Cherubims, and a Flaming Sword (Genesis 3:24)

2022-08-18

What were the consequences of sin? Adam and Eve were thrust out of the Garden of Eden. The tree of life, from which they could “eat, and live for ever” (Genesis 3:22), was blocked off from them. They no longer could walk with God. They had to cover their shame. The way to life was blocked, and they could never return, and God ensured it so: “So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life” (Genesis 3:24).

Fierce angels guarded the way back into Paradise with a flaming sword. Nobody is going back in. Worse yet, every descendant of Adam (us) was born on this side of the flaming sword. No amount of money, good works, or begging will get us back in there. The way is forever blocked, and death is certain. And where death is, judgment follows.

But there is a greater Sword, the Word of God, that has declared a way back to Paradise, where God dwells. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). Where the former sword chases us away, the latter Sword reveals a way back home to God. Jesus Christ is that only way back to our God. He suffered and died under the wrath of God that was rightfully ours. He forever lives, and we can now live with Him.

Jesus tells us, “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God” (Revelation 2:7).