GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
GENESIS 3:24
24 So God drove the man out, and on the east side of the Garden of Eden he placed some cherubim and a flaming sword that flashed back and forth to guard the way to the Tree of Life.
After man was driven out, God set a guard in place at the one and only entrance to the Garden. Here we have a contrast between what happened after Satan’s fall and what happened after mankind’s fall. Satan was cast out with no way to return; mankind was cast out, but was given a doorway back.
Eden still had an entrance, though it was now guarded by armed cherubim. That there was only one entrance is significant. This is something like the design of the tabernacle that Moses was commanded to build in the desert. It always had one and only one entrance, and it, too, was on the east side. Through that door (or tent flap) the priests had access to the Holy Place, and rarely, just once per year, the high priest had access to the Most Holy Place where atonement for all mankind was prefigured by atonement being made for Israel year after year (Hebrews 9:6-9).
Heaven is also pictured (in Ezekiel’s vision) as having its entrance on the east side (Ezekiel 40:6). In the middle of the many symbolic measurements that the prophet sees, many of which may be confusing or obscure to the reader, that one reference to the direction (east) at least stands out as a reminder that the Garden of Eden, the tabernacle in the wilderness, the temple of Solomon, and the vision of the prophet were all symbolic representations of our heavenly home, through which there is only one entrance. But it is not a compass point, nor is it a doorway or gate with walls and a lintel. Rather, it is revealed to be Christ himself: “I am the Way… No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). For “since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand” (Romans 5:1-2).
Satan, however, has no such entrance any longer. He has been condemned to everlasting punishment in hell. For “God did not spare angels when they sinned” (2 Peter 2:4). “These he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the Great Day” (Jude 1:6).
So now, expelled from the Garden, Adam was simply placed elsewhere in God’s created world. His role did not change; he was still there to work the land (Genesis 2:15), but now under the curse his work would be more difficult and would not always be a joy.
Here for the first time the Scripture mentions those angels that are not the devil or his demons. Here we find some of the cherubim. They would be depicted on the curtain walls of the tabernacle and above the ark of the covenant (Exodus 25:17-22). The cherubim, like the other good angels, are ministering spirits that serve for the good of mankind (Hebrews 1:14) and that do God’s will in whatever way he commands. The good angels can no longer fall into sin because they have been confirmed in their holiness; they are described as “the elect angels” (1 Timothy 5:21), those who “always see the face of the Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 18:10). They are called “holy angels” (Mark 8:38) and “the angels of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).
The word “cherub” and its plural, “cherubim,” is a special reference to the angels who surround God’s throne. God (who is invisible) is envisioned as being enthroned “upon” or “above” the cherubim (Psalm 80:1; 99:1; Exodus 25:18) or even (in Psalm 18) “riding on a cherub” or a chariot with a cherub as the driver (Psalm 18:10). Here at the entrance of the Garden, these angels had a role that was not at all symbolic, but in deadly earnest. They were to keep human beings from ever again entering into the Garden as long as it lasted. Their flashing sword was a weapon of sudden flashing light, not steel or bronze. It was more like lightning, suddenly here and suddenly there, like the lightning of a fierce storm, in which anyone caught outside can only cower, find cover, or run away. This sword might be depicted as if it is a longsword or a broadsword in artwork, but the artwork is only symbolic. Even the fantastic light sabers of the Star Wars films fall short, far short, of the reality of this deadly protection at the east end of the Garden.
This brings us to another point: Does the Garden still exist in the world today? If so, it has never been discovered nor even rumored in any historical document or any other hint. I think that it was destroyed along with the rest of the ancient world in the flood in Noah’s time. In those days, “Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that crawl on the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth” (Genesis 7:23). The plants were submerged, and many of them perished, but now plants sprouted and grew after the deluge– trees, flowers, bushes, vines, grains, and grasses. But as for the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the Tree of Life, I think that the Lord removed them from this world. But he tells us through the vision John received that the Tree of Life is living and thriving in heaven, the Paradise of God (Revelation 2:7).
We have been blessed with the promise that mankind has a way into God’s Paradise. It is not a physical gate, or mountain pass, nor the flap of any tent. It is through faith in Jesus our Savior, and through his Way alone we have access and the inheritance of everlasting life, the resurrection of our flesh, and eternal peace.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Genesis 3:24 Cherubim and a sword