Literally, “He caused to dwell . . .” The The word “dwell” here is cognate with “Shekinah,” or “dwelling.” This is the word used when speaking of the glory of God’s presence dwelling among mortal men.
The “Shekinah-glory” of God led His flock through the wilderness in the time of Moses (Exod. 25:8). The same visible glory was present in the temple of Solomon (1 Kings 6:13; 8:12, 13), though hid from daily view by thick curtains. But the glory of the Lord and the cherubim departed the temple at the beginning of the Babylonian captivity, showing that God’s favor and very close presence were being withdrawn from the nation. In three successive stages the glory departed: First it stood at the threshold of the house (Ezek. 10:4), then at the east gate of the Lord’s house (Ezek. 10:18, 19), and lastly it stood upon the mountain on the east side of the city (Ezek. 11:23) — the Mount of Olives.
This same glory of God, which left the city, is pictured in Ezek. 43:2 as returning at a future time:
“And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel, came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory.”
Throughout the Old Testament, the visible glory of the Lord is seen in a number of places. This glory is always associated with the Cherubim. This glory found its first true habitation here on the east side of the Garden. Here is God’s first shrine, or sanctuary, among men. “East” in the Hebrew is from a root word meaning “the front.” Some translators of this verse (Gen. 3:24) even use the word “front” (for example, Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible), indicating that the Cherubim stood at the entrance to the garden. But there seems to be much more meant by the word than just this.
As noted just above (Ezek. 10:18,19;11:23; 43:2), the glory of the Lord in the cherubim was always coming from or returning toward the east. Thus the use of the word “east” in connection with the cherubim here in Gen. 3:24 must have some special significance:
Christ was the glory of God in human form. This glory departed from men on the Mount of Olives (Acts 1:12), which is located to the east of Jerusalem (Cp. Ezek. 43:2). But with this departure came the promise that he would return:
“Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven ? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1 :11) .
And when Christ as the manifestation of God’s glory is to return (Zech. 14:4),
“His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem, on the east.”
One more notable reference concerning the east is Rev. 16:12:
“And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared!”
In the Greek, the only word translated “east” literally means “the rising of the sun” or “the dawn”. In Mal. 4:2, there is a prophecy of Christ as the “sun of righteousness.” The rising of the sun points first of all to resurrection, as may be clearly seen in Psa. 110:3. the multitudinous Christ manifested in light as the dew from the dark womb of the morning by the glorious rising of the Sun of Righteousness.
The true saints, or “children of the resurrection,” will be instrumental in beginning the new day. This is the seventh, or millennial day — which will begin when Christ the Sun rises from the east:
“And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds: as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain” (2 Sam. 23:4).
“Weeping may endure for a night; but cometh joy in the morning” (Psa. 30:5).
Thus, the cherubim that stood before the garden on the east was representative of the multitudinous Christ, the righteous “children of the resurrection.” And furthermore — the east is prophetic of that future manifestation of God’s glory in the many saints of The Cherubim, who have all followed the “Way of the Tree of Life,” and who will come to rule over the earth in truth and justice.
“A Flaming Sword“
This might be translated better as a “sword of flame,” or a “sword-like flame.” Fire and brightness were always associated with the cherubim. This sword of fire is an integral part of the cherubim of Gen. 3:24, not a separate object.
Fire symbolizes the spirit of the Father (Rev. 4:5) and the glory and the brightness of Christ and the saints (Ezek. 1:4, 13, 27).
Finally, fire and brightness symbolize the honor and majesty of Christ and the saints:
“We were eye-witnesses of his majesty” (Peter speaking in 2 Pet. 1:16 of the Transfiguration, when Christ’s face “did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light”—Matt. 17:2).
“Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matt. 13:43).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One