The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. – Revelation 4:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 23, 2018): Revelation 4

“I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.” The words belong to Alexander the Great and reflect our great respect, and fear, for lions. There is something about a lion that is special. It possesses great strength, it has few enemies outside of other lions, at least in its middle adult years. There is great danger in approaching a lion. But maybe the greatest aspect of the lion is the one that Alexander sees when he encounters this wonderful animal; the lion is a leader and one that many humans wish to emulate.

So maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise that when John first sees the four living creatures, which were covered with eyes front and back, it is the one that resembles a lion that grabs his attention first. These beings are believed to be cherubim, unearthly beings who attend directly to the desires of God. It should be noted that cherubim, strictly speaking, are not angels; they are something else. And because of their proximity to God, they are something special. And scholars have struggled to find meaning in the appearances of these particular cherubim since the day that the first readers gave their attention to John’s apocalypse.

There have been many interpretations. These four cherubim are the elements, cardinal virtues, or maybe the powers of the human soul. They have been identified with the four sections of Israel, each consisting of three tribes, which camped around the tabernacle during the desert exile. Maybe one of the most attractive, from a human-religious perspective, is that these cherubim are representations of the four gospels. The Gospel of Matthew roars like a “Lion,” Mark reveals Jesus as a humble worker and takes on the role of the “Ox,” Luke is a history that seeks to reveal Jesus as a “Man,” and finally the Gospel of John soars like an “Eagle.”

But maybe the best interpretation is a simpler one; in these four cherubim, we find all of creation. The Lion is the King of Jungle and all that is wild, the Ox is the strongest of the domesticated animals, the Eagle rules over all of the air, and man represents the pinnacle of creation, the one created in the very image of God. In this representation, there are no sheep, only leaders in their field, and through the leadership of these cherubim, all of Creation worships God, calling out to him “Holy, Holy, Holy.”    

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Revelation 5