Cherubim Archives

June 17, 2021May 18, 2023

What are the Cherubim? Pt. 4: The Face of a Lion and Their Four Wings

Within the Bible, there are accounts of several different types of supernatural, spiritual beings, such as the Cherub, the Seraph, the Serpent, etc. Ezekiel goes into detail describing the beings he called a Cherub. So far, we’ve gone into detail explaining the meanings behind the Cherubim’s faces of a man, eagle, and ox, as well as their straight legs and calf-like soles of their bronze feet. But what does the Cherubim’s face of a lion mean? What do lions represent in the Bible? What are the Cherubim’s four wings for? Join ArieRashelle as she searches through Scripture to find the answers in our fourth part, The Face of a Lion and Their Four Wings, of our miniseries What are the Cherubim?

Revelation 5:6
Revelation 5:3-5
Matthew 28:18
Ezekiel 1:24
2 Peter 2:7
Genesis 19
2 Samuel 24:13-17
Exodus 25:20-22
Leviticus 16:1-2
Genesis 3:22-24
Genesis 1:28
Ezekiel 1:24
Revelation 17:15
Ezekiel 1:6
Ezekiel 1:11
Psalms 80:1
Psalms 99:1
1 Samuel 4:4
Ezekiel 1:26-28
Psalms 22:3
Ezekiel 10:1-3; 4
Ezekiel 10:18-19
Psalms 18:9-10
Exodus 28:7
John 17:20-23
Exodus 38; 39

What Are The Cherubim? Pt. 4 Summary

The Cherubim’s Face of a Lion and Their Wings

⁸Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. And the four had their faces and their wings thus: ⁹their wings touched one another. Each one of them went straight forward, without turning as they went. ¹⁰As for the likeness of their faces, each had a human face. The four had the face of a lion on the right side, the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four had the face of an eagle.
Ezekiel 1:8-10

The Cherubim’s Face of a Lion

The Cherubim had the face of a lion because lion’s represent authority. Jesus told Peter that the Devil demanded to have him. Unless the Devil had some form of authority, he couldn’t demand to have Peter and then Peter given over to him to the point where Jesus says I prayed for you.

³¹Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, ³²but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.
Luke 22:31-32

After this Peter then describes Satan as a prowling lion seeking someone to devour because lions represent authority, just like the Cherubim’s face.

⁸Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. ⁹Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
1 Peter 5:8-9

Satan is portrayed as a roaring lion when he is demanding someone. Lions represent authority because they are a symbol of authority. This is the same idea with the Cherubim. The Cherubim have the face of a lion because they have authority.

The Cherubim’s Wings

¹¹Such were their faces. And their wings were spread out above. Each creature had two wings, each of which touched the wing of another, while two covered their bodies.
Ezekiel 1:11

The Cherubim cover their bodies with two of their wings because they are like burning coals and torches with the glory of God. Two of their wings hold up the throne of God in glory and praise, this is why God rides on the wings of a cherub in the Psalms.

¹Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock. You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth.
Psalms 80:1

²And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale-judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who sits enthroned on the cherubim.
2 Samuel 6:2

The Face of a Lion and Their Wings Images

The Four Faces of The Cherubim (Cherub Face of Man)

The Four Faces of The Cherubim (Cherub Face of Ox)

The Four Faces of The Cherubim (Cherub Face of Eagle)

The Four Faces of The Cherubim (Cherub Face of Lion which represents authority)

The Cherubim's Face of a Lion which represents Authority Summary

The Anointed Guardian Cherub of Ezekiel 28?

What Are the Cherubim? Pt. 3: Their Hands and Feet

As we discussed in our two previous videos, the Cherubim are terrifying creatures with four faces and four wings. They have the face of a man, eagle, ox, and lion. They also have the likeness of man due to their connection with man. Not only do they have the likeness and face of man, but the Cherubim also have human hands. Their feet are like burnished bronze. But what does that mean? Why do the Cherubim have human hands and bronze feet? What does bronze represent in the Bible? Join ArieRashelle as she searches through Scripture to explain the Cherubim’s hands and feet in part three of our What Are the Cherubim? series.

Romans 10:13-15
Ezekiel 1:7
Ezekiel 43:6-7a
Deuteronomy 11:24
Isaiah 27:9-10
John 15:1-6
Matthew 13:24-30; 36-40
Revelation 2:18
Ephesians 6:15
Numbers 21:4-9
John 3:14-15
John 3:16
Leviticus 1
Matthew 10:13-15
Acts 3:6-7
Ezekiel 1:8
Ezekiel 37:1
Acts 8:39-40
Ezekiel 1:1-3
Acts 8:17-19
1 Timothy 5:22
1 Timothy 4:14
2 Timothy 1:5-7
Luke 22:43-44
Philippians 2:4-8
Hebrews 1:14
Isaiah 6:6-7

What Are The Cherubim? Pt. 3 Summary

The Cherubim’s Hands and Feet

⁷Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf’s foot. And they sparkled like burnished bronze. ⁸Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. And the four had their faces and their wings thus:
Ezekiel 1:7-8

The Cherubim’s Legs

The Cherubim’s legs were straight, so that no one direction dominated. This is important because they had to be able to move in all for directions without turning.

⁹their wings touched one another. Each one of them went straight forward, without turning as they went.
Ezekiel 1:9

If the Cherubim’s legs had knees that bent as we do, they wouldn’t be able to go in all four directions without turning. They would then also have one dominant side, and therefore all four sides could not be equal. This is important because each side of the Cherubim makes up an important piece of who they are. No one side is more important or dominant than the other, or when they went forward with the less dominant side, they would be at a disadvantage. This is why the Cherubim’s legs go straight forward; they need to go in any of the four directions without turning.

The Cherubim’s Bronze Feet

The Cherubim’s feet shone like burnished bronze because bronze is symbolic of the common man receiving healing, Salvation, redemption, etc. It wasn’t like gold, just for specific people, it was for everyone.

Examples of Bronze in the Bible

The Bronze Fiery Serpent in the Wilderness

⁴From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. ⁵And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” ⁶Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. ⁷And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. ⁸And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” ⁹So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.
Numbers 21:4-9

The Bronze Altar in the Tent of Meeting

²⁹The bronze that was offered was seventy talents and 2,400 shekels; ³⁰with it he made the bases for the entrance of the tent of meeting, the bronze altar and the bronze grating for it and all the utensils of the altar, ³¹the bases around the court, and the bases of the gate of the court, all the pegs of the tabernacle, and all the pegs around the court.
Exodus 38:29-31

¹The Lord called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying, ²“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When any one of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock. ³If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish. He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the Lord.”
Leviticus 1:1-3

Summary of the Bronze feet

In the Bible, one of the uses of bronze was to represent that it was for everyone, not just one kind of person. It was for anyone willing to receive. Anyone willing to accept and be healed. Anyone willing to accept Salvation and be saved, delivered, and redeemed. So, the Bible records the Cherubim’s feet as bronze because they are angels, ministering spirits, bringing Salvation, redemption, and healing to all people willing to receive it by grace through faith in Jesus Christ our LORD and Savior. The Cherubim’s hands and feet are connected in the way that they both are representations of healing, redemption, and receiving Salvation.

The Cherubim’s Human Hands

The Cherubim have human hands because they can bestow the Spirit of God and the gifts of God upon those whom they lay hands on, as all angels, both spiritual beings and human beings, can.

¹⁷Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.
Acts 8:17

¹⁴Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you.
1 Timothy 4:14

⁵I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. ⁶For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, ⁷for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
2 Timothy 1:5-7

The Cherubim's Soles of their Feet Summary

The Cherubim's Legs and Bronze Feet Summary

What are the Cherubim? Pt. 2: The Face of an Eagle and Ox

The Cherubim have the face of man, the face of a lion, the face of an ox, and the face of an eagle. We established in part one that the face of man and their likeness of man represented their connection to man. So, does the Cherubim’s face of an eagle and an ox represent their connection to those animals? What does it mean to have the face of an eagle and ox? Join ArieRashelle as she searches through Scripture to find the answer in part two, The Face of an Eagle and an Ox, in our series, What are the Cherubim?

Ezekiel 1:10
Job 39:27
Jeremiah 49:16
Isaiah 14:12-15
Exodus 19:4
Isaiah 40:30-31
Exodus 33:14
Ezekiel 1:4-5
Exodus 16:9-12
Exodus 19:9a
Ezekiel 1:13
Genesis 15:17-21
Ezekiel 1:12
1 Timothy 5:17-18
1 Corinthians 9:9-12
Galatians 5:16-26
Hebrews 1:13-14
Ezekiel 1:14
Luke 10:18
Matthew 24:27
1 Timothy 2:1-6
Galatians 3:19-20
Hebrews 2:2-4
Romans 10:13-15

What Are The Cherubim? Pt. 2 Summary

¹⁰As for the likeness of their faces, each had a human face. The four had the face of a lion on the right side, the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four had the face of an eagle.
Ezekiel 1:10

The Cherubim’s Face of an Eagle

Eagles are associated with the presence of God. Eagles’ wings in particular are associated with the right and path to enter into the presence of the LORD.

⁴You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.
Exodus 19:4

¹⁰ He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He kept him as the apple of His eye. ¹¹Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions, ¹²the Lord alone guided him, no foreign god was with him.
Deuteronomy 32:10–12

The Cherubim’s face of an eagle represents its connection and relationship with God. The Cherubim can enter into the presence and glory of God.

The Cherubim’s Face of an Ox

In the Bible, the ox is associated with winning souls for Christ.

¹⁷Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. ¹⁸For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.”
1 Timothy 5:17-18

⁹For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? ¹⁰Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop.
1 Corinthians 9:9-10

The Cherubim’s face of the ox represents their job description as angels because they are ministering spirits.

What are the Cherubim? Pt. 1: The Face of Man

Whenever we see Cherubim, we see them depicted as cute chubby little babies with wings. Often times we see them with a cute little bow and arrow ready to spread love, like Cupid. But is that what Cherubim look like? Aren’t the Cherubim cute, chubby little babies with wings? How does the Bible describe Cherubim? Does the Bible even describe Cherubim? Why did the Bible say that one of the Cherubim’s faces was man? Join ArieRashelle as she searches through Scripture to find the answer to these questions in our video, What are the Cherubim? Pt. 1: The Face of Man.

Ezekiel 10:20-22
Ezekiel 10:10-14
Ezekiel 1:1-14
Ezekiel 1:5-6
Revelation 4:6-8
Genesis 2:18-20
Genesis 1:26
Genesis 3:8-9
Exodus 37:7-9
Philippians 2:5-8
Hebrews 6:19-20
Hebrews 10:19-22

What Are The Cherubim? Pt. 1 Summary

The Four Faces of the Cherubim

⁵And from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had a human likeness, ⁶but each had four faces, and each of them had four wings.
Ezekiel 1:5-6

¹⁰As for the likeness of their faces, each had a human face. The four had the face of a lion on the right side, the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four had the face of an eagle.
Ezekiel 1:10

The four faces of the Cherubim are the face of man, lion, ox, and eagle. The Cherubim’s face of man represents their connection to humanity. This is the same word used when describing the creation of man.

²⁶Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Genesis 1:26

This is why they are described as having the likeness of man. They are connected to man.