Revelation 4:3a
3 And[kai] he that sat[kathemai] was[en] to look upon[horasis] like[homoios] a jasper[iaspis] and[kai] a sardine[sardinos] stone:[lithos] and[kai] there was a rainbow[iris]
round about[kuklothen] the throne,[thronos] in sight[horasis] like[homoios] unto an emerald.[smaragdinos] KJV-Interlinear
3 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. NASB
'He', refers to Jesus Christ, the unique person of
the universe, the God/man who both created the universe and is the savior of it,
and of whom is in full power and control over it all.
Three characteristics surround Christ's rule. The throne represents the ultimate in His
authority which emanates from the basic foundations of His essence, namely -
righteousness, justice, and love.
The first two, righteousness and justice combine to
form the Holiness of God. The third combines with the former two to bring about
Gods policy of grace toward all of creation.
The jasper is a diamond. Brilliant and perfect in
every way.Glistening and
reflecting light in such a manner that one can find no imperfection of any
kind, no matter what direction one views the diamond from. Looking down on it
you see perfection.Looking at it from
any side, or from underneath, only perfection is found. This is Gods righteousness. Sin free, defect free. In Him there is no sin, no defect, no fault of any kind.
The jasper was the first stone on the High Priests
breastplate.It stands for the first son
of the twelve sons of Jacob, Reuben, which means, ‘Behold a Son.’
The sardius is a blood
red stone representing Gods justice.God can have nothing to do with sin and therefore when it exists,
Gods justice demands punishment, and not only punishment but obliteration of
sin.Where there is sin there is
failure in the structure of life and in anything that exists. Sin is like a germ, a bacteria, a cancer, which
penetrates something and causes it to rot and ultimately destroys it and itself. In order to preserve life, God punishes and
destroys sin thus to prevent its further decaying processes against other
victims.
The sardius was the last
stone in the High Priests breastplate, representing the last son of the twelve
sons of Jacob, Benjamin, which means, ‘son of my right hand.’
These two, the diamond and the sardius
represent Gods righteousness and justice and this combination makes up His
Holiness.This is a state of perfection
which must exist in order to permit one to continue into eternity. This is the state that we must recognize and
maintain in ourselves (fellowship) in order to be in the presence of God, on
His holy ground. Anything that is holy then is perfect and free of defect.
A brilliant reflection of Gods essence based on Gods word resident in ones own
soul.Note that it is your soul that is
in question here, not your body.Your
body of flesh is riddled with the sin nature and will perish one day. But too, God will replace your body of flesh
with a resurrection body of perfection exactly like that of Christ's.
Likewise, the two stones represent the promise of a
Savior, a son, who would sit on the right hand of God, in the throne of power
and certainty and permanence.The
promise was made to Adam, and again and again all the way down to Jacob, to
David, and to all of humanity.
That which was promised was now present in front of
John in this vision, in heaven, in all of His brilliant glory.
Others in history who have
claimed to have been to heaven and have seen what was there, are frauds.
Those in the scriptures who have truly seen the
visions of heaven were terrified and humbled because of the phenomenal power
and sights which they witnessed, Isaiah (Isa 6:5), Ezekiel (Ezek 1:28), and
Daniel (Dan 7:15).These are the true
witnesses.
Johns vision is not one
of soft peacefulness and contentment, but one of extreme power and permanence,
and one of Jesus Christ.
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