A BIBLE BELIEVER'S COMMENTARY OF REVELATION Chapter 4

(Transcribed from tapes of a class taught by Dr. Peter S. Ruckman at Pensacola
Bible Institute, Pensacola, Florida)


     All right, in this next chapter, chapter 4:1-3, you have one of the
clearest pictures of the Rapture anywhere in the Bible. And, if Revelation 2
and 3 are Tribulation passages, then Revelation 4 would be a post-Tribulation
Rapture. Or, if Revelation 2 and 3 are the first half of Daniel's seventieth
week, then Revelation chapter 4 is a mid-Tribulation Rapture.

     And I never got it settled in my own mind, but I must confess from
studying the passage, that in Revelation chapter 4, if I know anything about
John, that thing almost has to be a pre-Tribulation Rapture of the church--
because John is a type of the bride of Christ.

     Now, there's no doubt about John. Let's study John for a minute. Let's
turn to the Gospel of John. John is the one who is caught up. And you've got
to remember that John--John chapter 21--John has all the Pauline epistles on
the table when he begins to write. The body mystery of the church is no
mystery to him. And he's not writing presenting Jesus Christ the King of the
Jews; he's representing Jesus Christ as what? The Son of God. The Son of God.
He's not writing a Jewish Gospel.

     All right, now, John chapter 21 on John. John 21:20: "Then Peter, turning
about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following." Now, why does John keep
referring to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved? Didn't He love them
all? Doesn't it say, "Having loved his own, he loved them to the end"? Well,
why does John keep pointing himself aside as somebody special? Look at chapter
13, verse 1. John 13:1; he keeps saying "the disciple whom Jesus loved"; why,
He loved them all! John 13:1: "Now before the feast of the passover, when
Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto
the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto
the end." Plural! Not just John. But John keeps referring to himself by this
thing, "the disciple whom Jesus loved."

     Look at chapter 13, verse 23. Why does he keep saying that if He loved
them all? John 13, verse 23: "Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his
disciples, whom Jesus loved." Verse 25: "He then lying on Jesus' breast saith
unto him, Lord, who is it?" Now, there is somebody who is lying on the couch
next to the Lord, and they're reclined there, and they're eating, and John is
there right by the Lord's bosom, and he has his head over there on the Lord's
chest, reclining there on that couch, and his ear is about three inches from
eternal blood. The man who got closest to God on this earth was John. And
John's ear was just about three inches away from the fountain of all the life
in this universe. That old heart was going
BLUNK...BLUNK...BLUNK...BLUNK...BLUNK...BLUNK...

     Now, you know what's so significant about that? When the Lord took the
first woman out of the first man, and brought it to him as a bride or wife, He
took her from his side. Fifth rib. Right below the heart.

     All right, the next thing about that thing is, if John knew the Lord
loved him in a special way, all you can get is this. "God so loved the world,"
right? "That He gave His only begotten Son." That's all of 'em. "Christ loved
the church, and gave himself for it." See that? Specific. See that thing right
there? The Lord loved all of them, but He loved the church in a special way.
Christ loved the church. "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the
church, and gave himself for it." Adam and Eve again in that thing, see?

     Now, He loved them all, but John knew His love in a special way. The Lord
may have loved all sinners enough to die for them, but the saved man in the
Body knows that love in a unique way. The rest of them doesn't know it.

     We're not through yet. John chapter 21. John is plainly a type of the
bride. John 21, verse 20: "Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom
Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said,
Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?  Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord,
and what [shall] this man [do]?  Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry
till I come, what [is that] to thee?" Why, who is alive when Christ comes? The
church! The bride of Christ. "Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry
till I come, what [is that] to thee? follow thou me.  Then went this saying
abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said
not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what
[is that] to thee?  This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and
wrote these things." All right, then, if the Lord told ol' John, "You're gonna
tarry till I come," and they thought, "Well, he isn't going to die," but the
Lord didn't say he wouldn't die, then he died.

     Problem: How does he die, if he died before the Lord came, when the Lord
said, "If he tarry till I come." There's only one answer: Revelation chapter
4, verses 1-3. Revelation chapter 4, verses 1-3. The Lord took ol' John up
ahead in time, and called him up there and showed him the Second Coming, and
dropped him back down, and he died later. That's all you can get out of that
thing right there.

     So that's why I say in Revelation chapter 1, when John said he was "in
the Spirit on the Lord's Day" that God picked him up and hauled him forward 19
centuries and put him down. He had to tarry until Christ came. But the Lord
didn't come! So God picked up ol' John, and brought him up to 1900 when He
came, and showed him the stuff, and took him back and put him down to die. See
that business?

     And that means that John is a picture of a dead saint who comes up at the
Rapture, and a live saint who's caught up at the Rapture. John is a type of
the church! Not a thing in the world you can do with that thing!

     So, it's one of the greatest pre-Tribulation passages you'll find
anywhere in the word of God.

     I'm trying to paint the Book of Revelation now. What I'm going to try to
do, if I live another hundred years is, I'm going to try to make a hundred oil
paintings of the Book of Revelation. I've got eight of them done, so I've got
92 to go. And then I'm going to take those things and put them on slides. Then
I'm going to get me "Night on Bald Mountain" and "Ride of the Valkrees" and
"William Tell Overture" and Brahms' waltzes and symphonies, and some of
Beethoven's stuff, and get those excerpts out of the Ad-Lib Commentary, and
put those things behind that thing, and make that thing just solid Scripture.
And start out there, "I John was on the isle of Patmos for the testimony of
our Lord," and then read, "All they that live godly in Christ Jesus shall
suffer persecution," put another verse in there, and show that picture. And I
was painting a picture of John caught forward by the Spirit on the Lord's Day,
and I've got him on Patmos, you know, drawing back and looking up in the air,
and he's got his old white first-century robe on, sheets, he's drawing them
back like this, and I've got a U.S.S. battleship going right across in front
of him, full steam, smoke just flying, and then over his head three of these X-
15 jets, BRRRRWWWWWMMMM, over his head. And ol' John's going--OH--like that!

     I mean, you've got to admit, it would be a shock, you know! I mean, he
never saw anything go faster than a chariot, you know.

4:1 After this I looked, and, behold, a door [was] opened in heaven: and the
first voice which I heard [was] as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which
said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. 2
And immediately I was in the spirit; and, behold, a throne was set in heaven,
and [one] sat on the throne. 3 And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper
and a sardine stone: and [there was] a rainbow round about the throne, in
sight like unto an emerald. 4 And round about the throne [were] four and
twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed
in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. 5 And out of the
throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and [there were] seven
lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. 6
And before the throne [there was] a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the
midst of the throne, and round about the throne, [were] four beasts full of
eyes before and behind. 7 And the first beast [was] like a lion, and the
second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the
fourth beast [was] like a flying eagle. 8 And the four beasts had each of them
six wings about [him]; and [they were] full of eyes within: and they rest not
day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is,
and is to come.

     All right, Revelation 4, verse 1: "After this I looked." Another
significant thing about this is, there's no more church. I mean, that may be a
doctrinal reference to the Tribulation, but, boy, you can sure slap that 2 and
3 down to the Church Age, because the church disappears. Now, you get the word
"church" or "churches" 14 or 15 times in the last two chapters--and you never
see it again. You don't see it until the recapitulation in the last 10 verses
of Revelation 22. There's no church in Revelation chapter 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,
10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16--the church is gone. And when the church goes, John
goes with it.

     All right, 4:1: "After this I looked, and, behold, a door [was] opened in
heaven: and the first voice which I heard..." that's the voice of Revelation 1
"...[was] as it were of a trumpet..." matches 1 Thessalonians 4, the voice of
the archangel, trump of God, last trump. "As it were of a trumpet talking with
me; which said,..." three words: "Come up hither."

     The new bibles always say, "Come up here." I don't believe it'll say
that. I'll bet you when the Lord calls, He's three hundred years out of date.
I'll bet He uses the archaic language. I'll bet He says, "Come up hither."

     "Which said, Come up hither." Three words. Now, like I told you before,
they found three places indicating the three raptures. "Come up hither, and I
will shew thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the
spirit." Notice again how the Holy Spirit again is small "s," because you're
not referring to His person, but your placement in a spiritual condition, see?
When John said, "I was in the spirit," he's not merely talking about him being
in Christ, and Christ being in him; he's talking about the fact that suddenly
he's transformed from a material being to a spiritual being. "I was in the
spirit."

     Now, that's where the Holiness people get all screwed up in that
Charismatic thing. They keep thinking that you can't talk in tongues unless
you're "in the spirit," and when they say "in the spirit," they don't mean
Christ in you, or you in Christ, or even a spiritual being. They mean,
"Habbballoobbaaabaloo,untieabowtie"--then you're in the spirit. Now, if you
don't believe it, try that on them one time. I found out, brother! One of them
told me I wasn't in the spirit. And I said next time I get one of those nuts,
I'm gonna fix him good. And I got him out there in Baton Rouge, and I fixed
him too, brother! They asked me to talk in tongues; I talked in tongues. I
went back there, you know, "Missh, moing, mish, boing, poing..."

     And she said, "Oh, he's got it, he's got it!"

     Ain't that pitiful? I mean, you think about an American citizen with a
high school education may be fooled by a thing like that. You're living in the
day of the great pitch, brother. It's the great con pitch. I'll bet you, if
Americans would turn off their television and get rid of their newspapers and
radios for two months, I'll bet the whole economic system would change. You
couldn't suck 'em into that kind of stuff.

     I've been listening to Jimmy Swaggart, you know. I tune him in about once
every other week. I mean, it's always on the same thing, you know. And he just
finished six hours of preaching on, "If you give to me, God will make you
rich." And if you write and get his six hours of cassettes--my land, man, can
you think of sitting in your living room and hearing a guy hollering for money
for six hours at one time? Think of that, man! And people just eat that stuff
up like a cow licking up black-strap molasses. You know, "He'll come down the
skies, oh yes, he will, oh neighbor, And wipe the tears from your eyes," you
know. He's kind of a Charismatic Elvis Presley, you know; that's how Presley
used to sing, you know: "Love me tender, love me true--oooh---oooh!" you know.
They got to give it that "ooh--ooh--ooh--ooh" you know!

     We used to have an old comedian; his name was Ted Lewis. And he had a top
hat. I thought he was corny, but everybody thought he was good, you know. He
had this clarinet and this top hat. How many of you remember Ted? Remember Ted
Lewis? Boy, the old-timers here! And he got this clarinet, and he'd take this
hat, and he'd go like this, and he'd say: "Every cloud, ah, it has a silver
lining, ah ha ha ha!"

     Jimmy Durante would do it, too, you know. "Ya ha ha ha!"

     That's that old vaudeville pitch. And it's going in there and, "When my
baby smiles at me, yes, ah ha, ha ha ha."

     And I never hear Swaggart but that I don't think of that! I mean, "He'll
come down from the skies, oh yes he will, ah ha ha ha!" What a fakir, man!
What a fakir! What a phony!

     Revelation 4:2: "And immediately I was in the spirit." Now, he had been
transferred from earth to Heaven, and he's out of the body like Paul was, and
if you had asked him whether in the body or out of the body, he couldn't tell.
"Immediately I was in the spirit; and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and
[one] sat on the throne." All right, now, we've been transferred from the
ground up to the third Heaven, where John had been transferred. He's been
transferred beyond Alpha Draconis, northward, he's gone beyond the galaxies
and beyond the nebula and along the star clusters. He's gone slap out of the
universe, to the empty place over the north, and come up over the top side.
And when he's come up on the top side, it's absolute zero. 457 degrees below
zero. And, at absolute zero, there's no molecular action. So, at absolute
zero, there's no passage of time. So, in absolute zero, you're in eternity.
And up there there's no passage of time up there. And that's where he is.

     "And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone."
Like a diamond and a red jewel. "And [there was] a rainbow round about the
throne, in sight like unto an emerald." Red and green! Merry Christmas! Happy
New Year! Those are your colors for Christmas--red and green.

     "And [there was] a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an
emerald." Hence, little Dorothy goes to the Wizard of Oz. And she goes down
the golden road to the Emerald City. See?

     All that stuff is counterfeit. If you have a King James Bible, you have
the basic layout, and all the literature of the world is a counterfeit of some
kind.

     "And [there was] a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an
emerald." "Round about"--then it's a circle, a complete rainbow. Not a "bow,"
which is only a half. A "bow" is like this--like you pull a "bow." There is a
rainbow "round about."

     Now, I've seen that from an airplane. And if you fly on an airplane very
much, and look down in the clouds, you'll see that cross right in the middle
of that circle. Remember that stuff I gave you on those two marks, and all
those signs? When you see the circle, there'll be a rainbow like that, and a
cross--the plane makes a cross. The wings of the plane put a cross right in
the middle of it. It will be a circle around this thing, and it'll fly right
along with the plane.

     And so, when you get to Heaven, the rainbow is complete. They took about
"the pot o' gold at the end of the rainbow." See that thing? Anything you find
down here you can't understand, if the Lord wants you to understand it, He'll
show it to you in a King James 1611 Authorized Version. Now, He may not show
it to you. But if He's going to show it you, He'll show it to you right here.

     Talk about "the key to knowledge," man! You talk about "the hiddle wisdom
of the Rosicrucians"--right there!

     "And [there was] a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an
emerald.  And round about the throne [were] four and twenty seats: and upon
the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and
they had on their heads crowns of gold." You say, "Who are they?" I haven't
got any idea in the world. The commentators say the twelve patriarchs and the
twelve apostles. The commentators say the 24 heads of the tribes of Israel,
and the singers in 1 Chronicles. Somebody said it's 12 representatives of
Israel, and 12 representatives of the church. There are all kinds of
conjectures. If you ask me, I don't have any idea what they are.

     "Clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.
And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and
[there were] seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the
seven Spirits of God." Again, notice the Holy Spirit isn't always spoken of as
a third Person, as a Person; this time, as manifestations--and seven
manifestations.

     Now, the Holy Spirit of God is said to have seven attributes in Isaiah
11, verse 2. And here the Holy Spirit is said to be this. And notice the small
"s". It'll alternate.

     Isaiah 11:2: "And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit
of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of
knowledge and of the fear of the LORD." And those are all attributes of the
Holy Spirit. And, speaking about the way the Holy Spirit manifests Himself,
the Spirit manifests Himself as the Spirit of the Lord, giving you wisdom,
giving you understanding, giving you counsel, giving you might, giving
knowledge, and causing you to fear God. And it's perfectly proper to speak of
the work of the Holy Spirit as "it." The Spirit--"it," as you find it in the
King James, and a small "s" there.

     All right, Revelation chapter 4, verse 5: "And out of the throne
proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices." Now, did you ever stop to
think what a shocking thing that would be? I mean, suppose you're sitting here
tonight, and suddenly you found yourself standing in something that looked
like a ballroom floor, with just blue lights, waxed and shiny. You look
straight ahead of you, and there was this thing with 24 people sitting there
looking at you. And then a throne right behind it, and thunder and lightning
going out of that thing, and seven torches standing there blowing in the wind.
Wouldn't you feel like you were in the wrong place?

     Verse 6: "And before the throne [there was] a sea of glass like unto
crystal." Now this sea of glass turns out to be a solid thing people stand
upon. And evidently it is frozen at absolute zero. Come back to Job. And it is
north. And we'll get Job, a little Bible metaphysics and cosmology now, what
they haven't found out in Houston yet. They might catch up, and then again
they might not. All right, Job chapter 38, verse 30: "The waters are hid as
[with] a stone,..." underline this: "And the face of the deep is frozen." You
read back in Genesis chapter 1, "And darkness was upon the face of the deep,
and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." And when He did,
they froze.

     So, if you look at that first chart down there, that first drawing on
that first chart, you'll find the great deeps of the water, and the top drawn
across, where the throne is sitting on the sea of glass. And that'll be a
frozen thing.

     Now, I want a verse here that says "The sky is spread out like a looking
glass" in Job. Where is that? It's earlier someplace. 37:18--that's it right
there. Chapter 37:18: "Hast thou with him spread out the sky, [which is]
strong, [and] as a molten looking glass?" So, they said, now, these poor,
dumb, stupid Hebrews in Genesis said the firmament was a solid vault that went
across here, and these poor, dumb, superstitious Hebrews thought this thing
was solid--this firmament--a beaten out expanse--and, my, aren't we much
smarter now?

     No, as a matter of fact, we're not!

     Then, somewhere over your head someplace, north, if I could point to it,
when I go, I go there. I do not go here, or here, or here--I go there.
Therefore, a Christian is not only dogmatic, he's an absolutist. That is, I
have an absolute, infallible standard, an absolute, infallible Saviour; and
time, for me, has a beginning, an end, and fixed points, and directions has
fixed points that can be related to a fixed point. That is, if you're saved
and believe that Book, you know where you're at!

     And these guys like Einstein say that time is relative. All is relative
to the observer; did you ever hear that in relativity? Motion is relative to
the observer. Time, and everything, is relative.

     Does anyone have a New Scofield Bible here by any chance? Is there a New
Scofield in the building? We won't persecute you, brother, if you have one.
Now, let me show you how a born-again, saved, soul-winning, premillennial,
fundamental, good, godly, dedicated, separated reprobate can get all screwed
up if he pays attention to science, after the Bible said, "Look out for
opposition of science falsely so-called." Now, once he gets fooling with it,
look what happens to him.

     "It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions
and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago,
(whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot
tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven." Footnote:
"Whereas first century cosmology..." Oh, I took you back to Job. Job is 1800
B.C. He really must be out of line. "Whereas first century cosmology was
different from that of today, when the Bible speaks about a subject such as
Heaven, which is outside the earthly realm, it can only use the phenomenal
language common to men today as well as the first century. The New Testament
is no more to be criticized for speaking of Heaven as being 'up' than a
scientist charged with ignorance when he speaks of the sun 'rising' and
'setting.'" He's apologizing for the expression that "he was caught up."
Because, having read some deluded idiot like Einstein, he thought that time,
direction, and motion were relative, and therefore, you couldn't say any
direction was up. I mean, in the universe, what direction would be "up"?
Answer: NORTH!

     You never have to apologize. Don't you ever apologize for the word of God
that way. You apologize for belonging to the same human race as people dumb
enough to mess with it like that.

     Now, when I die and go home to glory, I go that way. When I say that way,
I don't mean this way, this way, this way, this way, this way, this way, this
way, this way, this way, that way, that way, that way, that way, that way,
that way, that way, or that way. I go that way.

     You say, "What's up there?" The North Star! There's a fixed point. And
the universe rotates around that star. And if you don't know that, go to the
dime store and buy you a compass. And, just to make sure you get it, they
painted the needle blue--so you'd know that was the way to Heaven.

     Amen, brother! Amen!

     QUESTION: And we all become Northerners, right?

     ANSWER: I hate to think about that phase of it!

     All right, take your Bible and turn to Psalm 75. Psalm 75, verse 6;
there's nothing like a King James Bible to clear up Space Center Houston.
Psalm 75, verse 6. You say, "What would you tell these fellows if you were
dealing with them personally about this matter?" Just what I'm telling you.
You say, "They'd think you were a crackpot." I could care less! You say,
"Well, they'd sure make fun of you." Well, wouldn't that something. You say,
"Well, they'd sure put you, you know, so forth and so on." You think I care
anything about it?

     Listen, I've got a Book here that was here before their great grandmother
was born; it'll be here after their great grandchildren are dead. It's never
been proved wrong one time, and they've been proved wrong so many times you
couldn't even count 'em. What they think is no more concern to me than an
anthill drowning in a puddle, brother.

     All right, Psalm 75, verse 6: "For promotion [cometh] neither from the
east, nor from the west, nor from the south." But what? The NORTH? Look at
that substitution. He substitutes God for a direction. There are four
directions on that compass--south, east, west, and God. There's the compass.

     That's why the people in the north always win. I mean, you take the
Southerners, they couldn't have won any way in the world. Egypt was conquered
by Babylon. Babylon is north of Egypt. Babylon was conquered by Persia. Persia
is north of Babylon. Persia was conquered by Greece; Greece is north of
Persia. Greece was conquered by Rome; Rome was north of Greece. Rome was
conquered by the barbarians; the barbarians are north of Rome. The barbarians,
the Huns, were whipped in two wars with England; England is north of Germany.

     You know who is north of England? Russia. You know who is north of
Russia? The devil. You know who is north of the devil? The Lord.

     That shows who's running things.

     All right, Revelation chapter 4, verse 6: "And before the throne [there
was] a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne..."
Isn't it remarkable the unsearchable riches of the archaic Elizabethan
English. And there's one of those other things you've got to be careful. When
you put that out too much, then they'll start, you know, "Well, where did you
get that?...I don't believe in the original...what does the Greek say?" Well,
if the Greek said anything different, throw it out!

     Verse 6: "And in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne,
[were] four beasts full of eyes before and behind." In the middle of the
throne and round about the throne. Then the thing must be transparent. You
say, how can they be in the middle and round about at the same time--unless
you can see right through, and they look like they are standing in it and
around it.

     "And in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, [were] four
beasts full of eyes before and behind." Beasts that can look both ways. Eyes
in the back of their heads.

     "And the first beast [was] like a lion." All right, that's the king of
beasts; that's the wild beast. Then, up in Heaven, there's a representative of
all the wild animals. It's a lion.

     "And the second beast like a calf." There's the domesticated beast. The
head of the domesticated beasts are the oxen, the cattle. So, the domesticated
animals have a representative.

     "And the third beast had a face as a man." So all the human beings have a
representative.

     "And the fourth beast [was] like a flying eagle." So all the flying
animals have a representative.

     PERIOD!

     There's somebody that's not represented!

     If a thing is reptile or amphibian, it has no representative. If that
thing moves like this, it has no representative. Isn't that wild?

     Well, did that thing that moved like that ever have a representative?
Yes, it did! Let's turn to Ezekiel chapter 28. There were five cherubs. Now
there's only four. Ezekiel 28, verse 11. I'll begin at verse 12. Ezekiel 28,
verse 12. What you have to look out for is that fifth cherub. Ezekiel 28,
verse 12: "Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus." You say,
"Well, that's not the devil." No, but the Lord can address the devil in a man.
You remember one time the Lord turned to Simon Peter and said, "Get thee
behind me," what? "SATAN." See that thing? So here the Lord picks out a king
and addresses the devil in that king. Now, how do we know this? By what
follows. Verse 13: "Thou hast been in Eden." You think the literal king of
Tyrus ever got into Eden. No way in the world? Verse 14: "Thou art the
anointed cherub that covereth." Why, that isn't the literal king of Tyrus.
That's a cherub!

     I don't know why people keep thinking the devil is a fallen angel. I
guess they get that from looking at Auguste Dore's steel engravings and
Milton's Paradise Lost. Everywhere I go, all over this country, they keep
thinking the devil's an angel. Why, nothing in that Bible says he's an angel.
The only verse like that says he appears as an angel of light when he appears,
but he's not an angel. He's said to be a dragon and a roaring lion and a
cherub, but never an angel.

     And angels don't have wings! Cherubs have wings.

     Verse 14: "Ezekiel 28:14 Thou [art] the anointed cherub that covereth;
and I have set thee [so]." Verse 15: "Ezekiel 28:15 Thou [wast] perfect in thy
ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee."
Verse 17; there it goes.

     Now, that's the classic passage on where sin came from. Sin originated
with the devil. And, when God made the devil, He didn't make a devil; He made
a cherub. And sin came from that cherub. The devil was never created as a
devil; he was created as a cherub. He was the fifth cherub, and he was over
the throne.

     Now, the picture you have is this, and it's a wild picture. You have a
throne like this, and then four cherubs around it like that, and then one over
the top of it like this. Well, the top of it like this, if one of these things
has a face like an ox or a calf, one like a lion, one like an eagle, one like
a man, this one up here has to have a face of a fish--Dagon, Fish-Mitre,
College of Cardinals--or the face of a snake. So, Pharaoh has the cobra--right
there. And then, if this thing is like this, then the bottom of the thing is
like that--it's like a reptile.

     And the only problem with that is that most of the cherubim have a split
foot like a calf's foot. Which would give you, if you saw it, you would see
something standing there with a face like a snake, but since it's cattle,
Genesis 3, it has two horns, so some snakes have horns. So, it's a snake with
horns--this way--and the body comes down like this, and then ends in two split
hooves like a calf's foot, and then they're wings out here. Now, that's what
you got.

     You get a thing like that, or something like that. And then he appears as
an angel of light. And that thing is called a "fiery flying serpent" in
Isaiah. You ever see the passage on it? Something around Isaiah 8, 9, 10,
someplace, and that thing is usually pictured with a pole there, and the wings
there--and then wrapped around the pole. Like the official insignia for the
Health, Education, and Welfare Department. Now, my drawing may not be what it
ought to be, but that bat has two little horns up there--and he's half ground
and half air. And the birds are related to the serpents.

     I haven't drawn the whole thing completely; he evidently had some kind of
musical instruments connected with him, too. Yep.

     QUESTION: Is that where evil music comes from?

     ANSWER: Yep. Every bad thing in this world is a good thing twisted.

     Verse 8: "And the four beasts..." these are the cherubim "...had each of
them six wings about [him]; and [they were] full of eyes within." Must have
been a wild looking thing. "And they rest not day and night." That is, there
is no entropy or loss of energy; they stay going full blast, twenty-four hours
a day.

     And they say, "Holy"--one; "holy"--two, "holy"--three, "Lord"--one, "God"-
-two, "Almighty"--three, "which was"--one, "and is"--two, "and is to come"--
three. They say, "Three-three-three." They say a picture of the Trinity:
"Holy," for God the Father; "Holy," for God the Son; "Holy," for the Holy
Spirit. "Lord," for the Father; "God," for the Son; "Almighty," for the Holy
Spirit. "Which was, and is, and is to come."

9 And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on
the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, 10 The four and twenty elders fall
down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever
and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11 Thou art worthy,
O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all
things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

     OK, 4:9: "And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him
that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever,  The four and twenty
elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that
liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne." That's
where they get this song about "casting our crowns at Jesus' feet," which may
or may not be true, depending upon what these four and twenty elders
represent. If they represent Old and New Testament saints, then I suppose
there's something to it.

     I've been painting the Book of Revelation recently, or trying to paint
it. And I've got about 16 paintings done. And I've got one wild painting, I
don't know whether I want to paint it yet or not. But I've got the elders down
on their knees, with their crowns like this. One of the guys has his crown
back like this; the other one is just loose like that, just like a baseball
pitcher. And they're throwing them out in this big light. I don't know whether
I'll try it or not. You get to painting that thing, and it gets wild, boy! It
gets wild. Man, it gets wild!

     Painting those seven torches in front of the throne, and those four
beasts, and twenty-four elders sitting there on a sea of glass, with a rainbow-
-wild stuff, man!

     I painted a picture today of the dragon coming out of the Mediterranean,
you know, with seven heads. I've got him a dragon's head, and then I've got
seven snake heads on him. And the scales, and everything.

     That thing, boy, if you could put that thing on an animated cartoon, with
music behind it, you'd have heart attacks all over this country!

     Verse 11: "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory"--one; "and honour"--
two; "and power"--three. Doxology. "For thou hast created all things, and for
thy pleasure they are and were created."

