The Seraphim: Part 7: Wings Covering their Faces, Feet and Flying

Part 7 – Wings Covering Faces, Feet, and Flying

     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.

In this article we will learn why the seraphim are described as having six wings. Our study of their wings will reveal something about their character, their walk in life and their great end time ministry.

…with twain he covered his face

To cover the face would be to conceal the face. People who want to draw attention to themselves want their face to be seen. The truly humble would not desire to be seen but would rather remain unnoticed. Those who come into the fullness of Christ will have his humility. They will want no recognition for the good they do. They will serve others but remain in the background. They will be fulfilling the mandate of Philippians 2: “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem the other as better than themselves.” And further on in Philippians 2 Paul wrote:

But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Phil 2:7, 8).

People who come into the fullness of Christ will have his humility. They will serve others and demand no thanks or recognition. They will rejoice when others succeed or are blessed even more than they themselves are. There is only one way to come to this place of deep humility and that is through death—not physical death but death to self. These are the ones who have chosen to take up their cross daily, deny themselves and follow Jesus. They died to self so Christ could live in and through them. Unfortunately very few of Jesus’ followers will come to this level of commitment, for people today are as they were when Paul was writing to the Philippians:

 For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state.  For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus (Phil 2:20 21).

May it be our prayer that we would be willing to let Christ take us to this level of maturity and surrender because when we give up our own agenda and let Christ live in us, this is the greatest joy any human being could ever experience. “Joy unspeakable and full of glory” will only be ours as we yield all to Jesus.

… and with twain he covered his feet

Our feet take us where we want to go. In this clause, we need to remember that “twain” is symbolic of our spiritual mind and the mind of Christ. These determine our walk—how, where, when and why we walk. These humble ministers of Christ do not walk according to their own desires but only according to Jesus’ leading. They are his feet on this earth. This is not difficult for them, however, because they died to their own desires and only live to serve the Lord. In this they find great joy. These are ones who have fulfilled the following scriptural imperatives:

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them (Eph 2:10).

This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind (Eph 4:17).

And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma (Eph 5:2).

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (Eph 5:8).

…that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God (Col 1:10).

Everywhere these ministers of God go they will bring the message of Jesus Christ not only by their words but by their very lives.

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’ (Isa 52:7 BSB)

and with twain he did fly.

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.

So far we have seen that these ministers had the humility of Christ (with twain he covered his face) and they walked in the manner and direction of the Holy Spirit (with twain he covered his feet), and now in the words “with twain he did fly” we see something about their ministry.

In Scripture, to fly can mean to enlighten the understanding. An example of this can be seen in Rev 14:6:

And I saw another angel flying in midheaven with an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation, tribe, language, and people;

Keeping in mind that the word angel is defined as a messenger or a pastor and that the book of Revelation is highly symbolic, here is what Thayer’s has to say about the midheaven.

The mid-heaven, the highest point in the heavens, which the sun occupies at noon is where what is done can be seen and heard by all:

Keeping in mind that an angel is a messenger or a pastor who is enlightening the understanding (flying) of people on earth, the word midheaven becomes highly significant because it describes their ministry. They will see and expose what is hidden within people where “what is done [or has been done] can be seen and heard by all.”

In order to prepare the church to be the pure spotless bride, each person must be purified. Every single adulterated thought, word or deed must be exposed, repented of and purged out of our life. Then and only then will we be ready to receive the fullness of Christ God desires to give to us all. In this way, the seraphim ministry will be preparing the bride to meet her groom.

This understanding of Rev 14:6 fits in perfectly with the following verse:

Rev. 14:7 Fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment has come.

The seraphim will be assisting God in judging of his church. These humble ministers will be so at one with Jesus, that during their ministry, the Holy Spirit will be able to briefly take over their mind to give pure words from God to each person. As we saw earlier in this series, these ministers have the mind of Christ within their own mind. Here we see that because of their humility and yieldedness to Christ, he can momentarily minister through them pure words for each individual person. This will be the word of knowledge operating in perfection.

In order to come into the perfection and purity of the bride, all things not of God must be purged from our life. One problem we encounter is that we often don’t know what is in our heart. Only Jesus knows. Through the ministry of the seraphim, these things will be perfectly revealed by the Lord himself through these yielded, purified vessels. In this way, God’s messengers, as seen in Rev 14:6, will be able to proclaim, from this high place in the midheaven, words of enlightenment of knowledge through this many-membered body of Christ, symbolically seen as the seraphim, “to all those who live on earth, and to every nation, tribe, language and people.”

Interpretation of Isaiah 6:2

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.

In the position of leadership over the church stood (above it stood) men and women who had gone through the fires of God’s judgment and come out in perfection in the fullness of Christ (the seraphims). These people had the mind of Christ joined with their mind (each one had six wings). They had Jesus’ humility that was seen in the fact that they wanted no recognition or praise for themselves (with twain he covered his face); they walked only as Jesus’ would walk doing only those things directed by the mind of Christ within them (with twain he covered his feet); and they went forth at the direction of the Holy Spirit to preach and give understanding and enlightenment to other Christians who hungered for truth and a deeper relationship with God (with twain he did fly). They were able to give pure words of knowledge to each person regarding what was in their heart in order that they could repent and be purified in order to become the pure bride of Christ without any spot or wrinkle.