At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with
one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and
carnelian…[1]
When John described
his vision of Jesus in chapter one, he used a whole array of metaphorical
characteristics relating to Jesus as the glorified Son of Man. Here he can only
use the colorful characteristics of a couple of precious stones to try to
explain what he saw of the one seated on the throne.
The difference
can be explained by something that we already know about the relationship
between God the Father and God the Son. Describing Jesus, God’s word says, “He is the image of the
invisible God…”[2] This makes it clear that the one on the throne is the invisible
God, and Jesus is the image that makes the invisible God known. The image is
described in detail, both literally and metaphorically. The invisible is
described in relation to colorful gemstones.
While
it may seem like such a short description of God’s appearance would lead us to
think small thoughts about God, it is actually an invitation to ponder long and
deep on how this one sentence brings many wonderful truths of God to a
beautifully grand crescendo. John was expressing what Paul had already written:
…he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the
King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone
has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen
or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.[3]
The God John
describes in the colorful qualities of precious stones is the God who dwells in
unapproachable light. This is the God no one has ever seen, the God no one can
see. He is God. He is Father God. He is love. He is light. But, he is the invisible
God who is still glorious in his honor and eternal dominion, you know, kind of
like jasper and carnelian!
To give us a
triad of precious stones, John adds, “…and
around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald.”[4]
Whether this rainbow was in seven shades of green that reminded John of an
emerald, or whether the seven-hues of the spectrum shimmered and glowed in a
way that somehow resembled the beauty of this particular gem stone, there is no
doubt that John was overwhelmed by the glory he was trying to describe.
For the
moment, all I will add is a wonderful discovery that came my way just this
morning. I know that the rainbow is God’s seal to his covenant declaration that
he will never again cleanse the earth with a flood.[5] I thought
that John’s description of the rainbow surrounding God’s throne in Revelation 4
was calling us back to the introduction of the rainbow in Genesis 9. What I
found was that it is that, but so much more.
What
God said to Noah was, “I have set my bow
in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.”[6] I had never noticed that before. God said “my bow”. He would set his own bow in the cloud so that it would be
a sign that he had made a covenant between himself and the earth, and he would
never again destroy the earth with a flood.
What
I suddenly realized was that, Genesis 9 was not the first time there was a bow.
It was the first time this bow was “set
in the cloud” as a rainbow. However, it was not the first time there was
this bow. It was God’s bow. It was God speaking from his throne, the throne
that is surrounded by a bow that looks like an emerald.
From
that glorious throne, the God of heaven, whose glorious, unapproachable light
could only be described in terms indicating the various hues of jasper and
carnelian, surrounded by an emerald-looking bow, spoke down to Noah and
presented his bow as the seal that his promise could be trusted.
Honestly,
I still have not taken this all in. It is delightfully shattering to a very
limited understanding of the glory of God sealing a promise with such a
beautiful sign as the rainbow. Today I feel like a little boy who just found
out that my Father in heaven wants me to let every sighting of a rainbow remind
me of his throne in heaven, where that bow surrounds him and all that he does,
so that every promise he has ever made will surely come to pass just as he
said. No beasts, no antichrists, no apostate churches, no red dragons, can stop
the Father from carrying out his covenant promises to his children, and his
promised condemnation to his enemies. The rainbow surrounds his throne.
From
my heart,
Monte
©
2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless
otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy
Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway
Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)
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