Exodus 25:18–22

Others have described the cherubim well: "God's judicial executive, whoever carries it out, and in whatever circumstances it appears." They do not seem to be a distinct order of creature that God made. They are symbolic figures instead. In His ways of government and judgment God sometimes uses angels and sometimes men. Whichever it may be, the instruments He uses would be God's cherubim for the moment.

Genesis 3:24 shows plainly that the cherubim are a special order of angelic beings. Their work is to carry out God's righteous judgments. Scripture mentions them next in our chapter, where they are to be made in gold. Beyond their wings and their faces, the text makes no attempt to describe their form.

People sometimes say that the cherub means the executive function. Quite true — but executive of what? In Ezekiel it is beyond doubt the executive of judgment. In Genesis 3 too its flashing sword shows the same work, though for a merciful purpose, no doubt. Someone may object that the cherubim on the ends of the mercy seat create a difficulty. But I see singular beauty in Judgment and Mercy combined as the basis of God's dealings with sinners. Notice above all that the faces of the cherubim were to look down at the mercy seat — not at the sinful person. So they always saw the blood which the mercy seat provided as the sinner's atonement. Judgment looks upon what Mercy provides and maintains.

From either end of the mercy seat rose a cherub, beaten out of the one solid piece of gold. So mercy seat and cherubim were one in the sense of divine glory. Scripture mentions the cherubim in connection with the execution of judgment, or at least with the display of God's righteous ways concerning man's sin. That single piece of gold, hammered into the forms of both cover and cherubim, makes divine glory in mercy and divine glory in judgment one. The glory was undivided. Now not only the mercy of God, but the mercy and the judgment of God, are exactly revealed in Christ.

Here the LORD expresses His gracious intention of coming down from the fiery mountain to take His place upon the mercy seat. He could do this because the tables of testimony lay safe and unbroken beneath. The symbols of His power, in creation and in providence, rose on the right hand and on the left. They were the inseparable companions of the throne where the LORD had seated Himself. It was a throne of grace founded upon divine righteousness and supported by justice and judgment. Here the glory of the God of Israel shone out. From there He gave His commands, softened and sweetened by the gracious source they came from and the medium they came through. They were like the beams of the midday sun passing through a cloud: we can enjoy their warmth without being dazzled.

Taking account of the infinite value of the blood of Christ, God's attitude toward men is one of unqualified grace. Through the work of redemption God has been glorified as a Saviour‑God, and His righteousness displayed in the exercise of His rights of mercy toward men… God is against sin, but for the sinner. All His attributes, pictured in the cherubim, act in perfect harmony to carry out all His purposes of grace toward men.

Genesis 3:24 clearly shows that the cherubim are a special order of angelic beings, concerned with carrying out God's righteous judgments. The next time Scripture mentions them is in our chapter, where they are to be shown in gold. Apart from their wings and their faces, the text does not describe their form.

The ark of the covenant was the throne where God showed Himself, and the seat of His rule over every living man — the God of the whole earth. It was also the throne of His relationship with His people. The law — the testimony of what He required of men — was to be placed there. Over it was the mercy-seat, which covered it in and formed the throne, or rather the base of the throne, while the cherubim, made of the same piece, were its supporters and formed its sides.

But the cherubim and the mercy seat are inseparable. God does work rich blessing. The grace is His, its bestowal is His, and its duration is as its source.

Someone may think that placing the cherubim on the ends of the mercy seat creates a difficulty. But I think there is a rare beauty in Judgment and Mercy joined together as the basis of God's dealing with sinners. Notice above all that the faces of the cherubim were to be turned down towards the mercy seat — not towards the sinful person. So they always saw the blood which the mercy seat provided as the sinner's atonement. Judgment looks upon what Mercy provides and maintains.

The cherubim formed part of the mercy-seat. These are symbols of the divine attributes and, as such, of judicial power. But since the blood on the mercy-seat has glorified God, all His attributes are in harmony, and all of them act on behalf of believers... All that God is, is against sin; and now all that God is, is for the believer. The blood on the mercy-seat has brought about this mighty change.

We are told that the pagan nations had something similar to the ark and mercy-seat with the cherubim, but ugly and repulsive in character. What stands out in these pagan arks is that an idol rested on the lid — man's own work and man's own god — and the cherubim gazed at it in worship... But on the mercy-seat there was no image of God.

Here the LORD announces His gracious plan to come down from the fiery mountain and take His place on the mercy seat. He could do this because the tables of the testimony lay unbroken underneath, and the symbols of His power, in creation and in providence, rose on the right hand and on the left... "His commandments are not burdensome," when we receive them from the mercy-seat, because they come together with grace, which gives the ears to hear and the power to obey.

We first read of the cherubim in Genesis 3:24: "He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life." Here they act for God in judgment. They appear looking outward toward man in his sin.

Their faces show that they had perception — eyes to see. Their wings declared that they would be swift to act in righteousness against sin. But their faces were to be "toward the mercy seat," and not looking outward toward the sinful people. They were to be shown gazing at the spot where the blood of propitiation would be. So in Genesis 3, we see them with the flaming sword of judgment against sin. Here they are at rest, because their eye is on the blood.

In Scripture the cherubim are always connected with the judicial power of God, or they carry out the will of that power. They too are made of gold, and the direction of their faces is important. Inward, toward the mercy seat. Why? Because from there they could see what the moral nature of God demanded to be on the mercy seat, if man, a sinner, is to draw near. For God is holy: He hates sin and must judge it. But what do they see on the mercy seat? Blood… The claims of His throne must be met, and only blood can meet them — the sign that death has taken place.

The mercy seat covered the tables of the law, so it was not at these that the cherubim were gazing. They had been associated with the giving of the law at Sinai, amid the thick darkness, lightning and thunder. They stood ready to take vengeance for "every transgression or disobedience." But it is the blood on the mercy seat that fixes the gaze of these ministers of justice and judgment. It is the blood of the sacrifice, sprinkled there on the great Day of Atonement. The blood speaks of judgment already carried out on the Substitute, and it arrests the adoring gaze of these holy servants of God.

The cherubim formed part of the mercy seat. These, as already said, are symbols of the divine attributes, and, as such, of judicial power. But God has been glorified by the blood on the mercy seat. So all His attributes are in harmony, and all of them act on behalf of believers… The cherubim therefore favour the showing of mercy to all who approach trusting in the value of the blood. Blessed truth! All that God is, is against sin, and now all that God is, is for the believer.

It is the throne of God, and the cherubim are of one piece with it. They look toward one another, but their gaze is fixed downward on the covenant. Their wings stretch out to cover the mercy seat. When Solomon put his cherubim in the temple, they stood up… and they looked outward, because all the attributes of God were going out to man.

The word is not literally "mercy seat," but "covering." Remember that the account of the ark said nothing about a covering. Our ever-blessed Lord needed none; all was open to His Father's eyes, and He delighted to have it so. God, who sees everything, could look into the pure depths of that perfect heart. He would find nothing there but what answered to the divine will. It was a fit home indeed for the law of a holy God. Only such a One could be the basis of a divine "covering" for those who needed it.

Of these the highest is the ark. It was the seat of divine majesty in Israel. And as everyone knows — this is most significant — the mercy seat was, more than anything else, that throne of God. It is the mercy seat we later see with blood sprinkled on it and before it. It concealed the law that destroys all man's claims, yet kept that law in the place of highest honour, though hidden from human view. Was this nothing? Was there no comfort here for any heart that trusts God? He took such a seat as this, and gave it such a name, in relationship with a guilty people on the earth.

Suppose an ark with no mercy seat. The law would then lie uncovered. Nothing would silence its thunder. Nothing would stop the carrying out of its righteous sentence. Could a nation of law-breakers stand before it? Could a holy and righteous God meet sinners there? Could mercy reign, or grace shine out from such an ark? Impossible! An uncovered ark might make a throne of judgment, but not a seat of mercy.

Consider the mercy seat for a moment alongside the testimony inside the ark. Here human and divine righteousness are combined. The testimony points to the law — human righteousness — which was in the heart of Christ (Psalm 40). The gold points to God's righteousness, which shines out in Him too. The mercy seat is therefore in a special way a picture of Christ. The apostle indeed applies the term to Him. He says that we "are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith" (Rom. 3:24-25). The word for "propitiation" there is the word for the mercy seat.

But suppose the law is in His heart in this way — magnified and made honourable by His own subjection to it through His life, and by His bearing on the cross its curse upon sin. Even then it is still shut up away from man, with the curse removed from him.

When God set up His throne in the middle of Israel, the cherubim made up that throne — "He sits between the cherubim." Their faces looked not at the ark, but at the mercy seat, which was over it and covered it. The law was certainly not slighted or weakened. It went into that holy container, which indeed represented Christ, but it lay hidden there... That container held the law and honoured it, but the power of the throne rested with the mercy seat.

Notice also where the mercy seat was set... The ark, a precious picture of Christ, as already noted, holds up the mercy seat. He accomplished the work of redemption. The blood of the sin offering went into the holiest of all, sprinkled once upon the mercy seat and seven times before it (Lev. 16:11-14). On that ground God speaks with the Mediator, and through Him to His people.

These words refer to the ark, mercy seat, and cherubim taken together. They served as one to form the throne of Jehovah in Israel. There He dwelt, and from there He communicated His thoughts to His people. As a picture, it sets before us our Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God. God has spoken in Him (Heb. 1:1). By Him God was declared (John 1:18).

God knew what was in man: that he would refuse to submit and would break the law. Here He was setting out what was in His heart toward him. On the principle of law, or works, man must always stay at a distance from God. Yet His own wise and gracious heart could plan the way. By it, men on earth and He Himself could not only meet together, but have communion.

Here Jehovah tells of His gracious purpose: to come down from the fiery mountain and take His place on the mercy seat. He could do this because the tables of testimony lay unbroken underneath. The symbols of His power, whether in creation or in providence, rose on the right hand and on the left. These were the inseparable parts of that throne on which Jehovah had seated Himself — a throne of grace founded on divine righteousness and supported by justice and judgement.

There is singular beauty in the way Judgment and Mercy combine as the basis of God's dealing with sinners. Notice this above all: the faces of the cherubim were to look downwards towards the mercy seat, not towards the sinful being. So they always saw the blood which the mercy seat provided as the sinner's atonement. Judgment looks upon what Mercy provides and maintains.

In His life He magnified the law and made it honourable. Then, through death, He became a propitiation or mercy seat for everyone who believes. God's mercy could only rest on a pedestal of perfect righteousness... God and man can only meet properly at the point where grace and righteousness meet and agree perfectly. Nothing but perfect righteousness could suit God; and nothing but perfect grace could suit the sinner. But where could these attributes meet in one point? Only in the cross.

This is also full of blessing. For when issuing commands to His people the Lord is still on the throne of grace. Paul, in New Testament form, gives this thought: "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice." The earlier part of the letter to the Romans had been, as it were, constructing the mercy seat, or raising the throne of grace in the sight of the congregation of the Lord... Now, entering on the detail of duties, the voice still breaks out from the mercy seat.

God did not permit the people themselves to enter the tabernacle. He met with them at its entrance. Moses alone had access to the mercy seat at all times, while the high priest could go in only once a year. Moses had that access as mediator, and in that role he is a picture of Christ.

The mercy seat in the tabernacle was the place from which God communed with Moses, but no man could sit down there. The Lord Jesus, having completed the great work of redemption, has sat down on the throne of God. Because of man's sin, God's throne became for man a throne of judgment. It has now become a throne of grace, because of the precious blood of Christ, and because Christ sits on the throne.