Man Cherub | Revelation 4
A visual interpretation of the Man Cherub of Revelation 4. This art is intended for teaching and presenting purposes.
Please read artist's contextual research & documentation for this work below!
The Man Cherub: my study notes
Intent. This illustration was requested by a fellow Bible student exploring the Book of Revelation, as part of a series of depictions for Revelation 4–5. It is not intended to share any particular interpretation of the prophecy, only how I arrived at the visuals I created.
- “A face like a man.” There’s some question in my mind about the intent of this phrase. Does John mean that the figure’s body is a beast with the face of a man? Or that we cannot see any other part of the cherub other than the wings and face?
- An echo of Isaiah 6. My view is that John is perhaps drawing a connection with Isaiah 6. In Isaiah, the creatures’ feet (sometimes a Biblical euphemism for loins) and faces were covered, and they were calling out a saying similar to the one noted in Revelation. Perhaps John was struck by the rare and vivid similarities between his vision and that of Isaiah, and that is why the face of a man is noted especially.
- Covered with outstretched wings. If true, then it is possible that the Cherub may have been covered around the loins with outstretched wings, while the torso and face were exposed to view. It’s just a guess on my end, but that’s what I’ve pictured here.
- Where were the eyes? Artists differ on how to portray the eyes. Some have placed eyes randomly throughout the creatures; this gets the point across, but in my own view it looks messy. In my estimation, the eyes were affixed to the body of the beast, not to growths such as feathers or hair, so the eyes on the wings would be limited to the bone assembly at the top, both within and without the wing. This is only an aesthetic guess.
- How would the eyes have looked? I’ve drawn them realistically, as actual biological structures, but there is a possibility that what John saw was more like a natural design that we might see on some creatures. The description is not very detailed, so I think there is room to wonder at the aesthetic possibilities of what John saw in his vision.
“Again, I cannot be certain that my visual interpretation is correct, so please view this drawing as you should with all of my work: with healthy skepticism!”
Meet the rest of the living creatures (Lion, Ox, Eagle), see all four together in The Four Living Creatures and around the Throne in Heaven, and compare the Cherubim of Solomon’s Temple. For kids: the Cherubim craft from Ezekiel.