 |  |
introduced into the Scriptures are as follows. Beginning with the passage in Ezekiel
which antedates Eden we have the following:
Ezek. 8:
Eden. Profaned. Cast out. The anointed.
Gen. 3:
Eden. Pledge of life and restoration.
Exod. 25:
The Tabernacle an the Mercy Seat.
I Kings. 6:-8:
The glory and the Temple.
Ezek. 1:-11: & 41:
The glory departing and returning.
Rev.
"The four beasts." The pledge fulfilled.
If we set out these passages in the form of a correspondence, we immediately become
aware of some member that is missing. It will be worth the space if this necessity can be
demonstrated and felt.
A | Ezek. 8: The anointed cherub, his pride, his fall.
B | Gen. 3: Paradise lost. The pledge of restoration.
C | Exod. 25:
Tabernacle. \
I Kings. 6:-8:
Temple.
} Israel.
Ezek. 1:-11: & 41:
Glory.
/
A | ? Nothing recorded.
B | Rev. Paradise restored.
Something is missing that will counterbalance the pride and the fall of the anointed
cherub at the beginning. The very fact that the word "anointed" might be included,
points us to Christ, the true anointed, for that is the meaning of the Hebrew "Messiah"
and the Greek "Christos". We remember that when the cherubim in the O.T. or the living
creatures in the Revelation are described, we have mention of four faces, that of a lion,
an ox, a man, and an eagle, and these symbols have from earliest times been associated
with the four Gospels.
Matthew
The
LION
The King
Mark
The
OX
The Servant
Luke
The
MAN
Genealogy of Adam
John
The
EAGLE
The Word
Where the anointed cherub aspired with blasphemous attempt to be like the Most
High, the Son of God voluntary left the glory that was His by right and stooped down to
death, even to the death of the cross. In this He `undid' (luo) the works of the devil
(I John 3: 8). Into the space marked A therefore we can put the missing line.
A |
The Anointed, His humiliation, His Triumph,
and the record is complete. Thus the outstretched firmament coincides with the
outstretched wing of the cherubim, the whole span of the ages being "under the
Redeeming Ęgis". "The term `ęgis', really a Latin word, means a `goat skin' and later
a shield . . . . . this redeeming conception took a primeval form in the cherubim set up,
together with the sword of flame, at the gate of the lost Eden . . . . . the idea of atonement,