e Spirit has come down to the disciples He will begin a new
ministry of witnessing to the world through them.

In the Book of Acts that promise is fulfilled. The Spirit comes down
with remarkable manifestations on the day of Pentecost. The distinctive
thing He does is to take possession of a group of men and form them into
a new witnessing body called the Church. He had dwelt in the nation of
Israel as a nation, and had been withdrawn from that nation when it
proved finally faithless to its mission. He had dwelt in individual men
before and during and after that time.

At Pentecost He is sent down on a new mission. He is to do in men all
that Jesus has done for them in His life and death and resurrection. But
the distinctive thing of Pentecost is His forming this new body called
the Church, through which He begins a new ministry of witnessing to the
world.

All through the Acts and Epistles He is constantly spoken of as here on
the earth working in the Church and through it. He in the Church is a
powerful restraint upon the powers of evil in the world. In
Thessalonians,[99] Paul has spoken of a day coming when that restraint
would be withdrawn. The Holy Spirit, the "One that restraineth now," is
to be taken away.

Now here the Holy Spirit is represented as being, not in the Church, as
always in the Acts and Epistles, but as being "before the throne." This
is the second significant thing to note in this scene. This also would
seem to suggest the beginning of a new order of things.

John goes quietly on with his description. Before the throne he sees a
great expanse that looks like a sea of clear, bright, beautiful crystal.
Before the throne and around about the throne are four living creatures
or creatures of life. These living creatures are of intensest interest.
They appear throughout the Scriptures from the Garden of Eden in Genesis
to the very close of this Book of Revelation.

They are also called cherubim and seraphim, that is, cherubs and
seraphs. They are always associated directly with the immediate presence
of God,[100] and with His presence-chamber, in the tabernacle,[101] in
the temple,[102] and in Ezekiel's vision of a new temple,[103] and in
the thought of the people.[104] There is one possible exception to this,
where they are seen at the entrance to the Garden of Eden.[105] The
description of them is most full in Ezekiel. It varies in details, but
with the essentials always the same.

The general