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My holy name shall the house of Israel no more defile." "I will DWELL in the midst of
them" (Ezek. 43: 7 and 9).
It should be noted that the word "dwell" in these verses is the translation of the
Hebrew word shaken, "to dwell as in a tabernacle". The last reference to the glory is
found in Ezek. 44: 4:--
"Then brought he me the way of the north gate before the house: and I looked, and,
behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord: and I fell upon my face."
After the inheritance of the tribes has been appointed and the city described, we arrive
at the concluding verse of the prophecy:--
"And the name of the city from that day shall be Jehovah Shammah, The Lord is
there" (Ezek. 48: 35).
Here is the place where He will dwell, paradise shall have been restored (see
Ezek. 47: 1-12 for the river and the trees), and the whole earth shall be filled with His
glory.
Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men.
We read no more of the cherubim in the O.T. The only reference to them by name in
the N.T. is that of Heb. 9: 5. Yet there are two sections of the N.T. where we may see
the cherubim and the reality for which they stand. The most obvious occurrences are of
course those in the book of the Revelation. It is somewhat misleading to the average
reader to find that John saw round about the throne in heaven four beasts, particularly as
there is mentioned more than 30 times "the beast" whose number is 666 and whose career
is one of blasphemy.
Therion is correctly rendered "beast", but zoon should be translated "living creature".
The moment we thus translate the word we have a link with Ezek. 1: and 10:, where the
"four living creatures" (Ezek. 1: 5) there described are declared to be the cherubim
(Ezek. 10: 20). Turning to Rev. 4: we are immediately in a setting parallel with that of
Ezek. 1: We have a throne, and the One who sits thereon is like a jasper and a sardine
stone. Around the throne is a rainbow like an emerald. Four and twenty thrones
encircled the great throne occupied by four and twenty elders, clothed in white and
crowned with golden crowns. Lightnings, thunderings, voices proceeded out of the
throne, and seven lamps of fire burn before it, which are the seven spirits of God. A sea
of glass like to crystal stretches out before the throne, and round about the throne were
four living creatures full of eyes before and behind:--
"The first living creature was like a lion, the second like a calf, the third had a face as
a man, and the fourth was like a flying eagle" (Rev. 4: 7).