Cherubim No Longer Guard the Way

The Garden:
In the garden God dwelt with people, Adam and Eve were perfect, and walked with God.

Then sin entered the world and because imperfect cannot exist where there is perfection i.e. the immediate presence of God. They had to be where his immediate presence wasn't, "east of Eden" (Gen. 4:16)


"After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life." (Gen. 3:24)

The Tabernacle:
When God again came down to dwell amongst his people he first called Moses up to the top of the mountain to give him instructions on how to prepare the way for him to come down and dwell. He gave him the instructions for the tabernacle so that he could dwell with us.

Heaven was coming to earth.

But not in its fullness yet. A piece of heaven would find it's dwelling place behind a curtain that blocked the way into the Most Holy Place, the way into the very presence of the Living God.


The interesting thing about the instructions for the curtain was that they were required to embroider cherubim on the curtain: "Make a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, with cherubim worked into it by a skilled craftsman. Hang it with gold hooks on four posts of acacia wood overlaid with gold and standing on four silver bases. Hang the curtain from the clasps and place the ark of the Testimony behind the curtain. The curtain will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place." (Ex. 26:31-33)


The Temple:
When Solomon built the temple "He made the curtain of blue, purple and crimson yarn and fine linen, with cherubim worked into it." (2 Chron. 3:14) God again dwelt in the midst his people but the way into his presence was still being guarded by cherubim.


In all three places, Eden, the tabernacle, and the temple, God dwelt, but in all three places Cherubim were put to guard the way into his presence from those who weren't perfect. (The high priest did enter once a year but was symbolically perfect and was a type for Christ, just as Moses was a shadow of Christ, being a mediator between God and people).

 "These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation. (Heb. 9:6-10)


The Cross:
As Jesus hung in agony on the bloody tree, he cried out, "It is finished!". "And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split." (Matt. 27:49-51)

The curtain bearing the cherubim was torn away. They could no more guard the way. By his death Jesus bought our way back to God.

"But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God." (Heb. 9:11-14)

Because of the work that Jesus finished on the cross the cherubim on the temple curtain have been torn away, and the cherubim that once guarded the way to the tree of life, the way to the presence of God has also been removed! Praise the Lord!

"Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful." (Heb. 10:19-23)


This is a powerful song on this subject: The Reward by Jonathan David Helser


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