Monday: The Two Cherubim
Daily Lesson for Monday 12th of May 2025
As soon as our first parents were expelled from the Garden, God offered the hope of Messiah (Genesis 3:15). Then He established a powerful symbol at the gates of Eden: two cherubim with a brilliant flashing light between them. It should not be lost on us that this scene so closely resembles the ark of the covenant, a symbol of God’s throne (Exodus 25:18).
Read Genesis 3:21-24. What job were the cherubim tasked with—and why?
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While the cherubim were certainly given the responsibility to keep sinners from accessing the tree of life (Genesis 3:22), they also were a symbol of hope, of promise, that one day humans would be restored to Paradise. “The Garden of Eden remained upon the earth long after man had become an outcast from its pleasant paths. The fallen race was long permitted to gaze upon the home of innocence, their entrance barred only by the watching angels. At the cherubim-guarded gate of Paradise the divine glory was revealed. Hither came Adam and his sons to worship God. Here they renewed their vows of obedience to that law the transgression of which had banished them from Eden. . . . But in the final restitution, when there shall be ‘a new heaven and a new earth’ (Revelation 21:1), it is to be restored more gloriously adorned than at the beginning.”—Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 62.
The wording in Genesis 3:24 is also interesting: the Bible indicates that God “placed” the cherubim to the east of Eden, and the original Hebrew word used is shakan, the root word for the sacred “tabernacle” (see Exodus 25:9, Numbers 3:26), where the presence of God dwelt among His people. Though the common term Shekinah, for the presence of God, does not appear in the Bible, it, too, is based on this word often translated “tabernacle.” A literal translation of shakan could read, “God tabernacled cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden.”
In the Bible, cherubim are associated with the presence of God (see 1 Chronicles 13:6, Psalms 80:1, and Isaiah 37:16), in particular with His throne, which is the place where His name is proclaimed. We should not fail to notice that the 24 elders who attend God’s throne in Revelation 4:1-11 and 5 sing His praises and declare His right to rule as the One who created all things (Revelation 4:11). This can help us understand the throne room scene and our role as forgiven sinners in relationship to our Maker.
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“So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.” (Genesis 3:24).
How does the above text relate to or link to the foundation of prophecy? The expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden cut them off from the tree of life, meaning they were cut off from eternal life. This separation laid the foundation of all future prophecies to reconcile God and humanity. The banishment of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden is the backdrop of all redemptive prophecies. “It’s your sins that have cut you off from God….” (Isaiah 59:2) echoes the outcome of Genesis 3:24.
The symbolism of the flaming sword and cherubim refers to the holiness of God and divine judgment. The cherubim guarding the Garden of Eden foreshadow the cherubim in the Most Holy Place of the Temple. The good news is that access to God is not abolished, and now we can access Him through Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. “The Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple” (Malachi 3:1). Eden was lost, but access to the tree of life will be restored.
“Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates into the city. (Revelation 22:14, NKJV).
Cherubim get a pretty good press in the Bible. They are mentioned nearly 60 times in the Old Testament and only once in the New. I don't want to get drawn into a discussion of angel classification. I read in my research on this topic that someone suggests there are nine different types of angels and it left me with the thought that we are not discussing birds here.
Cherubim are often used in pairs in the Bible There were two guarding the way to the Tree of Life and two were depicted as watching over the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant". In some respects, they can be seen as both guardians, and also pointing the way back to God.
Throughout the Bible, angels are used to present messages from God, and one possible take-away from this discussion is that we claim to be involved in preaching the three angel's messages. We have been invited to be part of the angelic task. That is an awesome responsibility. It is not about church identity, but rather showing the way back to God.
The bible associates cherubim with the presence of God (1 Chron. 13:6, Ps. 80:1, and Isa. 37:16), in particular with His throne, which is the place where His name is proclaimed. The presence of the cherubim in the East of the garden should remind us that the 24 elders who attend God’s throne in Revelation 4 and 5 sing His praises and declare His right to rule as the One who created all things (Rev. 4:11). The mention of the cherubim helps us appreciate the scene in the throne room and our role as forgiven sinners in relationship with our God.
The cherubim reminds us of the ups and downs of life, and the role of the holy place, they remind us that those ups and downs, too, are part of life. The despair of our first parents was they have been seperated from God after sin since the cherubim were to guard the garden of Eden ...this quite relates to the ongoing pandemic of sin that reminds us of suffering brought by illness, brokenheartedness, oppression, and injustice of all kinds—these are all part of the cycle.
Despite it being hard to make meaning of our troubles, Adam and Eve were to see cherubims and know how sin had dimmed their world into shades of gray, they were to remember their relationship with God had been damaged as there was a barrier to their original home.
We, like our first parents need to yearn for a world where there isn’t trouble, a world that’s “somewhere over the rainbow,”
It is ultimately, in those times that we are out of alignment and feeling the world is stuck in black and white, the cherubim reminds us to look outward. When the cherubim turn away from each other, what they turn to is the colorful, shiny, beautiful scene. Just as they look at the beauty, we, too, can turn to the beauty.
We need an awakening to a colorful world that allows us to find our way back to a relationship with God, to our original home, the cherubim help us awaken to the color and holiness of our ever-present God- We only need to see it.