Immediately I became in [the] Spirit; and behold, a throne stood in the heaven, and upon the throne one sitting,
A voice has called John up through an open door in heaven. The scene shifts from the churches on earth to the courts above, and the first thing he sees there is a throne.
John says nothing about his body going anywhere. The Spirit secured what he saw.
Here we simply see the prophet caught up. There is no idea of a bodily taking up into these heavenly scenes, such as is suggested in the case of the apostle Paul... What we are to be occupied with is what he saw and heard... Being in the Spirit assures us that the Spirit was, as it were, eyes and ears to him, so that all was secured and perfect. What he was as man was to be no hindrance to this. When God would reveal, He takes perfect care that no "human element" spoils the revelation.
This power was not John's own, and it did not rest on him without a break.
The vision of Christ as Son of Man in glory among the seven golden lamps was too much for human eyes. For that time the Spirit had complete control of the seer; he lived and moved in another kind of existence... But by its nature this cannot last. The state had lapsed. Now he must see and write fresh visions of the future... His fitness to see and grasp the coming prophetic scene was not in himself, but in a power outside the realm of nature.
Writers weigh the word "set" differently. Some hear firmness in it:
The word "stood," or set, tells us how stable that government is; "the Heaven" fixes the exact seat of royal authority. What a contrast to the shaky thrones of earth!... It is the pledge that the decree of the Eternal will compel obedience from every created being.
Others read the word as marking a fresh position taken up for this new stage:
Finding a throne placed, or set there, shows instead that God takes up a particular position or relationship. This matches exactly what the voice said to John: "Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after these things." God may always be on a throne in a general sense... But the throne of government is a special relationship, known as He reveals it.
Every rebellion since the fall has aimed at this seat.
The throne is the emblem of rule and authority: the guarantee for order, blessing, and security throughout the universe. The fall was really a challenge to the throne. Sin is rebellion against the throne. Unbelief denies that the throne exists, pride reaches for the throne, and the devil defies the throne. How good it is, then, after thousands of years of rebellion, to pass into heaven and find the throne "set in heaven," unshaken, unmoved, and immovable.
John never names the one on the throne.
The main object seen is God and His throne — His power ruling in providence. The throne is not linked with priesthood, but with the power that divine government comes from. God would establish souls in the thought that He governs, even in the middle of all the wickedness that was still to come... It is the throne of One who did not need to be named, but who lets His glory be seen as far as a creature can see it.
The tense of the verb matters too. One is seated — not one who once sat:
On the throne is one sitting, and only one. That means there will be no change of kings, no handing over of sovereign power, no succession. It says "sitting," not "sat" — the throne is never empty and never between rulers.
What comes out of the throne shows what kind of throne it is.
In heaven he sees a throne set, and this, from its effects and surroundings, is a judicial throne. It is not at all the same character of the throne of God as we know and approach now. We come boldly to the throne and find grace and mercy to help in time of need. But we find nothing of the sort here, either in the throne or in what comes out of it.
John's move from earth to heaven pictures more than his own experience.
John's own position changed. He left earthly scenes for heavenly, so that he could watch from there how God deals with the earth in judgment... Revelation 3 ends with "the churches," and those two words do not appear again until Revelation 22:16... John's catching up into heaven pictures the rapture of the church, as described in 1 Thessalonians 4:17. From this point on, the vision shows things that happen on earth after the church is gone.
- Call. A voice says "Come up," and the Spirit answers at once. John's fitness to see came from a power outside nature, not from himself.
- Vessel. Being "in the Spirit" secures the vision, not John's body; God allows no human element to spoil what He reveals.
- Throne. The first thing John sees is a seat of rule, unshaken after thousands of years of rebellion aimed straight at it.
- Occupant. One is sitting — unnamed, unchanging, with no succession, no vacancy, no interruption of His rule.
- Character. This throne governs and judges. It is not the throne where we now find grace and mercy in time of need, so John had to leave earth to see it.
and he [that was] sitting like in appearance to a stone [of] jasper and a sardius, and a rainbow round the throne like in appearance to an emerald.
John sees a throne in heaven with Someone seated on it, and that Person is never named or described. Instead we get three images — two gemstones and a rainbow — and each says something about God as He is about to deal with the earth.
The kind of seat matters, and one writer sets out the contrast:
It is not said to be a golden throne, as in the most holy place, whether of the tabernacle or of the temple. That was the gold mercy seat with its sprinkled blood, a way for men to draw near through sacrifice... The golden throne, with atoning blood on it and before it, is a throne of grace. It shows what God can be and is to man, where grace reigns through righteousness, leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The throne now set in heaven was judicial. It was not the witness of divine grace, though it is always, no doubt, the throne of divine majesty.
The stones show God's glory in government, a brightness the world has not yet seen:
This glorious Person is not described. Instead precious stones display the radiance of divine glory in government. That glory shows itself in heaven, but not yet on earth. On earth we see how badly man governs, and how patient God is. If that radiance had shone out on a sinful world, it would have meant judgment for all.
What John sees is not God's essential glory, but a glory He can share with His creatures:
It is quite evident that this cannot be the essential glory of God. It means it was not human glory but divine glory. Some of what God is He can give to His creatures. Some of it He cannot share at all. The glory meant here is divine glory, not creature glory. It takes nothing from His majesty. It reflects it.
The same stone reappears in John's description of the heavenly city:
Jasper appears three times in the description of the city. The only other place the word appears in the book is the description of the One who sits on the throne in Revelation 4:3. What is descriptive of God is descriptive of the city.
The second stone is fiery red. The ESV calls it carnelian. Some read it as strengthening the throne's severity:
The sardius is fiery red. The jasper was not there to soften that, but to strengthen the judicial appearance of the glory of the One who sat at the centre of the scene — not on the mercy seat, but on the throne.
Others read the red as blood, matched with the searching light of God:
The jasper is the clear, flawless crystal — the diamond. But mixed with that pure and burning light was the blood-red ray of the sardius... "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." There is the clear crystal shining. If that had been all, no one could have endured its searching brightness. But there follows a fear-dispelling, peace-giving word: "The blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin."
One writer reads the bow as a pledge God refuses to forget:
Here the rainbow is God's remembrance of His covenant with the earth... God is going to pour out judgments on the earth and on those who were responsible to be His people. But He takes pains to show that, before a single judgment falls, there is mercy in store... The rainbow was the witness that God had not let His ancient word slip; He could not forget it.
The order matters as much as the sign:
The rainbow comes after the storm, just as God's promise of blessing follows once the judgment of the flood is past. The rainbow encircling the throne is the sure sign that beyond the judgment of the nations there will be blessing for the earth.
Two things set this bow apart: its shape and its colour.
The complete, unbroken circle round the throne proclaims the truth, "His steadfast love endures forever."... We rarely see it as a complete circle; usually it is an arch, or half-circle... Instead of the mix of colours we expect in a rainbow, the heavenly one over the throne has "the appearance of an emerald." Green is the characteristic colour of the plant world, and the only colour that never tires the eye. That is the colour chosen for the rainbow John saw.
- Throne — not the golden mercy seat sprinkled with blood, but a judicial seat of government. The setting is God ruling, not God inviting.
- Jasper — the glory of God in a form He can share. The same stone later describes the heavenly city, so what is true of Him becomes true of His people.
- Sardius — commentators differ. Some read the fiery red as deepening the throne's severity. Others see the blood that lets sinners stand in that light.
- Rainbow — the sign given after the flood. It circles the throne before one judgment falls, so mercy is on record in advance.
- Emerald — a full circle, not a half arch, and coloured to rest the eye. Judgment has a limit, and blessing for the earth lies beyond it.