Following the scene of Jesus and the seven messages to the seven churches, the Holy Spirit, beginning in Rev. 4, summoned John to heaven. The door to the heavenly temple was open to him, and through it John viewed God’s throne room. The first thing he noticed was the throne in the center of the scene. A rainbow – a sign of God’s covenant to be with His people, and His promise to never again flood the earth – surrounded the throne.
As John fixated on the white throne (Rev. 20: 11), it emanated flashes of lightning and sounds of thunder. That’s a sight and sound phenomenon we’ve seen attached to the appearance of God in the Old Testament. (See Psalm 77: 18 and, most notably, Exodus 19: 16, which has to do with God at Mount Sinai.)
Before the throne was the Holy Spirit, represented by seven lamps of fire. Each lamp, serving as one of the seven Spirits of God, is a share of the Holy Spirit’s enlightened, distributed work given to each of the seven churches; and therefore, the church as a whole. (The number seven symbolically denotes complete wholeness.)
Adding to the majestic surroundings was the surface on which the throne sat. Spread out from all around the throne, the surface was like a sea of glass. It was a crystal-like pavement that reflected the flash-lightning and the rainbow’s emerald-colored light.
And then there was the One sitting upon the throne – Lord God, the Almighty! It was God the Father. John describes not His form, nor His face; for no one can see God and live (Exodus 33: 20). No one has seen God at any time (John 1: 18). Instead, John is impacted by and describes God’s glory and majesty, by which He clothes Himself with a garment of light (Psalm 104: 1, 2).
The picture that John symbolically paints of God’s majesty and glory is that of a dazzling, brilliant light (1 Timothy 6: 16), likened to jasper and sardius stones. Jasper’s appearance is like that of a diamond. The sardius stone is red in color. Therefore, the splendor of God’s glorious light was displayed as a radiant crystal with a red tint.