As promised last time, we look first at the One who walked in the midst of the churches. Angels appear frequently in the whole of the book of the Revelation, and,of particular interest to us, each of the seven messages is sent to the angel of the church concerned. Now there are some similarities between the One like unto the Son of man and the graphic picture presented in Deut. 33:1-5, which I think portrays the angel of God’s presence. If, for instance, one tries to imagine the scene being set by Moses in these opening verses of Deut. 33, there is a fairly clear picture of the journeying of the children of Israel through the wilderness to the promised land. With the glory of Yahweh in the midst of them, the cloud by day and the fire by night, any observer viewing their progress from afar would surely have agreed with the description “He shined forth” (v.2). Ten thousands of holy ones (i.e. the people of Israel – a holy nation, Num. 10:36) were with Him, and they received the law at His hand (v.2).
If we stop to enquire why it was a “fiery” law, then perhaps we can say that it was given by the angel who went in the pillar of fire (Ex.13:21) who spoke to Moses in Mount Sinai. Moses there received the lively oracles to give “unto us” (i.e. Israel) (Acts 7:38), which compares well with “from his right hand went a fiery law for them” (Deut. 33:2). As an extension of the idea we observe that, in fact, God makes all “his ministers a flame of fire”, not only the one angel of the presence. Thus it appears that the angel of the presence had in “his right hand” (i.e. at his command) other angels who did his bidding, hearkening to the voice of his word. Agreeing with this is the testimony that that the fathers of Israel received the law by “the disposition of angels”(Acts 7:53).
How interesting are the similarities in this to the record of the One like the Son of man in Revelation! He also “shined forth” – his countenance was “as the sun shineth in his strength” (Rev.1:15), “his eyes were as a flame of fire (1:14), “his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace” (1:15).
Just as the angel of the presence came with ten thousands of saints, dwelling in the midst of the people in the wilderness, so John saw this One in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks which “are the seven churches” (1:20).
As the fiery law went out (a law given by angels), so in the right hand of this One seven stars were to be seen (1:16), which “are the angels of the seven churches” (1:20).
Deuteronomy 33 goes on, “he was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together”; and then follows the blessing on each of the tribes. In the book of Revelation, the description of the One like unto the Son of man is immediately followed by the seven letters to the churches.
It is possible, then, to conclude that thus far there are features associated with this One in Revelation which have a strong likeness to those of the angel of the presence appointed by Yahweh to lead Israel. Now the broadest definition of the work of the angel of the presence for Israel in the wilderness is given in Ex.23:20, viz. “to keep thee in the way”. To accomplish this the angel who had already spoken to Moses in Mount Sinai mapped out for them their journeys through the wilderness. As a reward for faithful service, this angel would bless Israel’s provisions and keep them from ill health, and bring them to the promised possession. If they provoked him.he would not forgive their trespass.
The One like the Son of man thus stands in a somewhat similar position in relation to the seven churches to that of the angel of the presence to Israel.
The Anointed Cherub
Now let us have a look at another Old Testament account of the manifestation of the glory of God, the “anointed cherub” of Ezekiel 28.
However we may conceive of the symbology of this chapter as applying to the prince of Tyre, there can be no doubt concerning the origin of the symbols themselves. The anointed cherub must have its allusion first to the cherubim in Eden (v.14), for the prophet has, in the previous verse, proclaimed, “Thou hast been in Eden’s. But though there is this allusion to Eden, there is just as strong an allusion to the manifestation of God in the midst of Israel: “Thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire” (v.14). The “stones” of this verse are described in detail in v.13. They were the stones of the breastplate of judgment worn by the high priest. The stones were set in “inclosings” of gold. No doubt in the presence of the glory of the Lord these were “stones of fire”. The twelve stones on the breastplate bore the names of the twelve tribes, so that when the anointed cherub walked in the midst of the stones of fire it was, symbolically, walking in the midst of the twelve tribes.
How similar is the idea of the anointed cherub walking in the midst of the stones of fire to that of the One like unto the Son of man walking in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks (Rev.2:1), i.e. “lamps of fire” (Rev.4:5):
From this, then, we can say that there is a strong connection between the One like the Son of man symbology and the cherubim symbology. We can also say that the angel of the presence was, at least partly, the reality behind the cherubim symbology in the days of the nation of Israel, and that the cherubim was placed in Eden to “keep the way of the tree of life” (Gen.3:24), a close link with the work of the angel of the presence.
The Cherubim in Eden
The next step in the argument involves further consideration of the Genesis record, for”the LORD God.. .placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword…”. Here again there is the accompanying flame; how appropriate to think of this sword here as the law of the LORD God issuing from the mouth of angels! (“Out of his mouth went a sharp two edged sword” – Rev.1:16 – and “for the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword” – Heb.4:12.)
In this connection it can be noted that there are instances when the angel of the Lord, almost certainly the angel of the presence, is pictured as having a drawn sword in his hand, e.g. the “angel of the LORD standing in the city” of whom Balaam’s ass took notice (Num. 22:31), and “the captain of the LORD’s host” who met Joshua before Jericho (Josh.5:13-15). Here the imagery of Gen.3 is being used.
These last two allusions are of further interest in the present study because (a) in the Balaamic parables Balaam “saw the vision of the Almighty” (Num.24:16), which title Jesus appropriates to himself in Rev.1:8, and (b) when Joshua met the captain of the LORD’s host he was standing on holy ground (Josh. 5:15), which experience also came to Moses when the angel of the presence appeared to him in the bush. This occasion in Ex.3 is, incidentally, the first time the word ‘holy’ appears in scripture, and its use in this context strongly suggests that it is to be understood in relation to the way of life ‘kept’ by the cherubim. For instance, 3 times in the short Psalm 99 which begins with the LORD sitting between the cherubims and has reference to the angel speaking to Moses, Aaron and Samuel “in the cloudy pillar”, the LORD is called ‘holy’ twice, and His name is called ‘holy’ once. So that the angel of the presence tame to be known as “his holy Spirit” (Is.63:9&10) simply because he was this angel-Spirit (Ps. 104:4) whose task it was to keep Israel in the way (Ex.23:20).
Conclusion
This discussion of the Old Testament background to the One like unto the Son of man has shown some striking similarities with Old Testament imagery, leading to the conclusion that this One who walked among the seven churches was performing the work of the cherubim, i.e. to keep the way of the tree of life. Moreover, we have seen how that God uses angels to perform this work, at least in part. Other agencies also, I believe, participate in this work – which I propose to deal with in the next issue, if God will.
Footnote
I would like to point out what appears to be a very interesting prophecy which concerns the work of angels as detailed in the book of Revelation.
The prophecy is our Lord’s Mount Olivet discourse, and I am writing this at this particular time not only because it is relevant to my theme in the present series of studies, but also because Bro. John Allfree is now dealing with this prophecy, and in this issue with the verse in question (v.31).It was on the very issue of the interpretation of Matt.24 that Sis. Ray and I were first attracted to Bro. John and his careful way of looking at Scripture. We have for some time held the same view as that put forward by him in his present series regarding the coming of the Lord in the Roman invasion of Jewry in AD 70. We have always accepted his interpretation of v.29 as expounded in this issue, i.e. as having reference to the darkening of the Jewish state luminaries.However, we have a variant for verses 30 and 31, believing that Bro. John does not place sufficient emphasis on the words “then” in v.30. We see the word “then” as referring to the time when the lights in the Jewish heavens have become darkened, i.e. when the Jewish state is no more; and at that time the sign of the Son of man in heaven would appear. We think Bro. John has his sequence slightly wrong here, seeing the sign as the actual darkening of the heavens and not as something appearing after they are darkened.
For the purposes of his argument Bro. John has to equate ‘earth’ with the land of Israel. From a consideration of the New Testament uses of the word ‘earth’ we would think that this equation is unlikely, as anyone can verify by using a concordance. And while the word ‘earth’ certainly stands sometimes for the people of some country, it could hardly carry this kind of symbology in the phrase “tribes of the earth”.
Now there is a very close connection between Matt.24:30&31 and the book of Revelation. This may be seen from the table below:
From a consideration of all these very close parallel thoughts in the two records we submit that on the Mount of Olives Jesus was telling his disciples that, after the fall of Jerusalem and the darkening of Israel’s heavens, God would reveal a new sign – which we have now in the book of Revelation.
The Solution