Review: Rev 20:1-3; Archangels; Cherubs: The Lord’s Coat of Arms: Dexter: A Man (Luke) & a Lion (Matthew), Sinister: An Ox (Mark) & an Eagle (John), Ex 1:10
4.	The “archangels” of which two are identified in Scripture: (1) Gabriel, so classified as a seraph by his comment to Zacharias in Luke 1:19, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God,” and (2) Michael who is called an archangel in Jude 9.  Gabriel functions as a commander in the angelic order of battle and an officer of arms in the angelic college of heralds (Daniel 8:16; 9:21; Luke 1:11,19,26.  Michael is an officer in the angelic order of battle and is assigned to defend and protect Israel in her dispensation: (a) pre-Incarnation (Daniel 10:13,21; 12:1) and (b) post-Rapture (Daniel 12:1; Revelation 12:7).
17)	The next rank below the seraph is cherub, designated by four wings.  These angels are adorned with the Lord’s coat of arms
1.	The angels who guard the eastern gate of the garden of Eden in Genesis 3:24.
2.	The “four living beings” of Ezekiel’s vision of the Lord’s chariot of fire in Ezekiel 1 are identified as cherubs in Ezekiel 10:9 and 10:20-22.
3.	These four cherubs escort the Lord who rides the chariot as the angels operate its wheels.  Each of them wears the Lord’s coat of arms, described in:
Ezekiel 1:10 -	Their faces had this appearance: each of the four had (1) the face of a man, with (2) the face of a lion on the right [ dexter ], (3) the face of an ox on the left [ sinister ] and also (4) the face of an eagle—
4.	In heraldry, a coat of arms is developed on the surface of a shield which is called the “field” on which are blazoned “charges” of people, animals, plants, weaponry, etc.  These charges are arranged on the field in various patterns.  The shield of the Lord’s is divided into quarters.  The charges on each are described from the viewpoint of the one who holds the shield.
5.	Ezekiel 1:10 describes the charges blazoned on the four quadrants of the Lord’s shield.  The right side is called “dexter.”  The upper right charge is said to be the “face of a man,” the lower right, the “face of a lion.”
6.	The left side is called “sinister.”  The upper left charge is the face of an ox and the lower left is the “face of an eagle.”
7.	The charges come together to make up the coat of arms, each charge representing a certain aspect of the Lord’s unique person.
8.	When the canon of the New Testament was being developed, four men were assigned the task of presenting the person of Christ from four perspectives.
9.	The end result is the four Gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John.  Each man presented a particular aspect of the Lord’s earthly ministry.
10.	The Gospel of Matthew presents Jesus as the King of the Jews in the fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant, symbolized in the coat of arms by the lion in reference to the tribe of Judah as the bloodline of the Messiah.  The Gospel of Matthew’s autograph was written in Aramaic, later translated into Koiné Greek, and was written to the Jews. 
11.	The Gospel of Mark presents Jesus as Servant of God and emphasizes His submission to the Father’s plan, his qualifications to be our Savior.  This culminated in His saving work on the cross.  The servant is symbolized by the ox which was used as a draft animal as well as one of the authorized Levitical sacrifices.  Mark was written to the Romans.
12.	The Gospel of Luke presents Jesus as the Son of Man, a designation of His true humanity.  It was in His true humanity that the Lord utilized to perfection the prototype divine power system and by which He ultimately fulfilled the salvation plan of God on the cross that was concluded with His physical death.  The face of the Man is emblematic of the true humanity of our Lord.  Luke’s audience was the Gentiles.
13.	The Gospel of John presents Jesus as the Son of God, a title he uses thirteen times in his book.  John’s Gospel contains the Lord’s “I am” statements which are proclamations of His deity and the eagle is representative of the deity of Christ.  The Gospel of John was written to Jews and Gentiles alike.
14.	A summary of these four approaches to the life of Christ is provided by Dr. Cyrus Scofield:
Background.  The four Gospels record the eternal being, human ancestry, birth, life and ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus the Christ, Son of God and Son of Man.  Taken together, they present not a biography but a Person.
The fact that the four Gospels present a Person rather than a complete biography indicates the spirit in which they should be approached.  It is more important to see and know Him whom these narratives reveal than to try to piece together a full account of His life from these inspired records.  For some reason God did not lead men to write a full biography of His Son.  It is wise to respect the divine reticence.
Incomplete Story, Complete Revelation.  But the four Gospels, though designedly incomplete as a story, are complete as a revelation.  We may not know everything that Jesus did, but we may know Him.  In four great narratives, each of which in some respects supplements the other three, we have Jesus Christ Himself.
The Gospels do not develop the doctrine of the Church.  The word “church” occurs in Matthew only.  After His rejection as King and Savior by the Jews, our Lord, announcing a mystery until that moment “hidden in God” (Ephesians 3:3-10), said, “I will build My church” (Matthew 16:18).  It was, therefore, yet future; but His personal ministry had gathered out the believers who were, on the Day of Pentecost, made by the baptism with the Spirit the first members of “the church, which is His body” (Ephesians 1:23).
The Gospels present a group of Jewish disciples, associated on earth with a Messiah in humiliation.  The Letters present a Church which is the body of Christ, made up of the regenerate who are associated with Him “in heavenly places,” co-heirs with Him of the Father, co-rulers with Him of the coming kingdom; and, as to the earth, although strangers and pilgrims, yet acting as His witnesses and the instruments of doing His will among men (Acts 1:8; 1 Corinthians 12:12-13; 2 Corinthians 5:14-21; Ephesians 1:3-14; 20-23; 2:4-6; 1 Peter 2:11).  (p. 1301)
Since the first three Gospels contain so much material in common that they may be arranged as a synopsis, they are called the Synoptic Gospels.  Careful readers of the New Testament will observe the similarities among and also the differences peculiar to these Gospels.  That they contain dissimilarities is not surprising in view of the fact that each of these three Gospels is written for a particular purpose—Matthew to present Jesus as King [the Lion of the tribe of Judah], Mark to present Him as Servant [the ox that labors and is sacrificed], and Luke to present Him as Son of Man [the face of a Man representing His true humanity].
As for John, this Gospel is in a class by itself.  Probably written later than the Synoptics, it does not outline the life of our Lord but selects its material (including much that is not in the first three Gospels) in keeping with the writer’s declared aim of presenting Jesus as the Son of God [ the eagle ] (John 20:30-31).  (pp. 1302-1303)
15.	Therefore, since the cherubs in Ezekiel 1, like the four seraphs in Revelation 4:8, are allowed to wear the Lord’s coat of arms, it indicates their high position in the angelic hierarchy.
16.	The cherub that controls the world’s weather systems is mentioned in Revelation 7:2 and we will mention him later.