Revelation 4:3

Revelation 4:3. The description of Him that sat upon the throne is given: He was like unto a jasper stone and a sardine. It has been noticed that the two stones here mentioned are the first and the last in the ‘breastplate of judgment' (Exodus 28:17; Exodus 28:20); but it is difficult to attach any importance to this circumstance, for the order is reversed, the sardius being there the first, and the jasper the last. The analogy of Ezekiel 1:27 seems to warrant the inference that the colours of the two stones were not mixed throughout, but that the upper part of the body was marked by the one and the lower part by the other. There can be little doubt, though some interpreters dispute the fact, that the colours of these stones, as well as of the emerald to which the rainbow round about the throne was like, are to be understood symbolically. From chap. Revelation 21:11 we learn that the colour of the jasper was a bright sparkling whiteness, while that of the sardius was a fiery red. The first, therefore, can hardly denote anything but that holiness of God which this very chapter shows to be the feature of His character mainly in view of the sacred writer at the time (Revelation 4:8); the second most naturally expresses the wrath with which He consumes His enemies, and which is represented in the lightnings, etc., of Revelation 4:5 (comp. Psalms 1:3, etc.; Ezekiel 1:4).

The colour of the rainbow is described as that of the emerald, or green. Not that the other colours are awanting, but that they are subordinate to, or lost in, that green colour, which of all others is the most pleasing to the eye. The object itself, its colour, its Old Testament history, and even the mode of its formation in nature, combine to suggest the meaning of the rainbow, the holiness and wrath of God encompassed by His covenant grace. It is difficult to say whether we are to think of this rainbow as a half or a whole circle spanning the throne. The mere fact that it is called a ‘rainbow' is not conclusive in favour of the former, for the Seer employs his figures with great freedom (comp. Revelation 1:13; Revelation 2:17, and the ‘green' colour in this verse); while the words ‘round about the throne,' and the language used in chap. Revelation 10:1, suggest the latter. We are probably to think of the rainbow as either floating above the throne or as encompassing it in a vertical plane. For the rainbow comp. Ezekiel 1:28.