CONTROL ROOM IN HEAVEN

The Lord Jesus Christ as the Creator of the Universe and sustainer of human life controls all of creation from the Throne Room in Heaven. This Control Room in Heaven is described symbolically in Revelation 4:5 and 5:6.

Introduction

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Creator of all the universe.

For by agency of Him all things were created in the heavens and on the earth, visible (mankind) and invisible (angels), whether throne angels or angelic powers or angelic commanders or angelic managers - all things have been created through Him and for Him.. (Colossians 1:16)

He actively controls all of His creation by means of the "word of his power" (Hebrews 1:3; Colossians 1:17). He also creates and sustains all life. The hierarchical rank of angels, both Elect and Fallen, is symbolized by the animal kingdom (reference Angelic Symbols).

The Control Room in Heaven

Throne of God

The control room in Heaven is the location from which the Lord Jesus Christ controls all of His creation. The control room is described in Revelation 4:5 and 5:6. Like the rest of Revelation, the description of the control room is in symbolic terms.

And out from the throne proceed flashes of lightning and crashes of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits from God; (Revelation 4:5)

The "throne" is the throne of God, and the image on the throne is a representation of God. A revelation of God is called a theophany. The Lord Jesus Christ is the only revealed member of the Godhead that can be seen and heard, but in the vision of John the throne of God is illustrated with a human form seated upon it.

Revelation 4:2-3
2 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in Heaven, and One sitting on the throne. 3 And He who was sitting was like the appearance of diamond stone and sardius; and there was a rainbow all around the throne, like emerald in appearance.

The human figure seated on the throne is described as like a diamond and sardius (carnelian). Sardius, or sard, is the same as carnelian, the blood-red stone. The translation has been corrected. The word for diamond is the Greek i[aspi", (iaspis), which is not jasper but diamond in Revelation 21:11. The word apparently came from the Hebrew /r$P)x! (tsiporen) (Jeremiah 17:1). The description of the human form on the throne is almost identical to the description of the theophany of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:27-28; 8:2). The rainbow around the throne represents the components of the Light, or Love, of God. The colors of the rainbow represent the components of the Love of God.

The human form on the throne is worshipped as God. Since God the Father is always invisible in the scripture, this is unusual. The explanation is that the human form on the throne is only an illustration. It is not God Himself, but an illustration so that John can understand the role played by God the Father on the Stage in Heaven, the Heavenly Control Room. In the Church Age, the Father invites the Lord Jesus Christ to sit on His throne (Revelation 3:21).

All members of the Godhead are one in essence and never act independently. The Lord Jesus Christ is seated at the right of the Throne of God during the Church Age (Hebrews 8:1; 12:2). The right is the position of honor. In the picture of the Control Room in Heaven revealed by John, the Lamb, who represents Jesus Christ, is at the right of the throne. When the Lord Jesus Christ sits on the Throne of God or at the right of the Throne of God or stands at the right of the Throne of God, He is acting on behalf of God as "Lord" or the chief authority over all creation.

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. (Matthew 28:18, NAS)

The Lord Jesus Christ sits on the throne as the head of the Supreme Court of Heaven. In the Church Age the Court the case that is being tried is the Appeal Trial of Satan from the prehistoric angelic conflict (reference, The Ages).

Seven Lamps

Before the throne are "seven lamps." The number seven simply means the completion of a category. The "lamps" are sources of light. This is a symbolic description - like a schematic drawing, which represents functionality symbolically. The seven lamps are further described as "the seven Spirits from God." Since God is in the ablative case in the Greek, it should be translated "the seven Spirits from the source of God." The "seven Spirits from God" are the source of control of all things in the Universe. The "seven Spirits" refer to the work of the Holy Spirit, who is the working force of the Godhead. The Father is the author; the Son is the chief executive; and the Holy Spirit is the working force.

The seven lamps are also described in Zechariah.

Zechariah 4:2-3

2 And he said to me, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps on it with seven spouts belonging to each of the lamps which are on the top of it; 3 also two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on its left side.”

The description of the Control Room, thus far, includes light sources and spiritual transport media. Light symbolizes production. There are seven colors of the rainbow. When the olive oil lamp burns, it produces a flame and light. The flame represents working (active) energy. The light is the byproduct, or evidence, of the work being done. A blast furnace, for example, has tremendous heat energy, and it glows with light.

The Plan of God in the Server in Heaven contains all the specifications for creation. The implementation of the Plan is symbolized by the transport of light production to all of creation by means of the seven Spirits. Light is the intelligence and the Spirit is the energy required to accomplish the Plan of God at its destination. Since the Lord Jesus Christ controls everything by the word of His power, logic is built into creation to enable it to obey divine commands. The Lord gives commands to control the stars and rocks and the rivers, animals, and plants. Thus, the light symbolizes the logical commands sent out into all creation.

A good example of all this is the Periodic¹ Table of the Chemical Elements, which has seven periods. Another example is Quantum Mechanics and the Law of Conservation of Matter and Energy, which states that matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed by mankind but merely transformed from one form to the other. To use another example, if the Lord Jesus Christ wanted to move a mountain, He could simply command it to move, and it would move. This is the faith that could move a mountain, which for mankind is an hyperbole, but for God is trivial. He calls the stars by name and tells them where to go every day (Isaiah 40:26).

All matter and energy in the Universe are made from the same thing, and that thing is the production of the Holy Spirit. Whether we call the thing quanta of matter and energy or subatomic particles or waves, the Holy Spirit produces the basic building blocks of the Universe. And all of the building blocks of creation respond to command and control of the Lord Jesus Christ, who controls the Universe and everything in it. He even controls human history. However, He created man with a free will. He does not make our decisions for us. Yet, He knows the end from the beginning, and, therefore, the outcome.

In order for the Universe to exist it must be under the active command and control from the Control Room in Heaven. Light from the seven lamps is the command and control language for everything. The analogy in state-of-the-art terminology is that packets of production data (e.g. to make trees or stars) are encoded and superimposed in the Spiritual communication system of the seven Spirits to be transmitted instantaneously to all parts of the Universe. Fiber optics, for example, is a technology which transmits encoded light. The difference in the Heavenly Control System is that the light is Spiritual and is transported via the seven Spirits instantaneously to its destination. If light were transmitted without the aid of the seven Spirits, it would take billions of years to get here. With the aid of the seven Spirits, the communication delay is reduced to zero.

Seven Horns, Eyes, Spirits

And I saw in between the throne and the four living creatures among the elders, a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits from God, sent out into all the earth. (Revelation 5:6)

Illustration: Heavenly Control Room

More details are added in Revelation 5:6. The "Lamb standing as if slain" is the Lord Jesus Christ, who died as a substitute for the sins of the world and is called the "lamb of God" (John 1:29). But this lamb is described as having "seven horns." Horns are symbols of power or judgment. Here the seven horns symbolize the Justice of God, which is vested in the Lord Jesus Christ as the head of the Supreme Court of Heaven. But there are also "seven eyes". Eyes in the Bible symbolize the grace of God. Therefore, the eye must be clear, unobstructed, and unadulterated. If it has a mote or spec in it, then there is a problem. This same type description is found in other passages.

Zechariah 3:8,9; 4:10

8 ‘Now listen, Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you—indeed they are men who are a symbol, for behold, I am going to bring in My servant the Branch. 9 ‘For behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua; on one stone are seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave an inscription on it,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.

10 “For who has despised the day of small things? But these seven will be glad when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel—these are the eyes of the Lord which range to and fro throughout the earth.”

In this passage, the Lord is describing to Joshua, the High Priest, how Zerubbabel will rebuild the Temple after the 70 years of captivity. The stones that will be used for building the Temple are described as having eyes. The stone with seven eyes is a symbol of eyes used for sensory perception. In other words, the Lord in Heaven is seeing the stone. Similarly, the eyes of the Lord "range to and fro throughout the earth," which means the Lord sees everything that happens on the earth. Thus, the eyes also represent the feedback of a closed loop control system. Not only does the Lord tell the rocks where to go, but He watches them go there.

In Revelation 5:6, the seven horns and seven eyes are also described as the "seven Spirits from the source of God, sent out into all the earth." The "Lamb" has seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits. So the picture is drawn here in words of Jesus Christ as the Lamb without blemish who died as a substitute for the sins of the world. The Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated his Love for us by dying as a substitute for us to provide salvation. He also demonstrated His Integrity (Righteousness and Justice) in obeying the Father's Plan.

“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13, NAS)

God the Father demonstrated His love for us by sending Jesus Christ to the cross to provide our salvation.

But God demonstrates His own Love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died as a substitute for us. (Romans 5:8)

The Love of God that was demonstrated by the offering of Christ as a payment for sins. The Love of God is represented by all of the components of the rainbow (reference January 1, 2001).

Four Living Creatures

Around the throne were four living creatures. Living creatures is a translation of the Greek zw'/on (zo-on), which is from a root that means life. The living creatures were angels with six wings, i.e. seraphs. Since angelic rank is determined by the number of wings, the seraphs with six wings are the highest rank. These angels have eyes all over their bodies and are very similar to the living creatures in the theophany of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 10:12) (reference illustation at the left). These angels propelled the spaceship of the Lord (Ezekiel 1:4-28; 10:1-22) (reference illustration at the right). The eyes symbolize grace.

Revelation 4:6-8
6 and before the throne there was like a sea of glass like crystal; and in the midst around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. 7 And the first living creature was like the lion, and the second living creature like the calf, and the third living creature had a face like man, and the fourth living creature was like the flying eagle. 8 And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, saying without ceasing by day and night, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is coming."

The living creatures, however, are different from those in Ezekiel. The ones in Ezekiel had four faces, whereas, the ones in Revelation have one face each. The ones in Ezekiel had four wings, and these have six wings. The faces of the living creatures represent the four faces of the Lord Jesus Christ as portrayed in the four Gospels.

Lion - Lion of the Tribe of Judah - Matthew
Calf - Redeemer, Suffering Son of Man - Luke
Man - Righteous Servant; Impeccable Humanity of Christ - Mark
Eagle - Heavenly Son of God who came down from Heaven - John

The four living creatures were before the throne all the time and sang praises to God.

24 Elders

Seated around the Throne of God were 24 elders sitting on thrones. They were clothed in the white garments of angels, which is a very white color. And they had crowns on their heads.

And around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones twenty-four elders were sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads. (Revelation 4:4)

The word, elder, is the Greek, presbuvtero", (presbuteros), which means old man or elder. The term was commonly used for the head of the tribe in a tribal society. The tribal society was based upon seniority, and the elder person was the tribal leader. Here, the Apostle John uses this word for the Angelic General Staff. Isaiah used the same word, which is the Hebrew zaqen, for the Lord's elders at the Second Advent (Isaiah 24:23). They are also called Kings of Arms. These are the highest ranking Throne Angels. We know two of them, Michael and Gabriel. Michael and Gabriel are Archangels, or ruling angels (Throne Angels). Another name for the elders is "strong angel" (Revelation 5:2; 10:1; 18:21). The angelic elders are seraphs, the highest ranking angels.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Commander-in-Chief of the Angelic Army. The angelic elders are His General Staff. Michael, as the guardian of Client Nation Israel, has the entire Angelic Army under his command (Daniel 12:1; Revelation 12:7). Gabriel is both an army commander and an Officer of Arms in the Angelic College of Heralds.

The number, 24, stands for strategy. Strategic decisions come from the Throne of God, which is surrounded by the 24 Throne Angels of the General Staff. The Elect Angels are at war with the Fallen Angels. And Satan attacks Israel in his strategy to defeat the Plan of God. Therefore, even though the number, 24, stands for strategy, in application it is normally associated with Satan's strategic attack on Israel.

The angelic elders also worship before the Throne of God.

Revelation 4:10-11
10 the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11 "Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory, honor, and power; for You did create all things, and because of Your will they exist and will always exist."

The Integrated Picture

All the elements of the picture have now been given. They are:

Love of God
Love of Christ
Seven Spirits
Seven Lamps - Light
Seven Horns - Justice
Seven Eyes - Grace
Angels - responders to the Love of God

God's Love is expressed toward angels and all mankind. The Love of God expressed toward the angels enables them to respond in worship, adoration, and praise. The angels are content in their love relationship with God. The perfect Love of Christ toward all mankind was expressed in His willingness to go to the cross to pay for the sins of the world. The Holy Spirit, who possesses the same perfect Love as the Father and the Son, provides the Spiritual link to support God's Love relationship with the believer. The Seven Spirits from God represent the implementation of the Plan of God, which is an expression of the perfect Love of God.

The seven Spirits transport all production to creation. The seven lamps represent the complete category of production of all creation. Every scene of life for the Stage of Life is included in the light production which is transported to all creation. The stage lights come from Heaven. But the Integrity of God demands that the Light production be tempered with divine Justice, the seven horns. The seven horns, then, modulate the light just as a microphone modulates the electrical signal for a recorder. Then the seven eyes focus the justified production (modulated light). The eyes contain lenses to concentrate or magnify the image produced by the light. The eyes symbolize the grace of God. The eyes also see all that happens. Nothing is hidden from the seven eyes.

The sequence is:

1. Eyes - God expresses His Love toward us in grace (Y-axis)
    7 eyes - grace
    7 Spirits - transmission links between Heaven and Earth
    7 horns - encode specific commands, e.g. "Hear my voice"
2. Spirits - the Holy Spirit sustains while God waits for His Righteousness to be satisfied (X-axis)
    mankind responds to the love of God
    the Spirit transmits human love back to God
    mankind obeys the Justice of God
3. Horns - God verifies the results (Z-axis)
    7 eyes - see all
    7 Spirits - relay the results to Heaven
    7 horns - vindicate or condemn the results

God loves us and expresses His Love toward us. He waits for us to respond to His Love by loving Him in return. Our love is transmitted up the same bi-directional Spirit link that God uses toward us. When we are motivated by the Love of God, we respect God and obey Him. But God does not just send commands open loop and forget them. He waits for the results of the commands. He waits for mankind to respond to His Love. If mankind responds, then God vindicates the love response. But if mankind rejects God's Love, then God condemns the rejection through His perfect Justice.

Just as there are three groups of 7 eyes, 7 Spirits, and 7 horns, the relationship of God with all of creation occurs in a sequence of three:

God's Love expressed in Grace

God's wait for the response as the Holy Spirit sustains

God's verification of the results

In the Garden: God's Love created mankind. God waited for mankind to obey. God saw that mankind did not obey and judged the disobedience. After the Fall: God loved mankind and provided Salvation. God waits for mankind to respond. God will save those who accept Salvation and condemn those who reject Salvation.

Soul Life

God gives soul life to all animal forms. Yes, animals have a soul according to the Bible.

and to every animal of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the Earth which has soul-life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. (Genesis 1:30)

The phrase, "which has soul-life" in the original Hebrew contains hY*j^ vp#n# (nephesh chajjah). Nephesh means soul and chajjah means life. This soul-life is one of the seven Spirits of life that comes from the Heavenly Control Room. There are seven categories of life under the control of the seven Spirits.

Plant Life (Genesis 1:11-13)
Biological (Cell) Life (Animals, Man - in the womb) (Job 10:9-11; Psa. 139:13)
Animal Soul Life (Genesis 1:30; Lev. 17:14)
Human Soul Life (n_eshamah) = spark of life) (Genesis 2:7; Isa. 2:22)
Angelic Life (Psalm 33:6)
Human Spirit Life (Rom. 8:16; 1 Cor 2:13-15; 2 Cor. 7:13; Philemon 25; 1 Thess. 5:23)
Resurrection Life (Matt 17:2; Mark 9:2; Luke 9:29; Rom 1:4; 1 Cor 15:42; 1 Pet 1:3, 3:21)

The pattern for giving human life is given in the creation of Adam.

Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7)

"Dust" refers to the chemical elements of biological life. The Lord sculpted man's body from the elements of the earth and gave him biological life. Biological life cannot reason and has no volition. It is not human life. It is simply cell life. Then the Lord gave the "breath of life," which is Hebrew <yY!j tm^v+n! (nish_emath chajjim). Nish_emath means "spirit of life," and chajjim means "lives." Adam was born with three lives: Biological, soulish (human), and Spiritual. He was trichotomous. He was created perfect. When he later sinned, he died spiritually, and much later (approximately 900 years later) he died physically. The Lord "breathed into his nostrils" refers to the downloading of the human soul life and Spiritual life from the Heavenly Control Room.

It is not a simple thing to create human life. The life has to have an identification name or number so that it will respond to divine commands. The life has to have logistical support (e.g. air, food, temperature control). The life has to have a purpose and relationships, e.g. Right Man - Right Woman and family. When the Lord brought Adam into the world, all these things were provided. A file with Adam's name was allocated in the Plan of God Server and Adam was given lives. He was given the "spirit of life of lives," which means soul operating system (SOS) of lives in computer terminology. The human soul with life functions like a computer operating system. Biological life is like the computer hardware, which is of no value without an operating system. When the Lord "breathed into his nostrils," Adam received two platforms via the spiritual communication link of the seven Spirits: (1) Soulish and (2) Spiritual.

Illustration: Soul Life of Man

Since Adam, the pattern for imputation of human life is still the same. Biological life exists in the womb. When the baby in the womb can sustain life, the soul operating system, "spirit of life of lives" is downloaded from the Heavenly Control Room. However, for man born with the sin of Adam, the Integrity of God must judge man with spiritual death. So the baby is born physically alive (human life) but spiritually dead. As long as the soul is in the body, human life exists. When the soul is taken from the body, the body is dead. The Lord gives soul life and takes it back at death (Job 1:21; Psalm 104:29-30).

Birth and Death

A number of passages of scripture describe birth and death.

Thus says God the LORD,

Who created the heavens and stretched them out,

Who spread out the Earth and its production,

Who gives soul life to the people on it,

And the spirit of human life to those who walk in it, (Isaiah 42:5)

In this passage "soul life," is n_eshamah, the soul operating system. The "spirit of human life" is rucha, which means spirit of human life that goes through the meridians of the body and sustains biological life. Thus, Isaiah also says that the Lord gives the soul operating system of life.

“The Spirit of God has made me,

And the spirit of life (n_eshamah) of the Almighty gives me life. (Job 33:4)

In Job 33:4, the word "spirit of life" is again, n_eshamah, the soul operating system. The soul operating system from the Almighty is the source of human life.

Ecclesiastes 12:6-7

6 Remember Him before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed; 7 then the dust will return to the Earth as it was, and the spirit of human life will return to God who gave it.

Ecclesiastes 12:6-7 contains the symbols of death and destruction. The “silver cord” refers to the life line connection to God via the 7 Spirits (Rev. 4:5, 5:6). Silver is symbolic of the Justice of God just as the "horns" in Revelation. The “golden bowl is crushed,” which holds the oil that symbolizes the Holy Spirit (Zech 4:2). This is the same analogy as the seven spirits and the seven lamps. When the bowl is crushed, the Spirit of God is disconnected. “The pitcher by the well is shattered” - smashing a clay pot with a rod of iron symbolizes decisive justice (Rev. 2:27; Isa 30:14). The “wheel at the cistern is crushed” - this is similar to the analogy in Jeremiah of broken cisterns that hold no water (Jer 2:13). If the water wheel is broken, the cistern will be empty. This is the same meaning as the previous two symbols.

In verse 7, the “dust” refers to the chemical elements and to biological life. The "spirit” is rucha, which means spirit. "The spirit will return to God who gave it” means the Soul Operating System will be uploaded and the Earthly port deactivated (Job 34:14; Eccl. 12:7; Luke 23:46; Acts 7:59). God will take back the soul and spirit of human life (which sustains biological life). If the person is a believer, his soul with the human spirit will go to be with the Lord.

Who knows regarding the spirit (of life) of the children of Adam, whether it ascends upward and regarding the spirit (of life) of the animal, whether it descends downward to the Earth? (Ecclesiastes 3:21)

"Spirit of life" is the rucha, for the spirit of human life that sustains biological life. Here it is also used generally for spirit of life (soul life) as well. God takes both soul life and the spirit of huma life away at death. At death the human soul is absent from the body and face-to-face with the Lord; but the animal soul descends downward into the Earth.

Job 34:14-15

14 If He (God) should direct His heart to Himself,

If He should gather His Spirit of human life and His spirit of life (n_eshamah) to Himself,

15 All flesh would expire together,

And man would return to dust.

“His spirit” is rucha, which refers to the spirit of human life, which sustains biological life. “His spirit of life” is n_eshamah, the soul operating system. If the God were to withdraw the spirit of human life and spirit of life (soul life), all flesh would die.

Conclusion

The Lord controls His creation, the Universe and everything in it, from the Throne Room in Heaven. The Heavenly Control System is symbolically described in Revelation 4:5 and 5:6. The seven Spirits of God symbolize a complete category. Everything in the Universe, animate and inanimate, spiritual and temporal is controlled from the Heavenly Control System. The so-called scientific laws are simply production of the light of God from the grace policy of God. God is Love, and His policy toward mankind is always grace. He cannot, however, compromise His divine Integrity as expressed in His absolute Righteousness and perfect Justice. None of the components of God's Love, as illustrated by the colors of the rainbow, can be compromised. Therefore, God's relationship with all of His creation is a demonstration of His Love. The Control Room in Heaven enables God to express His Love for all creation.

References

1. Reuben Luther Katter. The History of Creation and Origin of the Species, (Minneapolis: Theotes Logos Research, Inc., 4318 York Ave. So., Minneapolis, Minnesota 55410), 1967.
2. LarryWood. Fellowship with God, "Producer of Life," "Zecharias," Sept. 14, 2013

Released September 18, 1997 - Revised Sept. 14, 2013

Author: Larry Wood