Each of the four living creatures had four wings, two for covering and two for moving. Two wings are for moving and joining one to the other. The joining is for the moving. In a later chapter we will see that the moving is altogether a corporate matter. Here, two wings are for moving and two are for covering. The grace, the power, and the strength of the Lord to us is not only for moving, but also for covering us. We are under the overshadowing of the grace and power of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are under the covering of His power. Whatever we do and whatever we are must be by the grace and power of the Lord. At the same time, we are under the overshadowing, the covering of the Lord's grace. As Christians, we should have an element that causes people to wonder at us. Many times, they should be able to realize that something is covering and overshadowing us. On the one hand, they should realize we are normal people, yet with us there is something empowering, something strengthening, some thing overshadowing, and something covering.
The front face of the four living creatures is the face of a man, but the body is that of an eagle. Two of his wings are stretched forth to join to the other living creatures, and two of his wings are wrapped around his body for a cover. Thus, if you look at his face, he looks like a man, but if you look at his body, he looks like an eagle. He looks like a man, but he moves like an eagle. We must express ourselves all the time like a man, like a normal and proper husband, wife, parent, child, student, or teacher; but when people look and consider us, they should realize there is something covering, empowering, strengthening, protecting, and overshadowing us. It should be difficult for people to explain us. We should be able to suffer things others cannot suffer. We should bear responsibility that others cannot bear. We should understand things more deeply than others do. With us, there must be something mysterious; though we suffer, we are always happy. Something is always covering us. Thus, we have two wings for moving, and we have another two wings for covering and overshadowing us. Those moving and overshadowing wings should give people the impression of the Divine Being. That is the eagle. We have the four wings of an eagle, giving people the impression that we have God with us as our power and our protection.
Under the wings are the hands of a man. This means that a proper, normal Christian must always do things exactly like a man. He must use man's hands. Paul said that his two hands ministered to his own necessities and to the needs of his co-workers (Acts 20:34). Some say they have faith in the almighty God to supply all their needs, hence there is no need for them to use their hands to do anything. But consider the Apostle Paul. With Paul there were always the two sides. Surely there were not only the four wings, but also the hands of a man. He said it was not by his wisdom, but by the grace of God and that the grace of God with him was not in vain (2 Cor. 1:12; 1 Cor. 15:10). This is the side of the eagle's wings. But he also said he labored more than all the other apostles (1 Cor. 15:10). You may think there was no need for Paul to work with his own hands. But Paul took the way of working with his own hands; he took the human way.
Sometimes young people imagine that because they are seeking the Lord, there is no need for them to study hard. They hope that when the test comes they will pass with an A+. This is absolutely wrong. No matter how much you seek the Lord, no matter how much you love Him and care for Him, you still must study hard to prepare your lessons. No matter how much the grace of God is with us empowering us, we must fulfill our human duty. We must daily eat the proper human food in the human way, according to human principles. If we do not eat humanly but rather like an angel, we will become sick. We must do things like a human. Under the four wings are the man's hands. The hands of a man must always be working. This is a battle. The worldly people have only the man's hands. They have no eagle's wings. But many so-called religious people seem to have only the eagle's wings; they do not seem to have the hands of a man. They seem to be like an angel. We must have both. We must have the wings of the Lord's empowering grace and the hands of a man, cooperating with God in a human way.