Cherubims on the ark

"The cherubims" in Exodus 25:18-20 portray a beautiful typical picture. In 1 Corinthians 10:11, the Apostle Paul, speaking of the Old Testament events and practices, wrote, "Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples." The Greek word for "ensamples" is tupos, and it means "types." Webster's New World Dictionary defines a type as: "a person, a thing, or an event that represents or symbolizes another, especially another that is to come." The Old Testament Tabernacle is rich in its symbolism of the New Testament realities that, at that juncture (1491 B.C.), were "to come." 

Let us identify what the "cherubims" represent. They were not angelic beings, or angels, as is commonly supposed. Ezekiel 10:15 tells us that "cherubims" are "the living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar." In Ezekiel 1:5, the prophet said while "by the river of Chebar" (verse 1), he saw "four living creatures." Revelation 5:8 speaks of "four beasts" in the King James Version, but the Nestle Greek Text says "living creatures." The Greek word is zoon, and it means "living creatures." 

Revelation 5:9 reveals these "living creatures" are the "redeemed." Thus, "the cherubims" of Exodus, Chapter 25, are representative of the redeemed of all ages.

The description provided in Exodus 25:18 explains that on the Ark of the Covenant, there was a "mercy seat" (a vivid type of Christ). Romans 3:25 speaks of Christ as our "propitiation" ("mercy seat"; The Emphatic Greek Diaglott). In this New Testament dispensation, Christ is our "mercy seat." Thus, He is what is being typified in the Old Testament Tabernacle's "mercy seat."

Exodus 25:18 tells that the "two cherubims" were connected "in the two ends of the mercy seat." Verse 20 says, "Toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be." Several beautiful truths are depicted in the types represented in these verses. They were facing "the mercy seat," typical of the saints "looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2).

Notice, there are "two cherubims." We found they represent the redeemed of all ages. One symbolizes those "just men made perfect" (Hebrews 12:23), the Old Testament brethren that Christ's redemptive work first applied to (Hebrews 9:15). The other of the "cherubims" represents the New Testament saints. It is a beautiful portrayal of how we are all brought together and connected through Jesus Christ. It also depicts that we are joined as one with Christ, just as He prayed in John 17:21, saying, "That they also may be one in us."

Being connected to the "mercy seat" shows our access to Christ and the presence of God comes through a dispensation of "mercy" and that "mercy" is what connects us both to Christ and to the redeemed of all ages. Another glorious picture is described in Exodus 25:22, which says, "And there will I meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims." It is a beautiful picture that the presence of God is right in the midst of the saints.
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The magnificent typical portrayal of "the cherubims" and their position on the Ark of the Covenant shows us that God's desire has always been His presence, Christ, and the redeemed of all ages be all joined together in a glorious oneness!

Earl R. Borders

From the November 2025 issue of The Gospel Trumpeter