The Rainbow Round the Throne
“There was a rainbow round about the throne.” — Revelation iv., 3.
DURING the last snow-storm I preached to yon from the text in Job, “Consider the treasures of the snow.’5 This morning, when I looked out of the window and saw the storm — the rain and the snow commingling — a light thread and a dark thread in the robe of the storm — I thought I would preach to you from the pasm sage, “As the rain cometh and the snow, from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, so shall my Word be that goeth forth out of my mouth.’5 But in a little while the storm began to abate, and the light came into the sky, and the sunbeams streamed into my room, and then I concluded I would preach to you about the breaking away of the storms of life, and the “rainbow round about the throne.”
As, after a night of fearful tempest at sea, one ship, more stanch than another, rides on undamaged among the fragments of spars and hulks that float about, so old Noah’s ark, at the close of the deluge, floats on over the wreck of a dead world. Looking out of the window of the ark, you see the planks of houses, and the sheaves of wheat, and the carcasses of cattle, and the corpses of men. No tower is left to toll the burial: no mourners to form in line of procession; no ground in which to bury the dead. Sinking a line twenty-seven feet long, you just touch the tops of the mountains. Ghastliness
and liortor! The ark, instead of walking the sea, like a modern ship, in majesty and beauty, tosses helplessly: no helm to guide; no sail to set; no shore to steer for. Why protract the agony of the good people in such a cratt, when they might in one dash of the. wave have been put out of their misery?
But at yonder spot in the horizon we see colors gather¬ ing in the sky; at just the opposite point in the horizon other colors are gathering. I find that they are the two buttresses of an arched bridge. The yellow, the red, the orange, the blue, the indigo, the violet are mingled, and by invisible hands the whole structure is hung into the .sky, and the ark has a triumphal arch to sail under. An Angel of Light swings his hand across the sky, and in the seven prismatic colors he paints with pencil of sunbeam the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature. God lifted up that great arched bridge, and set it over his own head in the heaven. John saw it, for he says, “There was a rainbow round about the throne.”
I notice that none but the people who were in the ark saw the rainbow. It cast its shadow clear down into the water where the people were buried, and lighted Up the dead faces with a strange radiance, but they could not see it. So only those who are at last found in Christ, the Ark, will see the overspanning glories of the throne. Hence you had better get into the Ark! As you call your family out at the close of the shower to show them the sign in heaven, so I, want you all at last to see the grander rainbow round about the throne. “Look there!” says Ho ah to his wife, a at that bow in the clouds; and, Shem and Japhet, look! look! — -the green, the’ yellow,
the red, and the orange!” I should not wonder if some of your own children in the Good Land should after a while cry out to you, “Look, father! look, mother! there is a rainbow round about the throne!” You had better get into the Ark, with all your families, if you want to see it.
I notice also that the chief glory of God comes after the rain. No shower, no rainbow; no trouble, no bright¬ ness of Christian consolation.
Weavers are sometimes, by reason of their work, dusty and rough in their apparel; and so it is the coarse-clad tempest, whose hand and foot swing the shuttle, that weaves the rainbow.
Many Christians are dull, and stupid, and useless be¬ cause they have not had disaster enough to wake them up. The brightest scarf that heaven makes is thrown over the shoulders of the storm. You can not make a thorough Christian life out of sunshine alone. There are some very dark hues in the ribbon of the rainbow: you must have in life the blue as well as the orange. Mingling all the colors of the former makes a white light; and it takes all the shades, and sadnesses, and vicissitudes of life to make the white lustre of a pure Christian character.
Your child asks you, “Father, what makes the rain¬ bow?” and you say, “It is the sunlight striking through’ the rain-drops.” Therefore I wondered how there could be a rainbow in heaven, since there are no storms there; but then I conclude that that rainbow must be formed by the striking of heaven’s sunlight through the falling tears of earthly sorrow. When we see a man overwhelmed with trouble, and his health goes, and his prop-THE RAINBOW BOUND THE THRONE.
erty goes, and his friends go, I say, “Now we shall see the glory of God in this good man’s deliverance.” As at Niagara Falls I saw, one day, ten rainbows spanning the awful plunge of the cataract, so over the abyss of the Christian’s trial hover the rieh-hued wings of all the promises.
I notice that the most beautiful things of this world are to be preserved in heaven. When you see the last color fade out from the rainbow of earth, you need not feel sad, for you will see the rainbow round about the throne. That story about the world burning up has given me many a pang. When I read that Paris was besieged, I said, “Now the pictures and statues in the Louvre and Luxembourg will be destroyed; all those faces of Rembrandt, and those bold dashes of Rubens, and those enchantments of Raphael on canvas, and those statues of Canova.” Rut is it not a more melancholy thought that ruin is to come upon this great glory of the earth, in which the mountains are the chiseled sculptures, and upon the sky, in which the “transfiguration” of sunrise and sunset is hung with loops and tassels of fire? I was relieved when I found that the pictures had been removed from the Louvre and the Luxembourg, and I am relieved now when I think that the best parts of this earth are either to be removed or pictured in the Good Land. The trees must twist in the last fire — the oaks, and the cedars, and the maples; but in heaven there shall be the trees of life on the bank of the river, and the palm-trees from which the conquerors shall pluck their branches. The Hudson, and the St. Lawrence, and the Ohio shall boil in the last flame, but we shall have more than their beauty in the River of Life from under the throne. The daisies, and the portulacas, and the roses of earth will wither in the hot sirocco of the judgment, but John tells of the garlands which the glorified shall wear; and there must be flowers, or there could be no garlands.
The rainbow on our sky, which is only the pillow of the dying storm, must be removed; but then, glory be to God! “there is a rainbow round about the throne.” I have but to look up to the radiant arch above the throne of God to assure myself that the most glorious things of earth are to be preserved in heaven. Then let the world burn: all that is worth saving will be snatch¬ ed out of the fire.
I see the same truth set forth in the twelve foundations of the wall of heaven. St. John announces the twelve foundations of this wall to be, the first, of jasper — yellow and red; the second, of sapphire — a deep blue; the third, a chalcedony — of varied beauty; the fourth, emerald — a bright green color; the fifth, sardonyx — a bluish white; the sixth, sardius — red and fiery; the seventh, chrysolite — golden-hued; the eighth, beryl — a blu¬ ish green; the ninth, topaz — a pale green mixed with yellow; the tenth, chrysoprasus — a golden bluish tint; the eleventh, jacinth — fiery as the sunset; the twelfth, amethyst. But these precious stones are only the foundation of the wall of heaven — the most inferior part of it. On the top of this foundation there rises a mighty wall of jasper — of brilliant yellow and gorgeous crimson. Stupendous cataract of color! Throne of splendor and sublimity! You see that the beautiful colors which are the robes of glory to our earth are to be forever preserved in this wall of heaven. Our skies of blue, which sometimes seem almost to drop with richness of color, shall be glorified and eternized in the deep everlasting blue of that fiery stone which forms the second foundation of the heavenly wall. The green that sleeps on the brook’s bank, and rides on the sea-wave, and spreads its banners on the mountain top, shall be eternized in the emerald that forms the fourth foundation of the heaven¬ ly wall. The fiery gush of the morning, the conflagration of the autumnal sunset, the electricity that shoots its forked tongue out of the thunder-cloud, the flame at whose breath Moscow fell and ^Etnas burn, shall be eter¬ nized in the fiery jasper. It seems as if all earthly beauty were in one billow to be dashed up against that wall of heaven; so that the most beautiful things of earth will be kept either in the wall, on the foundation, or in the rainbow round about the throne.
I notice the unspeakable attractiveness of heaven. In other places the Bible tells us of the floor of heaven — the waters, and the stones, and the fruits; but now St. John tells us of the roof — the frescoed arch of eternity, and the rainbow round about the throne. Get a ticket, and, carefully guarded, you go into the royal factory at Paris where the Gobelin tapestries of the world are made, and see how for years a man wfill sit putting in and out a ball of colored worsteds through the delicate threads, satisfied if he can in a day make so much as a finger’s breadth of beauty for a king’s canopy. But be¬ hold how my Lord, in one hour, with his two hands, twisted the tapestry, now swung above the throne, into a rainbow of infinite glory. Oh what a place heaven must be! You have heretofore looked at the floor; this morning take one glance at the ceiling.
I notice what must be the feeling of safety among the joeojole of heaven. Have you ever seen a cloud burst? There have been days when it rained as if it would never stop. You knew, if it kept on in that way long, all the nations would be drowned; yet you had no apprehension, for you remembered the Bow of Promise painted on the cloud in Hoali’s time. So the glorified have but to look to the arch around the throne of the King to be reassured that the deluge of trial is forever past.
On earth, the deluge of sin covers the tops of the high¬ est mountains. I heard an Alpine guide, amid the most stupendous evidences of God’s power, swear at his mule as he stumbled in the pass. Yes, the deluge of sin dash¬ es over the top of the highest mountain ranges. Revenge, drunkenness, impiety, falsehood, blasphemy, are but different waves of a flood that has whelmed nations. Hew York is drowned in it, Brooklyn is drowned in it, Boston is drowned in it, London is drowned in it, St. Petersburg is drowned in it — two great hemispheres are drowned in it. But the redeemed, looking unto the “rainbow round about the throne,” see the pledge that all this is ended for them forever. They have committed their last sin, and combated their last temptation. Ho suicide leaps into those bright waters; no profanity befouls that pure air; no villain’s torch shall fire those temples; no murderer’s hand shall strike down those sons of God. They know that for them the deluge of sin is assuaged, for “there is a rainbow round about the throne.” How the world is covered with a deluge of Hood. The nations are ‘all the time either using the sword or sharpening it. The factories of the world are night and day manufacturing Hotchkiss shells, needle-H 2 guns, and mitrailleuses. From Berlin to Paris, a river of blood. Russia impatient until it can throttle England. Throne against throne, empire against empire. The spirit of despotism and freedom at war in every land: despotic America against free America, despotic England against free England, despotic Germany against free Germany, despotic Austria against free Austria. The great battle of earth is being fought — the Armageddon of the nations. The song that unrolled from the sky on the first Christmas night, of “peace and good will to men,55 is drowned in the booming of the great siege-guns. Stand back, and let the long line of ambu¬ lances pass. Groan to groan. Uncover, and look upon the trenches of the dead. Blood! blood! — a deluge of blood!
But the redeemed of heaven, looking upon the glorious arch that spans the throne, shall see that the deluge is over. FTo buttresses are planted on those hills; no barricades blocking those streets; no hostile flag above thdse walls; no smoke of burning villages; no shrieks of butchered men; but peace! German and French¬ man, who fell with arms interlocked in hate on the field of death, now, through Christ in heaven, stand with arms interlocked in love. Arms stacked forever; shields of battle hung up. The dove instead of the eagle; the# lamb instead of the lion. There shall be nothing to hurt or destroy in all God’s holy mount, for there is a rain¬ bow round about the throne.
Row the earth is covered with the deluge of sorrow. Trouble! trouble! The very first utterance when we come into the world is a cry. Without any teaching, we learn to weep. What has so wrinkled that man’s f ace?
“What has so prematurely whitened his hair? What calls out that sigh? What starts that tear? Trouble! trouble! I find it in the cellar of poverty, and far up among the heights on the top of the crags; for this also hath gone over the tops of the highest mountains. No escape from it. You go into the store, and it meets you at your counting-desk; you go into the street, and it meets you at the. corner; you go into the house, and it meets you at the door. Tears of poverty! tears of persecution! tears of bereavement! — a deluge of tears! Gathered to¬ gether from all the earth, they could float an ark larger than Noah’s.
But the glorified, looking up to the bow that spans the throne, shall see that the deluge is over. No shivering wretch on the palace-step; no blind man at the gate of the heavenly temple, asking for alms; no grinding of the screw-driver on coffin-lid. They look up at the rain¬ bow, and read, in lines of yellow, and red, and green, and blue, and orange, and indigo, and violet, “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” Thank God for the glory spanning the throne!
In our boyhood we had a superstition that at the foot of the rainbow there was a casket of buried gold; but I have to announce that at the foot of this rainbow of heaven there is a box made out of the wood of the cross. Open it, and you find all the treasures of heaven.
Oh that our eyes may all look upon this bow of promise, lifted by Christ’s own hand! We shall trace the separate lines of beauty across the firmament. In the line of red I shall see the blood of my Lord; in the blue, the bruises that colored his cheek; in the green, the freshness of his grace; in the violet, his humility; in all that curve of beauty, the bend of his right arm of love swung over all the redeemed.
But mind what I told you at the beginning, and wThat I tell you at the close — that none but Koah’s family in the ark saw the rainbow, and that only those who are at last in Christ shall discover it amid the glories of heaven.
“Except a man be born again, he can not see the kingdom of God.”