God is inviting you to go to him.

There are seven spectacular secrets of heaven found in Revelation 4.  In the last post, I shared with you the first one: Someone is on the throne.  Now let’s go to the next verse and discover the second spectacular secret.

And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian.  A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne.[1]

The second secret is that mercy surrounds the throne.  As the doorway of heaven is opened and we are allowed to enter into the secret council chamber of God, not only do we see that someone is at the helm, but also we see a rainbow encircling the power center.  A rainbow surrounds the throne.

In the first book of the Bible, we learn that the rainbow represents mercy.  In Genesis 9:14-15, God said to Noah, “Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind.  Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.”  The rainbow is God’s sign to us that he will not destroy us.

The rainbow is God’s sign of mercy, that it is okay to approach him.  You will not be destroyed when you approach God. 

A lot of people that I meet think that God is out to get them; they think that he is very judgmental and full of wrath.  To a lot of people, God is like a giant bug zapper: when we bugs get to close…ZAP!  So the thought of going directly to the throne of God is paralyzing, as we are terrified of him. 

But it is safe to approach the throne of God; we will not get zapped, for mercy surrounds the throne.  This spectacular secret is a deluge of hope for people who think that God hates them and is bent on making their lives miserable. 

God is mercy toward you.  God does not want to keep you away, but draw you to himself.  He puts the rainbow around his throne as a sign to you that it’s okay to go to him.  In fact, God is inviting you to go to him.  The rainbow is his “Welcome” sign, hung in his window so that every weary traveler may come home to him. 

Even the dirtiest and most worn traveler is invited home; for no matter how far you’ve run from God and no matter how you’ve spent your years, God wants you to come back to him.  His throne will not consume you since his is a “throne of grace,” as we learn in Hebrews 4:16.

The rainbow around the throne takes away all of our excuses and all of our fears, it is God’s standing invitation to come to him.  God is mercy to you.

© 2011 by Samuel Kee