God is on the Throne
REVELATION Number 64
The Apostle has been told (in verse 1) to “come up here.” No sooner is he called, than he finds himself encountering the seat of God. G. K. Beale * rightly intones, “Being ushered into the spiritual, timeless dimension of God’s heavenly council means that the time of the events that John sees in vision may be difficult to determine precisely. Some of the symbols may be descriptive symbolism in that they portray what has taken place up to the present. Or they may contain determinative symbolism predicting what will come to pass.”
Revelation 4:2–3 (NASB 2020)
“Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and someone was 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.”
John is in the Spirit (or spirit) and there is a throne. John is not portraying anything physical here. This throne and the twelve other thrones that will soon be mentioned are not items of heavenly furniture. They are symbolic of rulership, power, and importance.
We must remember that The Revelation is a book of signs and symbols. If we let go of that and begin to press everything we read into physical items and situations we will find confusion and fear. Only when we see these visions and John’s relation of them for what they are, a symbolic revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ and the new creation He has inaugurated and continues to consummate in history will we find comfort and encouragement.
The Psalmist also spoke of a throne writing, “The LORD reigns, the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned above the cherubim, the earth quakes! The LORD is great in Zion, And He is exalted above all the peoples. May they praise Your great and awesome name; Holy is He.” Psalm 99:1–3 (NASB 2020)
Likewise, Isaiah relates a symbolic vision, “In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.” (Isaiah 6:1, NASB 2020). Even the little known prophet Micaiah is recorded in 1 Kings 22:19 as saying, “I saw the LORD sitting on His throne, and all the angels of heaven standing by Him on His right and on His left.” (NASB 2020)
Contemplating this throne, we see in our mind’s eye the theological or spiritual center of the universe. Enthroned here is Almighty God, the Ancient of Days who is all and in all. The Great I AM who alone is Sovereign over all that is. God Himself cannot be described. What John is relating here is the glory and majesty of the Holy One before whom the whole earth trembles and all its inhabitants. As our text continues, “The One who sat on the throne had glory like that of gleaming precious stones and there was a rainbow around the throne.”
In these symbols we find echoes of Ezekiel Chapter One. There we find in verses 26-28 this imagery. “Now above the expanse that was over their heads there was something resembling a throne, like lapis lazuli in appearance; and on that which resembled a throne, high up, was a figure with the appearance of a man. Then I noticed from the appearance of His waist and upward something like gleaming metal that looked like fire all around within it, and from the appearance of His waist and downward I saw something like fire; and there was a radiance around Him. Like the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking.” (Ezekiel 1:26–28, NASB 2020)
The rainbow around this throne is like an emerald in appearance. The first mention of a rainbow in the Scriptures is found in Genesis 9:13. “I have set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall serve as a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.” (NASB 2020) This rainbow signified God’s covenant promise never again to destroy the earth by flood. God’s promises are all summed up and fulfilled in the Lord Jesus. We read in 2 Corinthians 1:20 “For as many as the promises of God are, in Him they are yes; therefore through Him also is our Amen to the glory of God through us.” (NASB 2020)
The Revelation has the purpose of revealing the Lord Jesus to us in all His glory and throughout the ages from His humble arrival in Bethlehem to His glorious return at the consummation of days. In this opening section of the vision given to John we are assured that God is on the throne. He rules with power, majesty, and glory, and He has not forgotten His promises.
Likewise, the Lord Jesus to whom all things are subjected, is revealed as the guarantor of all God’s promises. That the rainbow is included right at the outset of this vision gives us a sign that for those who are in Christ, the storm is over and the sun is beginning to shine through the clouds. It is reassurance that the promise of redemption is accomplished
We will see these precious stones again as the new creation is revealed in later chapters of The Revelation. Indeed, the rainbow is the first revelation of a new creation, coming as it does after the Great Flood in Noah’s day. All these symbols play an important role in helping us see what Father has in store for those who trust Him. Of course, The Revelation also displays the natural result of rejecting His rescue, trusting in the flesh, and continuing to attempt to derive life without God.
* G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle, Cumbria: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 1999), 319.
