After Adam and Eve, our first parents, rebelled against God and fell into sin, God expelled them from the Garden of Eden. We read:

Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

Genesis‬ ‭3‬:‭22‬-‭24‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

There is much we may glean from these three verses, all of it useful for illuminating other portions of Scripture, and God’s eternal plan and purpose which culminates in Christ.

Use one: We see God’s mercy at work. Being cut off from the tree of life didn’t cause death, but it did ensure it. If God had permitted immortality to fallen humanity, they would have lived forever in their sin and misery. Is that not the very definition of Hell? It would have made the whole world into Hell.

Use two: We see that the earthly tabernacle (and later Temple) were patterned after Eden. In our passage, we learn that the gate into the Garden of Eden was at the east. Likewise, there was only one entrance to the Tabernacle, where God dwelled among His people, and that was at the east. While the north, south, and west sides of the Tabernacle were hung with white linens, of the eastern gate we read:

For the gate of the court there shall be a screen twenty cubits long, woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen, made by a weaver. It shall have four pillars and four sockets.
‭‭

Exodus‬ ‭27‬:‭16‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

This combination of blue, purple, and scarlet threads was also seen at the entrance to the Holy of Holies inside the Tabernacle, which was the throne room of God. And notice this detail:

You shall make a veil woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen. It shall be woven with an artistic design of cherubim.
‭‭

Exodus‬ ‭26‬:‭31‬ ‭NKJV‬‬, emphasis added

Cherubim were also to be found wrought in gold upon the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant. We shall speak more of the mercy seat shortly. But we see two important truths here. First, that the Tabernacle, like Eden, was entered at the eastern gate; and second, that Cherubim were guardians of holy spaces. They were placed ritually within the Tabernacle to remind us of their actual presence, as we saw at the gate of Eden.

This pattern was also followed in the Temple at Jerusalem, for when Ezekiel saw the glory of the Lord depart from the Temple, he says:

So the cherubim lifted up their wings, with the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was high above them. And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and stood on the mountain, which is on the east side of the city.
‭‭

Ezekiel‬ ‭11‬:‭22‬-‭23‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Eden. The Tabernacle. The Temple. These all reflect God’s eternal purpose to dwell among His people. Thus, in Revelation 21-22, the resurrected saints and renewed heaven and earth are portrayed as a Temple-City:

Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” … But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
‭

Revelation‬ ‭21‬:‭2‬-‭4‬, ‭22‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

And while Cherubim were stationed at the gate of Eden, and at the Holy of Holies, to stop defiled sinners from coming in; of the eschatological Temple-City, New Jerusalem, we read:

And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.
‭‭

Revelation‬ ‭21‬:‭24‬-‭26‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

There will be no need for Cherubim blocking the way to God’s dwelling place, for all who enter will be perfected and sanctified forever: But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect (Hebrews‬ ‭12‬:‭22‬-‭23‬ ‭NKJV‬‬).

Use three: The cherubim with the flaming sword foreshadowed the later sin-offerings. If one had been foolish enough to try to sneak back into Eden, they would have had to pass through the flaming sword of the Cherubim. Anyone defiled by sin could not come into God’s holy dwelling, or they would be slaughtered and burned. The sin-offerings later made under Moses are explicitly said to have been slaughtered and burned, and their blood sprinkled on the mercy seat (see, for example, Leviticus 16). The mercy seat served as a sort of footstool for God in the Holy of Holies, so symbolically the sacrificial animal has passed through the flaming sword of the Cherubim in place of the sinner, and their life poured out at God’s feet: For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul (Leviticus‬ ‭17‬:‭11‬ ‭NKJV‬‬).

Use four: Genesis 3:22-24 helps us understand what is meant when it is said someone has gone “away from the presence of the Lord.” God is omnipresent; meaning there is nowhere He is not. Thus, David writes: Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there (Psalm 139‬:‭7‬-‭8‬ ‭NKJV‬‬). Likewise, God speaks through the prophet Jeremiah: “Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?” says the Lord; “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the Lord (Jeremiah‬ ‭23‬:‭24‬ ‭NKJV‬‬). Yet, after Cain murdered his brother Abel, and was cursed by God to be a wanderer upon the earth, it says: Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden (Genesis‬ ‭4‬:‭16‬ ‭NKJV‬‬). How could Cain go out from the presence of the Lord, when He is present everywhere—even in Hell?

Here’s how to understand this phrase, and it’s quite poignant. God is indeed omnipresent, but there are places of His choosing where He sets His glory, and so is present with His people in a special way. The Tabernacle and Temple were such places. So was Eden.

Notice that it says Cain went and dwelled in the land of Nod … east of Eden. Now, this is important to visualize. The Cherubim with the flaming sword were stationed at the gate of Eden, in the east of the garden. So, if a person wanted to approach Eden, they would move in a westerly direction. Now, we know from Scripture that people were already offering sacrifices to God (Genesis 4:3-5). Where do you suppose they brought their sacrifices? Well, remember the eastern gate of the Tabernacle and Temple. Remember how the Cherubim were artistically represented at the Holy of Holies. People would have brought their sacrifice to that eastern gate of Eden, towards where the Cherubim were stationed.

So if Cain moved east of Eden, that means he moved away from where the people would come to make their offerings to God. He moved away from God’s special dwelling, where His presence is manifest in a special way, and where His people come to worship Him. It says likewise that Cain dwelled in the land of Nod. Nod means wandering. That’s a very interesting phrase. He settled down in the Land of Wandering. He left the people and place of God. Cain became not only a murderer and an outlaw, but an apostate. He ceased to worship God.

Do you know who else was said to have departed the presence of God? The prophet Jonah. But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord (Jonah‬ ‭1‬:‭3‬ ‭NKJV‬‬). In Jonah’s case it doesn’t represent a total apostasy as with Cain; but a sin against his vocation as a prophet of the Lord. The idea was that Jonah left the land where God was worshiped to flee to the other side of the world. It was as if he believed that, when he left the people and place of God, God would forget about him and leave him alone.

Use five: The Cherubim with the flaming sword stand as God’s firm, “No!” to all our attempts at trying to return to fellowship with Him by our own efforts. The Cherubim made it impossible for fallen humans to simply return to Eden and snatch the immortality Adam had lost. We will not get back into right fellowship with God by our own will or efforts, nor shall we return to Eden that way. This is God’s hard No!, both to legalists who would have us try and work our way back into God’s good graces; and the Utopian dreams of the liberals who seek to build heaven-on-earth. God declares, by the fiery sword-wielding Cherubim at the east gate of Eden: You shall not come back to me that way. That way is forever lost to you. You may only come to me through the Way I have provided.

Use six: The Cherubim blocking the way to Eden and the tree of life teach us to look to Christ alone for restored fellowship with God, and eternal life. For He is our great High Priest who has passed through the heavens; and there in the Holy of Holies, through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, in order to cleanse [our] conscience from dead works to serve the living God (Hebrews 4:14;‬ ‭9‬:‭14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬). He passed through that curtain woven of blue, purple, and scarlet (Exodus 26:31), and although He was Himself without sin, He gave Himself up to the holy fury of God—the flaming sword of God’s wrath—and poured out His blood upon the heavenly mercy seat, for us.

Jesus said: I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me (John‬ ‭14‬:‭6‬ ‭NKJV‬‬). He is the east gate of the Garden of Eden, the only way we shall ever enter the Holy of Holies—for He has extinguished the flaming sword of the Cherubim for all whose names are written in His Book of Life.

In Revelation 2:7, Christ tells us: To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God (NKJV‬‬). Do not misunderstand Him, beloved. He is the One who has overcome the world (John 16:33); and crushed the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15), thus conquering Satan, sin, and death for us. If you would eat from the tree of life, you can only come by believing in Him. God has made Him for us the Overcomer of Satan and the world, the Tree of Life, and the way to a Paradise even greater than Eden; for in Him we shall inherit new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells (2 Peter‬ ‭3‬:‭13‬ ‭NKJV‬‬).