Cherubim and Seraphim

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 6
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We have cherubim as well as seraphim. What is the difference? The cherubim are connected with present judgment on the earth; they are the seat of God’s judicial power on earth. The seraphim covered their faces, crying, “Holy, holy, holy.” They are connected with God revealed, so as to bring man as man into His presence. In Isaiah 6 we find the seraphim. Here we see government in respect to the holiness of God’s nature, not so much His revealed ways. God comes out according to His nature. Anything not according to that nature I cannot have. We find the incompatibility of God’s nature with sin — the contrariety of an unholy nature with a holy Being. The living creatures here are cherubim, the attributes of God and the heads of creation — cattle, beasts of the field, birds, and man. The lion was the symbol of strength; the calf, firmness; man, intelligence; the eagle, swiftness of judgment. The seraphim in Isaiah 6 have nothing to do with grace, only with judgment. The coal of fire is grace, but burning grace. Cherubim are the government of God on earth; seraphim cry, “Holy, holy, holy.” The living creatures here (Rev. 4:6-96And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. 7And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. 8And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. 9And when those beasts give glory and honor and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, (Revelation 4:6‑9)) illustrate the cherubic character, while “Holy, holy, holy” illustrates the seraphic character, and the seven Spirits of God the attributive character. The seven lamps are the seven Spirits; they are in connection with God’s government of the earth and similar to Isaiah 11, “the spirit of wisdom,” and so on. The rainbow (Rev. 4:33And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. (Revelation 4:3)) is God’s covenant with creation. You find judgment, but not yet the Lord until the next chapter. The living creatures in Ezekiel 1 are the attributes of God, the pillars of the throne. “The Lord reigneth.  ...  He sitteth between the cherubims” (Psa. 99:11The Lord reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved. (Psalm 99:1)). Man made gods of the attributes to worship.
J. N. Darby, Collected Writings