After the Divine Spirit Civil War, the Monster Race supplanted them in dominance, and ruled the Outer Universe in another dark era for the Human Race. ISBN 9780334041047.Initially the servants of Divine Spirits, the Monster Race propagated and populated the Outer Universe. 34: Animal Rites: The Four Living Creatures in Patristic Exegesis and Liturgy. The Revelation to John: A Commentary on the Greek Text of the Apocalypse. Reading Revelation: A Comparison of Four Interpretive Translations of the Apocalypse. Jonathan Edwards' Interpretation of Revelation 4:1-8:1. Revelation: The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ. Kovacs, Judith Rowland, Christopher (2004).Paradise Now: Essays on Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism. Coming Soon: Unlocking the Book of Revelation and Applying Its Lessons Today. A view held by many modern commentators is that the four living creatures of Revelation are agents of God and heavenly representatives of the created order, who call every living thing to worship the Creator.

Its influence has been on art and sculpture and is still prevalent in Catholicism and Anglicanism.

Irenaeus was the first to make the association with the evangelists, but the interpretation laid out by Victorinus and adopted by Jerome, Gregory the Great, and the Book of Kells became dominant. Throughout church history, the most common interpretation (first laid out by Victorinus), but not the original or the only, is that the lion represents Mark, the calf Luke, the man Matthew, and the eagle John. A prominent early interpretation, variously modified by different interpreters, has been to equate the four creatures with the Four Evangelists. In Christianity, the four living creatures are Cherubim. They are ranked first in Maimonides' Jewish angelic hierarchy. According to the Zohar, they hold up the firmament itself. In Judaism, the living beings are considered angels of fire, who hold up the throne of God. With John blending and transforming the images of his sources, it has given way to different interpretations. De Conick suggests that John may have drawn from other merkabah-related texts and by subtly working with images already known to his audience, he reshaped them for his own purposes. In a critical analysis of John's vision, April De Conick's 2006 essay outlines that the hayyot in Ezekiel are perhaps not original with the author of Revelation. Mounce noted a belief that the living creatures may have been associated with the four principal (or fixed) signs of the zodiac ( Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius), but other scholars have doubted this interpretation. The four living creatures that John of Patmos sees in the Book of Revelation, is the author's reworking of the living creatures in the visions of Ezekiel ( Ezekiel 1:5-28) and Isaiah ( Isaiah 6:2). An example is the 18th Century works of Jonathan Edwards' recorded interpretation of 1722/23. In this passage in Revelation, the four beasts surround 'the one' on the red throne (which is of ruby and sardius), which is contrasted with the white throne in Daniel 7:9 and Revelation 20:11вЂ“15.Д¬omparing the living creatures in Ezekiel with Revelation's is a prominent apocalyptic study in Western Christianity. The Hebrew word for 'wheel' (ГґpannГ®m) was also used in later Jewish literature to indicate a member of the angelic orders (1 Enoch 71.7 3 Enoch 1.8 7.1 25.5-6, etc.). The description parallels the wheels that are beside the living creatures in Ezekiel 1.18 10.12, which are said to be 'full of eyes all around'. In verse 6, they are said to have 'eyes all over, front and back', suggesting that they are alert and knowledgeable, that nothing escapes their notice. They have six wings, whereas Ezekiel's four living creatures are described as only having four. These appear as a lion, an ox, a man, and an eagle, much as in Ezekiel but in a different order. In Revelation 4:6вЂ“8, four living beings (Greek: О¶бї·ОїОЅ, zЕЌion) are seen in John's vision.

This description of movement differs from that of the seraphim in Isaiah's vision ( Isaiah 6:2) who have an extra set of wings, giving them the ability to fly. Concerning their ability to move, Ezekiel's cherubim do not need to turn, since they face all compass points simultaneously. However, the fact that they manifest in human form sets them apart from the griffin-like cherubs and lamassu of Babylonia and Assyria. Each of Ezekiel's cherubim have four faces, that of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle. Cherubim as minor guardian deities of temple or palace thresholds are known all over the Ancient East. Ezekiel's vision of the four living creatures in Ezekiel chapter 1 are identified as cherubim in chapter 10 who are God's throne bearers.

Monsters different heaven