Wherever God is, you will also find the Cherubim.
Thus David says to God:
Psalms 80:1 (NKJV)
Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock;
You who dwell between the cherubim, shine forth!
And Ezekiel tells us of a vision he had.
He sees six men, each with a deadly weapon in his hand.
Ezekiel 9:3a (NASB)
Then the glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub on which it had been, to the threshold of the temple.
Also in the book of Revelation you will find Cherubim in the presence of God.
I have been taught that the cherub is an angel-like being, of which we do not know exactly what its function is.
I was also taught that Satan was a cherub, and that therefore he could be so close to God.
Maybe you were taught likewise.
However, after having done a deep study of this myself, I am convinced that the cherub has a completely different meaning.
The cherub shows the different aspects of the Christ.
By this I mean in the first place Jesus, as head, and then man, as body of Christ.
A cherub therefore represents in the Bible the glorified man, the man who has inherited what has been promised to those who overcome.
As God has promised in Revelation 21:
Revelation 21:7 (NKJV)
He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.
It is them who bear God, who bear His image as His Son, and always abide in His presence.
satan
Satan has everything to do with this!
Satan means adversary.
In the Garden in Eden, God says to the serpent:
Genesis 3:15 (NASB)
I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed.
This enmity is the enmity between the flesh and the Spirit.
The flesh is the adversary of the Spirit.
Romans 8:7 (NKJV)
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God;
for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.
So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
It speaks of life according to the flesh in relation to life according to the Spirit.
The offspring of the serpent are those who live after the flesh, or that part of us that is carnal.
John 8:44 (NASB)
You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father says Jesus to a number of Jews.
So they are the offspring of the serpent and do the same as their father, Satan.
Like father Like Son!
We also see this reflected in other statements by Jesus against a number of people.
Thus He says to Peter:
Matthew 16:23 (NKJV)
Get behind Me, Satan!
You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.
Peter spoke what came to mind in the flesh, but the mind of the flesh is enmity against God.
At one point, a little earlier in history than this incident involving Peter, Jesus tells His disciples:
John 6:70 (NASB)
Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?
Now He meant Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray Him.
We also read in several places in the Bible that Jesus calls the Pharisees a brood of vipers.
In the garden in Eden God already spoke about the offspring of the serpent, here Jesus literally calls the Pharisees that! Breed of vipers.
In all these texts we read that people are called by Jesus satan, devil and serpent.
Throughout the Bible, Satan mainly refers to the flesh and everything that derives from it.
your true identity
In declaring that Satan is a fallen cherub, the book of Ezekiel is often quoted, especially Ezekiel 28 where it says:
Ezekiel 28:12-15 (NAS)
Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre,
and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God:
“You were the seal of perfection,
full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
You were in Eden, the garden of God;
Every precious stone was your covering:
The sardius, topaz, and diamond,
Beryl, onyx, and jasper,
Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold.
The workmanship of its settings and sockets
was prepared for you on the day you were created.
“You were the anointed cherub who covers;
I established you;
You were on the holy mountain of God;
You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones.
You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created,
untill unrighteousness was found in you.
Here we read that this is a lamentation from God over the king of Tire.
In the second and ninth verses of this chapter we can read that this king is not Satan, but a man.
Look:
Ezekiel 28:2 (NASB)
Son of man, say to the leader of Tyre: thus says the Lord God, because your heart is lifted up and you have said, ‘I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods in the heart of the seas ‘; yet you are a man and not God, although you make your heart like the heart of God.
Ezekiel 28:9 (NASB)
Will you still say, “I am a god,” In the presence of your slayer, though you are a man and not God?
This man was wonderfully made and lived in perfection with God in the garden, until his heart is lifted up and he wants to be like God.
Eve therefore eats of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, after the serpent said to her:
Genesis 3:5-6 (NKJV)
God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.
The wisdom of God is not enough, and to gain more wisdom man eats of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, the earthly wisdom.
In the garden in Eden, man had the seal of perfection; made in the image and likeness of God, filled with His wisdom and clothed with God Himself.
This is your identity!
You are made in the image and likeness of God;
a seal of perfection, full of wisdom, perfect in beauty and clothed with every precious stone.
However, because, like Adam and Eve, you have eaten of the fruit of earthly wisdom, you no longer see with spiritual eyes but with eyes of the flesh and do not see that God had clothed you with every precious stone.
Genesis 3:7 (NASB)
Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked.
To help you understand exactly what all this means, God instructs Moses to build a tabernacle and appoint a high priest over it.
This high priest had to be dressed in a special way.
One of the parts of his clothing was the chest bag.
God gives Moses the following command:
Exodus 28:15a + 17-20 (NKJV)
You shall make the breastplate of judgment.
And you shall put settings of stones in it, four rows of stones:
The first row shall be a sardius, a topaz, and an emerald;
the second row shall be a turquoise, a sapphire, and a diamond;
the third row, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst;
and the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper.
They shall be set in gold settings.
God uses natural, visible things to teach us the sprititual, the invisible.
With the tabernacle, the priests, the breast plate and everything else God wants to teachus us spiritual things.
Jesus has…
Revelation 5:10 (NKJV)
…made us kings and priests to our God!
To serve Him in His temple, that is our body.
1 Corinthians 6:19 (NKJV)
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
Do you now see the similarities between Exodus 28 and Ezekiel 28?
God shows us our true identity.
Exodus 28:15a + 17-20 (NKJV)
You shall make the breastplate of judgment.
And you shall put settings of stones in it, four rows of stones:
The first row shall be a sardius, a topaz, and an emerald; this shall be the first row;
the second row shall be a turquoise, a sapphire, and a diamond;
the third row, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst;
and the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper.
They shall be set in gold settings.
Ezekiel 28:12-13 (BSB)
You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
You were in Eden, the garden of God.
Every kind of precious stone adorned you:
ruby, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald.
Your mountings and settings were crafted in gold,
prepared on the day of your creation.
Exalted
The descriptions of Cherubim in the Bible are very fascinating. Ezekiel, for instance, sees…
Ezekiel 1:5-10 (NASB)
… four living beings. And this was their appearance: they had human form.
Each of them had four faces and four wings.
Their legs were straight and their feet were like a calf’s hoof , and they gleamed like burnished bronze.
Under their wings on their four sides were human hands.
As for the faces and wings of the four of them, their wings touched one another; their faces did not turn when they moved, each went straight forward.
As for the form of their faces, each had the face of a man; all four had the face of a lion on the right and the face of a bull on the left, and all four had the face of an eagle.
Also in the book of Revelation the Cherubim are described, where the same aspects as in the book of Ezekiel are mentioned.
In the tabernacle we also find the cherubim and Solomon also allows the cherubim to appear in elements of the temple.
For example, ten stands of bronze are made, notably by someone from Tyre, which, in terms of design, quite match the description given to us by Ezekiel and John.
Why are these creatures so extensively described in the Bible?
Is it so that we will recognize them when we die? I don’t think so.
All the characteristics given about these beings say something about their character and the role they play.
For example, Cherubim are always mentioned in the presence of God. That aspect is even reflected in their color.
Each of the cherubs was on wheels.
The color of these wheels is turquoise.
Turquoise is the first stone in the fourth row of the high priest’s breastplate.
These 12 stones represent the 12 sons of Jacob.
Turquoise is the stone of Zebulun.
Zebulun means exalted. That’s exactly what a cherub is, exalted; always in the presence of God.
John sees in the spirit while on Patmos…
Revelation 4:6 (NASB)
… around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind.
The description he gives of the creatures is very similar to the description given to us by Ezekiel.
So here too these Cherubim are at the throne of God., in His presence.
John’s definition of them as being completely covered with eyes means that they fully understand the greatness of the suffering, death and resurrection of Christ and see the glory of God. They have full insight!
I pray that you will have a deep relationship with God and stop eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.
I pray that you may come to know His perfect all-encompassing love and become a cherub at the throne of God.
I pray…
Ephesians 1:18-19
… that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened,
so that you will know what is the hope of His calling,
what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.
