These creatures mark the different states through which souls pass before arriving at the throne. The first stage is all fire, vigor, and courage, like the lion. In Psalm 34:10, David seems to compare himself to a lion, The young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. The second animal of ox was like David, when he said, I am become as a beast before thee: and I am always with thee (Psalm 72:23). Following this, we lose this quality of beast, and we become, it seems, all human. We have nothing, neither courage nor stupidity, and we lose this animal life and become entirely human. This is more painful than the others because the human is subject to evil and misery. This is the time of the desolation of the cross. But following this, we become an eagle. As much as we had been attached to the earth, now we become just as detached from the earth. It was this light that made David say, Who satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagles (Psalm 103:5). He also says, O that I had wings like a dove! (Psalm 55:6). This state removes the soul from the other three states because the first three hold something from the previous state. But this last state of great purity is entirely different and will come soon.
And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and inside. Day and night without ceasing they sing, “Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God the Almighty, who was and is and is to come.” (Rev 4:8)
The six wings of these animals are the means by which they ascended and fled to God. Two wings are understanding and faith, two wings are memory and hope, and two wings are will and love. With these gifts of knowledge and faith, remembering and hope, will and love, we are brought before the throne of God. Faith changes into certain knowledge, hope changes into joyful sight, and the will changes into pure love. The eyes all around and inside mark their exterior and interior illumination. Discovered and penetrated entirely by light, they are at home. They sing day and night without ceasing, which means they sing equally in the day of pleasure and the night of affliction, both in the state of interior light and darkness. They sing, Holy, holy, holy because in all time God is equally holy. They surround the throne to give the glory due because of his holiness. It seems that they say: “You only are holy. We know no other holiness but yours. Nothing is holy except you. We only desire your holiness. Because God only is holy, everything else is impure.” But where does singing of this type come from? Only from God’s holiness, and the desire that everyone recognize him as such. Jesus Christ is a lion, Prince above all others, and the martyrs show his courage. The martyrs give all their glory to the holiness of God. Among the confessors, he is a famous ox whose voice roared above all the others. Jesus Christ is also a human being among the solitaries and anchorites, or those who have a rank in the world. Also, Jesus Christ is the first among the interiors who held the first rank of eagle that will surpass all others in the elevation of their flight.
These four animals cry incessantly God is holy and God is also the Almighty. Because he is only holy, he alone can make saints. God was and is and is to come. Nothing has been, is, and will be except by God. O God, who is infinite glory, what can we give you, you who are infinite? As creatures that you support, we give you all the glory.
And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to the one who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall before the one who is seated on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever; they cast their crowns before the throne, singing, 11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” (Rev 4:9–11)
These four creatures give glory and thanksgiving continually to the One who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and forever because the Word has always been and will always be. All the saints will always owe the One much glory and gratitude because to the One is due all the glory of their holiness and sanctification. The Word gave himself for them and sanctified them with his blood. They recognize fully his superabundant and generous mercy.
The twenty-four elders who represent the most annihilated saints closest to God fall before him. This abasement of the body shows their entire being is annihilated before God who is everything for them. They give knowledge of God to all future centuries and show that the way to honor God is through their annihilation. They want to do in heaven what they did in earth. They cast their crowns again before the throne at his feet, to show that he is their king who reigns in them and on them, to continually govern and lead them. They have given him all the rights that they had in themselves and he reigns perfectly in them. And as King, they live in his kingdom. In this way, they glorify God as he wants to be glorified through annihilation and by giving him all their rights that they had in themselves.
They say to God, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power. No one is worthy of you. You are infinitely glorified in yourself and you must be in all your creatures. We owe you honor and homage as our only Sovereign, with all the kingdom and power.” They recognize that you are the only power and that you can do everything in them, for them, and by them. All the rest is only weakness.
For you created all things. You have created them anew, giving them a new being and life. All of this is done by your will and not by any merit that is in them to attract such a great grace. Created by your power, you renew them in your will. Everything happens in the divine will. When a soul abandons her own will, whatever that may be, she begins to enter a new state and into a new creation.
Then I saw in the right hand of the one seated on the throne a scroll written on the inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. (Rev 5:1)
This scroll is no other than Jesus Christ, the man-God. He is written on the inside and outside with the truth of God, which he came to bring to the world. Without him this truth would not be known. On the inside, as Word, he is the truth of God. On the outside, he is the scroll that all humanity must read. The truth has always been hidden in God. O God, you are the only truth, and humanity is full of lies. God creates this truth by generating his Word, because the Word is the faithful expression of himself. Only the Son can represent the Father. The demon is jealous that this truth is communicated to human beings and slipped into the world at the beginning in the lie. Because God is all truth and God only can produce truth in human beings, the demon is all lies and can only produce in human beings lies and vanity, contrary to the truth. So all truth is of God, and all lies and deception are of the demon.
The scroll was in the right hand of God because the Word is also all the power of God. As Matthew 28:18 says, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to the Word. In heaven, he is given power to express all the truth of God. On earth, he is given power to manifest this truth to human beings. As John assures us in John 1:14, they saw the fullness of his grace and his truth. But as human beings had lost the truth and substituted lies for it, Jesus Christ came to report truth to the world like a scroll written on the inside with all the interior fullness of God and all the truth of God. Written on the outside, the character of divinity is to be imitated by human beings. Then the truth was reestablished in the world, and the lie was chased away. The oracles of the devil, the father of lies, no longer stopped the truth from being revealed. And as Jesus Christ did not remain forever on the earth, after ascending into heaven, he sent the Spirit of his truth in our hearts in order to banish the lie.
This truth has permanently remained since that time on the earth. And where does this remain? In the church. But even though the truth remains in the church, individual people have often diverted and separated from this truth. The truth holds its seat in the three powers of the soul: in the understanding, memory, and will. Very frequently, faith is the only place where the truth lies. But we also need love and hope where Jesus Christ communicates his truth. There are in us, spirit and heart: the spirit is for the common and general belief, while the heart is to receive the anointing and the Spirit of truth, which is the interior