1917_The_Finished_Mystery_Text

features of the living creatures represent the fourattributes of God, each inseparable from theothers, and in each operate each and all of thefour.Divine Justice operates in the fullness of Power,Love and Wisdom. In the fall of man into sin,unbending Justice enforced death fordisobedience. Love delayed the execution of thesentence upon Adam 930 years (Gen. 5:5), thatWisdom might impress upon the erring humanson an indelible lesson of the exceedingsinfulness of sin (Rom. 7:13) and the extent ofthe penalty, death, that man, by said experience,might "know evil." (Gen. 3:5.) Divine power willraise man from the dead, that he may learn to"know good" and experience the fullness of theFather's Love and Wisdom. All who are willingand obedient, who consecrate fully to God's will,shall enjoy " pleasures forevermore" (Psa. 16:11)in the sunshine of Divine favor. The unwillingand disobedient shall suffer the full penalty ofJustice in the Second Death (Rev. 21:8), "utterdestruction" (2 Thess, 1:9), final and eternalobliteration. (Psa. 37:10.) The face of a mansymbolizes the quality of Love, in the characterimage and likeness of God (Gen. 1:27), the Godof love. (1 John 4:8.) The ox represents Power(Rev. 4:7); for no animal is stronger, or morepatient in the exercise of strength. The majesticlion is God's Justice, roaring its message ofdeath, and executing all that oppose its voice.(Psa. 89:14.) No other creature is so far-sighted,nor soars so high as the eagle. The eaglesymbolizes Wisdom, far-seeing, ordering all theaffairs of the Almighty along the lines of Justice,Power and Love.Ezekiel 1:11.Thus were their faces: and their wings werestretched upward; two wings of every onewere joined one to another, and two coveredtheir bodies.— Each pair of wings (Rev. 12:14)symbolizes a separate function of God's Word;one pair to fly with, to carry forward the Plan inthe spirit realm, the powers of the air (Eph. 2:2),