The Living Creatures are the means for God’s Manifestation, Move, and Administration

Chapter one of Ezekiel is both deep, profound, and fascinating; the four living creatures, in particular, are very interesting, for with them we see the appearance of a man, and they manifest God’s glory, they are the means for God to move, and they are the means for God to administrate on the throne.

The four living creatures bear the appearance of a man, and they are the corporate expression of the man on the throne (see Ezek. 1:5, 26). The central thought of God and His arrangement, as revealed in the Bible, are related to man.

Whatever God does, He always has man in mind, and His economy is related to man. God doesn’t want man to be like an angel or a spiritual being: He needs a proper man, even a corporate man, that would express Him and represent Him with His image.

God loves man and He needs man; He loves man so much that He Himself became a man to redeem man from the fall and bring man to the proper standing before God, so that man would be regenerated and built up into a corporate new man that would express and represent God.

Based on His judicial redemption, Christ now saves us much more in His life until we are brought to the throne, to be one with Christ in reigning over all things.

Christ is the Pioneer, cutting the way into glory to the throne; He is God becoming man, passing through the process of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection, so that He may ascend to the throne.

Now there is a Man on the throne: there’s a Man ruling over the universe for God! And this Man, who is the God-man Jesus Christ, wants to bring His chosen, redeemed, regenerated, transformed, and glorified people all the way to the throne: He wants to gain four living creatures on earth that would be fully one with the throne of God in the heavens!

If we see this, we will have a proper appreciation for being a man, for it is a genuine man filled with God and one with God that can fulfill God’s purpose. We need to have a proper appreciation of the Lord’s humanity, which is the only humanity qualified to express and represent God, and we need to see how marvelous it is that we are men.

We were born in the first man, in Adam, but we were regenerated to be part of the new man, the corporate man that fulfills God’s plan; now we have the prospect and aspiration of becoming part of the man-child, the overcomers who are the living creatures to fulfill God’s purpose.

God needs not Angels but a Genuine, Proper, and Corporate Man to Express Him

There are many religious teachings today encouraging the Christians to be like an angel or to be “like God”. Actually, even the devil enticed and lured Eve with this very thing, that she would be like God, knowing all things (Gen. 3:5).

God created man in His image and according to His likeness, and He doesn’t want man to be like the angels or merely “like God” – He wants a genuine, proper, and corporate man that would express Him and represent Him.

Every fallen being wants to be better, to be like an angel, or to be like God, and sometimes even believers desire the same thing; God doesn’t want anything else but a proper man, a man that has the humanity of Jesus, who would express Him and represent Him.

Because man is fallen, God came in to bring man back to the proper standing through His redemption and salvation; He wants to recover us to being a proper man.

In His salvation God doesn’t make us like the angels, neither does He intend to make His people “super” – He just wants man to be recovered to His original intention, recovered to being a genuine and proper man that expresses God.

This is what He gained with Ezekiel: He gained a proper man who contacted God, ministered to God, and was filled with God; in Ezekiel God gained a man that was fully open to Him, and through such a one He had an unhindered way to speak and to move for the accomplishing of His purpose.

May we be delivered from the fallen and devilish concept of trying to be like an angel or to be “super-spiritual”, supermen-Christians, and may we be recovered in God’s salvation to being a proper and genuine man built up together to be the four living creatures that God desires to gain for His expression!

May we be much more saved in God’s life so that, in whatever we do, say, or express, we would be a man – a man of God, a man filled with God, a man one with God, and yet a proper and genuine man who expresses God.

Lord Jesus, save us from trying to be like an angel or desiring to be “like God” in our living; make us proper men, genuine human beings who live out the humanity of Jesus for God’s expression! Save us much more in Your life until we are Jesusly human, that is, until we express God in a normal, human way, so that others may see a man in whom God lives. We give ourselves to You, Lord, to be part of the genuine, proper, corporate man who expresses God and represents Him on earth.

The Living Creatures are the means for God’s Manifestation, Move, and Administration

In Ezekiel 1 there are three crucial matters concerning the four living creatures’ bearing the appearance of a man: they manifest His glory, they are the means for God’s move on earth, and they are the means for God to administrate on the throne.

There are many details related to the four living creatures, but what stands out is that they bear the appearance of a man (to express the One who has the likeness of a man on the throne), they express God in His glory, they move like lightning on earth and have wheels going with them, and they are the means for God to administrate.

The living creatures are the means for God to manifest His glory (Ezek. 1:28). Apart from the four living creatures bearing the appearance of a man, God’s glory cannot be manifested. The rainbow around God’s throne is a sign of God’s covenant with man, signifying God’s faithfulness in keeping His covenant.

The rainbow is the consummation of our Christian life and church life – we are all becoming a rainbow through God’s judicial redemption and His organic salvation. Where the rainbow is, there God’s glory is also. Where the four living creatures are, there God’s glory is manifested; apart from them, the glory of God cannot be manifested.

The living creatures are the means for God to move on earth (Ezek. 1:12-21). Each of the four living creatures has a wheel beside it, and the wheels move as the creatures move; the Spirit is in the wheel, and the Spirit leads the move. The wheel implies move – the move of God on earth; where the living creatures are, God has a way to move.

When the living creatures move, God moves, and when they stop, God stops. The move of the living creatures is according to the Spirit, and yet the Spirit follows the living creatures; here we see that the living creatures are one with the Spirit and they move in the Spirit’s moving.

The living creatures are the means for God to administrate on the throne (Ezek. 1:26). What dominates everything on earth and everything recorded in Ezekiel is the throne of God, the center of His administration. This is also confirmed by Rev. 4:2-6, where we see the four living creatures before God’s throne as His economy is unveiled and executed.

The destiny of the whole world hinges on these four living creatures; how God will carry out His universal administration depends on these four living creatures.

Because the living creatures bear the appearance of a man, there is the administration of God’s throne (see Jer. 17:12). The temple of God is the place of His throne; God’s people, the people in whom God dwells, is where God’s throne is for the carrying out of His administration.

This is why God charges man to pray; we have to pray to echo God’s administration. Whatever God wants to do, He wants man’s cooperation; He needs man to pray to release His will and carry out His administration. God needs the four living creatures to correspond to His throne!

In conclusion, man is the means of God’s manifestation, man is the means of God’s move, and man is the means of God’s administration. The four living creatures are for God’s manifestation, move, and administration. In God’s eyes and in His hands, man has an important position.

This is why God’s desire is to gain man; He uses the wind, the cloud, the fire, and the electrum to enliven us to gain us as the means for His manifestation, move, and administration.

Man is very important to God, so it is crucial for us to be a proper, genuine, and corporate man, bearing the appearance of a man, so that we may be for God’s manifestation, for God’s move, and for God’s administration.

Lord Jesus, gain the reality of the four living creatures among us so that You may gain the means for Your manifestation, move, and administration. May Your glory be manifested among us and through us. We want to be one with You in Your move on earth, allowing You to move in us and through us, so that the great wheel of God’s economy may move all over the earth. Lord, we enthrone You in our being, and we want to be one with You to pray by echoing what You intend to do. Gain a group of people on earth who are the means for Your manifestation, move, and administration!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by brother James L. for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Ezekiel, msg. 5 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Ezekiel (1), msg. 3 (week 3), The Four Living Creatures.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # O I’m a man— / I’m the meaning of the universe … / Christ lives in me— / He’s the meaning of my human life… / The church is Christ— / His expression on the earth today. (Hymns #1293)
  # …Living creatures we become / To express the life of Jesus; / He with whom we’ve been made one. / We express Him as a human, / As a man so good and fine; / Balanced, normal, never striving; / Fully human, yet divine. (Hymns #1201)
  # Four living creatures are / God’s move on earth today; / Revived by wind, cloud, fire, / Electrum they display. / … Lord as Your move today / As living creatures, we / Your radiance would express, / And Your authority. (Song on the living creatures)