In Revelation 4:1-3, the apostle John describes God’s throne room in heaven: “After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.’ At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne.”

John’s vision of God on His throne in heaven is interesting and symbolic and should not be taken literally. The figure of God Himself was not described but rather only what was around Him. The primary impression was that of light. We know how a precious jewel such as a diamond reflects and refracts light to the point that it seems to be producing light itself. The jewels mentioned here are jasper, ruby, and emerald. We are not entirely sure what jewel “jasper” refers to, but it could be a diamond. The light around God’s throne would then shine white, red, and green. A small diamond in a ring will sparkle and catch attention. But imagine that light magnified and multiplied to be larger than a person sitting on a throne. The light would be dazzling, overwhelming the eyes of anyone who saw it. Royal thrones often have a high back adorned with gold and jewels and even a canopy, but this far outshines what any earthly king could afford.

The Greek word for “rainbow” is interesting. It is iris and refers to Iris, “a fleet-footed goddess who could travel quickly on the rainbow bridge between Earth and heaven” and was thus considered a messenger of the Greek gods. The name of the goddess became the name for “rainbow” (and, in English, the colored part of the eye). Revelation, of course, is referring to a rainbow, not a Greek goddess. But there is behind this the Old Testament idea that rainbows are a message from God.

Much of the imagery in Revelation, including the description of God’s throne, comes from the book of Ezekiel. This book opens with a vision Ezekiel had of “a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man…brilliant light surrounded him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord” (Ezekiel 1:26-28). The Hebrew word for “rainbow” is qesheth, which means “bow.” It comes from a verb meaning “to bend” and refers to the curved shape. The same word is used for rainbows and for bows used by archers. This symbolism is intriguing. In Genesis 9, God made a “covenant” (a binding promise) with Noah to never again destroy the earth with a flood and set his “bow” in the clouds as a sign of this covenant.

When Ezekiel saw the vision of God on His throne, Ezekiel “fell facedown” (Ezekiel 1:28), and when John saw a vision of Jesus, he “fell at his feet as though dead” (Revelation 1:17). The rainbow reminds us of God’s glory and His awesome power and His righteous judgment (as devastating as an archer’s bow). But it also reminds us that He is a merciful God who keeps His covenants.