The Whole Creation Story – Part 23

 

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The Whole Creation Story – Part 23

The Whole Creation Story – Part 23

God created the sons of God and the “morning stars”.

Some of these “morning stars” were “cherubims”.

What are cherubims?      (cherub=singular…cherubims=plural)   “cherub..” 95 times

1st mention…

Genesis 3:24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

The next 17 occurrences are in Exodus and describe the Cherubims covering the ark of the covenant in the Tabernacle.

Exodus 25:18 And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat. 19 And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. 20 And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be. … 22 And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.

The next 20 occurrences are in 1 Kings and describe the Cherubims covering the ark of the covenant in Solomon’s Temple. These are larger than the others, room size.

1Kings 6:23 And within the oracle he made two cherubims of olive tree, each ten cubits high. 24 And five cubits was the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub: from the uttermost part of the one wing unto the uttermost part of the other were ten cubits.

The “cubit” is a measurement that is defined as “from the tip of the finger to the elbow”.

This isn’t very exacting as my cubit and Shaquille O’Neal’s cubit would be somewhat different.

If someone is giving you a solid-gold bar and its length is one cubit, well, you’re gonna want Shaq’s cubit.

If you are facing a snake and its length is one cubit, well, now you’d want my cubit.

Alas, the “royal cubit” was defined by “experts” as 20.7 inches.

At 20.7 inches times 10 cubits = 207 inches.

Each cherub in the Temple was over 17 feet tall!

The entire Ark of The Covenant itself was only approximately 3 feet by 2 feet.

They were on the top of the Ark and in the Temple because …

2Kings 19:15 And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.

The Temple was a model of the Temple in Heaven.

Hebrews 8:5 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.

Hebrews 9:23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

1Chronicles 28:11 Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, and of the houses thereof, and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambers thereof, and of the inner parlours thereof, and of the place of the mercy seat, 12 And the pattern of all that he had by the spirit, of the courts of the house of the LORD, and of all the chambers round about, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries of the dedicated things: … 19 All this, said David, the LORD made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern.

All of this is a PATTERN that was to be followed exactly.

The Lord dwells between the Cherubims FOR REAL in Heaven.

So far we have seen the patterns of the cherubims. Ezekiel saw the real things.

Ezekiel 1,10,11,28 contain the vast majority of the remaining occurrences of “cherub..”

But, how do you know he saw REAL cherubims?

Ummm, cause The Bible says so, duhhhhhhh!

Ezekiel 1:1 Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.

Look, either the heavens WERE opened, or the heavens were NOT opened.

There’s no in-between. My guess is that the heavens WERE OPENED. You? Your guess?

This is Ezekiel 1:1! Don’t you just love a movie that starts off with a bang!

Ezekiel 1:5 Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.

…Ezekiel 10:20 This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river of Chebar; and I knew that they were the cherubims.

…Ezekiel 1:6 And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings. 7 And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass. 8 And they had the hands of a man under their

wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.

9 Their wings were joined one to another;

they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.

10 As for the likeness of their faces, they four had

the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side:

and they four had

the face of an ox on the left side;

they four also had the face of an eagle.

Ezekiel 1:14 And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.

v15 Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold  one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.

v16 The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.

v22  And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above. 23 And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies.

v26 And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.

v28…This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.

And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.

Ezekiel 2:1 And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee. 2 And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me. 3 And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day. 4 For they are impudent children and stiffhearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD.

Why all of this?

4 Cherubims. You now know a little about what they look like.

You also now know that they four are all around the very throne of God.

This is pictured on the Ark of the Testimony, in Solomon’s Temple, and most importantly in the vision of Heaven given to the prophet Ezekiel.

Now, notice that POSITIONALLY, the cherubims are UNDER the throne of God.

They surround it, but they are UNDER THE THRONE, and THE THRONE IS ABOVE them.

These four (4) Cherubims are UNDER THE THRONE.

And there are only four. However, NONE of them is ever described as “anointed”.

There is, or I should say, WAS, a fifth cherub. He was “anointed”.

Ezekiel 28:14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so:

thou wast upon the holy mountain of God;  (16 times – very special holy place)

thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

Ezekiel 28:16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned:

therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God:

and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

“stones of fire” is only in The Bible twice. I THINK this may be what we are talking about…

Isaiah 6:6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

One of the Cherubims was “cast out” and “destroyed”. A very special cherub.

The “ANOINTED” cherub.

He was cast out and destroyed BECAUSE HE SINNED.

Tyre Tyrus (59 times)

1st mention Joshua is dividing the inheritance of the promised land. 5th is Asher…

Joshua 19:29 And then the coast turneth to Ramah, and to the strong city Tyre; and the coast turneth to Hosah; and the outgoings thereof are at the sea from the coast to Achzib:

1st NT Mentions

Matthew 11:21 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.

Look, nothing really special about Tyre/Tyrus in these passages, really.

EXCEPT for the ones we are going to look at next…

A couple of things I want to mention before we move on.

Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Principalities, powers

Ephesians 3:10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

Colossians 2:15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

1Peter 3:22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.

Darkness

Proverbs 4:19 The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.

Acts 26:18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

Colossians 1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

So, the verses we have looked at about Tyre, they are ALL about flesh and blood.

That is obvious. Tyre was a real place. As real as Egypt or Jerusalem or Persia.

Persia. Interesting choice. Not an accident though.

Persia 36 times in The Bible

There were “flesh and blood” kings of Persia. Several are mentioned by name.

Ezra 4:5 And hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. … 7 And in the days of Artaxerxes wrote Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their companions, unto Artaxerxes king of Persia; and the writing of the letter was written in the Syrian tongue, and interpreted in the Syrian tongue.

Here is another one, and this passage mentions “flesh and blood” princes; partying.

Most princes are pretty good at partying.

Esther 1:2 That in those days, when the king Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shushan the palace, 3 In the third year of his reign, he made a feast unto all his princes and his servants; the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces, being before him:

PHYSICALLY BEFORE HIM. These are all physical, flesh and blood human beings.

These were NOT…

Daniel 8:16 And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.

Daniel 10:11 And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright: for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. 12 Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. 13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.

Daniel 10:20 Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come.

Those “princes” and “kings” are SPIRITUAL PRINCES AND KINGS.

And yet these SPIRITUAL beings were IN COMMMAND OF ACTUAL PHYSICAL REALMS.

But, FROM and IN the spiritual realm.

There was a PHYSICAL king of Persia. And there was ALSO a SPIRITUAL king  of Persia.

In the same way, I believe EACH and every place on this planet has a spiritual head.

Remember, and ask yourself WHY this is true…

Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

“Flesh and Blood” does NOT run this world.

This is the truth. Here is a great example.

Revelation 16:14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto

the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

The “god of this world”…

Vash and Cam sent emails to his family w 5-min SW Plan video.    Lights flickering, TV went out. Wifi went out. !!!!!

Hillsong – fine. God friended me – fine. Benny the Henn – fine. Non-KJV w works salvation – fine.

Truth? – not fine!