,, After this I looked, and, behold, a door [was] opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard [was] as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and [one] sat on the throne.
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.“
Rev. 4: 1-3
The Apostle John goes on to describe what he saw so that we too could have an insight into what he saw and primarily it is a message from Jesus Christ to show us what will be. This was the future for Job and it is also for us the future, but according to the signs of the times, this should be a close future for us. John begins here this part of the verse we can say with amazement, Then I saw: and behold, ". So far John has seen scenes that were mostly related to visions in which John saw the Lord Jesus and also the advice the Lord Jesus gave to churches and preachers in churches in Asia.
The key to understanding Revelation is found in the verse
,, Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;”
Rev. 1:19
Here we notice that this verse contains three times that John was supposed to write about. The first part is "Write therefore what you have seen" and that time has passed and it is written in the first chapter of Revelation and there John saw a vision of the glorified Christ. part of "and what is," that is the present time for John and that is the second and third chapters of Revelation. This time began from the day of Pentecost and will last until Jesus comes for the Church, ie his bride. We live in this period of the church where we have an ecumenical church and where a lot is preached but very little is preached by Jesus Christ something similar to what it was in the period of the Laodicean church. for John and for us this period is "after" when Christ takes his bride or the Church and this third part of Revelation begins with the fourth chapter and future events are described there.
"Then I saw, and, behold, a door open in heaven." In Revelation we find an open door or an open heaven in two places, the first being here and the second being in Revelation 19:11 where Jesus comes with the Church to earth to establish the Millennial Kingdom.
,, And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him [was] called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.”
Rev. 19:11
John saw here what the Church of Christ is waiting for, and that is the open door in heaven, and as soon as the door is open, one can pass through it, and that is in fact an event that the Lord Jesus showed to His Church in advance. what we know about this event according to the signs of the times from the Bible should happen very soon so the gates of heaven open and then John writes what he heard:
"And the first voice that I heard like a trumpet speaking to me said, 'Climb up here.'
,, For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:”
1 Thess.4: 16
So the Lord Jesus will rise from the third heaven and come down to the clouds, or he will not come down to the earth this time with clouds: he will come with three things: a voice, a trumpet and a commandment. Below we read what the commandment will be. It says "Climb there" so Jesus will command from heaven and all believers who died resurrection and we who are living believers or the Church of Christ in the blink of an eye will turn and go to heaven to meet To the Lord Jesus who is in heaven.
We read about this:
,, Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,”
John 5:28
,, For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
1 Thess.4: 16-17
This is a glorious event for all the faithful and especially for the Church because the members of the church who will be alive when this event takes place will simply never die but will only be transformed in the blink of an eye will receive glorified bodies and will be eternally with the Lord.
, Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal [must] put on immortality.”
1 Cor.15: 51-53
And John goes on to describe what the Lord Jesus told him to write, "and I will show thee what shall be after this." And then he writes, "And immediately I was in the spirit; and, behold, a throne stood in heaven, and one sat on the throne." ".John now describes what he saw in heaven. Besides John, the apostle Paul was also in heaven, but he was forbidden to talk about it.
,, I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.!
2 Cor.12: 2-4
Unlike Paul, John received permission and he describes to us what he saw. "And I would immediately be in the spirit; and behold, a throne stood in heaven, and on the throne sat someone "John sees the throne of God with the help of the Holy Spirit," And immediately I was in the Spirit "and" and behold, the throne stood in heaven, "John first saw the throne of God in heaven. and immediately see who is on the throne
,, and someone was sitting on the throne. And he that sat was to be seen as a jasper and a sardine stone; "This" Someone "is God the Father whom John saw of course saw only His glory. From this throne God the Father reigns because the throne is the center of God's rule, we read about this in Psalm 47.
,,God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness.”
Ps.47: 8
What John saw was the glory of God and he probably did not know how to describe it differently and that is why he uses terms that to some extent we can understand, "And he who sat was seen like a jasper and a sardine stone." He described this glory. as two diamonds jasper and sardine.The glory acted "as a reflection" of these two diamonds jasper which has a light yellow and green color and sardine which is dark red.
A similar description of the glory of God is found in Revelation 22
,, Having the glory of God: and her light [was] like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;”
Rev. 21:11
These colors that John saw and described symbolize God's holiness, righteousness, and God's love through Jesus Christ.
Next, John writes what he saw: "and around the throne was a rainbow as seen as an emerald." Here John sees a rainbow around the throne and as long as an emerald, so light green because the emerald is that color. The rainbow always symbolized from the first mention onwards God's fidelity to his people. The first mention of the rainbow in the Bible is found in the book of Genesis.
,, And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this [is the fashion] which thou shalt make it [of]: The length of the ark [shall be] three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; [with] lower, second, and third [stories] shalt thou make it.“
Genesis 6: 13-15
We see here that God promised after the flood that he would no longer punish and destroy the people by letting the flood on the earth and we are witnesses that the general flood has never been repeated throughout history nor will it until the end of the world, of course there were local floods but general The flood never happened again. We know that we see a rainbow in the shape of a semicircle after the rain when the sun's rays pray and it reminds us that there will be no flood, but that does not mean that there will be no other troubles, on the contrary saw a rainbow "around the throne" in the sky, which means that he saw a full circle and it is a sign for the faithful and newborns that the troubles are over, it is a sign that the faithful are under God's eternal protection and on earth where only a semicircle can be seen nothing is always certain. The Apostle Peter even warns:
,,
Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
2 Pert.3: 6-7
"like an emerald" emerald is green and it symbolizes life and the full circle is a symbol of eternity and as we see here a scene from heaven in which only nano-converted believers who are Christ can enter is a clear conclusion that they have eternal life and have passed from death to live and to have the full protection of God through all eternity.