We are going to take a look at a group of heavenly beings that surround the throne of God. These creatures are called cherubim. I find these creatures fascinating and confusing all rolled into one. Where do we begin in this journey? I say let’s begin with the very first mention of cherubim in the Bible.
“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.” Genesis 3:24 (ESV)
We see here that cherubim are given the job to protect man from the tree of life. Why? The fruit of the tree of life would allow man to never die. They would continually have access to the perfect government of God.
However, when they chose to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, aka participate in the government of Satan, they died spiritually and would need to eventually die physically.
They could no longer have easy access to the government of God because sin can not be in the presence of God. It doesn’t agree with the rules and protocols set in the government of God. Man was now at enmity with the government of God. and if they had free access to it, would attempt to change the way things are done in God’s government. Therefore a guard was placed to protect both man and God’s government from access.
Trees
If we have spiritual trees and are trees in the spirit, then is it possible that God also has a spiritual tree-called the tree of life- and is that tree? We are created in his image after all.
Could it be that when Adam and Eve ate from the tree of life they were partaking in the spiritual essence of God? That is one of the reasons we can not eat from that tree until we get our new bodies? Not just because we don’t want our broken bodies to live forever but because we aren’t able to experience whatever it is one experiences when eating from the fruit of the tree of life.
I’m really feeling like there is so much more to the tree of life than just it’s part of God’s government and gives us life.
In the Temple / Tabernacle
We see in another place where cherubim are placed as guardians of holy places in Exodus when God is showing Moses the blueprints for the tabernacle. God told Moses to have cherubim sewn into the curtains that separated the Holy Place with the Holy of Holies.
“He made the veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen; with cherubim skillfully worked into it he made it.” Exodus 36:35 (ESV)
Why were cherubim sewn into the curtains? Again, it is because they are protectors of God’s holiness. They protect man from entering into God’s holiness and being killed for not following the protocols established by God to be in his government.
Sin can’t survive in the presence of God and his holiness. In fact God’s holiness kills sin and thus would kill the person covered in sin in the process.
Sin is like a sticky leach that latches itself onto people and sucks us dry until we die. It feeds off of people’s actions and thoughts. The more we bow down to the temptations of sin and come into agreement with the government of sin, the more we are both trapped by sin, and the more we physically die because sin is sucking the very life out of its host. Afterall, that’s what parasites do. They suck out all the nutrients of their host until their host dies. Then they either die too or find another host to suck dry and kill. Sin is like that parasite.
God’s Presence Kills Sin
However, when sin is in the presence of God it dies. It literally can not live in the presence of God. This is why sin was defeated on the cross. When Jesus was on the cross and took all of our sins upon himself, sin was forced to remain in the presence of Jesus, who is 100% God, until sin was completely killed. This may be one of the reasons Jesus proclaimed, “It is finished,” on the cross. Sin was dead. It was finished!
In the tabernacle, the cherubim were there to protect people from dying because they were soaked in sin and would die along with sin if they entered the Holy of Holies, the place where God’s presence dwelled on earth.
Inside the Holy of Holies
Once a person entered into the Holy of Holies, they were faced with more cherubim. There were 2 cherubim carved into the Ark of the Covenant which overshadowed the mercy seat- the very place where God’s presence sat in the Holy of Holies.
“The cherubim spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, with their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat were the faces of the cherubim.” Exodus 37:9 (ESV)
When Jesus died and killed sin once and for all, what tore in the Temple? The curtain that separated the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. No longer did people need to do ceremonial cleansing to be free from the leach of sin. Now we are free to enter into the very presence of God without dying. Of course we need to be covered in the blood of the lamb first!
We have looked at the role cherubim play in regards to protecting God’s presence from humans and our sin. Next week we will continue our discussion and take a look at where in 3rd Heaven the cherubim dwell and begin to look at the description of these fascinating creatures. I hope you will join me!
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