The Brilliance of God / David Jeremiah

 

The Brilliance of God And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. Revelation 4:3 Solomon and Jesus Christ, the world’s two greatest teachers, used a figure of speech called the simile: the comparison of two unlike things by use of the words “like” or “as” (Proverbs 26:2; Matthew 13:45).

Recommended Reading: Revelation 4:1-11

The apostle John also used the simile with great effect in Revelation. Because he saw so many sights in his vision that he couldn’t describe, he continually used “like” to paint a picture his readers could understand: “The first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking” (Revelation 4:1). When John saw God in His glory seated upon His throne, all he could write was that He was “like a jasper and a sardius stone.” And the rainbow circling His throne was “like an emerald.” The reflected brilliance of the “unapproachable light” in which God dwells (1 Timothy 6:16) can only be pictured by the brilliance of beautiful and precious stones. The next time your eye is caught by the light of a precious stone, let your heart be caught by the glory of God.   Let us be exhorted to exalt God alone, and ascribe to him all the glory. Jonathan Edwards