HAVING A RAINBOW
As a result of having a clear sky with the throne and of experiencing a man who looks like electrum and like a consuming fire, we will have the appearance of a rainbow (1:28). A rainbow is the brightness around the man who is sitting on the throne. This brightness signifies the splendor and glory around the Lord on the throne. In order to understand the significance of the rainbow, we need to remember the rainbow at the time of Noah. During Noah’s time a flood destroyed the whole earth. Only eight people were spared from that judgment. After the flood, all the human beings were afraid of being destroyed by another flood. So God made a covenant with them and said that whenever there were clouds in the heavens there would also be a rainbow with them, signifying that there would be no more flood to destroy the earth (Gen. 9:11-17). The rainbow was a sign of God’s faithfulness and promise not to destroy the fallen human race. In His judgment and destruction of the fallen race, God spared some by His faithfulness. Do you realize that we all have been spared by God? We are all fallen and deserve to be destroyed, but God spared us. Praise the Lord! We are spared by His faithfulness. We have a rainbow as the sign of His faithfulness.
Although God is a holy God and a consuming God and none can exist in His presence, by His faithfulness we are spared. In a rainbow, there are six or seven different colors, but the basic colors are only three: red, yellow, and blue. When these three colors are shining and blending they produce other colors. By being mixed together, they give orange, green, and violet. It is very significant that the three main colors are red, yellow, and blue because they correspond to what we have already seen in Ezekiel. We have seen that the throne looks like a blue sapphire stone, the electrum is yellow, and the fire is red. By their refracting and shining, these three colors combine to make a rainbow.
What is the meaning of these three colors? Blue signifies the throne. According to Psalm 89:14, righteousness is the foundation of God’s throne. Thus, the blue throne signifies the righteousness of God. Red signifies the sanctifying, separating, and consuming fire and refers to God’s holiness. Yellow signifies God’s glory in the glowing electrum. Thus we have three things: holiness, glory, and righteousness. These are the three things that keep sinners away from God. But praise the Lord! The Lord Jesus came, died on the cross, was resurrected, and is now our righteousness, our sanctification, and our redemption (1 Cor. 1:30). He is also now our glory. In ourselves we are short of God’s glory; we are under God’s righteous judgment; and we are kept away by God’s holiness. But, today we are in Christ, and He becomes our righteousness, our holiness, and our glory. Today, we even bear these three things. We bear Christ as our righteousness, our holiness, and our glory. Do you realize that in God’s eyes we look like righteousness, holiness, and glory? This is because we are in Christ.
This must not be simply a kind of teaching and doctrine to us. We must experience the Lord in such a way that when others contact us, they can sense the righteousness, holiness, and glory. They should be able to sense that we have a clear sky, that we have a throne, and that we are righteous and proper—we are no longer sloppy and loose. We should also have the electrum with us, glowing, shining, and weighty. We all must bear the righteousness, the holiness, and the glory. Then we will have the appearance of a rainbow. All the demons, the angels, and Satan will have to come and see this rainbow. The rainbow is the sign of God’s faithfulness in sparing His fallen ones. All the fallen ones have become a testimony of this. Thus every local church should bear the testimony of such a rainbow.
Even the New Jerusalem has the appearance of a rainbow. The foundation stones of the New Jerusalem are of twelve layers, each layer being a different color (Rev. 21:19-20). I read an article which stated that the twelve layers of the foundation stones had the appearance of a rainbow. So even the holy city, New Jerusalem, looks like a rainbow. We will be that holy city. We are God’s spared ones. By His holiness, His righteousness, and His glory, we will have the appearance of a rainbow declaring to the whole universe God’s saving faithfulness. The experience of the Christian life and the experience of the church life will consummate in such a rainbow. At the end of the whole Bible is a city whose foundation has the appearance of a rainbow and surrounds the eternal God as His strong testimony. Again I say, this must not be merely a teaching to us. This has to be wrought into us so that, as God’s spared ones, we will be in the appearance of a rainbow, bearing God’s testimony and declaring God’s faithfulness to the whole universe. We will bear God’s righteousness, God’s holiness, and God’s glory. Ezekiel said that this was the appearance of the glory of the Lord. When he saw this, he bowed down to the earth and heard a voice speaking to him.
If we want to hear the word of the Lord in the following chapters of Ezekiel, we all must be at this point—under a clear sky in front of the throne with a Man sitting on it and bearing the flashing, reflecting, and shining rainbow. This is the place where we can hear the voice from above. This positions us to hear the voice speaking from the heavens. I hope that every one of us as individuals will be at this point, and I hope that all of the local churches will also be here. Then the Lord will have a way to speak to us.
(The Visions of Ezekiel, Chapter 9, by Witness Lee)
