Days of Vengeance - The Preterist Archive

4:5-8
Ezekiel 1 and 10 will reveal many interesting parallels
as well as differences between the accounts (reference
should also be made to the vision of the six-winged
seraphim in Isaiah 6:1-4). That there are four of them
indicates some relationship to the altar-shaped earth
(compare the Biblical ideas of four corners of the earth,
four winds, four directions, the four rivers from Eden
that watered the whole earth, and so on).
Michael Wilcock explains: “The cherubs of the Bible
are very far from being chubby infants with wings and
dimples. They are awesome creatures, visible indications
of the presence of God. So when we are told (Ps.
18:10) that the Lord travels both on a cherub and on
the wings of the wind, we may begin to see a link
between the four living creatures of 4:6 and the four
winds of 7:1. We might call these cherub-creatures
‘nature,’ so long as we remember what nature really is –
an immense construction throbbing with the ceaseless
activity of God. . . . Perhaps their faces (4:7; Ezek. 1:10)
represent his majesty, his strength, his wisdom, and his
loftiness, and their numberless eyes his ceaseless
watchfulness over every part of his creation. It is
appropriate then that there should be four of them,
corresponding to the points of the compass and the
corners of the earth, and standing for God’s world, as
the twenty-four elders stand for the Church.” 20
While John Calvin would have agreed with Wilcock,
his remarks on the significance of the four faces of the
cherubim are even more radical: “By these heads all
living creatures were represented to us. . . . These
animals comprehend within themselves all parts of the
universe by that figure of speech by which a part
represents the whole. Meanwhile since angels are living
creatures we must observe in what sense God attributes
to angels themselves the head of a lion, an eagle, and a
man: for this seems but little in accord with their
nature. But he could not better express the inseparable
connection which exists in the motion of angels and all
creatures. . . . We are to understand, therefore, that
while men move about and discharge their duties, they
apply themselves in different directions to the object of
their pursuit, and so also do wild beasts; yet there are
angelic motions underneath, so that neither men nor
animals move themselves, but their whole vigor
depends on a secret inspiration.” 21
As Calvin says a few pages later, with more force, “all
creatures are animated by angelic motion.” 22 This goes
directly counter to humanistic notions of “nature” and
“natural law,” but it is the Biblical teaching. The reason
it sounds strange to us is that our worldview has been
permeated by a philosophy that has much in common
with ancient Baalism. James B. Jordan has written:
“The details of the Baal cult are not of much
importance to us now. It is the underlying philosophy
of Baalism which is regnant in American education and
life today, and which is taught in the science
departments of almost all Christian colleges today, and
not just in science departments either. Scripture
teaches that God sustains life directly, not indirectly.
There is no such thing as Nature. God has not given
any inherent power of development to the universe as
such. God created the universe and all life by
immediate actions, not by mediate processes. When God
withdraws His Breath (which is the Holy Spirit, the
Lord and Giver of life), death follows immediately
(Gen. 7:22). The idea that God wound up the universe
and then let it run its course, so that there is such a
thing as Nature which has an intrinsic power, is Deism,
not Christianity. Theistic evolution is Deism, not
Christianity. To the extent to which the processes of
Nature replace the acts of God in any system, to that
extent the system has become Baalistic.” 23
“Because of the influence of neo-Baalism (secular
humanism) in our modern culture, we tend to think
that God, when He made the world, installed certain
‘natural laws’ or processes that work automatically and
impersonally. This is a Deistic, not a Christian, view of
the world. What we call natural or physical law is
actually a rough approximate generalization about the
ordinary activity of God in governing His creation.
Matter, space, and time are created by God, and are
ruled directly and actively by Him. His rule is called
‘law.’ God almost always causes things to be done the
same way, according to covenant regularities (the
Christian equivalent of natural laws), which covenant
regularities were established in Genesis 8:22. Science
and technology are possible because God does not
change the rules, so man can confidently explore the
world and learn to work it. Such confidence, though, is
always a form of faith, faith either in Nature (Baal) and
natural law, or faith in God and in the trustworthiness
of His commitment to maintain covenant regularities.”
24
There is another aspect of the symbolism connected
with the four living creatures that should be
mentioned: their correspondence to the signs of the
Zodiac. The Biblical writers were familiar with the
same system of constellations as that which we know
today, except that the name of the Eagle seems to have
been usually substituted for that of the Scorpion. The
reason for this may be that the ancient association
between the Scorpion and the Serpent (cf. Luke 10:17-
20. Michael Wilcock, I Saw Heaven Opened: The Message of Revelation (Downers
Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1975), P. 64.
21. John Calvin, Commentaries on the First Twenty Chapters of the Book of the
Prophet Ezekiel (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1979), Vol. 1, pp. 334f.
22. Ibid., p. 340; cf. pp. 65-74, 333-340. Calvin was attacked by his own
translator for making these and like statements (see Vol. 1, pp. xxvf.; Vol. 2,
pp. 421 f., 448-55, 466-68, 473 f.) Nevertheless, these thoughts are very
carefully worked out in the course of his exposition, and this commentary,
which Calvin did not live to finish, represents his mature thought on the
subject. It is one of the most fascinating volumes I have ever read, and is a
rich storehouse of valuable insights.
23. James B. Jordan, Judges: God’s War Against Humanism (Tyler, TX: Geneva
Ministries, 1985), pp. 37f.
24. Ibid., p. 102. See also John Calvin, Commentaries on the Last Four Books of
Moses (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1979), Vol. 1, pp. 385-87;
Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists (Grand Rapids: Baker Book
House, 1979), Vol. 1, pp. 213-15.
25. Richard Hinckley Allen, Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning (New York:
Dover Publications, [1899] 1963), p. 57; cf. p. 362.
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