The Flaming Sword

With entry into God’s presence now barred, a way back in must be made.

Genesis 3:24 ESV - He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

The language is even stronger here. Adam is “driven out.” There is no place for wickedness in the presence of God. Interestingly, the same word used for “stretch out” earlier is now used for “drive out.” Man would stretch out his hand and take that which was forbidden, so God would drive him from his presence in the garden.

And in this verse allusions to the tabernacle and the temple continue, or perhaps the other way around. Apparently entrance to the garden is only from an eastern gate or door, just as will be the case for the tabernacle and the temple. The cherubim are beings pictured as being in or guarding access to the presence of God. To re-enter the garden, to re-enter the presence of God, will require passing through a gate guarded by a flaming sword. Notice the language. We picture the cherub holding the sword, but the language doesn’t support that. The two are separate things—there are the cherubim and there is the flaming sword.

In Joshua 5 something is recorded that reminds us of these words. As the people prepare to enter the promised land, having crossed the Jordan, Joshua is confronted by a man holding a drawn sword. “Are you with us or with our enemies,” says Joshua. “Neither,” says the man, “but I am commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come.” Then Joshua is told to take off his shoes for he is standing on holy ground.

The holy land for God’s people in Joshua is pictured as a new Eden into which God is leading his people. All the descriptions of it, given to the people, remind us of Eden. Joshua, whose name is Jesus in Greek, will lead his people back into the holy place of God. This is what is being pictured for us in these events, something taught by Paul and the writer to the Hebrews. We get that imagery, that typology, from the New Testament.

In the tabernacle and in the temple no one is allowed to enter except through sacrifice. A substitute must be put to the knife, to the sword, before access can be gained. The way back into the holy place is only through the flaming sword of judgment. For us, and for anyone who would reenter, it was Christ who made the ultimate sacrifice, who passed through that sword, so that we once again might have access to communion with God.

Hebrews 9:11-12 ESV - But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

Hebrews 9:24-28 ESV - For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

With Adam we were banished from paradise, banished from God’s dwelling place, banished from the temple, banished from God’s presence, banished from eternal blessing. A sword was placed to keep us from re-entering. Christ passed through that sword and entered back into the holy place, into the presence of God, into the place of God’s blessing, and in Christ we may enter, too.