“Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those who are with young.” Isaiah 40:10-11.

“The Lord reigns; let the peoples tremble! He dwells between the cherubim; let the earth be moved! The Lord is great in Zion, and He is high above all the peoples. Let them praise Your great and awesome name – He is holy.” Psalm 99:1-3.

This psalm is divided into three parts each ending in the words, “He is holy” with the last division ending in, “the Lord our God is holy.” The emphasis is on the reign of Christ which will be one of justice, equity, and righteousness, things which the world sorely lacks today, or ever has had.

“The Lord reigns”, the first phrase depicts the Lord Jesus as reigning in the millennium.

While it could be argued, and rightfully so that the Lord has always reigned over the whole earth, this psalm concerns His earthly rule.

“The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.” Proverbs 21:1.

“Then Pilate said to Him, ‘Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?’ Jesus answered, ‘You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.’” John 19:10-11.

This psalm however is about the risen glorified Christ who has come back to rule from a throne on earth.

“And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, ‘Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!’” Revelation 19:6.

“Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.” Revelation 19:11.

“His delight is in the fear of the Lord, and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears; but with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, and faithfulness the belt of His waist.” Isaiah 11:3-5.

“Let the peoples tremble”, there will in that day be two types of trembling; those in reverent awe of their Lord and Savior, and those in fear of the wrath about to fall upon them, see Revelation 6:12-17 and Matthew 25:31-46.

“And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’” Revelation 6:15-17.

“He dwells between the cherubim; let the earth be moved!” Psalm 99:1b.

Some feel that the cherubim mentioned here are the ones described in an appearance of the Lord to Ezekiel in 592 B.C.

These cherubim are described as each having four faces, of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle, and four wings. The passages covering this are in Ezekiel 1:4-11 and chapters 8 through 11, specifically chapter 10:14-15.

“Each one had four faces, and each one had four wings.” Ezekiel 1:6.

“As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a man, each of the four had the face of a lion on the right side, each of the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and each of the four had the face of an eagle.” Ezekiel 1:10.

Another possibility would be the four living creatures described in Revelation 4:6-8.

“The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!’” Revelation 4:7-8.

These four living creatures however, are called seraphim in Isaiah chapter 6, and like the cherubim, they are found in the presence of God.

“In the year that King Uzziah died [740 B.C.], I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!’” Isaiah 6:1-3.

The Ark of the Covenant which the children of Israel built in the wilderness and placed in the holy of holies in the tabernacle also has cherubim on the lid, but only two.

The ark itself is described as being 2 ½ cubits long and 1 ½ cubits wide and 1 ½ cubits high. The cubit being 18 inches makes the length 45 inches, width 27 inches, and 27 inches high.

This box (which is what the word ark means) was to be built out of acacia wood and then completely overlaid with pure gold both inside and outside. The entire construction details of this may be seen in Exodus 25:10-22.

The symbolism of this is significant. Pure gold is symbolic of God and the acacia wood would have had to be handled as the craftsmen built it, this gives us a picture of Christ who being God incarnate was touched and handled by the people He came into contact with, at the same time He never ceased to be God.

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life – the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us – that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” 1 John 1:1-3.

The lid of the ark was separate and made of pure gold. This lid was called the mercy seat because it was where God resided within the holy of holies.

“You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold; two and a half cubits shall be its length and a cubit and a half its width. And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub at one end, and the other cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim at the two ends of it of one piece with the mercy seat. And the cherubim shall stretch out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall face one another; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat. You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.” Exodus 25:17-22.

Once the tabernacle was complete and the ark was installed in the holy of holies things changed considerably.

“For a tabernacle was prepared: the first part, in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary; and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All, which had the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant; and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat [Gr. hilasterion]. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year [Tis’ri, 7th month 10th day; Sept. Oct.], not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance…” Hebrews 9:2-7.

The Greek word used for mercy seat in the New Testament is hilasterion, which has a root meaning of appeasing and placating an offended God.

This word is translated into English as propitiatory, which according to the dictionary means to make favorably inclined, conciliate, or to appease. Other words for propitiate which might clarify the meaning: expiation, atonement, reconcile, or placate.

Now Jesus’ blood is the propitiation for all sin, which is what the blood on the mercy seat (hilasterion) was a picture of. Let us consider the words of the Apostle Paul now; perhaps they will bring it all together for us.

“Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation [hilasterion] by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:20-26.

Now let us return to Psalm 99:1b, “He dwells between the cherubim let the earth be moved!” Here is the proposition; it is unlikely that the cherubim described in Ezekiel earlier are the ones referred to here nor is it likely that they are the seraphim referred to in Isaiah since both incidents are hundreds of years after this psalm was written.

There are numerous references to cherubim before, during, and in three of the psalms, but all of the descriptions of the cherubim are vague and with the exception of the cherubim stationed outside the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3:24, all of them concern the cherubim on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant and in decorations in the tabernacle and the temple.

Unless God had described the cherubim with four faces to Moses it is unlikely that he would have placed their likenesses on the mercy seat. The cherubim were also to have their faces looking down at the mercy seat itself, something that the four faced creatures described in Ezekiel could not have done.

“Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock; You who dwell between the cherubim, shine forth!” Psalm 80:1.

One thing is consistent; God is always seen as dwelling between the cherubim, or speaking from between the cherubim.

This could only mean that Jesus is not pictured here as being seated on a throne surrounded by seraphim, nor is He on a throne above the cherubim by the River Chebar in the land of the Chaldeans where in both cases a judgment was pronounced on Israel by God; Jesus is enthroned above the mercy seat between two cherubim of vague description.

The significance of this is that Jesus Christ our propitiation (hilasterion) for sin has conquered Satan and sin and death and has taken His place on the mercy seat to rule in holiness.

“He dwells between the cherubim; let the earth be moved [shaken]!” Psalm 99:1b.

When Jesus Christ, God the Son comes to dwell on earth and rule in holiness the earth will be shaken.

The earth will be shaken when He returns to battle His enemies at Armageddon and the mountains will be flattened.

It will be shaken when Christ judges those who rejected His offer of salvation during the tribulation and are now cast into hell for eternity.

It will be shaken when Jesus rebuilds earth to a state of perfection for His millennial reign wherein there will be no curse (Romans 8:18-23), when animals and all mankind will dwell in peace; the rain will fall gently and crops come up in abundance under His righteous rule.

“The Lord is great in Zion, and He is high above all the peoples.” Psalm 99:2.

Jesus is high above all the peoples even now, He will be even more so because we will see Him as He rules from His throne on earth.

He is high above all the peoples because He is Lord of lords and King of kings.

“Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword [the word of God, Ephesians 6:17], that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” Revelation 19:15-16.

Jesus will be high above all the peoples because of His moral purity, no more will our government lie to us, no more will they sell us out for money or power, no more will they prefer the rich or the famous over the common man.

No more will our children be sent to war, no more will they be taught perversion in school, or read to by drag queens in libraries, or be pressured to change their sex. No more will our leaders be filthy, drunken drug addicts, or licentiousness pedophiles.

“Let them praise Your great and awesome name – He is holy.” Psalm 99:3.

Dear God, the Lord Jesus Christ is holy! And some day every knee will bow to Him.

The word awesome, unfortunately, is overused today, but there is coming a day when we see Jesus as He really is, and that will be a day of awe.

And I can assure you that everyone, both those who have accepted Christ as their Savior and those who rejected Him will fall before Him in awe. This is the ultimate definition of awesome.

Jesus, the holy God the Son, will rule someday from between the cherubim – and He will be holy.

Psalm 99:1-3 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 2-28-15, updated on 2-2-23.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.