7 The first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face like a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle.
A lion (31 to 193) – the Apostolic saints, the first of whom was Christ, “the male Child,” called “the lion of Judah,” see Rev 5:5.
A calf or ox(193 to 1471) – a calf and ox represent those to be sacrificed, as we read in Exod 20:24, and Mic 6:6. This is an appropriate representation of the martyrs in this period.
A man (1471 to 1917) – in Dan 7:4, King Nebuchadnezzar was represented as a lion, with the wings of an eagle, and was made to stand on two feet like a man, and a human mind was given to it. In Dan 4:16, we read, “let his heart be changed from that of a man, let him be given the heart of a beast.” Nebuchadnezzar was made a beast, until he recognized “that the most High rules in the Kingdom of men” (Dan 4:25). In Dan 3, he forced all peoples and nations and tongues to worship an image, but in Dan 4:1, he repented before “every people, nation, and tongue.” This foreshadowed the Angel’s proclamation in Rev 14:6, to “every nation, and tribe and tongue and people,” “fear God and give Him glory” (Rev 14:7). The beast must become a man and learn to recognize the true God.
An eagle (1917 AD to the Lord’s Day) – the saints of the end days, the sanctified Church, soaring with the power of the Spirit, and looking down from high, understanding all things, including the Book of Revelation. The eagle is very well explained in Isa 40:31. The Bible gives us several proofs that the eagle is the last living creature: most notably Jesus’ quotation of Isaiah, “where the corpse, there the eagles (αετοι) will be gathered” (Matt 24:28). This describes the gathering together of the saints in the Lord’s Day, by the Spirit of Christ (see Isa 34:15,16). The eagle is the end time saint who flies “in mid-heaven” warning the world of the threes woes to come (Rev 8:13), and the eagles must also be “the birds which fly in mid-heaven,” who eat the flesh of the Nations, at the command of the Rider on the White Horse in Rev 19:18. The “flying” of the eagles represents the speed at which the end time Church brings the true gospel to the world.
Understanding the time periods of these saints helps us understand the time periods of some prophecies, especially in Chapters 6 and 8 of Revelation.