God on His Throne

Ezekiel was taken to Babylon in 597 BC with the second group of exiles who believed that God would soon bring them home. He preached against this, that instead Jerusalem would be destroyed but with a future restoration. His ministry of 22 years from 593 BC was to shape the Jewish faith in exile, eliminating idolatry which nonetheless lasted till today. In Ezekiel 1, he described his encounter with the glory of God and His throne. He saw the throne of God on earth in Babylon.

“ Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking.” Ezekiel 1: 26-28.

We will now turn and look at the Book of Revelation Chapter 4: 1-3, where John described the vision of God on the throne in Heaven:

“After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this. At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne.”

Much of what John saw must be beyond words and precious stones are used to help in the descriptions. These stones are often used on the Breast plates of Jewish priests to represent the 12 tribes of Israel. Two stones are used to describe God on the throne (v.3-4). Sardius is a blood red stone while Jasper is brownish yellow. Together it was probably like burning bronze in a furnace. This must be the glorious appearance of divinity and much had resembled the descriptions in Ezekiel. God’s throne on earth is exactly as it is in heaven. John also mentioned a rainbow but the Greek is “iris” which also mean “halo”. Since it is “like an emerald” which has only one colour, namely green, it seems a green halo is what John meant.

The description of the appearance of God on the throne in Ezekiel is amazingly similar to that described in Revelation 4. God is seen in Ezekiel v.27 with two kinds of glow above and below the loins, just as John used the description of two different precious stones in Rev. 4:3. He also mentioned a rainbow. Amazingly this is also seen in v.28 of Ezekiel.

Sardius, Jasper and Emerald.


Breast Plate of Jewish Priests and the 12 stones used to represent the 12 tribes