REV 4.3 - THE RAINBOW OF EMERALD THAT COME OUT FROM LIGHT OF JASPER AND SARDINE

[Leonardo Von]

What does the meaning of the rainbow that is around the throne of God? Why is it formed from the refraction of jasper and sardine over the waters of God's judgment? What does it represent the jasper and sardine? To try to explain this I worked out a theory and would be grateful if you read and express your opinion and ideas that can enrich the knowledge of this passage.

 

•      “And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and [ there was ] a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.” (Ap 4.3).

 

The rainbow remembers the Eternal’s justice that:

•       Like a righteous king doesn’t leave the sin unpunished;
•       Like a compassionate king, like a humble and meek priest for with those who are His and watch His covenant, He supplies an escape at the time of the probation (1Corinthians 10.13) and a hope that can keep our soul on His throne (Hebrew 6.18-20).

 

That is to say, although Jesus, like lion of the tribe of Juda, don’t give up His justice, like Eternal’s lamb, He provides a way so that His justice accomplishes in us (Romans 8.1-4). Jesus isn’t tyranny king that compels the others to strain to make His will, neither a corrupt priest that invents a couple of excuses to get you rid of the law and its outcomes. In place of this, Jesus gives His gifts (His Church) so that the individual be able to love (see Hosea 11.4) and, thus, to be the fulfillment of the law. Just deliver your own life so that all this reach you and, thus, you can be used by Jesus to convey His name and glory, even before the situations most extremes.

The throne shows the Eternal’s sovereignty, which can do whatever He wishes; the rainbow represents the promise which the Eternal, in His fidelity to Himself (2Timothy 2.13), dispose Himself to carry out. This teaches us that, if He, being perfect, contains Himself, what we are supposed to do? In the midst of the wrath (lightnings, voices, and thunders), He is keen on remind Himself of the compassion (Lamentations 3.22-23).

The same deluge that was symbol of the Eternal’s wrath to the recalcitrant, it was the salvation for Noah and his family, being the baptism, the symbol of the two things (1Peter 3.20,21): the end of all that bound Noah to his old life, as well as of the disposal to get down to live a new life from zero.

To take this in, it’s enough to remember that the rainbow, here, is a sign of the Eternal’s covenant with all humanity of that the world wouldn’t end in water again (Genesis 9.12-14).

Note that the rainbow come out when the sun shines after the clouds pour down rain on the earth.

 

•      “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption [ for us ]. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions [ that were ] under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament [ is ], there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament [ is ] of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.” (Gn 9.12-17).

 

Come the question: why did the Eternal make question of changing the laws of the nature only to remember of this covenant with Noah? Because there isn’t nothing that brings more satisfaction to the Eternal that manifest His grace. And, throughout the one hundred years that Noah took to build the ark, the Eternal could manifest His grace to that lost generation:

 

•      “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” (Gn 6.8).

 

Unfortunately, throughout these one hundred years the people refused this generous offer, commencing by “believers” that, instead of giving place to Eternal’s transformation from their lives, they persisted in praying in behalf of end of the world (Genesis 6.3).

In other words, the rainbow symbolizes Eternal’s grace, which is the essence of His glory:

 

•      “As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so [ was ] the appearance of the brightness round about. This [ was ] the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw [ it ], I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake..” (Ez 1.28).

 

The rainbow is a comforting promise amid announces of judgment to come (represented by lightnings, voices and thunders – Revelation 4.5). And this rainbow that around Eternal’s throne have a further advantage: it is complete, while our rainbow appears in the clouds by half.

By way of explanation: while our rainbow symbolizes a partial solace (the world won’t be destroyed by water, but will end in fire), the rainbow round about the throne depicts full consolation for who come near to the throne of the grace (Hebrews 4.16). Such a person will be compassed (protected) by Eternal’s mercy and no one will snatch them out of His hands (John 10.28,29).

And the aim of the Eternal’s mercy is to urge us to fear Him (Psalms 130.4). Note that isn’t the dread of the punishment that guide us to fear the Eternal; before, it is His love that constrains us (2Corinthians 5.14; 1John 4.18).

Remember that it is the Eternal’s grace that, in the end, triumphs over judgment (James 2.13), and not His anger (and much less the men’s wrath – James 1.20). Hence the whole throne to be surrounded (in the plan horizontal) by rainbow: to settle the distance between Him and those who try to draw near Him. Someone only can reach the Eternal if he has been brought into His grace by Jesus (Matthew 11.27; John 6.44,45).

Another important aspect to be observed is the likeness of the rainbow with the emerald. The green represents the hope of a new life:

 

•      “His flesh shall be fresher than a child's: he shall return to the days of his youth” (Jó 33.25).
•      “He that trusteth in his riches shall fall: but the righteous shall flourish as a branch.” (Provérbios 11.28).

 

Come the question: How this rainbow come out around the throne?

When the Sun of Justice (Jesus – Malachi 4.2; Luke 1.78) shines after the waters of His judgment being pour down, then the signal and meaning of His grace and glory (the rainbow like an emerald). And of what it is constituted the Sun of Justice? Of the pure and holy truth (jasper) plus the sacrifice to get rid of the wrath those who believe in Jesus (sardine).

 

Jasper was:

•          The last stone in the breastplate of the high priest (Exodus 28.20; 39.13);
•          The first fundament of the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21.19).
•          Most precious stone, like refulgent crystal (Revelation 21.11).

             Sardine was:

•          The first stone in the breastplate of the high priest (Exodus 28.17; 39.10);
•          The sixth fundament of the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21.20).
•          Gemstone red blood.

 

Sardine represents the bloody wrath of the Eternal for the sake of the sin, as well as the necessary sacrifice to expunge it, to wit, the Christ’s blood.

Jasper depicts the light of the truth that release us from the sin and deliver us of the forthcoming wrath (John 8.32; 1Thessalonians 1.10).

 

•           When the individual receives the truth inwardly (John 1.12) and accepts in his life the sacrifice that Jesus made for the sins ours and of those who around him, he is free from the Eternal’s wrath and get knowledge of the covenant that the Eternal made with him (Psalms 25.14).
•           When the individual rejects the truth and try to sacrifice himself to have rights (whether in this life or in the upcoming), he is led by Eternal’s wrath toward the eternal abyss.

 

As Noah, each one has his own rainbow (his intimacy, secret, covenant with the Eternal). But it only will come out in our lives after we go through the temptation (1Corinthians 10.13) of the storm and whirlwind (Nahum 1.3) without giving up of the sacred truth.

When we win, our eyes will see the Eternal (such as it gave itself with Job – Job 42.5) and the true glory being revealed in us (Romans 8.19-22; 2Corinthians 4.10,11) through solace that we receive in the storm (2Corinthians 1.3-6).

Note that the Eternal isn’t pictured here with human features, but as metaphors that highlight the transcendental brightness of His glory and His effect in the life of everybody who stays believing while undergo the tribulation.

Edited November 26, 2016 by Leonardo Von