The March of the Rainbowed Angel

The subject which will concern our attention is the March of the Rainbowed Angel. This Angel is first introduced to us in Revelations 4:2. John writes of this:

REV 4:2-3 And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.

 

Now when John begins to explain to us the angel he sees, he first lets us know that he is in the Spirit, when he sees these things. This was John's way of reminding us of the purpose this revelation. The Revelation was explained in the first verse of the first book:

REV 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

He sent and signified it by his angle unto his servant John. To signify means to show by signs . The Revelation then, was to be a book of signs and symbols to explain the things shortly to come to pass on the earth.

John being in the spirit, he sees a throne set in the heavens. The symbol of the throne is easy enough. It refers to a ruling power or kingdom. But what about it's placement in the heavens? In prophesy, the term heavens refers to the political powers of the earth. The symbology comes from the dreams that Joseph had pertaining to the nation of Israel.

Remember that Joseph had dreams which aroused the envy of his brethren, which resulted in his being sold into slavery in Egypt. Joseph's second dream was thus:

GEN 37:9-11 And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.

There was no question in the minds of Joseph's family as to the meaning of the dream. The Sun was the father--Israel--the political power of the family. The moon was a power which reflected the strength of the political power. (The feminine nature of this power later comes to stand for the religious powers in the land. Hence the two women of prophesy, the chaste virgin and the harlot come to represent the faithful and beloved of God, and the apostate Church respectively.) The eleven stars represented eleven of the twelve tribes of Israel. These stars all bowed down to the twelfth star, Joseph's. All of these symbols are placed in the heavens, or in the kingdoms of the world. So that the expression "heavens" comes to stand for the political and religious powers of the earth.

This symbology, we shall see, is repeated over and over again throughout Bible prophesy. Joel speaking of the return of Jesus wrote:

JOE 2:30-31 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD come.

And Jesus, prophesying of the soon destruction of Israel's commonwealth by Rome in 70 AD spoke as recorded in:

MAT 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

All of these are terms prophetic of the destruction of the political and religious powers of the earth. So when we come back to the Rainbowed Angel, we see his throne set in heaven--not in the literal heaven--but in that which heaven in spirit symbolized, or among all the political nations of the earth.

Now this throne existed once before. It was the throne of Yahweh when he established it in Israel. And this is the term that God used to define this throne:

1CH 28:5 And of all my sons, (for the LORD hath given me many sons,) he hath chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel.

 

This is what David's kingdom had been called. It was the throne of the kingdom of Yahweh over Israel. But in the days that John was receiving this revelation, it had long since ceased to exist. It was promised that this kingdom would exist again. And that the son of David would sit upon it. The prophets are full of this promise. We are all familiar with:

ISA 9:6-7 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

 

This was a prophesy that Jesus would someday reign upon the throne of David, and upon the kingdom of David. And the promise was sure. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this. The term "Lord of Hosts" literally translated means "He who shall be Armies." It was the militant title of Deity which would perform this. But as we said, in John's day it had ceased to exist. The last king of Israel was Zedekiah and this wicked king had been told some 700 years previous to John's writing:

EZE 21:26-27 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.

 

And Jesus himself warned Israel of his return telling them just shortly before his crucifixion:

MAT 23:37-39 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

The Rainbowed angel seen by John, then, is the fulfillment of these promises. It prophesied of a time when Jesus should return to the earth, taking his place as a king among the nations. He would turn the political and religious systems of the earth into blood, before the great day of his coming. He would sit upon the throne of his father David, and Jerusalem shall say, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."

Now John goes on to give us the characteristics of this Angel.

REV 4:3 And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.

 

The two different stones tell us quite a bit about the nature of this angel. And it is quite normal that a stone should be used to represent Jesus. God himself used this description of him. In the blessings of Israel upon his sons, the following was said of Joseph:

GEN 49:23-24 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him: But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)

 

The shepherd, the Stone of Israel. This prophesy through Jacob was that in the latter days, one should arise whose bow would abide in strength, who would be the Stone of Israel. His hands are made strong by the mighty God of Jacob. The prophet Isaiah also speaks of this great stone and its attributes.

ISA 8:13-14 Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

This has in part been accomplished, and we wait now for this stone to be laid in the identical place where it was stumbled over; according to the words of the Spirit by the same prophet, saying,

ISA 28:16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.

The precious stone appearance of the Rainbowed Angel was of two stones, the Jasper and the Sardius. The reason for the two stones shows that the King who sits upon the throne was of a nature combined of Spirit and Flesh. Had he been mere flesh, or spirit uncombined with flesh, one stone would have answered every purpose' but being God manifested in flesh, two precious stones were necessary: one to symbolize the Spirit, and the other to represent the Flesh.

The Jasper is the spirit symbol. It is a hard stone of various hues, such as purple, sky blue, and green. Revelations gives us an example of its use pertaining to the Holy City in the Kingdom age:

REV 21:10-11 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;

And again:

REV 21:18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.

The wall of the holy city is of Jasper, which wall is also the symbol of the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb; in other words, of the Spirit, who by Zechariah has said:

ZEC 2:5 For I, saith the LORD, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her.

A beautiful sky blue gem, as clear as crystal, is the symbol of God's spirit condensed into substance; and as it is the primary principle of the city whose builder and maker is God, the first foundation is of Jasper.

The Rainbowed Angel is also of the sardine stone. This gem is spelled in Hebrew A--D--M. These are the same letters that compose the word applied to man, Adam. For various reasons not relevant to our discussion, rather than be called Adam, which would have made its meaning abundantly clear, it was called Odem. It got the name Sardion when the Scriptures were translated into Greek, as the stone was found around Sardis.

The stone is also translucent, like the Jasper. But its color is redish, similar to the color of flesh. The translucent character of the flesh colored stone, indicates the fleshly nature of this great Angel, but flesh purified, made clear, from all defilement.

And now we come to the most prominent characteristic of this Angel, the rainbow around his throne. To create a rainbow, you need three things. You need the sun shining brightly. You need rain falling, and you need water vapor in the sky, often in clouds, to reflect the colors.

The sun is easy to understand. It is the coming of Christ.

MAL 4:1-3 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.

The expression healing in his wings, should better be translated healing in his beams. The raising of the Sun of Righteousness is to tread down the wicked. The Rainbowed Angel himself sends out the storms which will wreck the nations. We read of him:

REV 4:5 And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

The result of the raising of the Sun of Righteousness with healing in his beams, shining through the storms and tempests brought upon the earth causes His rainbow, His covenant to appear in the sky. The rainbow was the covenant that God had made with Noah after the flood that he would no more destroy the earth with water.

GEN 9:12-17 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

With whom was this covenant made? It is made to those who it shines upon, those who make up the clouds of saints at the return of Christ. We, each one of us here, have the opportunity to be a part of this beautiful rainbow. The apostle Paul said:

1TH 4:16-18 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Now the expression "the clouds" should not be used here. It should rather be translated, We which are alive and remain shall be caught up together in clouds, not in the clouds, for we shall be the cloud of witness. We can be the aqueous particles making up the cloud of witnesses in the political air, though whom the covenant of God with the earth is established. All of us sitting here this morning, have the opportunity to be a part of this great angel, if we prepare ourselves in this space which we have been granted. But we must act diligently, for the world is quickly shaping up, quickly aligning itself into the proper position prophesied in the prophets for the conditions of the nations at the time of the end.

Do we believe the things that the prophets wrote? This question was first asked by the apostle Paul to King Agrippa. You will recall from your studies of the book of Acts, that the apostle Paul had been delivered to the Jews as a traitor to Israel. And while making his defense, Paul made this statement to King Agrippa.

Acts 26:21 For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me. Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come:"

And that will be our effort over the next few days. To say no other things than that which the prophets and Moses said should come. Now, when Paul testified before Agrippa, he knew exactly why he was in chains. He testified later to the Jews, when he had been transferred to Rome for trial, in this manner.

Acts 28:28 For this cause therefore have I called for you, to see you, and to speak with you: because that for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain."

The hope of Israel. That is the hope that the Apostle Paul was willing to be bound for, in fact was willing to die for. And it is that hope which we will focus on for that is the divine reason for the manifestation of the Rainbowed Angel. It was to bring about the salvation of Israel.

What is the hope of Israel? The hope of Israel simply stated is this. That the son of David would sit on David's throne in Jerusalem, ruling the whole world in peace.

This hope started long ago in the early pages of our Bible. In Genesis 13

Genesis 13:14-15 "And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever."

This promise made by God to Abraham, that he and his seed would inherit this land, a promise that was repeated to his sons Isaac and Israel became the hope that all Israel longed for. And that hope was intensified when Isaiah prophesied of the Messiah sitting upon David's throne as we have already seen in Isa. 9, which prophecy was based upon the following promise to David, for David was told that his son should sit upon his throne.

2SA 7:12-14 And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:

It was these promises which became the hope of Israel, for which the apostle was willing to be held in chains. And throughout the history of Israel, God provided them prophets to warn them, to encourage them, and to strengthen the faithful to hold fast to these promises. He told them that they had not been fulfilled when Paul wrote in Hebrews 11:

Heb. 11:39-40 And these all, (that is, the faithful men of old listed there in that 11th chapter) having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

No, Israel has not received the promises. But though this hope had not been fulfilled, we never should be lured into thinking that it will not be fulfilled. The apostle Peter warned us about certain things which were to take place in the period of the last days which we will show this evening, is the period in which we are living. And in regard to the disbelief of the last days concerning those things written by the prophets, he wrote:

2 Peter 3:3 "Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as there were from the beginning of the creation.

And Peter continued:

2 Peter 3:8 "But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."

So the question, "Believest thou the prophets?" takes on a special meaning in these latter days. For we know that our human nature will grow weary of patient waiting; and only by close scrutiny of the prophets, and by careful attention to world events will the wise and the faithful be able to keep themselves prepared for the promised return of Jesus to set up his kingdom on this very earth

But the purpose of the Rainbowed Angel is to bring about the fulfill these promises. You know, it may have been a seemingly true statement for those in Peter's day to say: "for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as there were from the beginning of the creation." But it cannot be reasonably said of the age in which we live. Almost nothing has continued as from the beginning. We have seen more changes than any age on the face of the earth.

Within the lifetime of many sitting here, we have seen the greatest proof of all, that the time of the end is upon us. The greatest proof that the return of Christ is at the door, is the rebirth of Israel as a nation. Israel, the natural seed of Abraham was to be God's witness throughout the ages, that God was still working out his plan of salvation with the earth.

God told Israel through the prophet Isaiah:

Isa. 43:9-12 "Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assemble: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? Let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth. Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no savior. I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God."

So God has chosen to use Israel as the proof that He is still working out his plan. Some have argued that this was to be the case, but since Israel was involved in the crucifixion of Christ, (which without a doubt they were), they lost their standing before God. But that this is clearly not the case can be seen in many of the prophesies of the Bible, even in prophesies made by Jesus.

First from the Old Testament prophets we find this written of Israel in Jeremiah:

Jer. 30:11 "For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet I will not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished."

Israel would turn their national backs on God many times over their history. And God would not leave them unpunished. They were to be scattered across the face of the earth into all the various nations, such as we have observed, and continue to observe, even to this day. But it was a punishment, not an extermination. God would not forget the promises that he had made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He would not allow a full end to come to them, though certainly many, most recently Adolph Hitler, have made great efforts at genocide.

As we said, in considering the verse in Matt.23:37, the punishment of Israel was not to be forever. Their house was left to them desolate, until they should say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. A time which surely will come as Zechariah has prophesied:

Zech 12:10 "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn."

It was the Jews who pierced the firstborn of God, and it was the Jews who ultimately will recognize him. This verse, of course is a reference to the time in which the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall see Jesus, and realize what their ancestors had done, (in piercing Jesus on the cross) and they shall mourn in shame and embarrassment as to what they had put the son of David through.

So the Jews have not been cast off forever. There was to be a time in which they were to be regathered, an event which, as we said previous, some here this evening, have witnessed in your own lifetime. This time period had been precisely prophesied by God. In the Mosaic Law God told Israel the following:

LEV 26:26-28 And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied. And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me; Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.

God promised Israel that he would bring against them, plages, and enemies from afar, over and over again, and if they failed to repent, he would chastize them seven times for their sins. Now a time, is a very specific period in Bible prophesy. There is really no question as to its length. It is 360 years,

It comes from the 12, 30 day months of the Jewish calendar. 12 times 30 equals 360. This became a mathematical law for the ancients, which is why our circle in geometry, or in surveying has 360 degrees.

The Revelations talks about events taking place in a times, time and dividing of time, in 42 months, and in 1260 days. 42 moths is 1260 days. And if the time is 360, as we have suggested, then the time = 360, a times is two times, or 2 times 360 or 720, and a dividing of time is half of a time, or 180. 360 + 720 + 180 = 1260. So this all fits perfectly, and we really know what a time is.

Now the children of Israel were told that after all the judgements that God brought upon them to correct their behavior, if they refused to submit to divine ordinances, they would be punished 7 times for their sins. Now 7 times 360 = 2520. For their rebellion, Israel would be punished 2520 years.

To bring about this punishment God prophesied of an image which would arise and conquer the Jews, an din fact be so powerful so as to conquer all the world. The image was shown to Daniel, in the second chapter of the book that bears his name.

DAN 2:31-35 Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

So here is a man shown to King Nebuchadnezzar, the first ever world wide ruler, in a dream. This vision prophesied of the four world's empires, but more than that, it prophesied of the enemy to the Rainbowed Angel. It was this Image of metals which was make war with the Jews, and it was from this image that the Angel of Jasper and Sardius Stone was to deliver the redeemed. And the interpretation of the dream starts out this way:

DAN 2:37-38 Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.

Nebuchadnezzar, and the Babylonian empire was this head of Gold. Well then, by placing the time that Babylon brought its captivity upon Israel, we will get the beginning date for the 7 times under which Israel was to be chastised.