El Shaddai Ministries

Pastor Mark Biltz: Are you ready? Fasten your seatbelts. We're going to take a look now back at the Book of Revelation, but we're going to look at it from a Jewish perspective.

If you remember, in Revelation chapters 1 through 3, it is all about the menorah, isn't it? In the Holy Place. That's where it is. In Revelation 1:12, we see that John turns to see the voice that is speaking to him, and being turned, he saw seven golden candlesticks. And in the midst of the seven candlesticks, there was one likened to the Son of Man. So, we see the seven-branched menorah. We read about seven spirits, seven stars. Revelation 2 and 3, it's all to the seven assemblies. So, all this has to do with the menorah.

Well, guess what? Then when we come to in Revelation 4 and 5, we come to the throne, and we know the Ark of the Covenant is where God's throne is. So, here John, he's seeing the menorah, and all the understanding about that, and then what happens? We come to God's throne.

And so, what I want you to realize as you're reading the Book of Revelation, you have to see like Moses' Tabernacle or the Temple, or however you want to look at it, and you're seeing he's moving from the menorah now to God's throne. And so, look at Revelation 4:1. What do we see? After this, I looked, and behold, there was a door opened in Heaven.

And the first voice which I heard was as it were of a shofar talking with me and said, "Come up here, I will show you things which you must be hereafter." So, the first thing John does, he sees the pearly gates open. All right? A door is opened in the heavens.

Well, guess what? John wasn't the only one that had a vision up in Heaven. Look at Ezekiel chapter 1, verse 1. It came to pass in the 30th year, the fourth month, the fifth day of the month as I was among the captives by the River Chebar, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. Now, one of the things that's fascinating is Babylon. If there's any place that's unclean, it's Babylon.

That's where Ezekiel is. And so, it's amazing. They wonder how in the world could a door open to Heaven from Babylon. And the commentators say, "Well, at least he was by a river. That's a clean place." Okay.

But anyway, Ezekiel sees a vision of God. What was fascinating is when you look at Exodus chapter 24, and let's look at verse 9 and 10, here we find Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, 70 of the elders of Israel, they saw the God of Israel, and there was under his feet as it were a paved work with a sapphire stone. Okay, as it were, the body of Heaven. So, let's put in the sapphire stone. And he's looking up and he sees these feet on this sapphire stone at the open gates.

But let's go back for a minute to Ezekiel. Look at what he saw in chapter 1, verse 23 through 25. He's saying, "Under the firmament or under that sapphire stone, he sees these wings that were straight." And what he's talking about here, there's these angelic beings with wings. Let's take a look. It said, "The one toward the other, everyone had two wings, which covered on this side, and everyone had two wings, which covered on that side, their bodies."

"And when they went," he says, "I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, the noise of a host, or like an army." "And when they stood," it says, "they let down their wings, and there was a voice from the firmament that was where over their heads when they stood and they let down their wings." So, here this is an angelic being with four wings that is where under the sapphire stone, under the throne.

But look at Ezekiel 1:26 through 28. It says, "Above the firmament or that sapphire stone that was over these angelic beings' heads was the likeness of a throne as the appearance of a sapphire stone, and then on the likeness of the throne was the appearance of a man who was above upon it."

And then he says, "I saw the color of amber, the appearance of fire roundabout it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, from the appearance of his loins even downward." He says, "I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness roundabout it, as the appearance of what?" He's talking about a rainbow. So, there's also this rainbow that is around the throne as it is in the cloud of day of rain. So, it was the appearance of the brightness around it.

And then it says this, here we're talking about the glory of the Lord. "This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and then I heard the voice of one speaking." So, this is Ezekiel. This is his vision of Heaven.

Well, look at Revelation chapter 4, verse 2 and 3. As we continue what John saw when the door was open, he says, "Immediately I was in the spirit, and behold, there was a throne set in Heaven, and someone is sitting on the throne, and he that sat was to look upon it like a Jasper and a sardine stone, and there was what? A rainbow around the throne in the sight like unto an emerald." So, he also sees this.

But let's go back to Ezekiel for a minute. Ezekiel 10:1. "Then I looked, and behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubims." So, now we find out these were cherubims, these four-winged creatures are cherubims, and they are located under the throne. Okay?

And it says, "As the appearance of the likeness of a throne, and he spoke to the man that was clothed with linen, and he said, 'Go between the wheels, even under the cherubs, and fill your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubims.'" Okay, so there's this man on the throne that has to go fill his hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim.

But what's interesting, we just saw these four-winged creatures under the throne are called cherubim. But guess what? In Isaiah, we find six-winged creatures that are above the throne. And those are the seraphim. Look at this, in Isaiah 6:6 and 7. "Then flew one of the seraphim to me, and he also had a light cold in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from off the altar, and he touched my mouth, and he said, 'Lo, it has touched my lips, your iniquity is taken away, your sin is forgiven.'"

And look what happens in Isaiah 6:1 through 4. "It was in the year that King Uzziah died, and he says, 'I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up, as train filled the temple.'" And now look at this, "Above it stood who?" So, the cherub, the four-winged cherubim are below, the six-winged seraphim are above. I don't know if you had caught that.

Look at this, "Each had six wings, with two they covered his face, with two his feet, with the other two he flew." And what did the seraphim cry out one to another? "Kadosh, kadosh, kadosh! Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory." And then it says the post of the door were shaken at the voice of him that cried out, and the house was filled with smoke, with the glory.

Well, now let's go to Revelation 4:6 and see what John sees next. "Before the throne was a sea of glass unto crystal, and in the midst of the throne, and roundabout the throne were how many beasts?" There's four beasts, and they are full of eyes before and behind. And he says, "The first beast was like what?" A lion. Here, I got this lion, here's the first beast with all these eyes. The first beast was like a lion. And then he said, "The second one was like a calf, and the third one was a happy face, a man." That's the best I could find. "And the last one was an eagle." So, there are these four different beasts. These are the different faces, full of eyes all around them. Okay?

But look at verse 7 and 8, it goes on to say, "The four beasts had how many wings?" And they were full of eyes, and they rest not day and night saying what? Okay. Now, are these seraphim or cherubim? They're the seraphim. Okay? Now, it doesn't tell you that in Revelation unless you connect the dots back to the Tanakh, you're not going to know if these were cherubim or seraphim. But now we know that these were seraphim. Okay?

Now, look at this. Revelation 4:5. "Out of the throne is proceeding uh like a lightning and thunder and what else?" Voices. "And then it says there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are what? The seven spirits of God." Okay, this is what we saw earlier. So, he's introducing these other things and there's lightning and thunders, and we know in Hebrew thunder could also mean voices. What could the lightnings also represent? We'll wait until you find out.

Okay, let's go back to Zechariah. Let's look at what he saw in chapter 4, verse 1 through 3. "The angel that talked with me came again and woke me as a man that is awakened out of a sleep, and he said to me, 'What do you see?' And I said, 'Well, I've looked, and behold, there's this candlestick all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it, and his seven lamps are there with seven pipes to the seven lamps which are on the top.'" And guess what else he sees? Two olive branches. So, now we have the olive branches that are in there. One on the right and one on the left.

Well, guess what? That's the same thing John saw in Revelation chapter 11, verse 4 and 5. He saw these two olive trees, and these two candlesticks standing before the God of the Earth. "And if anyone hurts them, fire proceeds out of their mouth, devours their enemies, and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed." Okay? So, we got all kinds of things going on here.

All right, now, if you remember, we just got done reading, out of the throne proceeded what? Lightning, right? Was it literal lightning? Well, let's look at Ezekiel. Let's go back to Ezekiel. He says, "Out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures." "And this was their appearance." Look at this. They had the likeness of a man, every one of them had four faces and four wings.

So, here it's like the seraphim have each one has its own face, but the cherubim, each one has four faces. And it says that they had the likeness of a man, every one had four faces, every one had four wings, so this is talking about the cherubim. "Their wings were joined one to another, and they turned not when they went, they went every one straight forward as for the likeness of their faces." Okay? They also have the face of a man, the face of a lion on the right side, and they also had the face of an ox on the left side, and they also had the face of an eagle. I think it's fascinating. It's like they're seeing the same things, but the seraphim represent just one of the animals, but the cherubim have four faces on them. Okay? So, it's like, here's the the cherubim with four wings, but on each side of their face, they have like four faces, the front and the back.

But look at this, this is what I thought was amazing as I was reading this. As they as they went, every one straight forward, where the spirit wanted to go, they went, and they turned not when they went. And then look at this. "As for the likeness of these living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of lamps, it went up and down among the living creatures, and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth what?" Well, guess what? "The living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of flashes of lightning." They were the flashes of lightning. It was them running back and forth.

But let's go back and look at Ezekiel 1, chapter 15 through 19. He says, "As I beheld these living creatures, there was a wheel upon the Earth by the living creatures with his four faces. And the appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the color of a beryl, and they four had one likeness." "Their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel, and where they went, they went upon their four sides. They didn't turn when they went, as for their rings, they were so high, they were dreadful, and their rings were even full of eyes roundabout them four." And then it says, "When the living creatures went, the wheels went by them, and when the living creature were lifted up from the Earth, the wheels were lifted up as well." Can you believe these things are full of eyes? The seraphim, the cherubim, they're both full of eyes.

And look at this, in Ezekiel 10:12 through 15. "Their whole body and their backs and their hands and their wings and the wheels were full of eyes." It's crazy. "And it was cried unto them in my hearing, 'Oh wheel.'" "And every one had four faces. The first face was here. This time it's the face of a cherub, the face of a man, the face of a lion, the fourth had the face of an eagle." And then it says, "The cherubims were lifted up." We've got some interesting creatures in Heaven.

And Ezekiel 10, it goes on in verse 20 through 22. What does Ezekiel say? "This is the living creature that I saw under the God under," notice, "under the God of Israel by the River Chebar. And I knew that they were the cherubim. And they had four faces each one, every one had four wings, and it was the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings, and the likeness of their faces was the same faces I saw in chapter 1."

But now let's go to Second Chronicles 3, 10 through 13. Look at these cherubs, how big were their wings? It says, "In the most holy house, he made two cherubims of image work. They were overlaid with gold. The wings of the cherubims were 20 cubits long. The wing of one cherub was five cubits reaching to the wall of the house. The other wing was likewise five cubits, reaching to the wing of the other cherub. And the wing of the other cherub was five cubits reaching to the wall of the house. The other wing was five cubits joining to the wings of the other cherub."

"And so, uh the wings of these cherubims further themselves for 20 cubits, and they stood on their feet, and their faces were toward the house." Wow. So, you got their body and you have the wings. But uh when you wonder, how many feet is that? We're reading in cubits, right? Well, here you go. Each wing was 7 1/2 ft long, so you're looking about 15 ft is the wingspan. All right? And they were touching, one wing was touching the wall, the other middle wing was touching each other. Uh and so you see their wingspread was 15 ft. That's pretty big. All right, now what do we see in Revelation chapter 4, verse 4? Again, you have to remember, you're looking in the remember the Tabernacle Moses built on Earth was patterned after the one in Heaven. Okay? So, we're looking at the one in Heaven. And he sees around the throne 24 seats. And on the seats were 24 elders clothed in white raiment. They had on their heads crowns of gold.

Well, let's jump to verse 9 through 11. Take a look at this. "When those beasts gave glory and honor and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fall down before him that is sitting on the throne. They worship him that lives forever and ever, and they're casting their crowns before the throne." And they're saying, "You are worthy, oh Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for you have created all things, and for your pleasure they are and were created." So, here we got the seraphim flying above the throne saying, "Holy, holy, holy!" And then you have the 24 elders around the throne. And they're singing, "Oh, you are worthy, oh Lord, to receive glory and honor and power." And then underneath the thrones, you have all of the cherubim. Can you imagine what it's going to be like? Who wants to be there? Wow, take your breath away.

And then, what do we see around the throne? Revelation 5, 1 through 6. "I saw on the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written. And on the backside it is sealed with seven seals." "I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals?'" Now, here's what's interesting. In one sense, I don't see anywhere. Uh I'd have to go back and look again, but you have the seraphim and you have the cherubim, and then you have angels, like Michael the Archangel or Gabriel. So, you've got a lot of different looks that are there because uh uh we see all those things.

But now it says, "There's no man in Heaven or in Earth, or under the Earth, who was able to open the book, and they couldn't even look at it." And so, he wept much because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to even look at it. And then one of these 24 elders said to me, "Don't weep because the Lion of the tribe of Judah, of the Root of David has prevailed to open the book and to loose the seals." Wow. Yeshua himself is the one who opens the seven seals of Revelation.

And then it says this, "And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders is standing a lamb as if it had been slain, having seven horns, seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent in all the Earth, and he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne." Isn't this interesting? And when you look at all the eyes, look at Second Chronicles 16:9. "The eyes of the Lord are running to and fro throughout the whole Earth to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him." Do you realize there's the heavenly hosts are full of eyes, and the Lord's seven eyes represent the menorah? It doesn't say they're looking to see who he can judge, who he can destroy. The eyes of Heaven are looking to see who can I show myself strong on the behalf of those whose heart are perfect toward him.

Now, I think it's fascinating. Again, this is why you have to study Revelation, you have to understand the Tanakh, so you can make the connections of what's going on and what John is seeing. Look at Daniel 12. Daniel also, what does he see? "At that time shall who? Michael, the great prince, which stands for the children of your people, and there will be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time, and at that time, your people will be delivered." He's speaking to Daniel, that's the Jewish people are going to be delivered. "Everyone that is found where?" Ha, this is why every Rosh Hashanah, the Jews say to one another, "May you be inscribed for good for another year." "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the Earth will awake to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt."

Look at this. "Those that are wise will shine as the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever." Wow. How many of you know there's different magnitude of stars in Heaven? When you look at the stars, there's all I mean, some of them are gigantic, some are small. The magnitude of you will be based on the how many people you're turning to righteousness.

Now, look at this. It says, "But you, Daniel, shut up the words, seal the book even to the time of the end." Hmm, I wonder if that's the book that Yeshua grabbed in Revelation, the one that Daniel had to close, and had to stay closed until the end. "Many will run to and fro and knowledge will be increased." I believe that is not just worldly knowledge, but it's biblical knowledge. God is going to open the our eyes in this day.

Now, considering the Lamb that was slain, the Root of David, look at this, in Genesis 49:10. "The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh or the Messiah come, and then to him will be the gathering of the people." Everyone's going to be gathered to the Messiah. Look at Isaiah 11:10 and 11. "And that day there will be a root of Jesse, which will stand for an ensign of the people. To it shall the Gentiles seek, his rest shall be glorious, and it will come to pass in that day, the Lord will set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people." Wow.

Now, let me ask you this. Is there anyone that you know from the tribe of Judah besides Yeshua that the Gentiles are seeking after? There isn't any. This has to refer to Yeshua. I don't know of any Jewish person in all of history that the Gentiles fulfill this scripture except for Yeshua.

And it also said he was a lamb as if he had been slain, right? Isaiah 53:7. "He was oppressed, he was afflicted, and yet what happened?" How many of us have a hard time to keep our mouths shut when we're being oppressed and afflicted? Or do we want the whole world to know? "I'm being oppressed and afflicted!" Even if we don't know anyone's going to help, we still want to let people know, "We're being oppressed and afflicted." I mean, that's the normal human response. But look at this, he was oppressed. Literally, he was afflicted and what? He didn't open his mouth.

"He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep before her shearers is mute or dumb, he opened not his mouth." Here, Yeshua was led as a lamb to the slaughter. We see in Revelation there stood a lamb who had been slain, and we see he did not open his mouth.

You want to know what's crazy about this? Guess what? Here is the Hebrew word Elohim. Okay? Elohim refers to God, right? Do you know the very Hebrew word Elohim tells us about Isaiah 53? In Isaiah 53 where it says, "As a sheep before her shearers is mute," that is the Hebrew word Elim there in green. That is to be mute. That's the Hebrew word there. Well, what is right in the middle is the word oy, which means great grief. So, even the name of God tells us he is one who suffers in silence. The very name of God tells us who keeps his mouth quiet in grief. That is powerful.

Well, look at Revelation 5. Let's go to verse 8 through 10. So, what happens? When he takes the scroll, these four living creatures and the 24 elders all fall down before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of what? Which are the prayers of the saints. "And they sing a new song, saying, 'Worthy are you to take the scroll, open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you've made them a kingdom of priests and priests to our God, and they will reign on the Earth.'" All right? So, on 141:2, "Let my prayer be set forth as what? Incense, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice." So, again, what are we seeing in Revelation? We see the menorah. Then we see the throne. Then we see the altar of incense that is in the Holy Place representing the prayers of the saints. The Book of Revelation has to be looked at in the light of Moses' Tabernacle or Solomon's Temple because it was patterned after what was going on in Heaven.

Now, Revelation 5, look at this. Verse 11 through 14. John beheld, he heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the beasts and the elders, and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000. That's a lot. "And thousands of thousands, and they're saying with a loud voice, 'Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.'" Look at this. "Every creature," how many? "Every," "which is in the heavens, on the Earth, under the Earth, those in the sea, all that are in them, heard I saying, 'Blessing and honor and glory and power to him that is sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever.'" "And the four beasts said, 'Amen,'" "And the 24 elders fall down and worship him that lives forever and ever." I wonder where John got that from?

Well, let's look at the Book of Daniel. What did he see in chapter 7, verse 9 and 10? "I beheld until thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, the hair of his head like the pure wool. His throne was like a fiery flame, his wheels as burning fire." I wonder if those are the same wheels we were reading about earlier. "A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him. Thousand thousands ministered to him. 10,000 times 10,000 stood before him, the judgment was set, and what?" "The books were opened." Wow. That's what we're reading about. And what happens on Rosh Hashanah every year? The books are being opened. Then comes the 10 Days of Awe where we all appear before God and his throne. He opens the books. We're judged out of the books. Revelation is a very Jewish book. It is all based on the Tanakh. And I literally believe that this will happen on the specific days.

Now, can you imagine what it's going to be like hearing every creature in Heaven and in Earth singing together? All of creation. We're going to be singing with stars and whales and even rocks that are crying out, everything. And the trees of the field will be clapping their hands. Who wants to be there? Amen. The kids come on up. We're going to close with song. But as we go through this Book of Revelation, I want you to see it from a whole different perspective. We're going to take a a look at it through Hebraic eyes. And I tell you what, it is going to be we're about to enter some of the most exciting times in human history. You have to know God loves you. You have to know God's for you. You have to know it's not a time to run in fear. It's a time to hold on to the Lord and rejoice. It's going to be awesome. It really is. So, let's stand.

We're going to start this year off right. Amen. And let's just pray. Abinu Malkenu, our Father, our King, we just thank you for this awesome time that we can just come together and worship you. And we can hardly wait until we're transported at that very moment when we get to join all of creation singing your praises. In Yeshua's name. Amen.