THE CHERUBIM OF GLORY
[p. 376] THE CHERUBIM OF GLORY
Genesis 3:24; Exodus 25:17 - 22; Leviticus 16:14 - 15; 2 Chronicles 3:10 - 13; 1 Kings 6: 23 - 35; Isaiah 6: 1 - 8
The cherubim represent the government of God. Placed in Eden, their service was of a negative character: they kept the way of the tree of life. Adam having sinned, his race is barred for ever from the tree of life. None could elude the flaming sword which turned every way. Death precluded all possibility of man in the flesh having part in the tree of life. God allowed the race to perpetuate itself; but death lay upon all, for all had sinned. The government of God is inexorable. All this marked the dealings of God with man in Old Testament times. God bore with men, but His judgment was there, and life was an impossibility for the children of Adam.
The coming of Christ changed the situation. The position of the cherubim was altered. Christ is in view in Exodus 25. The flaming sword has disappeared, and the faces of the cherubim are toward the mercy seat — Christ. Alluding in the New Testament to Exodus 25, the Holy Spirit says, “The cherubim of glory”; in this expression we may perceive the divine thought in the cherubim. Their presence and attitude in the tabernacle involved, typically, the affections of the Father. Glory has reference to God’s nature, and this shone out when the Son became Man. God’s face was toward Him in infinite complacency. The opening of the gospels abound with touches of this. At the Lord’s birth all heaven was astir, the delight of the angels at Bethlehem, Luke 2, but reflecting the heart of the Father above. Here there is no sword. The first man had sinned, and hence the cherubim and flaming sword guarded the tree of life from his approach [p. 377] but the second Man has now appeared, and judgment applies not to Him. Instead of this we have, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men”. Luke 2:14.
Becoming incarnate, the Lord took the place of outward weakness, but the Father’s tender, protecting care was there. The outstretched wings of the cherubim pointed to this. “The cherubim shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings”. Exodus 25:20. Herod would slay Christ, but God directed Joseph to take the young Child and His mother and flee into Egypt. Becoming Man, the Lord was the Ark of the testimony and the mercy seat; every divine thought should be made good in Him, and the Father’s protecting wing overshadowed Him.
In this blessed One God meets men and speaks to men: “There I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat”. Exodus 25:22. Wonderful meeting place between God and man! God has appointed the meeting place, and this is in Christ. All hinges on the Person — He is divine; but, nevertheless, the lowliest and most approachable of all that ever trod the earth. The sinner has nothing to fear in Him. Elihu says to Job, “My terror shall not make thee afraid”. Job 33:7. The divinely appointed meeting place is in a Man — in One whose character disarms us of all fear and want of confidence.
In Christ God also speaks to men. “This is my beloved Son, hear him”. Luke 9:35. Through Him every divine communication comes to us. The mercy seat was the lid of the ark; below it was the testimony; there was that there which spoke of the affections of Christ. What a Treasure in the eye of the Father! Hence the attitude of the cherubim.
In Leviticus 16 Christ is set forth from our side; in Exodus 25 He is on God’s side. In Leviticus 16 He is approaching God in accomplishing the great [p. 378] work of atonement. He is meeting God representatively; and in the sacrifice of Himself He has laid the immutable basis for the gospel. On the ground of what this chapter sets forth the believer is in all the favour indicated in the cherubim in Exodus 25. Instead of the flaming sword keeping us from the tree of life, we are the companions of Him who is in His own Person the resurrection and the life. Aaron was to wash his flesh in water and to clothe himself with a linen coat, breeches, girdle and mitre when he entered the holiest. The linen clothing speaks of the infinite personal holiness of Christ. The sweet incense placed on the coals from the altar is the moral fragrance of Christ, which death itself only brought out more perfectly, and thus it covered the mercy seat. It ascended to God’s unspeakable pleasure. Such an One, who is thus shown to be in every way acceptable to God, is Himself the sacrifice whose blood is sprinkled upon the mercy seat, “And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times”, Leviticus 16:14. Thus there was the perfect testimony that the man that sinned, the man from whom the tree of life was guarded by the cherubim, is removed to God’s glory in the death of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
God thus glorified through the death of Christ is known in His house. In 2 Chronicles 3 the attitude of the cherubim is again changed. Their position here is different from that in which they were seen even in the tabernacle. “They stood on their feet, and their faces were inward”. 2 Chronicles 3:13. “Inward” means that they looked toward the house (as the margin reads), or holy place, instead of toward the mercy seat. Applying this to the present time, we see the wonderful spectacle of God looking out toward humanity in blessing. This is really the situation,
beloved friends. God’s face is toward man in favour. As in Exodus 25 the cherubim had no sword, so here the sword could have no reference to Christ personally, and now that His death for us has taken place, it has no reference to us. The cherubim are on their feet looking out. It is the attitude of God at the present time. And what a long look-out God has! It extends to the utmost bounds of humanity. The least movement in the heart of man toward Him is taken notice of. See how the Father observed the prodigal! “When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him ... and ran” Luke 15:20. Happy it is for the sinner when he thinks of God as the prodigal did of his father. He becomes an object of interest in heaven. “Joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth”. Luke 15:7. It is a greater thing to be distinguished in heaven than on earth; and we are distinguished there when we repent. God observes us, for He is looking out. But the gospel goes beyond the type, for it presents God not only as looking out toward men, but as running out to meet them when returning to Him.
But if God runs out to meet men it is to bring them into His house. The prodigal was clothed and made in every way suitable to God’s abode, and then brought into it. 1 Kings 6 shows that God would surround Himself in His dwelling place with men. There were chambers round about the temple. We see this also in Luke 14:23 “Compel them to come in, that my house may be filled”. The gospel accords to the believer the place of a son; and sonship gives title to the house — the son abides in the house for ever.
But in seeking to set before you the full blessing of the gospel, I cannot refrain from saying a word as to the responsibility involved in being in the house of God at the present time. This is why I read 1 Kings 6:23 - 35. You will observe that cherubim [p. 380] were carved upon the walls and doors of the temple, besides being in the oracle. On entering the threshold of the house you are reminded that God’s holy government prevails there; and within, you are reminded everywhere you look of the same thing. Knowing God and yourself, you rejoice in this, for you are assured that what the cherubim represent is the only guarantee for the continuance of the blessing into which you have been introduced. The holy rule of God shall mark His house even throughout eternity, but it is evident that it is of special importance in the circumstances in which the house is found now.
I add a word as to the seraphim, Isaiah 6. It seems to me that while they maintain the holiness of Him who sits upon the throne they are, at the same time, the executors of His grace. In the presence of the Lord on His throne, Isaiah is convicted of his uncleanness “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips”. Isaiah 6:5. What an opportunity for grace! and the seraph embraces it. With a live coal from the altar he flies to the relief of the prophet. It is a ministry of grace - “He laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged”. Isaiah 6:7. The ministry that maintains the holiness of God is the same that cleanses us. The seraphim represent this. But the agency that cleanses men now in accordance with the holiness of God is that which shall judge the wicked in the future, so as to vindicate the holy character of God. The seraphim are the executors of the grace of God; the cherubim, of His government. May we understand both!
Pages 381 to 494, “David — A type of Christ as King and Head”, Indianapolis, 1909 (Volume 9)