THE CHERUBIM

&

THE SERAPHIM

(Part 5)

#01.148

"His eyes were as enfolding-fire, and it consumed everything that I was. I never heard a sound; but his voice thundered a devouring blaze. My soul melted. The joints and marrow of my bones were divided asunder. All my flesh was consumed away. I could not speak." (An experience of Danny Crotts, October 6, 2001, paraphrased).

What a tremendous manifestation, a prodigy of what is waiting in the wings of our appearance. In each vessel of God, and incorporated in His glorious body, there will be the flaming Seraphim of God's consuming fire. It is hard to picture such majestic creatures as those which began as imaginary figures called, the cherubim. In addition, the living creature of enfolding, consuming fire was not unlike those fiery beings that Ezekiel wrote about in his most intriguing book. The prophet saw things that dazzle the mind. These enigmas have been unsettled points of controversy over the ages, and depending on where a person stands, or does not stand in the Spirit, will determine that which he sees. The human images can vary anywhere from the wheels being UFOs, to the whole thing being a mass of hallucinations, to bad dreams. In the Spirit of revelation, it will be seen as truth would have it, as something which takes place in each flaming vessel of God and incorporated in His glorious body.

The farther one is outside of Christ the farther they will be from the truth, and the more carnal their images will be, thus the vigilant job of the unregenerated cherubim. Ezekiel, as with the book of Revelation, is full of symbols, and those symbols speak of spiritual realities within a people. If the truth is expected to be known, spiritual realities can never be grasped if the symbolisms are taken literally. However, they are easily held in the bosom of our understanding once we leave the corridors of carnality, and the key of revelation is inserted into the sacred doors of God's treasured mysteries. With that key in our hands, the symbols simply unfold with clarity. Without the key, it goes without saying, those hallowed wonders are open for speculation and endless debates.

Ah, but we have a key. Who could have thought that such a small key as the identity of the ⁽¹⁾Cherubim could open a door to such wide vistas? That which is sewn into the very fabric of each person, the cherubim, is that which forms imaginary figures of the truth. All those figures keep people who are without Christ from Eden's Tree of Life that is planted in their midst.

Although the fruit-laden Tree is as close to people as their own hearts, the cherubim (their imaginations) are ever-present in the veil of their minds. These allusive creatures keep them from eating and living forever while remaining in sin. The anointed pen of J. Preston Eby wrote this paragraph about the veil wherein the cherubim are sewn:

"The veil that hides Him is upon the mind. It is not something apart from us or away from us. The veil must be removed from where the Christ is concealed from us within ourselves, for we are the body of Christ, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. The Lord is not hidden in some far-off heaven somewhere, He has already come within us, for Christ is in us, except we be reprobates -- counterfeits (II Cor. 13:5). Those who are walking with the Lord in the light of this new Day know that it is not Jesus coming down from heaven that shall reveal Him, but the uncovering of the full reality within ourselves of Him who is our life. The veil has been upon our minds, when we saw Him we looked through all the ⁽²⁾trappings of religion, the traditions, creeds, doctrines, forms, and concepts of men who know Him only after the flesh. But when you know Christ after the flesh, as He was two thousand years ago, you can never see Him as He is."

It may be a shock to some; but the very things which seem so sanctimonious, so godlike, so reverent, so holy, so pure, so good, and so traditionally true are in fact -- so often carnal. If not viewed by the Spirit of Christ, every one of them will keep man from the Tree of Life. They are ready guards that never fail in their ordained duties.

If you have been following the studies in this series, you have seen how the cherubim are transformed, along with the mind when it is made new. In the most Holy place they are overlaid with the gold of God. It is in these confines that our mind is gold, and our ⁽³⁾faces are toward the mercyseat where God communes with us. When you know this holy communion, wafers and wine will no longer suffice.

It is no secret that we are one with our inmost thoughts, and what are thoughts? They are imaginations whether true, false, fantasized, or fabricated. To go a little further, as a man thinketh in his heart so is he (Prov 23:7). Therefore, while our thoughts are in the curtains of the outer court and the holy place, as well as the veil of the holy place, our thoughts are outward. They are away from the most Holy place where the Tree of Life flourishes. Ah, but once those thoughts take on a different form and are overlaid with pure gold, our vision changes. It changes because we change, and we change because our thoughts, our images of God change. It is then that we look inward and upon the mercyseat. That is when we see Him as He is, and not as we had imaged Him to be. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2).

Let me ask, what is your vision of God? Is it in the guise of religious trappings, traditions, creeds, doctrines, forms, and concepts of men who know Him only after the flesh? Or do you see Him as refined gold? Hopefully it is gold; but even gold is not the end of our lives in God. This is what we see as having transpired in the sixth chapter of Isaiah with the Seraphim, the flaming firebrands of God, as well as in Ezekiel with the Cherubim of like kind. Isaiah called them Seraphim while Ezekiel identified them as Living Creatures of Fire. "As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire..." (Ezek 1:13). I see no difference in the two. They are synonymous.

Although the gold of God is good, there is a manifestation beyond that pure reality. The Cherubim rise in holy manifestation as fire, even a flaming sword that turns every which way. They cut, they kill, they consume every fragment of the adamic man who ventures unqualified (without Jesus Christ) toward the Tree of Life. And let me say, although some people claim that "christ" as the way to truth, very often they confuse their own soul, their own human reasoning as the Spirit of Christ. Such "christs" are antichrists, and not Christ at all. There will never be the Christ of God without Jesus, He who is that Spirit (2 Cor 3:17).

Again, what is your vision of God? Let us look and see if we see the same One.

"And they went every one straight forward: whither the Spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went. As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning" (Ezek 1:12-14).

My God! What a vision! What a thought! What a transformed imagination! From a wooden figure in the image of man to the one of Godfire and of flaming life! And, lest we forget, we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is, which is -- A CONSUMING FIRE!

I do not believe we are only peering upon the mercyseat of gold, which is wonderful. Even so, there is more. Although we are in this earth as God's gold, and we are presently manifesting that nature, we seldom see that manifestation of fire, and neither do those of the world. If they did, there would be some drastic changes made in people's lives. We will see it, this is sure, and the inhabitants of the earth will too; for the revelation of that glory is dawning upon the horizons of our awakened minds -- transforming the man. Such a transformation, from gold to fire, melts the coldest of stony hearts, weakens and bends the hardest of steels, consumes the strongest of trees, ruptures the highest of mountains, and sweetly kisses every hurting soul.

Ezekiel saw these living creatures of fire, you and me and the rest of the flaming body of Christ, going straight forward. Wherever the Spirit was to go, they went, and they turned not when they went. Here, Brethren, is an unbreakable union, and in that union there are no more hills and dales, mountains or valleys, crooked ways or steep -- every way is straight! There is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. In this straight-way union, we, the transformed Cherubim, the Seraphim, the Living Creatures of God, roll over the earth as a tidal wave of ⁽⁴⁾burning coals of fire! Lord God Almighty! Who can survive such a wave of our blazing presence? No man of flesh, that is certain!

And these awesome creatures of God's glory had the appearance of lamps, and their shining darted back and forth among themselves, and the fire was bright, and lightning was flashing from the fire.

Let me tell you, dear ones, of pending fire. There is a shining revelation waiting to be released, and when this revelation leaves the gate, you will not have to be concerned about sharing it to the rest of the Body of like-minded members. It will instantly dart back and forth among you like a flaming, electrical impulse. No sooner than you speak, the word will surge though the cloud of Christ's body and return to you in an instant. And the fire of those words will be bright with no shade of ruddy flesh in them at all.

From the glory of this flashing light will proceed the fire of those words. They will shoot bolts of lightning into the world. They will be as living lamps of revelation to the body, and as lightning bolts to those of the world, and returning just a quickly having accomplished what they were sent to do. But never think that these words are sent alone; for the speakers of those word, words in manifestation themselves, go as one with their words.

First, as it has always been -- the word is for members of the Body alone: "In the midst of the living beings there was something that looked like burning coals of fire, like torches darting back and forth among the living beings" (Ezek 1:13a). Afterwards, it went into the world: "The fire was bright, and lightning was flashing from the fire" (Ezek 1:13b). And it continues with: "And the living beings ran to and fro like bolts of lightning" (Ezek 1:14). (New American Standard Bible). And to bring the point home that there is a manifestation of these blazing, eternal creatures upon the earth, we read: "Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces" (Ezek 1:15).

It is one thing to be blessed by the joys of a flaming word racing through the Body of Christ in the heavens, and quite another when it strikes the earth of man's world. Moreover, it streaks from that throne of blue sapphire in the form of God's workmanship, a workmanship that is in the exact image of the Eternal God and our Lord Jesus Christ. The wheel within a wheel, having no beginning or ending, and coming with sparkling manifestation in human form: "The appearance of the wheels and their workmanship was like sparkling beryl, and all four of them had the same form, their appearance and workmanship being as if one wheel were within another" (Ezek 1:16, NASB).

"...We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we ⁽⁵⁾should walk in them" (Eph 2:10). This workmanship in the express image of Christ Jesus, He who took the form of a man, is not something that we should walk in if we so choose, as the English word, should, implies. Another translation renders it: "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Eph 2:10 NIV). This walk, although subjunctive is also a requisite. It is a foreordained, divine commission which is embossed in the flaming fabric of God's workmanship; namely, you and me, my fellow firebrands.

What a manifestation! Mighty in scope and deed! Who can know it until it comes? None! No, not one! However, by revelation we glimpse the appearing, and a few have been touched by the presence of those awaiting our hour of unveiling.

A Wheel within a Wheel and drawn by the living creature(s). The eternal Christ inside the eternal God, and their rings, the rims of their wheels rolling out dreadful justice in the earth. "When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went. As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four" (Ezek 1:17-18).

The natural mind will take the letter of this word and picture strange creatures with bulging eyes all over their bodies, even grotesque in appearance. But when viewed by the Spirit, there is nothing strange about it at all. The eyes are seen for what they represent, and the portrait takes on a beautiful presence of understanding. Chapter five of Revelation speaks of eyes; but this time there are seven of them, and they are associated with the slain Lamb.

Let me draw from one of my previous articles (Pub.#97.90) concerning this: "Seven, as it is commonly understood, also speaks of perfection. Seven is the most frequently used number in the Bible. The Hebrew word for seven is sheval (Grk. hepta). It is from the root savah, to be full or satisfied, have enough of. Seven speaks of fulness, completion, perfection. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it without marring it. Hence the word Shavath -- to cease, desist, rest; and Shabbath -- Sabbath, or day of rest. It is Seven, therefore, that stamps perfection and completion to the things it is connected with: Of time, it tells of the Sabbath, and marks off the week of seven days. Seven completes the colors of the spectrum and rainbow. Seven also satisfies in music the notes of the scale, with the eighth being the same as the first, yet with a higher pitch, etc. (ref. Strong's Exh. Conc. & Theol. Word Book of the O.T.).

"Therefore, the seven eyes of the Lamb speak of fulness, perfection, completion, nothing is lacking in what they represent. The following verse tells us plainly what the eyes are: "And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. (Rev 5:6).

"The seven Spirits of God are sent forth into A-L-L THE EARTH. The Gospel that went forth in the days of the apostles turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6). There had never been anything like it before or since. The sending forth of the seven eyes of the Lamb, however, which are the same as those of the Living creatures who are full of eyes, i.e., the fulness of God's Spirit, transcends anything that has happened to date. It is far beyond the range of man's finite imaginations. The Church as an infant was glorious; but just wait until it is of age -- who can fathom it?

"While enduring his affliction on Patmos, John saw it as signs. He found himself caught up to a place few have been lifted. What he saw was the same as in Ezekiel and Isaiah's visions. The heavenly creatures had wings, multiple eyes, and voices, and in the O.T. the creatures were of fire. It is easily seen that they speak of the refining process they went through. They were judged and found worthy to become flaming emissaries of God. Their fiery appearance also speaks of the world coming into judgment at their presence. The wings, of course, indicate their dominion and authority in realms higher than any of the earth. Their habitation is in the heavens. Their power and authority are spiritual. The living creatures are full of eyes. The eyes are the fulness of the Spirit of God going throughout the earth."

And those dreadful rings were full of eyes, and are sent rolling throughout all the earth. The prophet saw those eternal rings as being full of the seven spirits of God. From within they saw no longer in part, but in fulness. They had the Spirit of the Self-Existent One, the Spirit of wisdom, the Spirit of understanding, the Spirit of counsel, the Spirit of might, the Spirit of knowledge, and the Spirit of the reverence of Jehovah their LORD. (Isa 11:2).

The eternal rings, those dreadful rims, arch through the heavens, descend into the earth, and return again in perpetual cycles. It reminds me of Jacob's ladder of the ascending and descending angels.

"And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up" (Ezek 1:19). Brethren; we cannot be separated from any of those things the prophet saw. We are one with the wheels, the rims, the wings, the backs, the hands, the eyes, the clouds the lightning; namely, the whole chariot of fire in which God rides, even He who walks upon the wings of the wind. And "Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went" (Ezek 1:20).

Even today, wherever we go, it is because that is where the Spirit goes. The Spirit of the Living God is in the living creatures, in the living Wheels, and every part of the living body. We are tied to that Spirit. Not only are we tied and tethered to it, but we are one with that Spirit. Wherever that Spirit goes, we go. We cannot get away from it, and we don't want to.

"Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them; for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels." (Ezek 1:20). The Spirit of the Living Creature is the same Spirit of the Wheels. There are many spirits, but only one Holy Spirit, as the context and word makes clear in (Eph 4:4). There are not two spirits in this holy manifestation of God. And it is this Spirit which unites the living creatures and the wheels.

"When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the Spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings" (Ezek 1:21,24).

Ah, the sound of their wings is that of great waters (many people). It is the corporate voice of the Almighty. Their speech (His Word) resounds with the noise of a conquering army.

Brethren, talk about a commission of God unto the world. This mighty host is sent everywhere, not one square foot is overlooked -- and it starts in here, in each member of fire. From within it will be kindled and then the flames will go outwardly. Let me quote from an excellent word by Gary Amirault:

"It is impossible to manifest the true image of God until love becomes impartial! Oh, please reader, dwell on this! It begins with those who have been given some light. We must grow. The spark must become a blazing fire which will consume the whole world. Our words and deeds will either be a living fire which manifest the Glory of God, or they will be words of condemnation and death which bring great destruction! We will either be hot with Love or hot with vengeance, anger, and wrath and continue to be dead in our traditions. There is a fire which is living and a fire which is death! There is a light which brings life and understanding and there is a light which is dark and destroys life. 'The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!' (Mat 6:22-23).

"God will usually bring about some sort of fire in our own lives to manifest what kind of fire is burning in our own hearts. We will either have the capacity to lay down our lives for our enemies or we will kill them. Look to the World Wars and see millions of Christians killing other Christians. It's abundantly obvious what spirit is operating in many organized Christian denominations.

"While most of us have the ideas in our heads that Jesus went around Israel drawing disciples after him through his teachings and miracles, the fact is, he made several strong statements to chase the multitudes away." (Who Do Men Say That I Am? By Gary Amirault, Written on Christmas Day, 1997).

Let me take a moment and sum up some things. There is a transformation of the cherubim, the imaginary images. God said, "Let us make man in our image and after our likeness, so God created man." See, God has an imagination too. Therefore, in His image, in His imagination, He created man after His likeness. At this juncture man was only an image. He was not yet a full expression of God. Jesus is the full, express (character, Grk) image (character, Grk), of His Father's bright glory (Heb 1:3). Jesus was the true image, expression, character, manifestation of God.

The first image, of course, could fail, since he was formed from the dust of the earth. The expression of God's character could not fail; for He was the Lord from Heaven. He was not of the temporal earth, earthy, but from the eternal heavens.

The images (cherubim) that man creates in his own mind are sentries which keep men from the Tree of Life. These imaginary figures of man's making wield fiery swords akin to those Gary Amirault spoke of above. The cherubim and man's words of heated passion were placed eastward in Eden. Eastward, as I recall Brother Eby teaching years ago, speaks of going back to man, back to self. The Cherubim take men into eastern religions, back to the carnal way of thinking, back to ideas that form all the carnal religions of the world. That is what going eastward is all about.

Therefore, in man's natural mind are the Cherubim. They form the imaginations, and we see this scenario of man's thinking all the way to the Holy of Holies, and then they are transformed into the image of gold. It is here that we can say, "Be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds"; for when our minds are renewed, then our imaginations, our thoughts, are renewed, renovated, cleaned out and replaced with God-thoughts, God images. These imaginary figures are golden, pure gold. Such thoughts are life-giving. They do not keep us from the fruit of the Tree of Life; but rather, they become apples of gold in pictures of silver (Prov 25:11), ready food for a starving world. Such thoughts and words do not gender condemnation, confusion, endless debates, or any of those things that produce death.

It was religious debates, attempting to determine the "real" truth that was a major factor in establishing the Roman Catholic Church. The cherubim of those counsels decreed their dogma. And history shows that these tenants of faith were useful tools to pronounce judgment upon those who held different opinions (heretics). With their iron-clad beliefs etched in stone, the stone of canon law, they eventually led to the slaughter of millions. The church leaders, like so many today, were simply trying to determine the truth. Of course, when the majority of those revered men reached their conclusions and decreed them as pure doctrines, the living word died. Let us learn from the past and cease from these counsels that kill the word and slaughter the saints regardless of which view is more accurate. Let the Spirit freely flow through the Body so all may live and know the joy of life.

Although in the flaming image of God and awaiting the hour of manifestation, let us cease from claiming to be "God" or even "a god." Do you know how pompous that sounds, and beside that, such claims are a dime a dozen. They mean very little, and claiming it does not make it so. It is no secret that we are "children of the most high", as Psalm 82 clearly points out; but it is childish to go around claiming who we are. When the Cherubim are turned to gold, not a word will have to be said. Our lives will be that word, and it will be precious or fearful in the sight of man, depending on where one stands.

From that image, the image of gold, comes fire. By revelation glory, we blaze into flaming firebrands, the Seraphim. The fire, like natural fire, grows, ever increasing till the whole world is filled with their glory, which is God's glory. When that blazing fire of the Seraphim bursts forth in living color, even the priests will be seen casting their crowns before the throne, as we read from John in the fourth chapter of Revelation. And it is no wonder; for who can stand and retain their crown of glory when they see the Lord sitting upon the throne, high and lifted up?

Priesthoods and ministries become naught when the windows are opened and that heavenly throne and the Lamb are seen in the earth of man. The Levitical priesthood becomes as nothing. Melchizedek rises, the one who has no beginning of days, nor the end of days. His origin is in the eternal one, a Wheel within a Wheel. The Seraphim (the Living Creatures) come forth and consume the order of Levitical priesthood. Crowns are cast before the throne and to the Lamb who sits upon it.

And there was a rainbow round about the throne. And I again recall the thought Brother Eby shared about that rainbow. You see, while standing on earth, every rainbow we see is in a half-circle. The reason we cannot see a full circle is because there is earth that gets in the way of the bottom half of it. When there is no more earth in here, in our minds, there will be seen a complete, circular rainbow of emerald light. A green light of life all around the throne emanating eternally into all the world.

As long as there are cherubim of the carnal mind, we will have half a mind with half a rainbow over the throne within. The Old Covenant (half a rainbow with divisions of color) that God will never again destroy the earth with a flood will be a reality; but the manifestation of the New Covenant (full circle of eternal life) will be lacking.

There will be good and evil of seven colors rather than the full rainbow of emerald green. Rather than being full of the glory of Life, the seven spirits of God will be seen in a fragmentary way of good and evil. There will be the Spirit of the Lord, but it will be mixed with the earth of man and will be obstructed as they view the God of their imagination. Surely, the Spirit of wisdom will be present, but so will man's wisdom. The Spirit of understanding is prevalent in all churches, but so is the spirit of man's understanding. At times, the true Spirit of counsel pervades man's realm; but the beam of that light is halted when it meets the earth of man's carnal counsel. The Spirit of might moves many mountains, but is generally finished in the might of man's flesh. The Spirit of knowledge sweeps over man's hardships and many are delivered but its word, but the earth of man's intellect serves only as a bandage to the perpetual wound. And, of course, the Spirit of the reverence the LORD is always present in the beginning of every believer's walk; but after awhile, that reverence can divert to pride, and their first love and reverence vanishes when it meets with the horizon of earth's complacent crust. So it will be until the earth is removed and the full scope of God's Love and Life is seen, held, and lived. And that is the full, pure, emerald rainbow of life round about the throne of God.

When that eternal bow is seen around the throne of God, the throne in every man -- creation will stand alive and rejoice, as John's flaming word declares:

"And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen (firm, trustworthy; surely, so be it, Grk). And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshiped Him that liveth for ever and ever" (Rev 5:13-14). This is firm, trustworthy, and sure to come upon all!

My Lord and my God! What a wonder-working, full-powered, encompassing, emerald rainbow of life!

Elwin R. Roach

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1. cherubim: keruwb...a cherub or imaginary figure (Strong's Exhaustive Concordance).

2. All these things are products of the cherubim, the imaginations of man's carnal mind of how to reach heaven.

3. "And the cherubim shall have their wings spread upward, covering the mercy seat with their wings and facing one another; the faces of the cherubim are to be turned toward the mercy seat" (Exo 25:20)..

4. burning: ba'ar, a prime root; to kindle, i.e. consume..."

5. should: poieo, an obsol. prim.; to make or do (Strong's Exh. Conc.)