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Man, Hebrews chapter 2, the part that I want to focus on is beginning there in verse 7 where the Bible reads, Thou madest him a little lower than the angels. Thou crownest him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet, for in that he put all in subjection under him. He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him, but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. And this morning I preached a sermon that was called Angels That Are Human. And tonight I'm going to preach a sermon called Angels That Are Not Human. So when it comes to the subject of angels in the Bible, people get confused by the simple fact that the word angel simply means messenger. So because the word angel means messenger, it can apply to different things. And that's why the word is just used several hundred times in the Bible. And sometimes it's talking about human beings, and sometimes it's talking about other beings that are not human. And this morning, I'm not going to re-preach this morning's sermon, but I proved that the definition of angel is messenger a few different ways. And I also demonstrated some clear evidence in the Bible of angels that were for sure human beings. They were for sure people who lived on this earth, and I'm not going to re-preach all that. And then of course I went into a big thing about how Jesus Christ is sometimes in the Old Testament called the angel of the Lord. And of course Jesus Christ, a human being, he's the son of man. So that was this morning's sermon. Well tonight I'm going to show you evidence of angels in the Bible that are not human. And having listened to this morning's sermon and tonight's sermon, you're going to be able to walk away with the complete picture here, understanding that when the Bible says angels, it can be referring to either of these things. So here we see some evidence of the angels not being human beings because of the fact that in verse 7 it quotes the book of Psalms saying, Thou made us Tim a little lower than the angels. Now in chapter 2 of Hebrews here, this is talking about Jesus. And if we go back to the original Psalm where this is from, it's about man in general. He says, What is man that thou art mindful of him? I mean when I look up at the stars and I consider the heavens, you know, I just ask myself, What is man that thou art mindful of him? Or the son of man that thou visitest him? Thou made us Tim a little lower than the angels. Thou crownest him with glory and honor, and it set him over the work of thy hands. Thou has put all things in subjection under his feet. Talking about the fact that the animal kingdom is something that we have dominion over and so forth. So we see that here, that man is a little lower than the angels in that sense according to Psalm chapter 8 and Hebrews chapter 2. Look at verse 16. This is again about Jesus Christ. The Bible says, For verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Therefore in all things that behooved him to be made like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest and things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. So again we see that Jesus Christ did not take on himself the nature of angels. He took on himself the nature of the seed of Abraham, of a human being, of the lineage of Abraham. Jump back to chapter 1 and look at verse 4. This is again contrasting Jesus with the angels. Jesus Christ the Bible says in Hebrews 1 verse 4, Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee? And again I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. Now that right there shows that this can't be referring to human beings because there are lots of human beings to whom it is said of God that they're his sons and that he's their father. The Bible says, Behold what manner of love the father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, the Bible tells us. So when it says here, unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee? This isn't talking about human beings that are acting as a messenger being called an angel. This is obviously talking about something different, isn't it? That's why it needs two different sermons, angels that are human. Now we're talking about angels that are not human because these angels that we're referring to in Hebrews chapter 1 are not human beings because God said unto many human beings, You're my son. And of course to Jesus Christ specifically, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee and Jesus Christ was a human being. Now is Jesus Christ called the angel of the Lord? Yes, but this is talking about something different. That's why I'm saying when we read the Bible, there are certain words where we have to use discernment and context to understand what they're talking about because they can mean two different things. Like for example, when we're reading about wine in the Bible, we have to discern, okay, is this talking about an alcoholic beverage or is this just talking about fruit juice? And when we're reading about angels in the Bible, we have to discern sometimes, you know, is this just talking about a human being that God's using as an angel or is this talking about an angel angel, the ones that are non-human, okay? Let's keep reading and get more evidence here. It says, and again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, who's the first begotten? Jesus. He bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all the angels of God worship him. And of the angels, he saith, who maketh his angels' spirits and his ministers a flame of fire. But unto the sun, he saith, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. So what does it say about the angels that God makes his angels' spirits and his ministers a flame of fire? Jump down to verse 13. But to which of the angels said he at any time, sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? So according to the Bible, these angels that we're talking about in Hebrews chapter 1, these angels are ministering spirits, okay? And these are not human beings. They're something else. Flip back, if you would, to 2 Peter chapter 2, and let's see more evidence of this other type of angel that's not human. And by the way, while you're turning there, let's just have a little Trinity moment here, okay? You know, when we were just reading the Bible there in Hebrews chapter 1, did you notice it calls Christ the first begotten? Well, these people out there that want to deny the eternal sonship of Christ, or they want to claim that the Son of God didn't exist until the New Testament, he didn't exist until Luke chapter 1, that there's no Son of God in the Old Testament, you know, these people who deny the Trinity or whatever and believe in this oneness garbage, well, how about this? If Jesus Christ is the first begotten, if he's the firstborn, well then, he would have to have been the Son of God before Genesis chapter 6. You know why? Because in Genesis chapter 6, we have who mentioned? We have the sons of God. You guys are a few chapters off there. In Genesis chapter 6, we have the sons of God. So if we're reading our Bibles and we get to Genesis chapter 6 and see the sons of God, well, if Jesus isn't the Son of God yet, if Jesus isn't going to become the Son of God until Luke chapter 1, then how in the world is he the firstborn or the first begotten? Because this oneness doctrine is a lie, that's why, because Jesus Christ was already the Son of God before Genesis 6, and you guys all brought up Adam. And you know what? You're right, because Adam is called the Son of God. I didn't even think about that. So that was great audience participation. I was just focusing in on the fact that Genesis 6 talks about the sons of God, but you're right. Let's back it up to Genesis chapter 1. So I guess, you know, I mean, if Adam's called the Son of God, then how can he be the first? You know why he's the first? Because in Genesis 1-1, he was already the Son of God. That's why, because he was in the beginning with God, he was God, and he has shared glory with the Father before the world began, according to John 17-5. All right, I've got to get off that. That's not what the sermon's about. Probably should be, though. But anyway. All right, 2 Peter chapter 2. We're talking about angels that are not human tonight. Don't change the subject. All right, 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 4, it says, For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment. Now, this is clearly not talking about human beings, right? This is clearly talking about these other types of angels that are spirits, okay? And then, you don't have to turn there, but in Jude verse 6, we have something similar, when it says that the angels, which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day. Look down at verse 11 right where you are. Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord. These angels that are greater in power and might, these angels where man is made a little lower than the angels, these angels who Jesus Christ supersedes in every way, these angels who are never called the sons of God ever, these non-human type angels, these angels who kept not their first estate, these angels who sinned and were cast down into hell and so forth, are not human. If they're not human, what are they? Let's talk about these non-human angels tonight, the angels that are not human. Well, what we have them specifically known as in the Bible are the Cherubims and the Seraphims. This is who these non-human angels are. Now go to Genesis chapter 3. This is the first mention of Cherubims in the Bible. It comes up right away, Genesis chapter 3, very early in the Bible. And I want you to also get your finger in Revelation chapter 9, if you would, Revelation chapter 9. Now there are some people out there who say that Cherubims are never directly referred to as angels in the Bible. That's what a lot of people will say. But still, most people agree that Cherubims are angels, that Seraphims are angels. And there's other evidence for that that's more of an indirect evidence. I personally believe, though, that there is a place in the Bible that specifically and explicitly calls the Cherubims angels. And I'm going to show you that place right now. In Genesis chapter 3 verse 24 it says, so he drove out the man, Adam obviously, 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. So the first mention of Cherubims in the Bible is when man is kicked out of the Garden of Eden, God does not want man to be able to kind of slip back into the Garden of Eden after hours and get a hold of the tree of life and eat it and live forever. So he puts these four Cherubims in place to guard the tree of life with a flaming sword. We'll look down at your Bible there in Revelation 9 if you've got your finger there. In Revelation chapter 9 verse 13 it says, the sixth angel sounded and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, loosed the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates and the four angels were loosed which were prepared for an hour and a day and a month and a year for to slay the third part of men and the number of the army of the horsemen were 200,000,000 and I heard the number of them. Now I believe that these four angels bound in the great river Euphrates are the same four Cherubims from Genesis chapter 3 and here's why that makes sense because if you read Genesis chapter 2 and the Garden of Eden creation story it talks about how there's a river that flows out of the Garden of Eden and it splits off into four heads and two of the rivers that are mentioned there are completely unknown. No one knows where those two rivers are. They probably don't exist anymore. They probably didn't even exist in the days of Moses. It's probably a pre-flood thing but there are these four rivers mentioned but two of the rivers that it mentions are well-known rivers of Hiddekel and Euphrates or Tigris and Euphrates. Well the Euphrates River is one of the rivers that's associated with the Garden of Eden. So imagine this. You've got the Garden of Eden, man is thrown out of the Garden of Eden and there are these four Cherubims to guard the four different compass directions of the tree of life with a flaming sword and then when the flood happens obviously the geography is going to be somewhat reconfigured. When you have a worldwide flood and the fountains of the deep are broken up and the windows of heaven are open that's going to reconfigure things a little bit and I think that God purposely did it in such a way that the Garden of Eden and the four angels ended up being at the bottom of the great river Euphrates and these four angels are bound there unto this day. Now you say Pastor Anderson how are they going to hold their breath for that long but that's because they're not human. They are not even flesh and blood in that sense. They are spirits, right? When it says of the angels he makes his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire. Remember when we talk about the Cherubims and the Seraphims we are talking about that which is not human but that which is a spirit, okay? So there are angels all around us right now that we don't see because they're in the spirit world. I mean think about it. The Bible says the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him. Do we see that? No. What about when Elisha has the enemy troops coming to arrest him and his servant says what are we going to do? And Elisha says oh there's more with us than there are with them and he says open the eyes of this young man that he may see. God gives him spiritual sight for a moment and he just sees the mountains all around them just filled with just hosts of angels to protect him. But they were spirits so they couldn't be seen by the human eye until God intervened and gave him that miraculous vision. So we have angels around us right now. You know the Bible says that the angels are sent forth as ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation. Well that's us. We shall be the heirs of salvation. You know you'd say is a guardian angel a real thing? Yeah. Because the Bible says the angels are there to minister for us to camp around those that fear him and to protect us and they are there spiritually even though we can't see them with our eyes. So these four spiritual beings these four cherubims I believe that are down at the river Euphrates are the same ones from Genesis 3. If that's the case if I'm right which I believe that I am then that would be a direct reference calling the cherubims angels. Now more evidence of this if you're there in Revelation anyway flip back to chapter 8 is that we have evidence of angels flying. Well if you fly you use wings to fly. Human beings don't have wings and the angels that are human in the Bible they don't have wings otherwise they wouldn't be mistaken for human beings all the time. They walk up and they look like everybody else. They're angels unawares. They don't have wings. But yet the Bible talks about angels sometimes that are flying. Well guess guess who does have wings the cherubims and the seraphims have wings that they fly with so that makes sense that they're angels. Look at chapter 8 verse 13 and I beheld and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven saying with a loud voice woe woe woe to the inhabitants of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels which are yet to sound. Chapter 14 verse 6 you don't have to turn there but it says I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven and then it talks about how in Luke chapter 16 when the rich man died and Lazarus died that Lazarus was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. Also when the rapture takes place Matthew 24 the trumpets going to sound Christ will come in the clouds and he'll send forth his angels and his angels the Bible says will gather his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. So at the rapture we will be gathered by the angels and taken up to be with the Lord in the air. So again these are spiritual beings not human beings. These can fly because they have wings because they are cherubims, seraphims, those type of creatures. Okay so what do the cherubims look like? Go to chapter 1 of Ezekiel the book of Ezekiel chapter 1. Ezekiel has some really detailed descriptions of what cherubims look like and listen cherubims are not just barely mentioned. I think the word is used 95 times in the Bible cherub or cherubims. So you know the Bible does give us quite a bit of information about the cherubims and they don't look like what you might think that they look like. Okay now here's why I say that because in the Renaissance or in the Middle Ages you have the Catholic Church with all their wonderful artwork that's disgusting and one of the things that they like to draw when they're not drawing their faggoty looking hippie Bible characters where every Bible character becomes effeminate and queer looking and when they're not drawing you know naked Adam reaching up to God in heaven and when they're not drawing long haired hippie Jesus they would draw cherubims. What they drew as a cherubim was a false god called Cupid. So they draw this false god called Cupid and they say oh it's a cherubim and what it is is basically like a baby faced creature with wings. So it's like a human being but he kind of looks like a baby but he's like a grown up baby thing. It's kind of like this hybrid between an adult and a baby right plus wings and it's based on Cupid but they call that a cherub and so a lot of people think right now oh that's a cherub you know when they see this fat baby with wings they say that's a cherub you know. Who knows what I'm talking about you're familiar with that image okay yeah so that's what I think well let's see if that matches the Bible's description of the cherubim because let me tell you something on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant there weren't a couple of fat naked babies all right that's not what was there. So let's see what the Bible describes as look at Ezekiel chapter 1 verse 4 and I looked and behold a whirlwind came out of the north a whirlwind is a tornado a great cloud and a fire in folding itself and a brightness was about it and out of the midst thereof as the color of amber out of the midst of the fire. Now this scripture is a little hard to understand because of the fact that Ezekiel is beholding some very strange things and he's just trying to put it into words but it's hard to put this stuff into human language because what he's seeing is is very wonderful amazing supernatural whatever you want to call it so it's tough to understand because you're trying to put a very spiritual vision into human language that's hard to describe. So he's kind of just throwing out metaphors of you know a fire in folding itself and the color of amber and these different things and he says also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures now we're going to find out later that these four living creatures are the cherry bims and this was their appearance here's what they looked like they had the likeness of a man and everyone had four faces and everyone had four wings and their feet were straight feet as the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot and they sparkled like the color of burnished brass. So basically in general they had the appearance of a man with a few differences though these are the differences they have four faces we only have one face they have four wings we don't have those and they don't have feet like we have feet they had straight feet like a calf's foot right if you picture like a hoof they had a straight foot on the bottom but when it says they had the likeness of a man it's saying you know their basic chest and torso and legs were that of a man but then they just have these other differences their faces are different their wings are different the feet are different and then it also says that they had the hands of a man under their wings now these are not human they're called living creatures later in Revelation they're going to be called beasts so they have the hands of a man under their wings on the four sides and they four had their faces and their wings their wings were joined one to another they turned not when they went they went everyone straightforward as for the likeness of their faces they four had the face of a man and the face of a lion on the right side and they had the face of an ox on the left side they four also had the face of an eagle so they have four faces and these faces do not look the same one of the faces looks human one of the faces looks like the face of an ox one of the faces looks like the face of an eagle and one looks like a lion okay has everybody got this so far so this is quite a creature and it says that's where their faces verse 11 and their wings were stretched upward two wings of everyone were joined one to another and two covered their body so have you ever seen a bird when it's not flying it has its wings covering its body right so these creatures have four wings one set of wings covers their body and then the other set of wings is flying okay and then it says in verse number 12 again it reiterates the fact that they went straight forward whether the spirit was to go they went and they turned not when they went as for the likeness of the living creatures their appearance was like burning coals of fire and like the appearance of lamps it went up and down among the living creatures so they're glowing like coals glow the brightness you know kind of glows and pulsates and it says that the fire was bright and out of the fire went forth lightning and the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning so basically these creatures can move at a supernatural speed like they just move from one place to another like lightning they're just boom they're there and there's no turning it's just you know whatever what's that yeah it sounds pretty scary that's true look at chapter 10 verse 7 so we're gonna go to another description so everybody got that description from chapter 1 well he's gonna see the same thing in chapter 10 and he's gonna point back and say hey this is the same thing I saw back in chapter 1 basically so he's gonna give us some different details some of the things are gonna be the same but in chapter 10 he realizes that they're the cherry bibs so in chapter 1 it seems like he's unaware of that because he just says they're living creatures in chapter 10 he gives us a little better of a description and he says oh and then I knew that they were the cherry bibs so now he's calling them cherry bibs because now he realizes that okay so it says in verse 7 because this is written from the perspective of Ezekiel and one cherub stretched forth his hand we're in chapter 10 verse 7 and from between the cherry bibs under the fire that was between the cherry bibs and took thereof and put it in the hands of him that was clothed with linen who took it out who took it and went out and there appeared in the cherry bibs the form of a man's hand under their wings and when I looked I'd be helped and when I looked behold the four wheels by the cherry bibs one wheel by one cherub and another wheel by another cherub and the appearance of the wheels was as the color of a barrel stone and as for their appearances they four had one like this as if a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel okay so basically there are these spinning circles that are with the cherry bibs and they're like spinning it's like those rims that are spinning at two different rates you know what I'm talking about this is where that comes from is that basically you know the wheel within a wheel you know where the car stops and the wheels are still spinning or they're driving and so you have the wheels spinning at two different rates that is like unto the cherry bibs or the wheels that are with them that is okay so it says in verse number 11 when they went they went upon their four sides they turned not as they went so again this is what we talked about earlier keep saying over and over again they didn't turn why is that weird because when we move around we turn right so if I'm gonna go forward I go this way if I'm gonna go backwards I turn around and I go backwards or I could turn to the left and turn to the right these ones just they just move they just move like a crab basically right or they move backwards or they move forward because when you got four faces you're facing all directions at once basically so you can just you don't turn you know I mean Ezekiel is basically just pointing out what he sees about these creatures how they move and he's trying to describe their appearance in a language that we can understand and so it says in verse 12 their whole body and their backs and their hands and their wings and the wheels were full of eyes round about even the wheels that they four had as for the wheels it was cried unto them in my hearing oh wheel and everyone had four faces and the first face was the face of a cherub and the second face was the face of a man and the third the face of a lion and the fourth the face of an eagle and the cherry bins were lifted up this is the living creature that I saw by the river of kebar so you say this is what I saw in chapter one and when the cherry beams went the wheels went by them okay now I I want to save a little time here I don't think that there's anything else that we haven't already seen here he goes through a lot of the same stuff that we already saw in chapter one you can read these chapters a little more on your own I'm going to save a little time here by not finishing the chapter but basically here's what I want to point out there's one major difference between the description in chapter one and the description chapter 10 it's pretty interesting look at the list of faces in verse 14 and look at the difference it says everyone had four faces the first was the face of a what the face of a chair I thought this whole thing's a cherub right but it says it's a face of a cherub a man a lion an eagle so what has been substituted for the cherub face the ox right now elsewhere elsewhere it's called the face of a calf when we're talking about these type of creatures a calf is just what a young ox so basically it's being described as a face like a calf or a face like an ox but when Ezekiel has greater knowledge in chapter 10 he realizes that's actually the face of a cherub that is the cherub face now that tells me that the cherub face looks similar to the face of an ox or a calf because that's what he described it as in chapter one and elsewhere in the bible and that makes sense because what are the cherub's feet like they are like calves feet they are straight feet like unto that of a calf now why is that significant well because the devil is a cherub go to Ezekiel chapter 28 now we're learning about cherubims in what book of the bible Ezekiel I mean chapter one we have this big chapter about cherubims chapter 10 we have this big chapter about cherubims right well when we get to chapter 28 we learn about the devil and we learn that he's a cherub that satan is a cherub he's a fallen angel now this is more proof that the cherubims are angels for those of you who were skeptical about my proof of genesis 3 compared with revelation 9 for those of you that were skeptical about the angels flying through heaven that that means they have wings that means they have the cherubims and the cherubims well think about this the bible says no marvel for satan himself is transformed into an angel of light what marvel is it then if his ministers are transformed into ministers of light so satan's ministers become ministers of light satan is transformed into an angel of light why because he is an evil wicked angel he's transformed into an angel of light because cherubims are angels demons are fallen angels satan himself is a fallen angel and he is specifically a cherub look what the bible says in Ezekiel 28 verse 11 moreover the word of the lord came unto me saying son of man take up a lamentation upon the king of tyros and say unto him thus saith the lord thou sealest up the sum full of wisdom and beauty and perfect in beauty thou hast been in eden in the garden of god now some scholars and commentators will say that this is not about the devil this is about the king of tyros but here's the thing the bible is speaking in metaphor here because he is saying oh listen up king of tyros and he starts describing the devil because he's comparing the king of tyros to the devil because the king of tyros was not in the garden of eden he's talking about the devil he's using this as a comparison because the king of tyros was one of those ancient kings who thought that he was god on earth a lot of the pharaohs proclaimed themselves to be god roman caesars well the king of tyre was like that where he claimed to be god and it talks about that in this chapter that the king of tyre claimed to be god well why was the devil thrown out of heaven because he said i will be like the most high isaiah chapter 14 so it says uh in verse 13 thou hast been in eden the garden of god every precious stone was thy covering the sardius topaz and the diamond the barrel the onyx and the jasper the sapphire the emerald and the carbuncle and gold the workmanship of thy tabrits what's a tabrit a musical instrument a percussion musical instrument similar to like a tambourine or whatever thy tabrits and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou was created thou art the anointed cherub do you see that that covereth and i have set thee so thou wast upon the holy mountain of god thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire thou was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created till iniquity was found in thee by the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence and thou has sinned therefore i will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of god and i will destroy thee oh covering cherub from the midst of the stones of fire thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty thou has corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness i will cast thee to the ground i will lay thee before kings and they may that they may behold thee thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries what do sanctuaries refer to the word sanctuary literally means holy place see the devil has his holy places doesn't he oh he certainly does they're called roman catholic churches they're called islamic mosques they're called buddhist temples and hindu shrines he's got his little yeah and the jewish synagogue thank you you anti-semitic one no i'm just kidding but anyway you know he's got his holy places he's got his houses of worship right and he's got his music he's got his tabrets and pipes he's a musical creature he's a beauty filled creature he appeals through the lusts of the flesh the lusts of the eyes the pride of life he's a king over all the children of pride bible tells us so he said here that his sanctuaries were defiled by the multitude of thine iniquities by the iniquity of thy traffic traffic is when you're you know selling things importing exporting therefore will i bring forth a fire from the midst of thee and it shall devour thee and i will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee and they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee thou shalt be a terror and never shalt thou be any more so we see that the devil in eden in the garden of god puffed up because of his beauty he was a cherub now go back if you would to exodus exodus chapter 25 now that explains why when the heathen worship bail and they want to worship a false god what do they love to make as an idol more than anything else they love that golden calf don't they why because it resembles their father the devil that's why because the devil's face is the face of a cherub and the cherub's face is similar to the face of a calf or that of an ox so therefore it makes sense why 1.1 billion hindus over in india have their holy cows their sacred cow and when the children of israel uh get away from god and they want to make false gods what is air and fashion for them a golden calf these be thy gods that brought thee out of the land of egypt and then later when jeroboam the son of nebat in that northern kingdom of israel wants to set up a false religion to compete with the lord's religion down with the house of david and jerusalem what does he set up two golden calves he puts one in dan and he puts one in bethel why does that golden calf that sacred cow come up holy cow people stay they still say that right lost people say that wall street has a golden really i didn't even know that wow wall street look wall street has a golden calf for crying out loud you know so you know there's something about that calf that's significant well now we know what the significance is right it has something to do with the devil is what it has to do with right there and you know it's interesting because the love of money is the root of all evil and cattle is like what represented wealth in the in the ancient world as well and so we shouldn't love that or worship that and then what else represents money gold so they make the calf out of gold and it's just it's just a perfect representation of everything that we should not be worshiping right the devil possessions money everything like that okay now i talked i gotta hurry up for sake of time but we talked about the fact that cherubims are mentioned a lot in the bible like 95 mentions by name and then other times they're mentioned not by name one of the most common mentions of the cherubims is that they're mentioned as being a part of the arc of the covenant right on the mercy seat let's look at that exodus chapter 25 this is one that comes up a lot exodus 25 verse 18 and thou shalt make two cherubims of gold of beaten work shalt thou make them in the two ends of the mercy seat and make one cherub on the one end and the other cherub on the other end even of the mercy seat shall you make the cherubims on the two ends thereof and the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high covering the mercy seat with their wings and their faces shall look one to another toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be and thou shalt put the mercy seat above the arc and in the arc thou shalt put the testimony that i shall give thee and there i will meet with thee and i will commune with thee from above the mercy seat from between the two cherubims which are upon the arc of the testimony of all things which i will give thee in commandment unto the children of israel so here's what's going on the arc of the covenant is a box that god told moses to make now the mosaic law has a lot of different accoutrements that are made and they're all symbolic of heavenly things and that that's a very complicated subject that takes a whole bunch of sermons from the book of hebrews to explain and a whole bunch of sermons from the book of exodus explained that's outside the scope of this sermon but i just want to give you just a quick crash course on the arc of the covenant and the mercy seat okay so it's just basically it's a box that contains the stone tablets with the law of god written by the finger of god the ten commandments right ten commandments written with the finger of god in stone it also contained one golden pot containing the manna that the children of israel ate in the wilderness and it contains errands rod that budded and so those items are inside of this box and this box is made out of wood but it is gold plated and has rings to be carried on to staves and if you remember the levites would carry it on their shoulders and that's how they would move this thing around and of course when this thing falls into the hands of the enemy god plagues them and punishes them then when the israelites have it they decide to peek inside and they all get killed right because they they looked into the arc this is something that is supposed to be very uh revered and sacred and you don't mess around with it it's it's supposed to be following certain rules okay carried a certain way and this is the the item the arc of the covenant that goes deep into the tabernacle or deep into the temple in a place that's called the most holy place or in the new testament's called the holiest of all okay so it's like the most inner sanctum of the tabernacle or the or the temple where this thing is located is everybody following so far now this box has a lid on it the lid on the box is called the mercy seat and this lid that's also wood covered in gold it has these two golden cherubims with their wings pointed inward and god is saying that he will meet with the high priest there on the mercy seat he will basically meet with him and speak to him from between the cherubim so often in the bible god is described as dwelling between the cherubims okay now obviously god you know fills all the heaven and earth and everything like that so he doesn't have a house that he actually lives in but his presence would show up between the cherubims and meet with man at the mercy seat and of course that's a whole sermon in of itself but some people struggle with this because they say well that's a that's that's an idol you know that's that's a a molten image you know why did god tell them to make these two golden cherubims on the mercy seat if we're not supposed to make images if we're not supposed to make idols now keep in mind that yes the devil is a cherub yes there are fallen angels but most of the angels are good angels most of the cherubims are good cherubims most of the seraphims are are good seraphims it's only one-third of the angels that went bad with the devil on two-thirds that stayed with the Lord but I would submit to you that the golden cherubims are neither man nor animal god told us not to make images of man God told us not to make images of fishes birds animals these are really not any of those things so this is a special case where this particular creature was to be fashioned in this way and it's not a direct violation because it's not a man and it's not an animal it's a cherry bim which is its own classification of being so God allowed this and God commanded this to be made these two images of cherry bims on the mercy seat so God would meet with them between the cherry bims now the purpose for that is that up in heaven God is surrounded by the seraphims and cherry bims that are praising him and bringing him honor and glory and so forth so this mercy seat is sort of simulating that because what is a seat I mean when you hear the word seat that comes from the verb sit right it's a place where a king or someone would sit right so this is basically a representation of God's throne in that sense that basically God would show up and be seated there and meet with them from between the cherry bims go to Psalm 18 let me just show you a few more things quickly on the the cherry bims and then we'll touch on the seraphims and then I'll wrap it all up here so it says in Psalm 18 and by the way let me just say this a lot of people when they see something like this with the golden cherry bims and I talked about the fact that people struggle with this because they don't understand what the difference is between this and an idol if God told us over and over again don't make any graven image don't make any molten image don't make an animal don't make a fish don't make a bird don't make a male or female don't make a human being shouldn't we just not do it you know isn't that just kind of a no-brainer just don't do it don't make it well but what about the cherry bibs but he said not to do it and look if God told that Moses hey make these two cherry bims for the mercy seed and then he tells us okay now you don't make any animals don't make any males don't make any females don't make any humans just don't do it don't you say well you made charity bands so I mean I'm just gonna make a bunch of fat baby-faced cupids why not you know I mean the Roman Catholics they make all their statues and when you try to point out that it's idolatry those are well what about the cherry bibs what about the mercy seed okay yeah let's just throw out the commandment against idolatry oh yeah that's what the Catholics did they did throw out that commandment that's why they split the covet commandment in half take so you can get back up to 10 again I mean the idolatry of the Catholic Church is is is ridiculous graven images molten images and it's so biblically inaccurate with their depictions of Jesus and depictions of cherry bims and didn't bother you know they that you know what the Vatican there's a statue of Moses and he has horns like the devil did you know that who knew who's ever seen this the Moses with horns yeah look it up on Google Images Moses with horns because the Catholic Bible I believe it's the Douay-Rheims version in English that has this if you get the Catholic Douay-Rheims version it says that when Moses came down from the mount that he was horned instead of that his face shown you know the Bible says he came down in his face shown they put down that he came down and his face had horns so then Michelangelo's like well you know that's a good idea for a sculpture so he made Moses with horns so anyway Psalm 18 verse 6 in my distress I called upon the Lord and cried unto my God he heard my voice out of his temple and my cry came before him even into his ears then the earth shook and trembled the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken because he was wroth there went up a smoke out of his nostrils and fire out of his mouth devoured coals were kindled by it he bowed the heavens also and came down and darkness was under his feet and watch this and he rode upon a cherub and did fly yea he did fly upon the wings of the wind and on and on the scripture goes here but there are multiple references to God riding upon a cherub riding a cherub as his steed that's something that we see for example second second Samuel 22 11 he rode upon a cherub and did fly second Kings chapter 19 verse 15 you don't have to turn there if you would flip over to Isaiah 6 second Kings 19 it talks about how Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said oh Lord God of Israel which dwellest between the cherubims thou art the God even thou alone of all the kingdoms of the earth thou hast made heaven and earth okay so we're done talking about the cherubims now let's just briefly touch on the seraphims now like I said the cherubims are mentioned by name 95 times in the Bible the seraphims are rarely mentioned in fact I believe that there are only two mentions in the entire Bible Isaiah chapter 6 and Revelation chapter 4 now the distinguishing characteristic of the cherubims that they have four wings the distinguishing characteristic of the seraphims is that they have six wings look at Isaiah 6 verse 1 in the year that King Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and his train filled the temple above it stood the seraphims each one had six wings with twain he covered his face and with twain he covered his feet and with twain he did fly and one cried unto another and said holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory now this is the same thing we see in Revelation 4 we see holy holy holy and we see what six wings so it's clearly the same creatures now when we see the seraphim described in Revelation chapter 4 we see also four faces and it's the same four faces the lion the calf the man and the eagle but this time basically each of the four beasts or each of the four seraphims they each just have one of those faces so collectively they have all four whereas the cherubims each has all four okay so that's the difference right there so these seraphims seem to be there just to praise God they don't do it they don't seem to do as many different actions as the cherubims the cherubims are coming up all the time because they're doing all these different actions and showing up in all these different ways in the Bible whereas the seraphims it seems like they're just there to glorify God you know I mean there might only be just four I don't know or there there could be way more than that you know we don't really know the Bible doesn't really give us the details on that but it does talk about the seraphims flying because it says in verse 6 then flew one of the seraphims unto me having a live coal in his hand which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar now how many angels are there as far as these non-human type angels well we know that the Bible tells us that one-third of the angels you know went with the devil right and it talks about in heaven God's heavenly host of angels being 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands so that's over a hundred and two million so there are probably at least like a hundred and two million of these things of these spiritual beings that are non-human angels and that makes sense because there are 7.4 billion people on the planet and so if these angels are gonna minister unto the saved and if they're gonna minister unto people who are going to get saved in the future and if they do other functions of just praising God and doing who knows what it makes sense that there are over a hundred million so there are a lot of now the seraphims have a particular thing that they keep saying holy holy holy and that kind of makes me think of the Trinity again because of the fact that God is holy for the Father holy for the Son and a holy for the Holy Ghost right one for each of them holy holy holy that's why the song goes holy holy holy merciful and mighty God in three persons blessed Trinity so anyway let's conclude with Colossians chapter 2 Colossians chapter 2 this is the conclusion so we've learned a lot this morning about angels that are not human and we've learned a lot there are I'm sorry we learned a lot this morning about angels that are human and tonight we learned about angels that are not human right and what are they they're they're cherry beams and seraphims they are winged they're they're similar to man in their basic layout but their feet are different their wings are different their faces are different and then we also learned that the devil himself is a fallen angel particularly a cherub and their other fallen angels and their spirits they are spiritual beings they are not flesh and bone you don't reach out and touch these beings the cherry beams and seraphims they are spirits and so they are dwelling among us they're on this earth they are guarding us or performing other functions just like we don't see demons do we I mean we don't see devils and demons but they're there you know so it's the same thing with these what's the lesson for us well a lot of people they fall into the error of worshiping angels okay and the Bible warns against this it says in Colossians chapter 2 verse 18 let no man beguile you or deceive you right and this reminds us again of Eve where the serpent beguiled her and he's a what you know cherub let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshiping of angels intruding into those things which he has not seen vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind so we want to make sure that we don't intrude into those things which we haven't seen and get vainly puffed up by our fleshly mind now what's an intrusion an intrusion is when we go somewhere that we don't belong now the Bible has told us certain things about angels hasn't it he's explained us the basics that is enough that's enough everything I need to know about angels I learned from the Bible everything I need to know about demons I learned from the Bible let's not intrude into things that we have not seen and try to just go deep into understanding the spirit world and say like you know I got to learn about the Inca bus and the succubus and I got to learn about all these different you know demons and angels and the spirit world never you know this is how people get into some really wicked stuff and they get into this New Age stuff this mystical stuff the Kabbalah whatever we don't want to intrude in that stuff we don't want to get mixed up in that stuff and we don't want to get vainly puffed up by our fleshly mind see the carnal mind eats this stuff up that's why the carnal mind loves you know sci-fi and fantasy and stuff like that so you know we as human beings we naturally we think this stuff's pretty cool there's nothing wrong with you know reading the Bible and think wow this stuff is pretty cool but we don't want to get all fleshly puffed up thinking like oh man I'm gonna go even deeper than the Bible went you know I'm gonna go really deep into the spirit world and angels and demons and the cherry beams and you know and what does he say don't go beyond the scope of what God has given us and what God has commanded us and we don't want to get to where we're worshipping angels let's focus on the Lord let's focus on Jesus Christ and not focus on the cherry beams I mean look we don't want to just get all caught up in the cherry beams that's like going to a wedding and you're all caught up in the bridesmaids instead of focusing on the bride and groom you know what I'm saying like the focus is supposed to be on who the bride and groom that's why my pet peeve is bridesmaids who show up dressed like a hooker you know what they're trying to do they're trying to take the emphasis off of where it should be right they're vainly puffed up in their fleshly mind or they here's what I can't understand dressing like a slut at a funeral it's like your loved one has died your grandfather has died your grandmother has died and there's just this woman like in a short skirt and high heels and low cut it's like what's wrong with you what do you it's like what is this a funeral we're here to celebrate our dead loved one you know and and and and you know celebrate the fact that they're in a better place and and you know worship the Lord together cry some tears of sorrow that they're not with us anymore why are you dressed like that you know why would you go to a wedding and you're a bridesmaid you know but that try finding a modest bridesmaids dress it doesn't exist because you know we have to deal with this when we're planning weddings all the time and you know what the advice that I usually give to people that are putting on a wedding is I tell them don't even bother trying to get a bridesmaids dress don't even set foot in David's bridal whoever David is what's David doing making wedding dresses anyway I bet he's a real manly dude but anyway you know you go to David's bridal you can't even find a modest wedding dress you know what I tell them just buy dresses like just find some pretty dresses find some pretty summer dresses or find some pretty dresses but if they're called bridesmaid dress usually they're gonna be super immodest if they have bridesmaid in the name so just go get nice dresses that match go get nice dresses that are all the same color is the advice that I give because but what is that doing they're trying to take emphasis off of where it should be we should be all you know celebrating what the bride and the groom that's the focal point of the ceremony just like at a funeral the focal point is our loved one right well here's the thing with God he's the focal point in all things he must have the preeminence and basically his heavenly entourage it's similar to a wedding in the sense that it's called sometimes his train you know just like the wedding party or the veil behind the bride is sometimes called the train right so when God travels he travels with a big entourage you know when God shows up he's riding on a cherub he's got the cherubims the wheels within a wheel he's got all the heavenly hosts of angels showing up with them right and when you go up to the throne in heaven you know he's surrounded by seraphims that are falling on their faces and worshiping God and there are 24 elders throwing crowns falling on their face I mean God is worthy of a lot of praise and he's got quite an entourage I mean he's got some serious bridesmaids and groomsmen in a sense you know that are his party basically that he has there you know but he's the focal point just like at a wedding the bride and groom of the focal point and then they've got their attendance right but here's what we want to do we want to keep God the focal point and not start worshiping the attendance oh the cherubims are so cool oh the seraphim no Jesus Christ is so cool you know why don't you focus on the Lord Jesus Christ why don't you focus on the Lord of hosts instead of focusing on the hosts focus on the Lord of hosts get the emphasis and the focus where it should be that's why he says don't worship angels and I love what he says in 1st Corinthians 6 he says know ye not that we shall judge angels how much more things that pertain to this life you know what that tells me is that right now we're a little lower than the angels but someday they're gonna be a little lower than us someday we will judge angels just like Jesus Christ was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death but now of course all power is given unto him and he of course is above angels and principalities and powers and so forth now look even in these two sermons I've barely even scratched the surface of everything the Bible teaches on angels there's a lot of teaching in the Bible on angels but I hope that this will kind of give you a basic framework and a basic understanding and maybe clear up some of the confusion between some of the human angels and the non-human angels and that when you're reading your Bible and you come across these things you'll at least know what the Bible is talking about but remember we always want to keep the emphasis on the right place and you know what back to the wedding illustration what did John the Baptist say he said I'm like the best man basically he said I'm the friend of the bridegroom which we would call what the best man and John said I'm the friend of the bridegroom he's the groom he said he must increase I must decrease right that should be the motto of every bridesmaid by the way I must decrease okay I must decrease my skin that's exposed right now okay that should be the motto so anyway you know keep the emphasis where it belongs on Christ he's the star the morning star right he's the you know give him the glory and the praise don't share his glory with angels and cherubims and seraphim they're all there to bring him glory so put the glory where it belongs and worship God let's buy rides father we thank you so much for your word Lord and for all these teachings that you've given us Lord and I just pray that you would just help us as we study the Bible Lord to to understand it please just guide us into all truth Lord through the power of your Holy Spirit Lord just