Interlinear Greek Translation (re: cherubims) - …concerning which it is not now the time to speak in detail.
Phillips Translation …all this is full of meaning, but we cannot enter now into a detailed explanation.
Genesis 3:24 (after the condition of death was lodged in the spirits of Adam and Eve) So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
When we get to the end of the book (Revelation 21 & 22), we see a condition in this new Jerusalem that has all of the characteristics of the place at the beginning of the Bible. The Bible is really God's revelation of restoration. It is how He restores us to the original pristine concepts of God; how, through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, He brings people into a consciousness of their union with Christ in the Spirit. We are returning to that original place that Adam brought us down from, and Jesus restored us to. How do we get there? Go through these Cherubims and the flaming swords, which speak to us of God's Word (Hebrews 4). So the study of Cherubims then becomes vitally important. If we are being brought back, and the way to wherever we are going is through or by or being kept by these cherubims, we'd better study that. They hold a prominent position through scripture, and they are never spoken of as our traditional idea of angels. They are not angels, not winged creatures. Angels are a real force, but cherubims are never called angels. We find them on the ceiling of the Tabernacle of Moses in the Holy Place, and it links us to Colossians 3 that says, "If you then be dead with Christ, seek those things which are above." If you were in the Most Holy Place and you looked above, you'd see cherubims embroidered in that ceiling material in that linen cloth on the roof. By the time you get to the Book of Revelation, you find cherubims or living creatures around the throne. So from the Book of Genesis to the Book of Revelation, this subject of cherubim is vitally important.
Today we are going to begin to lay a foundation to identify what these
cherubims actually point to. This is the next mention after Genesis
3:24. In Exodus 25, God revealed to Moses the pattern for building
His house. The first piece of furniture was the ark of the covenant
and the mercy seat.
When we look at the construction of the mercy seat, we discover that
cherubims were in the mercy seat. Cherubims were of
the mercy seat. Cherubims looked at the mercy
seat. They covered the mercy seat, and the mercy seat is Jesus.
We are trying to understand what the cherubims are. First of all,
cherubims could not be angels, because angels are not in Christ.
People are in Christ.
What do we mean by the term "in Christ?" To be born again means that God places you by His spirit in Christ. You become in-Christed as opposed to being in Adam. God only views two men in the earth today: Adam and Christ. Romans 5 says that by one man (Adam), sin entered into this world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men …the margin says "in whom all have sinned." You are born of your natural parentage in Adam, the man that sinned. The inheritance of Adam and the consequences of his sin are passed into all the world, just as if we would have done those sins. Why? Because we were in the one who did those sins. We were in Adam.
The other man God views today is Christ. When you are born again, you are placed out of Adam and into Christ. The Bible uses several words to describe it: being engrafted into Him. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Amplified says "if any man be engrafted into Christ…" It means to be part of Him. How can you be "in" somebody and not be part of him? The church is called the Body of Christ, and we call that a mystical union. Well, it's not that mystical; it just simply means that He is the head and we are the Body, and we are part of Him. We are incorporated into Him; we lost our own identity when we became one with Him. These cherubims were in the mercy seat, and believers are in Christ. It is not something you try to do or grow into; it is something you are born into.
When you go to your concordance and try to find out what the name "cherubim"
means, you have a problem, because it is defined as angelic creatures.
It will say "traditionally known as angelic creatures." I want to
know what the name of that means. Ezra 2 is where I found out what
the name "cherub" means.
In Genesis 12, God called Abram out of Babylon and gave him some promises.
In Galatians 3 we are called the seed of Abraham.
Genesis 22 is the picture of Abraham taking his son up into the mountain,
offering him as a type of God the Father offering His Son. After
this was completed, God again initiated this blessing principle.
Look at it another way. Let's look at Genesis 14. Have you
ever looked at it in the study of Melchizedek?
Cherubims means to be a blessing. This is all simple foundational truth, but God has created a people to be a blessing. To be a blessing to who? We have got to enlarge our vision to realize that God's intention is to touch this planet with the redemptive work of His Son. We are not waiting for anything; it starts today. It has already begun; it has already been initiated, that God wants us to be a blessing.
Here is the third thing. I have lots of material by a man named Kevin Conner, who has a large printing and study material source in Portland, Oregon. He is highly regarded. He has written books on The Tabernacle of Moses, The Tabernacle of David, The Temple of Solomon, etc. Brother Conner, who has a lot more Hebrew sources to study from, says that the word translated cherubim also means "to be grasped or to be held firm." So these are not only in-Christed ones; these are not only blessings; but they are "grasped or held tight ones." Does that sound anything like being gripped?
The Apostle Paul in Philippians chapter 3 says that he was apprehended by something. He was grabbed by it; he was grabbed by a truth that was so powerful in his own life that it changed everything he did from that moment forth. It is likened unto the curious girdle, which is simply a tie-down of the high priest, that took the third layer of garments and tied them down. Ephesians 6 says that we are girded around the loins with truth. There is a truth that grabs Christians. It is more than just sitting in church; it is more than just coming and getting great revelation. Something so gripped the Apostle Paul, who said he was an apostle born out of due season. If you will look that up, it doesn't mean that he was born late. It means that he was born premature. In other words, the Apostle Paul was an apostle who had a message that was born way before his time, not late, but way early. At the end of this age (and we are not going to take time to get into this) we are about to see a birthing of a ministry that is right on time.
Who are the cherubims? They speak of in-Christed ones who have become blessings and have been gripped. I think of the Shunamite who was taken to the banqueting house and passed out in the arms of One that was bigger than her. She passed out in His arms. She wakes up and she is being held by Him.
I am so thankful for what God is saying to us today, but in the midst
of all that, I am so aware that it isn't being heard by a lot of people.
I am not really talking about people in other churches. My greatest
fear is that this is not being heard by us. We are at the end of
this age of doing things. I am concerned that this voice is not being
heard by us.