me back to Revelation 4. God put them on earth, animals on earth, for our enjoyment, for our use, for our service, and for our enjoyment. In Revelation 4, we get a picture, as John has envisioned, of God's throne.

And in verse 6 of Revelation 4, we'll pick it up in verse 5, we see animals, faces of animals that are like the animals we have on earth around us today. Revelation 4, verse 5, 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. It doesn't say they were eagles and lions and calves and men, but they were like that.

And when John saw that in the vision, what he saw reminded him of animals and beings that were here on earth. Verse 8, The four living creatures, each having six wings, 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. 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 they cast their crowns before the throne, saying, You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power. For You created all things, even those angels, even those elders, even those four living beings that John was saying. And by Your will, they exist and were created.

So there in heaven, we see faces and creatures that look like the animals on earth. Back in Ezekiel 1, he had a vision as well, and found himself in a vision at the throne of God. Back in Ezekiel 1, verse 1 says, The heavens were opened, and Ezekiel writes, I saw visions of God. Let's pick it up in verse 4 and read through a few of the verses here. Verse 4, 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 mist like the color of amber, out of the mist of the fire.

Also from within it there came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance. They had the likeness of a man, built like 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 foresides, 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 straight forward. 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. Thus were their faces. Just like the vision that John saw in Revelation. Of beings, heavenly beings, that had four faces, the likeness of which we have replicas on earth. Over in Ezekiel 10, you can imagine if you had the vision that Ezekiel had, you would be contemplating it. You would be thinking about it. It would stick in your mind, and you would wonder, what is God trying to show me? In Ezekiel 10, he comes back to this vision that he had. I'm not going to read all through it, but if you pick it up in verse 9, he talks about, in verse 8, he talks about cherubim.

Cherubim, a type of angel. He talks about what he had seen, and he recounts what he had seen. In verse 14, he said, each one had four faces. The first was the face of a cherub, the second was the face of a man, the third of a lion, the fourth of an eagle, and the cherubim were lifted up.

This was the living creature I saw by the river Kaebar. This is what I saw. Cherubim, living in heaven with four faces. What can that mean? What a fabulous thing to think about, that in heaven there are, we know, millions and millions of angels, and they're an order of angels, and cherubim, or cherubim, is one of those, and Ezekiel saw that, and John saw that. And the cherubim, who had four faces, they were always worshipping God and bringing glory to God, recognizing that it was him, that was Christ, who was the one who would continue the plan of God, and he made all things possible.

They had other things to do, too. They had four faces, as there was more than the cherubim do than just say, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty. That's in their hearts, just like it should be in our hearts all the time, and continual attitude of thanksgiving to God and worshiping Him, realizing who we are, so it would be an inspiration to live the way that he wants us to. Now, let's go back and let's look at those four creatures and use the Bible to see what do those four creatures in the Bible symbolize?

What can we learn about the cherubim, about the cherubim from these four faces? First, let me draw your attention to a few other places in the Bible that we see cherubim. We see it here in Ezekiel 10 and Ezekiel 1. Do you remember back at the time of creation when Adam and Eve were sent out of the Garden of Eden? In Genesis 3, do you remember what God placed at the Garden of Eden?

Cherubim, to keep the way of the people from coming back in there. Therein, God's throne, back at the Ark of the Covenant. Remember when they had the Ark of the Covenant? What did God ordain that that would be above the Ark of the Covenant? Cherubim would be at the Ark of the Covenant. Later on, we'll leave and see that the cherubim are represented as kind of a vehicle or a chariot for God.

Let's go back and let's talk about lion, the face of a lion. When we think about a lion, what's the first thing that comes to mind? Even the youngest person in here, we'll save Natalie, she wouldn't know that yet. The youngest person in here would know a lion is the king of the beast. The lion is the king of the beast. He is of all the beast. He's the chief one. Maybe we have a lot of our vision from the Lion King movie, where you remember the lion roaring from the mountain and all the beasts of the earth.

The all the beasts of the earth kind of pay attention to the lion. He's the one to be reckoned with. He's the one who has authority. He's the one who is the king of the jungle. He is majestic. He is dramatic looking. He is the one that we reckon with. Even humans, none of us would want to come face to face with a lion, except in the zoo. But we would be a little taken back if we walked out and found the lion.

But we know that some of the people in the Bible had that happen to them. They are majestic creatures that have a lot of the beasts of the field. Remember, I didn't turn back to Genesis 1. When God created the animals, he created the beasts of the field. He created cattle, he said, domestic animals, and then the creeping things of the earth. Let's go back and look at a few of the scriptures, where lions are represented in the scriptures, and see if that's the same thing the Bible would represent about lions.

Back in 1 Kings 10 and verse 19, talking about Solomon's throne, his house where he was going to be, where he was going to be king, and where he would sit. It says this in verse 19, 1 Kings 10, 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 sea, and two lions stood between the armrests, how fitting for a king, right?

That he would have a symbol of a lion there. He's the king. He's the supreme ruler. Two lions stood beside the armrests. Verse 20, 12 lions stood there, one on each side of the six steps. Nothing like this had been made for any other kingdom, but leading up to the throne, lions.

The symbol, when we see lion, we think authority, we think government, we think majestic, we think that this is something that we need to pay attention to. Most care of them had the face of a lion. Back in Proverbs, Proverbs 20. Proverbs 20, and verse 2, It says, The wrath of a king is like the roaring of a lion. Now, we live in the United States in 2016. None of us have lived under the rulership of a king. We're not used to a king parking out orders. Now, we would basically do it or die.

There's a time coming when the Bible says that will be the way of the world again, where there will be a monarch and there will be a supreme being as he sees himself on earth that will say, Do this, and our job will be to stand for God, but he will want everyone to bow to him. The wrath of a king is like the roaring of a lion. Whoever provokes him to anger, sins against his own life, because that lion has the power to take life.

He's got the authority. He's got the dominion. He's got the might to be able to do that. A few chapters forward in chapter 30. Proverbs 30 verse 30.

A lion which is mighty among beasts. Ah, just like what we've been talking about. A lion which is mighty among beasts. Let me just begin in verse 29 rather than breaking into the thought there. There are three things which are majestic in pace. Yes, four which are stately in walk. The first one mentioned is a lion. Mighty among beasts and does not turn away from any. He doesn't have any fear. Where the beasts of the field are concerned, he knows he's got the power over them. They need to fear him, but he doesn't fear any. And then it goes on to talk about a greyhound, a male goat, and a king. A king who is kind of like a lion among men. Isaiah 31.

Isaiah 31.

Verse 4. Isaiah writes this, he says, For the eternal has spoken to me as a lion roars. The roar of a lion is unlike any other sound in nature. You hear it in Africa if you're out on a safari, you turn around and take notice. The beasts of the field take notice.

If you're in the zoo, you want to hear the lion roar. You want to hear that sound that's unlike anything else. For thus the eternal has spoken to me as 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 nor be disturbed by their noise. So the eternal of hosts will come down to fight for Mount Zion and for its hill. God likens himself to a lion. I will come down and I will come down to fight for Mount Zion and for its hill.

Like birds flying about, so will the eternal of hosts defend Jerusalem. Defending, he will deliver it, because lions do and complete what they begin. They conquer and they are victorious over their prey. Defending, he will deliver it, passing over, he will preserve it. Move a few books forward into Hosea. Daniel Hosea. Hosea 11. Verse 10.

He's not going to give up on Israel. He wants them to be his people. He will call them back to their promised land when he returns. Verse 10, it says, They will walk after the Lord. He will roar like a lion. When he roars, then his sons shall come trembling from the west. They will come trembling like a bird from Egypt, like a dove from the land of Assyria. His voice will call. It's a powerful voice. It's a recognizable voice. When he speaks and he roars, people will come back. Amos 3, verse 8. Now, you may think these are all the references of the Old Testament.

It's not all of them. There's many more. Amos 3, verse 8. And I'll begin in verse 7. Verse 7 says, Surely the Lord God does nothing unless he reveals his secret to his serpents the prophets. He makes known what is going to happen to those who he calls and who is living his way. Verse 8. A lion has roared. We hear the sound. Who will not fear?

Because the beasts of the field fear when they hear the lion roar. The Lord God has spoken. Who can but prophesy? A lion. Mighty. Mighty voice. Authority. Government. Symbol of power. Symbol of might.

Back in Genesis 49. God compares one of the tribes of Israel to a lion. Genesis 49. Of course, this is the prophecy that Jacob spoke over his sons before he died. A prophecy that has come to pass for these tribes. We could talk about it another time. But in Genesis 49 and verse 8, he speaks about the tribe of Judah. The Jews of today, if you will. Verse 8.

Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise. Your hand will be on the back of your enemies. Your father's children will bow down before you. Judah is a lion's whelp. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down. He lies down as a lion. And as a lion, who shall rouse him? The lion. The standard of Judah. And then he says in verse 10, Deceptors 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.

Lion. Government. King. And then finally in Revelation 5. And verse 5. John, again, as he is in the vision, and he sees a scroll that needs to be unwrapped, he or loosed, he weeps, because no one was found that was worthy to unloose those seals and read what would happen. Verse 5 says, One of the elders said to me, Don't weep, behold the lion of the tribe of Judah.

The root of David has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals. And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a 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 came and took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne, and they worshipped him, and he unlocked the scroll. Christ, the lion of the tribe of Judah. So when Ezekiel and John saw the four living creatures in heaven, they had the face of a lion. The king of the beast, to tell something about their character, something about who they are, something about what God has them do. And if you look, I don't know that we know the whole hierarchy of angels. Certainly, the caribbean, whatever they do, whatever their daily function are, is they have the face of a lion. They have the demeanor of a lion.

They're fierce, they're mighty, they represent what God wants them to represent. Let's look at the next phase. The next phase, if you remember, was that of a calf, it said, in Ezekiel. Now, there's a calf as a young cow. That's not very imposing, right? I remember when I spent the summers on the farm, it was always fun to see the young calves, and they were kind of... you could have them as pets, and they were playful and whatever. Calf doesn't seem too imposing. But when you look at the Hebrew words that are translated, there's actually four words that pertain to calves and cattle and bulls and bulls.

Let me give you what those are. Cattle in general comes from the Hebrew... or, yeah, the Hebrew, Strong's number 1241, B-A-Q-U-A-R, a car. The bull, that's the non-cast rated ox, does not relegate it to field work, was called par, number 6499 in Strong's. And the young of the bull, the calf, was an eagle, E-G-E-L, Strong's number 5695.

But the ox in Ezekiel is none of those. The ox mentioned in Ezekiel is the field-working sacrificial animal bull, the adult bull, Strong's Hebrew number 7794. Strong's describes it as this way. It is an ox, bull, the head of the cattle, used for plowing, for food, as sacrifice. So when Ezekiel sees a face, he doesn't see a young calf, he sees a bull, and he knows what that bull means. And, giving from that society, and a agrarian society, people knew the meaning of cows and how valuable they were. When God created cattle and the domestic animals, they served God well.

And even today, if we think about cattle, our lives, as I said, would be far different if there were no cattle on earth. We use them for so many things. We use their hide, we use their meat, we use their products for milk and butter and dairy. Without a cow, our life would be a lot different. And cattle is specifically mentioned in Genesis, and here on the face of the cherub, is the face of a bull.

Now, a bull in ancient Israel was a lot more, a lot different than today. Today, when I think a bull, frankly, I think of something I don't want to see in a farm yard, and I think of the running of the bulls in Spain, right? That's been in the news recently. But they didn't think of bulls that way back in ancient Israel. They saw them as a very useful animal, something that their lives had to have, that they were going to be as meaningful as they could be, or even prosperous. Let's go back and look at the Bible again, and see what bull, number 77-94, would represent back at the time Ezekiel wrote this, and God inspired it.

Let's look first at Proverbs 14. Proverbs 14 and verse 4. It says, where no oxen are, the trough is clean, but much increase comes by the strength of an ox. Well, you might not have to clean up after it. You might not have to feed it if you don't have an ox, but you're not going to have as much as you do if you do have an ox. Much increase comes from the strength of an ox.

Now, not living in that society, we would not really understand that. Today, if we even have a farm, we would have tractors, and we would have mechanical things do the plowing for us. But the ox was a very valuable creature back then. It not only provided food and all these other things, the cattle, but the male ox was an awfully big help in the field. And without it, things didn't get done. It was a very useful animal.

So important, in fact, the fact that in Exodus 20, when God is giving the Ten Commandments, He specifically mentions oxen. Exodus 20 is the chapter where the Ten Commandments are. In verse 17, the last commandment, you shall not covet. And in verse 17, He lists some of the things that you shall not covet. We shall not covet anything, but He specifically lists a few things here that people might covet in that day and age, because they were that valuable, that important, or something you would look at and say, I want that. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's. Don't even covet the ox. That is important to Him. He may have a world-class ox over there that is doing stellar work. The superstar of oxen. Don't covet it. Don't covet it, God says. It's His. He needs that. It's as important to His life as any of the other things that He has there. That's how important. That's how important oxen were back there. Now, when Ezekiel and John saw the face of an ox, they saw something maybe different than you and I see. They saw an animal that was so useful, so important, so many features that it would have attached to it. Unlike the lion, which is majestic, which is authoritative, which is the king of the field or the king of the beasts, but the cattle, the ox, was something different. Let's Isaiah 1, verse 3. There's something else about the oxen. When God divided, when He mentioned the beasts to the field in... Did I say Isaiah 1? Yeah, Isaiah 1 is where we're going. When God created in Genesis 1 the beasts to the field and the cattle and the creeping things they all produced after their own kind, there's a reason that there's that distinction among animals. Isaiah 1, verse 3. God compares Israel, He may compare you and me, to an ox. Because animal analogies are very helpful sometimes, aren't they? Sometimes when we're talking about the character of someone, we can say they're strong as an ox. They're gentle as a whatever. They're as peaceful as a dove. And we know the characteristics of animals, and sometimes it helps to see what it is. God says this about Israel. The ox knows its owner. It knows who owns it. The lion isn't owned. The lion is out and about doing his own thing. He's the king of the field, but the ox knows its owner and the donkey is master's crib. But God said, Israel, Israel, you don't know me. My people don't consider. The ox knows its owner, but you don't know who you owe everything to, who you submit to, who provides all you need. And so there's that other aspect of cattle, but one more that's very important in ancient Israel. And that is a sacrificial animal. In ancient Israel, of course, they had the sacrifices. And there were only the clean animals. It could be sacrificed, but when you read the sacrifices, cattle and bulls were often mentioned. Let's just look at a couple of them back in Leviticus 4 and a couple of the type of offerings. Leviticus 4 and verse 1.

They spend their lives in service to their owners. They're useful when they're slaughtered for meat, clothing, other things that we use them for in their products. And they sacrifice. They're a sacrificial animal. That when we sin, if we're in ancient Israel, bulls are brought to God. Over in chapter 9, Leviticus 9. Leviticus 9 verse 4. In verse 3, God talks about some of the animals to take. In verse 4, He says, He killed the bull and the ram as sacrifices of peace offerings which were for the people. And Aaron's sons presented to him the blood which he sprinkled all around on the altar. Sacrificial animals. Now, when they sacrificed bulls in ancient Israel, they were sacrificing something of value. Something that would be very useful to them. So it was something that they gave of themselves to God. But when we look at the face of a bull, what Ezekiel saw, what John saw, what we should see, is here's a face that is ultimately of service to its owner. Willing to sacrifice to its owner, even its own life. Now, the bull doesn't make that distinction. He doesn't make the choice to sacrifice himself. But the attitude is different than a lion that's fierce and mighty and represents government and authority. But this face was service-oriented. This face was willing to sacrifice. This face was willing to do whatever needed to be done. It was a benefit to God and a benefit to its owners. Now, back in Hebrews 1, putting this together, a verse popped into my mind. In Hebrews 1 and verse 14, it speaks of angels. And not all angels are cherubim, and not all cherubim are the angelic beings, but not all angels are cherubim. And I want to make that clear here. But in verse 14, it talks about angels. Verse 13, it says, Which of the angels, as God ever said, sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool? Verse 14, Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister or serve for those who will inherit salvation? So part of the responsibilities of the angels is to serve us, to be of use to us. They do what God says to do. Part of the cherubim's responsibility is to be of that sacrificial nature, along with the fierce and mighty nature as well.

Okay, another place. Eagle. Eagle. When we think of Eagle, we probably think of the Eagle as the lion of the bird kingdom, right? The Eagle is the supreme bird. The Eagle is mentioned in the Bible several times here. We'll look at a few of them. But you know, eagles are sometimes used in business presentations as well. And if you go online, you'll find a number of places where they'll talk about leaders and talk about some of the aspects of eagles and what good leaders and good business managers and CEOs should be like. The same type of situations that we should leave because God is training us to be in positions of leadership. Let me just mention a few of the aspects of eagles. We think of Eagle, you know, I don't know if we have a flag in here at the top. It's a symbol of America. We think of eagles soaring high. They're the majestic bird. They're the ones that the birds would all look to. Let me see what a few four things that I think pertain to us that are characteristics of the eagles. One, they don't fear. They don't fear. What it says is that the eagles don't allow any prey to overcome them. They work at it and they're tenacious until they win. Nothing is too big for the eagle if he puts his mind to conquering that prey. And they have videos of where eagles are even pushing animals over cliffs in order to win it because they simply do not give up and they don't fear. Size, ferocity, or ferociousness doesn't apply to them. I don't know if there's a picture of an eagle forcing a lion off, but the things that they go to do, they just don't fear. God would tell us, don't fear. Don't fear. You can overcome what's out there. You don't fear no matter how big the giant is, no matter how big the sin is, no matter how difficult it looks. You don't fear. You just simply keep on going on and don't give up until you win. Another one there, tenacious. It kind of goes along with tenacious and what I talked about. Let me read this quote from one of the business articles on eagles. It says, Watch an eagle when a 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. Isn't that interesting? Storms come and the lesser birds will fly, run away, go in a different direction, but the eagle uses it to become even stronger. He flies above the winds. He flies above the storms. He goes to greater heights. I don't think I even have to draw the analogy of what God would want us to be when storms come to our lives, right? We don't fear. We don't give up. We don't fly back to earth and say, I'm going back into my nest, but I'm not going to face that. The face of the cherub as an eagle wasn't going to let a storm or anything stop it from going on. They would use the storms of life to draw them higher. An example for us as well. Another thing, eagles nurture their young. Now, all the birds of the earth, they take care of their young and they push them out of the nest at some time. One of the things they specifically say about eagles is they nurture their young. They keep them there and they work with them. If a young eagle doesn't have the ability to fly, the mom will take it back, work with it, and eventually, little by little, take away the nest. They will even unbuild the nest so there is nothing left, so the bird has to fly. They develop them into who they need to be, no matter what their personality is.

God is a very nurturing God to us. He takes us and we're very weak and very base and very meaningless creatures on the earth.

But He works with us. He nurtures us. He makes us into who He wants us to be. The people that will be fierce for Him in His way. People that will be of service to Him. People that will be of service to each other. People that will be of service to each other. People that will learn to nurture and care for each other and bring them to what God would want them to be.

You know when I hear the word nurture every single time, I think of God nurturing His people for time, times, and a half a time from the face of the servant back in Revelation 12. He nurtures us. He doesn't give up on us. He trains us and He gives us what we need to be. And He's patient with us.

Part of that eagle face is a nurturing spirit. A nurturing spirit that loves what's there and recognizes its potential. Finally, maybe one of the things you thought of when I said eagle, eagle eyes, right? Eagles have great vision. It's said that they can spot another eagle 50 miles away.

When they soar up to 10,000 feet in the air, higher than any other bird, any other bird can fly. The eagle soar that high. They can spot their prey on the ground that far up and make a nosedive down to get it. They know exactly what's going on. God has given them a vision, and I didn't have the time to go into some of the things about a second eye that the eagle has that protects it through storms and protects it from enemies and things like that.

But God has given the eagle tremendous, tremendous vision, tremendous vision and the ability to see things. Now, when we read about the Revelation and Revelation about the four beasts, then in Ezekiel as well, they were full of eyes, remember? They had eyes all around them. They could see. When Ezekiel saw the face of an eagle, when we see the face of an eagle, we can think about those things.

That was part of the character of the cherub, the cherubim that surrounds God's throne. Back in 2 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, picking up on the eyes, remember these cherubim are God's servants. They do what He asks them to do. They glorify Him. They adore Him. If He says go, they go in the direction that they go.

However face they need, that's what goes forth. 2 Chronicles 16, verse 9.

An interesting verse.

He knows what's going on down here. His cherubim know what's going on down here. They have eyes. They can see. 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3, verse 12.

The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. His eyes are on us. The cherubim have king vision. Now we can talk about vision because where there is no vision, you remember the verse? The people perish. We have to see the future. We have to hone our vision. Ask God to give us a sharper vision of where we're going, what we need to do, and to inspire us, but also to encourage us to get ready for what He wants us to do, not to take it lightly, to see the kingdom, to see the future, to see what we need to be, to paint the picture of us of who we are, what we will be, what He wants us to do, and not take any other for granted, but continually honing that vision.

And continually sharpening our eyes through the eyes of the Bible, through the eyes of the Holy Spirit, and getting ready for God, what God wants us to do. The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous. His eyes run to and fro on the face of the earth to see what is going on. Nothing hidden from Him. Nothing that is going to be concealed. Let's go back to Exodus 19.4. Eagle is a powerful, powerful bird. Soar is higher than any other bird. Stronger than any other bird. That's why so many nations have the eagle as their symbol, because of what it can do. It's above the earth. It sees over the earth. It has the dominion over the skies of the earth. Exodus 19, verse 4. God has brought Israel out of Egypt. They didn't have to fight for their freedom. They didn't have to muster up an army. Notice what He says about bringing them out. Exodus 19, verse 4. You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and now I bore you on eagle's wings. I brought you to myself. I bore you on eagle's wings. Over in Deuteronomy 32. Deuteronomy 32. Moses speaks of eagles and kind of recounts a little bit of what we've talked about. Deuteronomy 32, verse 11. As an eagle spurs 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, speaking of Israel. And there was no foreign God with Him.

As an eagle does that with His children, so God did that with Israel. Proverbs 30. As we view the scriptures that have to do with eagles, Proverbs 30, verse 18.

Three things. Three things which are too wonderful for me. Yes, four which I don't understand. Verse 19. The way of an eagle in the air. How does that eagle soar the way it does? How does it fly in a way that no other bird does?

And He uses this to four others. Way of a serpent on a rock, ship in the sea, and a man with a virgin.

Isaiah 40.

Isaiah 40, verse 31. Those who wait on the Lord, those who are patient with Him, those who don't try to take matters into their own hands and make all everything happen, doesn't mean that we don't do the things that we're supposed to do. We are supposed to be doers of the Word and not hearers, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not be weary. They will walk and not be thanked.

Those who wait and trust in God be like the eagles.

I will turn to Psalm 103, verse 5. It says, Your youth will be renewed like the eagles. You'll have the vigor. You'll have the stamina. You'll have the ability to fly. You'll have the ability to soar above the storms, to see where you are going and not lose sight of that vision.

Finally, let's turn back to Revelation 12.

Revelation 12.

Speaking of the time and times and a half a time when God would nurture and nourish His people, in chapter 12, verse 14, it says this. The woman, referring to a church, the woman refers to church. The woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time from the presence of the serpent.

Like an eagle.

Like an eagle. Let's look at one more. Back in 2 Samuel, there's an interesting Scripture that God gave. 2 Samuel 22 and verse 7.

David is speaking here, and he is praising God, talking about what He has done and what He will do. Let's pick it up in verse 7. 2 Samuel 22 verse 7.

In my distress, he says, I called upon the eternal 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.

Coles were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also and came down with darkness under His feet. He rode upon a cherub. He rode upon a cherub and flew. And He was seen upon the wings of the wind.

He made darkness canopies around Him. Dark waters and thick clouds of the skies from the brightness before Him. Coles of fire were kindled. He rode on a cherub.

Cherubs serve God in ways only He knows. Mighty beings that really do exist in heaven. Mighty beings that if we follow through with God's calling that we will see one day.

One of the faces of the cherub was that of an eagle that soars. Last face was a man. I'm not going to spend too much time on man a little bit of time. But you know, one thing is I was thinking about the faces here. There's not any face from anything of the sea. Isn't that interesting? There's no whale. There's no dolphin. There's no face on a cherub of the sea.

We're told in Revelation 21, verse 1, when there were new heavens and new earth, what does it say? There will be no more sea. There will be no more sea. There will be a river that flows that will bring healing to all the nations and healing to the land. But there is no more sea.

The interesting thing is that when you look at the symbol of Christianity today, that you see on the back of so many bumpers, you don't see eagles, you don't see lions, you don't see cattle or bulls. What you see is a fish. And yet you don't see that in the face of a cherub.

Let's just talk a little bit about man. We know man were men, right? God gave. When He created man, He created us in His own image. We look like Him. He gave us a form that's like Him. He crowned us and given us ability that no other creature on earth has had. The lion is the king of the beasts. The man has dominion over the earth. God said, let man have dominion over the earth. He's over all these other beasts. He's even the most ferocious one, the lion, that symbolizes authority and has its place even over the eagle that soars so high, even over the cattle that is so sacrificial and had such a servant orientation, man. A man has something that those other beasts and those other faces don't have. He's got the ability to reason, to think, and to make choices. All those other animals have instincts and they know what they're doing. It's programmed into their minds. But man alone has the ability to make choices and to make something of himself other than what is just pre-programmed into him. Last week, I think it was last week, we talked a little bit about 1 Corinthians 2, verse 11, the spirit in man. Remember in 1 Corinthians 2, 11, it says, how do we know the things of the earth except the spirit in man that God has given us?

That we understand how the earth works. That we can even do things like, and man has uncovered the secrets of how to have something like television, pass-through airwaves, internet, and all the things that kind of boggle our minds if we sat down and think about it. Man has unlocked those secrets because God has given him the ability to do that. A lion could never do it. An eagle could never do it. A bull could never do it. Man can.

God gave us the ability to choose when he put us on earth. He set before man in the Garden of Eden two trees. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the tree of life, and he said, eat of the tree of life. Said the same thing to us in Deuteronomy 30, verse 19. Choose life. Make a choice. Make a choice to follow me. God wanted man to be trained in the way that he could be useful to God. So he cautions us. Choose wisdom. Choose the right way.

Don't choose the way of the world. Leave that behind when he calls us and opens our minds. Choose the way that is going to lead to eternal life. Choose the way that one of those faces, the face of man, would be on that cherub. Let's look at Proverbs 1. Proverbs 1 and verse 1.

As Solomon starts out his book here, one of the Wisdom books, he says this. It says, the Proverbs of 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 that knowledge, he says, has a base. The fear of the eternal is the beginning of knowledge. The fear of God is the beginning of knowledge. If there is no fear of God, the knowledge and the wisdom is missing. And the very next sentence says, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. They don't want to hear it. I don't want to be trained in the way that God had said. But the face of a man on a cherub would represent someone who has yielded to God, who is learning His way, who is being instructed in the right way.

The face of a man in the future that is in heaven will not be one who has resisted God and rejected Him, but it will be one who has embraced Him and has learned to make the choice to submit, to surrender, to allow Him to teach, that has faith and trust in God and doesn't rely on Himself or the world around Him, but to have faith and absolute faith in God. Let's go back to James 1.

In verse 5, God has opened our minds. We know where wisdom is. We know that we need to read the Word of God. We know that we need to study it. We need to study it over and over and over again. It's not enough to read it once, twice, three times, eight times in our life. We read it over and over and over again and continually. Our instructed continually have it written into our hearts. James 1, verse 5. If any of you lacks wisdom, let them ask God. If you need that, God is the one who gives it. It doesn't come through the television set, unless it's the right people speaking through the television set.

James 3, verse 13.

Remember meekness? What it means? Power brought under control of the Master. Meekness of wisdom. And then he defines what wisdom isn't the wisdom of God.

Without partiality and without hypocrisy. That's the wisdom that God wants to put in all of us. That's the wisdom. That's the type of people He wants us to become. The face of a man on a cherub would represent that type of person who has yielded to God and follows His ways and trusts in Him and knows there is but one way. To love and to yield to God with all your heart and with all your mind.

So if we look at the faces of a cherub, and if those faces represent the aspects and the personality of a cherub and what they do, we see the might. We see the authority. We see in the face of a lion. We see the attitude of service and sacrifice and such usefulness to His Master and someone who knows His Master in the face of an ox.

We see someone in the face of an eagle who soars above the storms of life. We see someone who has honed a very clear vision of what is ahead. We see someone who nurtures her young and is tenacious and doesn't give up and there is nothing that's going to stop it from overcoming. And with the Spirit of God we know we can overcome everything in our life and yield.

And we see the face of a man who is yielded to God and who is full of His wisdom and His Spirit.

That angel is a tremendous being. We may marvel at the lions and the eagles and the oxen that we see in the zoo. You can understand why Ezekiel and John would marvel when they saw the cherubim.

Tremendous creatures in heaven. Back in Hebrews 2.

You know, I contend and it's my opinion. God wants to develop all those traits in us and is developing those traits.

Man has a special place and it has a special purpose in God's plan. Let's look at verse 6. David echoes something that I'm sure we've all looked at. When we look at the things in the Bible, when we see what God has done, when we see what He has done, and we look at ourselves, he asks, What is man that you are mindful of him? We're just this little speck in the universe. We can be wiped out in no time. We're base, we're useless. Without God, we have absolutely no meaning in our lives. We'll live our 70, 80, 90, 100 years, and we'll be dead, not to be remembered anymore. What is man that you are mindful of him? Or the Son of man that you take care of him? You've made him a little lower than the angels. You've crowned him with glory and honor. And set him over the works of your hands. You've put all things as subjection under his feet. You gave him dominion over the earth. You put him above all these fierce animals that have all these characteristics. For in that God put all in subjection under man. He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, because he was born as a man, flesh and blood as you are, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason he's not ashamed to call you and me, brethren. He's been through it all, and he...

stands with us. Verse 16. For indeed he does not give aid to angels, but he gives aid to the seed of Abraham. Interesting verse. God has ordained that man that he will put much under him. Angels... I'm not even going to speculate that maybe chair of them, I'm not sure where chair of them stand on there, but angels in general will be under man. That's what God is doing with you and me. He's the author and finisher of our faith. He wants us to be there when he returns to earth. He's given us this time to let him do, and to follow what he wants us to do, to actually deny self, to be sacrificial, to learn the fierceness for his words, to soar above the clouds, to use the wisdom, and allow him to develop the wisdom in us that puts all our heart, minds, and soul in him. One day he will return to earth in the appointed time over Revelation 19. We see yet another animal in heaven. Revelation 19, verse 11, and I can be among those armies who return to earth. If, if, and I'll leave it at that and let you fill in the blanks. Many people will say they've seen the face of an angel and they've been inspired. I hope today you've seen the face of an angel and it inspires you to follow God more closely.