The first
introduction to the cherubim is in Genesis 3 immediately after Adam brought sin
into the world. Adam had disobeyed God and eaten from the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. God had to keep man from also eating from the tree of life,
and so living in sin forever. So, “He
drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim
and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.”[1]
The cherubim were assigned the task of keeping sinful man away from the tree of
life. That was only a temporary assignment, as the unfolding story wonderfully
reveals.
The
next thing that stood out to me about the cherubim was their imagery used in
reference to the ark of the covenant.[2] After God told Moses how the ark was to be built, and what it was
to contain, he continued with a description of the mercy seat that would sit on
the ark. Included in the mercy seat would be two cherubim of hammered gold made
of “one piece with the mercy seat.”[3]The description continued with, “The
cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with
their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of
the cherubim be.”[4]
Then
God tells us the purpose of the mercy seat. “There
I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two
cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all
that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.”[5]
What
the mercy seat depicted was the way that God’s presence was surrounded by the
cherubim. The two figures that adorned the mercy seat atop the ark of the
covenant symbolized the many others that surround the throne of God, all looking
towards his presence, all hanging on every word that he speaks.
One
of the things that drew my attention was the wonder that God would call the
meeting place between God and man “the
mercy seat”. Even under the law, God wanted his people to know that they
were coming to the God of mercy, to the throne of mercy. The cherubim knew that
full well, and so they framed the place of God’s presence with their testimony
of adoration and worship.
As
I took this further along to Ezekiel’s revelation of the four living creatures as
the cherubim, and the way the holy throne of God was situated above them, above
the expanse over their heads, I could see the connection between the image on
the ark of the covenant, and the symbolism of the four living creatures. From
the two figures on the mercy seat, their wings outstretched above and around
the place where God would meet with and speak to his people, to the cherubim of
Ezekiel, their role is to help man look to God. The consistent message is, “Look
to him who sits on the throne!”
It
seems that, every time we are shown these incredible angelic figures, whether
in the figures of hammered gold, or the symbolism of four living creatures, we
are drawn to look at the one who meets and speaks to his people. The two golden
figures do not ask us to look to them, and the four living creatures do not ask
us to look to them. Rather, they all call us to look where they are looking, at
the one who sits on the throne.
As
I considered how these two cherubim, and four living creatures, all draw
attention to the one who sits on the throne, I was drawn to a glorious picture
that is mind-boggling in its revelation of how we are to think of us coming to
God through his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. After reminding us that we do not
come to God the way Israel did under the law, with all the terrifying expressions
of God’s holiness, righteousness and justice at the time that God was meeting
with Moses on the mountain, the writer gives the positive description of what
it means that we come to God as his people. He writes:
22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city
of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal
gathering, 23 and to the assembly of
the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to
the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and
to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that
speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.[6]
Although
the whole picture is worthy of far more Ponderings than I would ever have time to
write, this one thing stood out in relation to the cherubim. We come to “innumerable angels in festal gathering”.
That tells us so much about our God. He has innumerable angels around his
throne. They are ready to do his will. They will come with Jesus when he
returns in his glory, and they will gather the elect from all around the earth.
These
angels are in “festal gathering”.
They are not worried. They are not fretting. They are not concerned as if God
doesn’t know what he is doing. They are not afraid of the red dragon or his emissaries.
They are in a festive gathering as they surround the throne of the one who
rules for the good of his people, and will soon bring all his redemptive plans
to their promised conclusion.
The
New Covenant does not call us to a mercy seat that was hidden away in the Most
Holy Place where only the High Priest could go once a year.[7] It doesn’t call us to a veiled presence of God where cherubim
continue to keep sinful men away from the tree of life.
Instead,
the New Covenant calls us to “with
confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find
grace to help in time of need.”[8] The veil, the curtain woven through with cherubim, has been torn in
two.[9] The cherubim once symbolized in the golden figures inviting sinful
men to the mercyseat of God, now surround the throne and declare the praises of
the one who sits on the throne, who continues to call people to his mercy
through faith in his Son.
Now,
remember that the cherubim were first introduced to us guarding the way to the
tree of life. And remember that the cherubim were standing guard over the
presence of God on the mercy seat, where God would meet with and speak to his
people. And remember the angels that announced Jesus’ coming to Zechariah and
Elizabeth, to Mary and Joseph, and to the shepherds who welcomed our glorious
Savior into the world. And remember the angels who ministered to Jesus in the
garden of Gethsemane, and later told Jesus’ friends that Jesus was alive, and
that they would see him coming again. Now look ahead to what Revelation tells
us is yet to come for all those who look where the cherubim are looking:
1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of
life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city;
also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of
fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the
healing of the nations.[10]
I
do not claim to know all the intricacies of how cherubim are really different
than seraphim,[11] or why we are to think of these angelic beings the way the four
living creatures are pictured in Ezekiel. But I have this wonderful sense of
how the cherubim, the innumerable angels in festal gathering around the presence
of God, all call us to listen to the one who sits on the throne.
One
day, the same angels that kept us away from the tree of life, protecting us
from the hopeless possibility of sinful man living forever in sin, will lead us
up to the tree of life, where we will drink freely of the water of life, bright
as the crystal expanse above the four living creatures.
The
conclusion of the matter is what the writer of Hebrews stated at the end of his
description of our coming before the one who sits on the throne. It is the summary
of everything the cherubim, and the four living creatures, have been seeking to
tell us: “See that you do not refuse him
who is speaking.”[12]
From
my heart,
Monte
© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
[1]
Genesis 3:24
[2]
Exodus 25
[3]
Exodus 25:19
[4]
Exodus 25:20
[5]
Exodus 25:22
[6]
Hebrews 12
[7]
It would take another Ping to consider why the veil hiding the mercy seat from
view was woven through with figures of cherubim, as were the curtains all
around the tabernacle.
[8]
Hebrews 4:16
[9]
Matthew 27:51
[10]
Revelation 22
[11]
A whole other Pondering!
[12]
Hebrews 12:25
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