Revelation 4:6
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The interpretations of the symbols of the four living creatures are, of course, numerous and varied. Some of them are: the four Evangelists or Gospels; the four elements; the four cardinal virtues; the four faculties or powers of the human soul; the Lord in the fourfold great events of redemption; the four patriarchal churches; the four great apostles, the doctors of the Church; the four principal angels, etc.9
Evidence in support of this view is presented in our discussion of the Four Gospels.
Notes
1 Passages related to the river of life : Ex. Ex. 17:6; Ps. Ps. 36:8-9; Ps. 46:4; Sos. Sos. 4:15; Isa. Isa. 12:2; Isa. 44:3; Isa. 55:1; Jer. Jer. 2:13; Jer. 17:13; Eze. Eze. 47:1, Eze. 47:8-9; Joel Joel 3:18; Zec. Zec. 13:1; Zec. 14:8; John John 4:10; John 7:37-38; John 19:28; 1Cor. 1Cor. 10:4; Rev. Rev. 7:17+; Rev. 21:6+; Rev. 22:1-2+, Rev. 22:6+; Rev. 17:1+.
2 “Contrast the turbid ‘many waters’ on which the harlot ‘sitteth’ (Rev. Rev. 17:1+, Rev. 17:15+).”—A. R. Fausset, “The Revelation of St. John the Divine,” in Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, A Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997, 1877), Rev. 4:6.
3 Donald Grey Barnhouse, Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1971), 94.
4 Frederick William Danker and Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 341.
5 Only one of the creatures is said to have a face like a man. The other creatures are simply said to have a likeness to a lion, ox, and eagle, respectively. We should not be dogmatic about whether it was their faces which bore the likenesses in all four creatures.
6 Cherubim are mentioned in Gen. Gen. 3:24; Ex. Ex. 25:18-20, Ex. 25:22; Ex. 26:1, Ex. 26:31; Ex. 36:8, Ex. 36:35; Ex. 37:7-9; Num. Num. 7:89; 1S. 1S. 4:4; 2S. 2S. 6:2; 2S. 22:11; 1K. 1K. 6:23-29, 1K. 6:32, 1K. 6:35; 1K. 7:29, 1K. 7:36; 1K. 8:6-7; 2K. 2K. 19:15; 1Chr. 1Chr. 13:6; 1Chr. 28:18; 2Chr. 2Chr. 3:7, 2Chr. 3:10-14; 2Chr. 5:7-8; Ezra Ezra 2:59; Ne. Ne. 7:61; Ps. Ps. 18:10; Ps. 80:1; Ps. 99:1; Isa. Isa. 37:16; Eze. Eze. 9:3; Eze. 10:1-9, Eze. 10:14-20; Eze. 11:22; Eze. 28:14, Eze. 28:16; Eze. 41:18, Eze. 41:20, Eze. 41:25; Heb. Heb. 9:5.
7 Barnhouse, Revelation, 97.
8 E. W. Bullinger, Commentary On Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1984, 1935), 225.
9 M. R. Vincent, Vincent’s Word Studies (Escondido, CA: Ephesians Four Group, 2002), Rev. 4:8.