In the previous article, we began our exploration of how different angels look in both appearance and abilities. We started with the mysterious multi-eyed Seraphim. Now we will stand amazed by the mighty Cherubim and the Fire Angels!
The Cherubim
I imagine that if John could have looked over the shoulders of the Seraphim, he would have described what the prophet Ezekiel saw during his encounter with God’s throne more than 600 years earlier—the Cherubim. Ezekiel wrote, “And I knew they were cherubim. Each one had four faces and each one four wings, and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings” (Ezekiel 10:20-21).
The Slandered Ones
If any class of angel has been misconstrued, slandered even, over time by the poetic license of Renaissance artists and Hallmark card designers, it has been the Cherubim. Every Valentine’s Day, these mighty angels of God are denigrated as chubby, diaper-wearing babies who sport tiny bows and heart-shaped arrows while holding banners that display sappy sayings. Many myths have developed around the Cherubim, especially the unbiblical idea that when babies die, they transform into these cherub-like spirit beings. Nothing could be farther from the truth!
The Mighty Wheelmen
Ezekiel detailed his wondrous encounter with the Cherubim at length in his first ten chapters, and it was anything but a trip to the nursery school. He observed, while he “was among the captives by the River Chebar, that the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God” (Ezekiel 1:1). What the captive prophet saw was “a whirlwind coming out of the north” like a “great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself” (Ezekiel 1:4). “A brightness was all around it” and “radiating out of its midst like the color of amber” (Ezekiel 1:4). Amber, called electrum in the Old Testament—a brilliant metallic substance composed of silver and gold—emanated from the cloud. Great bolts of lightning burst forth from the raging nuclear furnace. Centuries later, John would describe the same imagery in Revelation 4, identifying the emanating cloud as the One on the Throne.
And the throne moved! That’s because God’s throne is, in fact, a chariot. Ezekiel described the throne’s four great wheels in detail. All four wheels had the same uniform appearance, a beryl color (emerald or aquamarine). The wheels had even been humbly named: “As for the wheels, they were called in my hearing, ‘Wheel'” (Ezekiel 10:13). Not your typical Michelin tires, these wheels featured “a wheel in the middle of a wheel,” like some fancy tricked-out Hummer’s spinning rims (Ezekiel 1:16; 10:10). The rims were “so high they were awesome” and “full of eyes, all around the four of them” (Ezekiel 1:18; 10:12).
The truly stunning image befuddled the prophet, for within and beside each of these “wheels within a wheel” stood a Cherub. These angels performed their duty as million-horsepower engines, propelling the throne-chariot forward. As Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth once remarked, “It’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon.” It appears equally unacceptable to God that chubby cherubs carry His celestial throne.
You might picture a hamster running in a wheel, but these angelic wheelmen never move their legs or change direction. Ezekiel was floored that “When they moved, they went toward any one of four directions; [but] they did not turn aside when they went” (Ezekiel 1:17; 10:11).
God is so powerful that He doesn’t turn His chariot; rather, the whole universe veers in the direction God desires. The throne-chariot’s range is limitless, as the Cherubim “went wherever the spirit wanted to go,” wherever and whenever God desired to be present in space and time (Ezekiel 1:12). The throne-chariot, therefore, transcends all dimensions in its travels. God’s throne can remain in heaven or, if He wishes, appear at your front door. There is no place where God cannot bend the universe to His will.
The Winged Wonders
According to Ezekiel, the Cherubim appear to possess some human-like qualities. They resemble a man because they stand upright and have straight legs. The Cherubim also have hands that look like a man’s hands. But that’s as far as the human similarities go, because they also have many animal-like features. Their feet look like the soles of calves’ feet. Unlike the Seraphim, which are limited to a single face, each Cherubim actually possesses four faces—a lion on the right side, an ox on the left side, and the faces of an eagle and a man in front and behind.
Unlike the Seraphim, who have six wings, the Cherubim are limited to four. “Their wings stretched upward; two wings of each one touched one another, and two covered their bodies” (Ezekiel 1:11). When the Cherubim flap their expansive wings, “the noise of their wings [roars] like the noise of many waters… like the voice of the Almighty… like the noise of an army” (Ezekiel 1:24). Whenever the One on the Throne issues a command, the Cherubim lower their wings in humble submission, ready to obey His divine order as the universe bows to the Almighty’s will.
And the speed at which the Cherubim fly! Ezekiel described these mighty angels as “sparkling like the color of burnished bronze” and “like burning coals of fire,” with “the appearance of torches going back and forth” (Ezekiel 1:7, 13). Ezekiel’s mind boggled at the fact that when the Cherubim ran back and forth, they moved like a flash of lightning. Apparently, no force in the universe can travel at the speeds the Cherubim do, even far beyond the speed of light itself.
The Almighty sits enthroned upon the Cherubim. No wonder the writers of the Old Testament, when describing the Ark of the Covenant, compared it to a chariot in which God sat enthroned on the Mercy Seat between the Cherubim. The artisans who crafted the golden Ark sculpted “gold cherubim that spread their wings and overshadowed the ark of the covenant of the Lord” on its lid (1 Chronicles 28:18). The scene in the earthly temple, then, was meant to depict in miniature the divine scene of God’s heavenly temple. There, the mighty Cherubim stand ready to carry the Almighty’s throne across the universe at His command.
The Fire Angels
In Revelation 14, we are introduced to another wondrous angel, possibly a whole class—those who wield power over fire. Bellowing from the fiery mouth of a Fire Angel, the molten messenger delivered the Father’s order to angels tasked with harvesting the wicked, saying, “Thrust in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe” (14:18). The harvesting angel obeyed, “So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God” (14:19). Armageddon!
How fascinating that God’s mighty angels can control the elements. Read the book of Revelation, and you will encounter angels who direct the winds, shift the tides, displace the stars, and even alter the course of the cosmos. Now we meet an angel with power over fire, much like Johnny Storm from the Fantastic Four comics.
To survive reentry into Earth’s atmosphere, the space shuttles could withstand temperatures of up to 3,000°F by using a thermal protection system made of reinforced carbon and other fibrous refractory composite insulation tiles. To endure the blazing heat, does the Fire Angel likewise wear insulated attire, or is his skin Teflon, or is he made of superheated plasma energy? Would the 27-million-degree core of our sun even phase him?
The Seraphim, the Cherubim, and the Fire Angels genuinely challenge my limited understanding of God’s mighty angels. Many of them exist as forces of nature rather than flesh and blood. These celestial creatures are so strange yet so marvelous that they defy wonder. And to think that one day, those who call Jesus Savior and Lord will get to know them personally.
Resource
Encounter 72 of God’s mightiest angels as they proclaim God’s messages of warning and hope to a lost world throughout the book of Revelation! Order your copy of the book The Mighty Angels of Revelation by Dr. Nathan Jones today!
