"With these wonderful words John introduces the New Testament church to Old Testament understanding. For the first time in the book of Revelation, here at the very beginning, he is bringing the Old Testament literal types and shadows over into the New Testament fulfillment. The Old Testament was all about natural, physical, earthly types and shadows of kingship and priesthood. Their kings and priests sat on physical thrones and offered animal sacrifices upon brazen altars in temples made with hands. But now John is raising this kingship and priesthood into a higher, spiritual dimension and announces to the saints that Christ now “hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father.” With this simple beginning John does what we have seen him do constantly throughout the book of Revelation — refer to Old Testament terminology within the context of New Testament spiritual reality! And then, shortly, we are shown another scene."
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"The word “beasts” is an unfortunate translation, being necessarily associated in our minds with the brute creation and that which is typified thereby. It is not the Greek word therion which in thirty-five instances in the book of Revelation is translated beast, meaning “a wild and ravenous beast,” thus denoting an animal of ferocious disposition. It is, rather, the Greek word zoon which signifies simply a “living creature”
"The word zoon, however, means living creature, or a creature expressing life. It comes from the root zao from which also is derived the word zoe which is used exclusively in the New Testament in reference to divine life or the life of the ages."