Hebrews Chapter Nine, The Overshadowing Cherub

 

Hebrews 9:5 and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

 

If the tabernacle was in fact an earthly shadow of the heavenly things, then this depiction of the cherubim is quite telling. The highest of the angelic orders, the cherubim held a position of great glory amidst the ranks of the host of Heaven. Our Lord informs us that the angels are glorious (filled with glory), Luke 9:26. In Jude we read, “Yet in the same way these men, also be dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties,” Jude 8, NASB. “Angelic majesties” in the Greek is literally translated, “glories.” The HCSB renders the term “glorious ones.”

The cherubim are always closely linked to God and His throne. We read of their activity in the person of one fallen cherub: “You were the anointed cherub who covers; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of the fiery stones,” Ezekiel 28:14. The Hebrew word for “cover,” is “sakak,” and is defined as, “to entwine as a screen; by implication to fence in or cover over; protect.” The same sense is derived from the Greek term “overshadowing,” or in the KJV simply, “shadowing.” The word “kataskiazo” meant that the cherubim cast their shadows over, or upon, God’s mercy seat like a screen or cover.

 

It is worthy enough to note that these specific angels are called the cherubim of glory. It was a position Lucifer forfeit in his rebellion, though his former position was still acknowledged as superior when Michael the archangel and prince of the nation of Israel did not speak sharply toward Satan when they disputed, but left rebuking Satan to God, Jude 9.

 

We see the cherubim close at hand in Eden, protecting the entrance to the garden, and God’s presence. We see the cherubim in Ezekiel’s time intrinsically linked to God’s throne, as He appeared above the prophet in an awe-inspiring theophany. Again we see the cherubim appear in John’s vision in the Revelation, surrounding the throne of God in Heaven. We read in Psalms about the cherub’s nearness to God. He rides upon them, Psalm 18:10. He dwells between them, Psalm 80:1, 99:1. The creation of both the tabernacle and temple heavily involved the cherubim.

 

We read in Exodus, “Make one cherub at one end, and the other cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim at the two ends of it one piece with the mercy seat,” Exodus 25:19. Likewise, the curtains of the tabernacle had woven images of cherubim on them, Exodus 26:1. The highest order of angel stood in the nearest proximity of God and His throne; and they compassed His tabernacle—like Eden—to guard the way.

 

The millennial temple likewise is filled with imagery of the cherubim, even into the Holiest of All, on the walls and doors of the temple, Ezekiel 41:18-20, 26. In Solomon’s temple cherubim imagery abounded, alongside oxen and lions, 1 Kings 7:29, etc. In all places where God put His name the cherubim are shown to have wings, depicted as spread out above the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant. In Ezekiel’s vision of the final earthly temple the cherubim had two faces: one of a man and another of a lion, while in Solomon’s temple there were depicted with oxen and lions alike.

 

Ezekiel gives an amazing description of the cherubim, Ezekiel 1:5-14. He notes these things about their persons: The cherubim emerged from the self-engulfing fire coming from the north; they proceeded from God’s intimate presence. The prophet tells us the cherubim possessed the form (or shape) of a human male. They had four wings each, with straight legs like a human’s that ended with calves’ hooves. They sparkled or gleamed like burnished bronze. This appears to suggest that a sort of metallic glow radiated from their forms. They had human upper limbs, and when they flew they did not change bodily direction, but pointed ever forward, like Israel during their wilderness wandering when they broke camp. The cherubim, Ezekiel relates, had four faces as well as four wings.

 

There was a man’s face, a lion’s face on the right side, an ox’s face on the left, and an eagle’s face. Like their depiction in gold upon the mercy seat, two of their wings always touched one another’s, while the other two covered their bodies, similar to the depiction of the seraphim in Isaiah. They were utterly submissive to the Holy Spirit, which explains the eyes all around their bodies in Ezekiel 10:12. They possessed godly wisdom and knowledge; they were completely endowed by the Spirit to perform any service given them with the strength the Spirit supplied. Ezekiel further states that they possessed a fiery appearance above that of the burnished bronze. He described them as fiery torches, racing like lightning, and lightning emerging from the fire, so great was their splendor. Perhaps it is with a little irony that Jesus, when speaking of the enemy, says, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven,” Luke 10:18, KJV. On a final note, the sound of the cherubim’s wings while they flew was clearly awe-inspiring. The prophet describes them: “When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty, like the tumult of an army,” Ezekiel 1:24, NIV; see also Ezekiel 10:5.

 

The likeness or presence of fire seems to be an ongoing theme with the cherubim’s appearance. The first instance we find of it is in Genesis 3:24: “[God] placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life,” ESV. The same Hebrew term used to connote the seraphim in Isaiah chapter 6 is elsewhere translated “fiery serpent,” or “flying fiery serpent,” in the OT. Whereas Ezekiel saw the cherubim burning like torches but called them cherubim (Ezekiel 10:20), Isaiah refers to these angels as seraphim, perhaps because of their fiery appearance. Scripture attests, “he makes his messengers winds, his ministers (angels) a flaming fire,” Psalm 104:4, ESV. In the book of Ezekiel the life of the cherubim was said to reside within the wheels of fire they obediently followed, Ezekiel 1:20, 21. Fire tends to represent jealousy or judgment in Scripture. This is typified in the verse, “For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God,” Deuteronomy 4:24, KJV. Since the cherubim are always closely associated with God and His throne, they burn with the same passion as their Creator. They come from—and selflessly serve—the self-consuming fire.

 

In Revelation, when John beheld the cherubim leading worship in Heaven he sees four living beings full of eyes front and back, Revelation 4:6. Once more we find them in and around God’s throne. Whereas Ezekiel saw the cherubim having four faces, John sees in four cherubim a different face, though the types of features remain identical between the witnesses. One is like a lion, another a calf, another a man, and finally an eagle, Revelation 4:7. This time, like in the vision Isaiah received in Solomon’s temple, John likewise sees the cherubim with six, not four, wings. Just as in Ezekiel, however, they have eyes around and within; utterly yielded to God, they are filled with His Spirit to do His will. The cherubim praise God at His throne, giving glory and honor and thanks ceaselessly, Revelation 4:8, 9. Being so close to their King, they know better than most how deserving of praise He is. Their worship ought to shame us, God’s redeemed children, who have been ransomed by Christ’s blood from the infinite debt of sin and death.

 

This was hardly meant to be a thorough exposition on the nature of the cherubim and their close relation to God and His throne; merely an excerpt to elaborate on what the writer succinctly calls, “the cherubim of glory.” It is interesting to consider that when the Shekinah glory departed the temple in Ezekiel’s day, the cherubim followed, Ezekiel 10:18, 19. The earthly tabernacle had the representation of the cherubim adorning the throne of God to either side. So too do the genuine cherubim abide “in the midst of and around” God’s throne, Revelation 4:6. In either case, they overshadow God’s glory, and are by their proximity and profound loyalty to Him, themselves glorious.

 

It makes sense that he determined not to speak in detail about the matter, since it would derail his epistle from its urgent purpose: to rescue erring saints from returning to the sterility of ceremonial Judaism after having tasted the power and grace of the Holy Spirit given by the only Savior, Jesus Christ.