Revelation Chapter 4, Part 2 - The Glory of the Throne

Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne. And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance.

Revelation 4:2-3 (NASB)

Verse two begins with the words Immediately I was in the Spirit. Remember that this was the way John described what happened to him in chapter one when he received his first vision. As was said when we looked at the meaning of this phrase there, every time that John uses this phrase in the book of Revelation he is taken somewhere by the Holy Spirit and shown a vision. Let’s look at what a few others have said about this phrase:

John stated that immediately he was in the Spirit meaning that experientially he was taken up to heaven though his body was actually still on the island of Patmos. 1

The Holy Spirit takes possession of John in a special way, and he immediately sees the eternal God sitting upon His throne in majesty and splendor. 2

This was not a dream. John was supernaturally transported out of the material world awake—not sleeping—to an experience beyond the normal senses. The Holy Spirit empowered his senses to perceive revelation from God. 3

There are a few things we can learn from this:

1. This was a vision that was given to John by the Holy Spirit.
   
2. John was actually taken to heaven to see this vision.
   
3. This was not a dream; John was fully awake and fully aware of everything that was going on around him.

The next thing we see is that the place that John was taken was heaven, and he tells us that here he saw a throne, and One sitting on the throne. The Greek word translated throne here is the word thrónos, which is:

A seat, usually high and having a footstool [and is often used] as the emblem of royal authority.4

As we will see as we move through this chapter that is exactly what John is seeing; the One sitting on the throne is the One who is ruling.

As was just mentioned John sees more than just a throne; he sees One sitting on the throne. The One here is God the Father, which we know because of the context of the passage; we see the Holy Spirit before the throne, and we will see the Lord Jesus as the Lamb in Revelation 5:6, so the One on the throne is none other than God the Father. John MacArthur writes:

Though John does not name the One sitting on the throne, it is obvious who He is. He is the One Isaiah saw in his vision: ‘I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple’ (Isa. 6:1). The prophet Micaiah also saw Him on His glorious throne: ‘I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right and on His left’ (1 Kings 22:19). ‘God reigns over the nations,’ declared the psalmist, ‘God sits on His holy throne’ (Ps. 47:8). 5

Now in verse three John is going to try to describe to us the One who is sitting on the throne. Notice that in this verse John uses the word like two times. The Greek word John uses here is hómoios, which means a, “similarity in external form and appearance.”6

What John is saying here is this; the One sitting on the throne is similar in form and appearance to things we know; He is not these things but these things will give us a reference point that we can understand. Warren Wiersbe writes:

There is no possible way for human words to describe what God is like in His essence. John can only use comparisons. 7

So in this verse John makes two comparisons:

1. He says the One who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius stone
2. He compares the rainbow he sees around the throne to an emerald.

The first object that John uses to describe the One sitting on the throne is the jasper stone. According to Smith’s Bible Dictionary, a jasper stone, as it is characterized in Scripture, “was most precious, and like crystal.” It then goes on to say:

We may also infer from Rev. 4:3 that it was a stone of brilliant and transparent light. The stone which we name ‘jasper’ does not accord with this description. There can be no doubt that the diamond would more adequately answer to the description in the book of Revelation. 8

Revelation 21:11 says, in speaking of the foundation of the New Jerusalem, Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper. By taking the definition from Smith’s Bible Dictionary, and the description that we have here in Revelation 21, we can conclude that it was probably a diamond that John had in mind when he tried to convey what he was seeing. Nelson’s New Bible Dictionary tells us:

The diamond was not identified in the Mediterranean lands until the first century.9

So John would likely not have known that word; the closest thing in his vocabulary would have been the jasper stone.

The second object that John chooses to describe what he saw is the sardius stone. Again, Harper’s Bible Dictionary tells us that this stone was:

[A] deep orange-red chalcedony considered by some to be a variety of carnelian. 10

The sardius stone is most likely what we know today as a ruby. Matthew Henry writes:

The sardine-stone is red, signifying the justice of God, that essential attribute of which he never divests himself in favour of any, but gloriously exerts it in the government of the world, and especially of the church, through our Lord Jesus Christ.”11

The two stones chosen here by John to describe what he was seeing would have had a lot of meaning to those reading this in the first century as these were the first and last stones on the breastplate of the Jewish high priest. William MacDonald and Art Farstad writes:

In the high priest’s breastplate, the jasper represented Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, and the sardius represented Benjamin, his lastborn. The name Reuben means “Behold, a son,” and Benjamin means “son of my right hand. 12

By choosing these two specific stones John could have also been making a reference to Jesus, God’s Son who is seated at His right hand.

One other possible reason for John to have chosen these particular stones is alluded to by John MacArthur in his commentary on Revelation; he writes:

It may be that those stones depict God’s covenant relationship with Israel; His wrath and judgment will not abrogate that relationship. 13

In other words, these stones, being the first and last on the breastplate of the high priest encompass all of Israel, the covenant people of God, and the use of these stones to depict the One John sees sitting on the throne is a reminder to us that as the coming judgments unfold the covenants of God will not fail. This can be further seen by the next image we get from John; at the end of verse three John says that encircling the throne is an emerald rainbow.

The rainbow is first seen in Genesis 9:13 where God tells Noah:

I have set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

Genesis 9:13

The covenant that God made with Noah (and every living creature) was that a flood would never again destroy the world. There are two important things to see here about this rainbow:

1. The shape of the rainbow
   
2. The timing of the rainbow

John tells us that he saw a rainbow around the throne. The word translated around here in the ESV and NASB is the Greek word kuklóthen, which means a circle and it could also be translated as surrounded (HCSB) or encircled (NIV). However you translate this word the picture that we have is of a rainbow that is a perfect circle surrounding the throne. Here on earth we never see a complete rainbow, we only see a portion of it, an arc, but here in heaven John sees a complete full circle rainbow, which symbolizes the perfection and eternality of God.

The next thing that I want you to notice about this rainbow is its timing, by that I mean the time when it appeared, or when it was shown to John. On earth we see rainbows after a storm, but this rainbow was shown to John prior to the storm of tribulation beginning.

Why would the rainbow appear before the storm? MacDonald and Farstad write that this rainbow:

Is a pledge that God will keep His covenants, in spite of the coming judgments. 14

And Warren Wiersbe adds:

Judgment is about to fall, but the rainbow reminds us that God is merciful, even when He judges. 15

So take some time out today and praise God for His mercy and thank Him for His grace.

Next time we will look at the Elders Around the Throne.

1 Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983-c1985). The Bible knowledge commentary: An exposition of the scriptures (2:943). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
2 MacDonald, W., & Farstad, A. (1997, c1995). Believer's Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments (Re 4:2). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
3 MacArthur, J. J. (1997, c1997). The MacArthur Study Bible (electronic ed.) (Re 1:10). Nashville: Word Pub.
4 Zodhiates, S. (2000, c1992, c1993). The complete word study dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.) (G2362). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.
5 MacArthur, J. (1999). Revelation 1-11 (146). Chicago: Moody Press.
6 Zodhiates, S. (2000, c1992, c1993). The complete word study dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.) (G3664). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.
7 Wiersbe, W. W. (1996, c1989). The Bible exposition commentary. "An exposition of the New Testament comprising the entire 'BE' series"--Jkt. (Re 4:1). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.
8 Smith, W. (1997). Smith's Bible dictionary. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
9 Youngblood, R. F., Bruce, F. F., Harrison, R. K., & Thomas Nelson Publishers. (1995). Nelson's new illustrated Bible dictionary. Rev. ed. of: Nelson's illustrated Bible dictionary.; Includes index. Nashville: T. Nelson.
10 Achtemeier, P. J., Harper & Row, P., & Society of Biblical Literature. (1985). Harper's Bible dictionary. Includes index. (1st ed.) (907). San Francisco: Harper & Row.
11 Henry, M. (1996, c1991). Matthew Henry's commentary on the whole Bible: Complete and unabridged in one volume (Re 4:1). Peabody: Hendrickson.
12 MacDonald, W., & Farstad, A. (1997, c1995). Believer's Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments (Re 4:2). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
13 MacArthur, J. (1999). Revelation 1-11 (148). Chicago: Moody Press.
14 MacDonald, W., & Farstad, A. (1997, c1995). Believer's Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments (Re 4:2). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
15 Wiersbe, W. W. (1996, c1989). The Bible exposition commentary. "An exposition of the New Testament comprising the entire 'BE' series"--Jkt. (Re 4:1). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.

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