The book of Revelation is perhaps one of the most confusing books ever to be written. The symbolism often evades readers and confuses those who are earnestly trying to figure out what exactly God was trying to say to John-who received that mystical revelation nearly 2,000 years ago. However, once one understands the symbolic language of the book, so much of its contents become understandable, and the book of Revelation becomes a book of "revelations" to those who read it.

In this particular verse, John sees four "beasts"-four being the ancient number that suggested "geographic totality" (or that something applied to the "whole earth" and "all of its inhabitants"). Those "beasts" have wings, an archaic symbol for the power to move and to act. Being "full of eyes" suggests a measure of "omniscience," meaning these "beasts" see more than the typically mortal can see. They have some divine endowment whereby they have higher knowledge or understanding than fallen humans. And what do these "beasts" do "day and night" with their power and knowledge? They praise God-"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord." (This is an ancient liturgical formula in Christianity and also Judaism.) "He who was, and is, and is coming" is an archaic way of referring the God of the Bible. And the fact that there are "four beasts" doing this tells us everything we need to know. John saw in vision what all of us should do in this life, in order to be worthy to return to God and dwell with Him for eternity. We too, "night and day," should sincerely praise God and, as we do so, "power" (symbolized by the wings) will come into our lives, as will heavenly knowledge and insight beyond our own (symbolized by the multiplicity of eyes). John's revelation is setting out a pattern for you and me, that we can rise above the world and receive spiritual endowments beyond our own.