The Great Throne Of God

John takes us now with him through heaven's open door. Immediately, at once, straightway John is in the Spirit. He has used that expression in the beginning at Revelation 1:10. Guided by the Holy Spirit John will now provide warnings and comfort to all who read this important letter. As with other Jewish teachers, John avoids any description of God other than that evoked by symbols.

 And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. - Rev 4:3 ESV

All he dares to say is that the great, majestic God is like jasper and carnelian.  The High Priest's breastplate had these stones, representing the twelve tribes named after Israel's sons. Jasper, representing Reuben, the eldest of Israel's sons, was first. In Hebrew the word is odem, translated into Greek as sardius. Carnelian, representing Benjamin, was the last (Exod 28:17-21). Jasper is a variety of quartz able to take a high polish, clear as crystal (Rev. 21:11). Pliny the Elder, who lived around the same time of the Revelation's writing, described Jasper "as being green and often transparent." Carnelian, on the other hand, is an orangish red quartz, used as the sixth stone of the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:20).

What do these stones imply about God? Certainly John's first stone refers to the glory of God (Rev. 21:11). That glory was revealed to Mary and Martha when their brother Lazarus was raised from the dead (John 11:4, 38-44). This is the glory of Christ, the Word become flesh, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). God The same God who once said, "Let there be light" (Gen. 1:3), has  shined in our hearts to reveal the Good News of God's mercy toward us all in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6). As He once raised Lazarus, so He will now raise our mortal bodies and we will dwell with Him to all eternity (1 Cor. 15:20-26).

The second stone, Carnelian, seems to burn with a fire within. Carnelian is the sixth stone adorning the foundations of the New Jerusalem. It was among the stones of fire that covered the "king of Tyre" described by the prophet (Ezekiel 28:12-19). That difficult passage probably refers to the fall of Satan, say many. I will not try to interpret it here. I only suggest that Carnelian points to God's holiness that burns in wrath against sin and rebellious angels. The stone completes an apt description of the God of mercy and holiness.

Casting Down Golden Crowns

Around God's throne was a rainbow "that had the appearance of an emerald" (Rev. 4:3). The rainbow has been a sign of God's mercy ever since the universal flood. After that flood God promised Noah that even though mankind might once more fall into great sin, "never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." As a promise of His mercy the LORD declared, "I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant" (Gen. 9:11-13). The Greek word for rainbow, halo or radiance is iris. This is not the Greek word used in the Septuagint-Greek version of Gen. 9. Instead the Greek word toxon is used, the word for bow, suggesting that the LORD has hung up His bow in the clouds as a sign that His anger has subsided—at least for the moment. The storm has passed. No flood will come again.

Earthly rainbows reveal the entire spectrum of colors, but the heavenly one John saw had the appearance of an emerald. Green, of course, is the soothing color of meadows and forests. God's comforting mercy arches above and over His holiness and burning wrath. And so we are comforted by the holy, merciful God.

But there is more . . .

Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. - Rev 4:4-7 ESV

We'll take up a discussion of these other thrones and the creatures around God's throne in the next blog.