‘And every one had four faces, the first face was the face of the cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.'
Here it is the face of ‘the cherub' that is prominent, and that looks ahead. The ox of Ezekiel 1:10 has dropped out. This was partly because in Ezekiel 1:10 the living creatures were not seen as connected with the cherubim. But at this stage in events the faces of the cherubim change for a more important reason, because they are acting against domesticised creation (the ox) in Yahweh's departure from the temple of Yahweh. He will be going among the wild beasts of Assyria and Babylon. So now Ezekiel realises that the man's face that looks forward is not that of a man but of ‘the cherub' (the cherubim had faces similar to men). Yet he also recognises that mankind must continue to be included as the prime ones of creation. And all beasts are included in the lion and the eagle. We must not expect full consistency in this continuing vision, it is conveying ideas rather than physical realities.
The order of the faces is against the cherub being replaced by the ox as a scribal error. It was the movement of Yahweh from His temple and the new recognition of the living creatures as cherubim that occasioned the change, and the forward looking, controlling face had to be that of the cherub.