The Throne Of God Above The Cherubim
Part 4: Seraphim Compared to Cherubim
By Ed Tarkowski

Isaiah 6:6:1 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.
2 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.
3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
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:
7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,
12 And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.

The Seraphim of Isaiah 6 sound much like the cherubim in Revelation 6 and we need to see some distinctions. Here are my thoughts on the Seraphim, some of them speculative to one degree or another:

1. The seraphim could be an angelic order of the cherubim.

2. Maybe its picky, but in Isaiah 6, Isaiah saw "the Lord sitting upon a throne . . . ABOVE it stood the seraphims . . ." (vv1,2). There seems to be a distinction here between the seraphim who are ABOVE the throne and cherubim who seem more or less just UNDER it and/or AROUND it:

Ezekiel 1:25 And there was a voice from the firmament that was OVER their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.
26 And above the firmament that was OVER THEIR HEADS WAS THE LIKENESS OF A THRONE, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.
27 And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.
28 As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.

3. The Seraphim seem to be in charge of the altar of incense in the heavenly sanctuary as well as in Revelation 8, though this may also depict Christ as our mediator:

Isaiah 6:6 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:
7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

Revelation 6:3 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
4 And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.

The praise in Revelatin 6:3 is certainly that of the Seraphim in Isaiah 6:3, "Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory." But the four living creatures (cherubim) also praise in their own words, but the description is similar to the cherubim in Ezekiel. That confuses the issue somewhat. Overall, I see the Seraphim as those ABOVE the throne and the cherubim as those who are AROUND/BELOW the throne:

Revelation 6:6 And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.

If the cherubim and seraphim are both a class of cherubim, then it is possible the seraphim are not mentioned in Revelation 6 (or just descrined as angels) just as the 24 elders are not mentioned in Isaiah or Ezekiel.

The Seraph mentioned in other Scriptures don't appear to be the same as the Seraphim in Isaiah 6 as they seem to issue judgments on earth while the Seraphim of Isaiah seem to be coverers ABOVE the throne:

SERAPH is the Hebrew word for "burning one" or "fiery" and represents a category of cherubim (Isaiah 6:2):

Seraphim (from Isa.6:2) plural of seraph (seh-rah-feem; seh-rapf);Strongs #8314; A burning, fiery, gliding, angelic being; also a fire-colored, agile, gliding desert creature, presumably a fiery serpent. The root is the verb seraph, "to set on fire, to burn." Accordingly, the seraphim may be angels of a fiery color or clearness. Only in Is. 6:2 does the word appear as "seraphim"; in all the remaining five occurrences (Num. 21:6,8, Deut. 8:15, Is.14:29; 30:6) It is translated fiery serpents and appears along with scorpions and vipers.

Part 1: The Four Living Creatures In Ezekiel And Revelation
Part 2: Two Cherubim Or Four In The Holy of Holies?
Part 3: Do The Four Cherubim Return With Christ?
Part 4: Seraphim Compared to Cherubim
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