Heavenly Intervention

Psalm 18:1-20 • Psalm 18:21-50
Isa. 2:12-22 • 1 Thess. 3:1-13 • Luke 20:27-40

Today’s Psalm always catches my imagination. In Psalm 18, God is so angry that the psalmist is in trouble that smoke and fire come out of God’s face and God rushes down from heaven riding a pair of cherubim to lend a hand.

What exactly are cherubim? God isn’t riding chubby babies with teeny-tiny wings. Ezekiel gives us a grotesquely detailed description: They are beings with four faces of different animals, four wings, and hooves. They move in a creepy way, never turning, but flashing like lightning. They are also always singing the Sanctus, which is what we sing or say right before the bread and wine are consecrated for the Eucharist (Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might…).

What do these scary creatures and God’s theatrical intervention into human life tell us about the Kingdom of Heaven?

Terrifying, confusing, and disruptive events always feel to me like a punishment. Why did the psalmist feel God was saving him with earthquakes, fire, storms, and crazy animal hybrids? Are there seemingly negative events in my life that I could interpret through a different lens, a lens like the psalmist’s? Rather than only thinking about the disasters that God has saved me from, can I wonder what disasters has God saved me with?

Written by Haley Hixson

If you are interested to see illustrations of biblically accurate heavenly beings of the Bible, check out this youtube video that describes Cherubim, Seraphim, Angels, and Ophanim.