1After these things I looked and saw a door opened in heaven; and the first voice that I heard, like a trumpet speaking with me, was one saying, “Come up here, and I will show you the things which must happen after this.”
2Immediately I was in the Spirit. Behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and one sitting on the throne 3that looked like a jasper stone and a sardius. There was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald to look at. 4Around the throne were twenty-four thrones. On the thrones were twenty-four elders sitting, dressed in white garments, with crowns of gold on their heads. 5Out of the throne proceed lightnings, sounds, and thunders. There were seven lamps of fire burning before his throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. 6Before the throne was something like a sea of glass, similar to crystal. In the middle of the throne, and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes before and behind. 7The first creature was like a lion, the second creature like a calf, the third creature had a face like a man, and the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8The four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within. They have no rest day and night, saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come!”
9When the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to him who sits on the throne, to him who lives forever and ever, 10the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever, and throw their crowns before the throne, saying, 11“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, the Holy One, to receive the glory, the honor, and the power, for you created all things, and because of your desire they existed and were created!”
John now describes the One sitting on the throne, using figurative language, by comparing Him to precious stones. Jasper and Sardis were precious stones in John’s day. Jasper stones can have a range of colors. The sardius, known today as a carnelian, was a reddish stone. It seems that in this vision, God’s body had a reddish hue. This is similar to Ezekiel’s vision of God (Ezek 1:27). God may have chosen this hue in order to make that very connection so the readers would know that the same God who made His promises to Israel and Judah through Ezekiel now addresses the seven churches.
The “rainbow” that John sees is not the rainbow seen in the skies, but is of a green hue, matching emerald. This glow around God was part of His glorious appearance.
Throughout the Revelation are allusions or references to the Old Testament. In this instance, there appears to be an allusion to the rainbow that guaranteed the establishment of Yahweh with Noah and the human race in general. In Genesis 9:8-17, the rainbow is a sign of the covenant of God with the human race that He would not judge the earth by a flood (Gen 9:8-17). Why the symbol is found here is uncertain, but it might indicate another covenant to be made with the people of the earth, with a different form of judgment.