“They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever” (Dan. 12:2).
The word of God is said to be “sharper than any two-edged sword” (Heb. 4:12). In Rev. 19:15, Christ is pictured as having a “sharp sword out of his mouth.” This sword symbolizes a quick and powerful and unwavering purpose. This is the type of purpose to be associated with God’s glorious cherubim. In Isa. 55:11 God speaks of “my word that goeth forth out of my mouth.” And He says that “it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”
God’s sure purpose it to bring many sons to glory (Heb. 2:10), and to fill the earth with the glory. The cherubim demonstrate how this will be accomplished — by His children walking in the way of the tree of life, and by proper sacrifice and worship.
The cherubim placed by God at the east of the Garden were to, in some sense, “Keep the way,” “keep” here is the word always used in connection with God’s laws: “to keep (or observe) His commands.” “Keep” means in Hebrew “to protect, observe, preserve.”
As all the other cherubim, this particular image “kept” the promise and the hope of salvation before man. It was a reminder of his duty, as in sacrifice—and a reminder of his reward: to be filled with all the fullness of God’s glorious spirit, as an immortal member of the Elohim.
As mentioned before, the cherubim represented both Christ (the seed of the woman — Gen. 3:15) and his future bride. For those who saw the cherubim with the eyes of faith, the image was a guarantee: It “kept” before them the sureness of the Divine purpose, covenants and provisions for salvation.
“The Way Of The Tree Of Life” Our minds are quite small and feeble when we come to study the word of God. We tend to pull every lofty concept down to our low level of comprehension. God has told us that His ways are as much higher than our ways, as the Heaven is higher that the earth (Isa. 55:9) We must strive to stretch our concepts upward, toward Him, rather than merely waiting for Him to come down to us. It is natural for us to picture a god with the same frailties as we ourselves have, such were the idols of the pagans. We perhaps think of an angry and cruel deity who drives Adam and Eve out of Paradise and slams the door in their faces. We sometimes fail to comprehend the great love of our Father, who, immediately upon the sin of our parents, provided a way that they and all their posterity might be reinstated into His presence. The story of the Fall is indeed a story of the sin of man and its punishment, but it is more importantly a story of the love and mercy and foresight of God.
The way of the tree of life was not the literal path to the tree in the midst of the garden. Instead, the way is a way of life, a daily walk in accordance with God’s laws, a walk which at all times is pointed firmly toward one objective — acceptance at the judgement seat of Christ.
Thus, the “way of the tree of life” is—plain and simple — Christ:
“I am the way, the truth, and the life; No man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).
Christ, the perfect sacrifice, fulfilled all the expectations of the law of Moses. Therefore, his blood is called “the new and living way” (Heb. 10:20). This is the “narrow way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matt. 7:14). We must be thankful that we are among these ones who have found this way.
This is the same way which is called “God’s way” in Gen. 6:12; but, sadly, all flesh had corrupted it. Let us not be as those in the time of Noah, who corrupted the glorious way offered to them. Let us rather preserve and observe that way by prayer and study and obedience, that the beautiful lessons of the Cherubim may become a reality in our lives. God’s hand is outstretched still:
“To him that overcometh, will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God” (Rev. 2:7).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One