In understanding the Book of Revelation we must remember that, while it is in some sense a consecutive unveiling of historical events, from the days of St. John to the end of the Christian age, and the end of the millennium at the same time, the visions are given in different sections, so that in some respects the same historical ground is repeated over again. As for instance the first four chapters is a setting forth of events from the days of John up to the millennial kingdom with especial reference to stages of the visible church. Then another series of visions is given with reference to the political history of the nations, such as the rise of popery and Mohammedism. Then another series of visions with reference to God's judgments upon the nations, the downfall of Romanism, and the great tribulations.

As we now come to the fourth chapter of Revelation, we have here the setting up of Christ's theocratic throne in the Kingdom of God on this earth. Hence the events prophesied in this chapter occur immediately after the marriage supper of the Lamb. As it is said in the first verse of this chapter: "Come up hither, and I will show thee the things which must be hereafter" — that is, such as will take place immediately after the things which are prophesied in the close of the third chapter. Then John says: "I beheld, and a throne was set up in heaven." Let us remember our key of interpretation in the first chapter, that this word "heaven" means the Kingdom of God on earth. This throne does not mean the eternal throne of the triune Godhead, for that we know was set up from all eternity, and neither John nor any angel saw when it was instituted. But this throne is surely that of David, which belongs to Jesus Christ as David's son, as the King of the Jews, as the Redeemer and heir of the world, and this throne, which is another word for the theocratic government, will be set up on this earth, when Jesus and His glorified bridehood return from the wedding, after the great tribulations, and immediately after the chaining and binding of Satan, which is described in the twentieth chapter, You will notice that in the twentieth chapter the angel is sent to bind Satan, and shut him up a thousand years, and the next verse says that there were thrones set up, which are the thrones to be occupied by the glorified saints, who are to share the government with Jesus, and on these thrones were placed those martyrs, or those entirely devoted saints who had in them in this life the martyr spirit for Jesus, and it is expressly said "that they shall live and reign with Christ a thousand years.''

Now this throne spoken of in the fourth chapter, surrounded by the rainbow, and filled with the living creatures, is the instituting of the millennial government over the nations.

1. It is clearly set forth in Scripture that this millennial throne will be set up in Jerusalem. Perhaps it is not sufficiently understood that Palestine is the very heart of the world, and just about the center of the globe geographically, and with reference to the world's population. So much, so that if all human beings were compelled by some stern necessity to assemble at any one given spot on the earth, they could all meet at Palestine easier and quicker than at any other place on earth. Moses tells us that when the Most High divided to all the nations of the world their several inheritance, and when He separated the sons of Adam into their nationalities, that He set the boundaries of the people, that is, their geographical limits, according to the number of the children of Israel. (Deut. 32.) From this I learn that God constituted the twelve tribes of Israel, the very historical center of all the nations of mankind, and gave them the Land of Canaan, which is the geographical center of the globe. This fact has a marvelous significance, which perhaps few of us have ever apprehended. The Land of Canaan is a miniature world in itself, embracing within the narrow limits of one hundred and fifty miles one way, by fifty and seventy-five miles the other, all the climates of the world, from everlasting snow to everlasting summer, and all the products of the world. So that it is a miniature world, and is to have a history in the coming age more marvelous than anything in former ages, in which the extraordinary prophecies of Scripture will be fulfilled.

There are prophecies in the 33d chapter of Isaiah, concerning Zion and Jerusalem, which have never been fulfilled, and which have more than a mere spiritual application, for h is Zion and the City of Jerusalem which is to be a quiet habitation, and never taken down, and never removed, and it is there that the Lord will reveal Himself. There are to be rivers and streams, upon which there are no galley slave boats, or war ships, but where the King shall be seen in His beauty, and where the lame shall take the prey, and where the inhabitant shall not say he is sick.

We are told in the 3d chapter of Jeremiah, of the return of the backsliding Israel, and "at that time Ave shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered into it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem." That prophecy has never yet been fulfilled, but will receive its perfect fulfillment when Jesus returns from the wedding, and sets up His theocratic government as the throne of David in Jerusalem, and then literally all the nations of the earth will be, by their representatives, gathered to Jerusalem. This will be the time when the prophecy in the 14th of Revelation will be fulfilled, where John says, "I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Zion, and with Him an hundred and forty and four thousand, having His Father's name written in their foreheads. " Here Ave see again, that the setting up of Christ's millennial government, is accompanied by that special number of glorified saints who compose the bride of the Lamb, 4, and who were the first fruits redeemed from among the nations, and who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth." We are told in the Apocrypha, that when the Lord shall reign on the earth in His glory, that the City of Jerusalem should be rebuilt with sapphires and diamonds, and it is very probable that God has vast mines of sapphires and diamonds, hid away in some mountain range, which He will not let any one discover until that time.

2. "He that sat upon the throne was to look upon, like a jasper and the sardius." This is a vision of the inexpressible beauty and glory of Jesus as He will appear to His saints and the people of the earth in His millennial kingdom. This is like the vision of Him which Daniel had, and which John describes in the first chapter of Revelation. The "jasper" is the precious stone which is the wall of the heavenly Jerusalem, and the sardine, the same as sardius, or a blood red ruby, is the center stone in the heavenly city; hence we see that Jesus unites in Himself every glory from the center to the circumference of the City of God, and every possible gift, and grace, and majesty, and charm which it is possible for the Godhead to bestow upon the humanity of the Incarnate Word.

As Jesus, after the resurrection, appeared and disappeared at will to His servants, appointing them a place to meet, and suddenly appearing in their midst and holding sweet communion with them, and then vanishing out of their sight, so it will be when He reigns on this earth.

3. "There was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald." This rainbow, the predominant color of which was green, opens up a vast range of glorious things which will exist in the millennial kingdom. This is a companion picture in all respects with that which is set forth in the 9th chapter of Genesis, when God stretched the rainbow over Noah's altar, just after the flood. Jesus Himself tells us, in the 24th chapter of Matthew, of the wonderful analogy between Noah's flood and His second coming, and that analogy is more accurate and marvelous than we might at first sight apprehend. The ascent of Noah and his family up into the ark corresponds with the ascent of those in the first resurrection and the translated saints into the air to meet Jesus. The descent of the rain punishing the inhabitants living in sin corresponds with the great tribulations. The return of the ark with its inhabitants back to Mount Ararat corresponds with the return of Jesus and His glorified saints back to Mount Zion, at which time, Zechariah tells us, Jesus will put his foot on Mount Olivet. The going forth of Noah and his sons to take charge of the new world beautifully represents the going forth of Jesus and His hundred and forty- four thousand to take charge of the world in the millennial age. The altar erected by Noah, on which to offer sacrifices, corresponds with the theocratic throne erected for Jesus at the opening of the new age. The rainbow over Noah's altar, as a sign of God's covenant, corresponds with the rainbow around the millennial throne of Jesus, as the pledge of the millennial covenant, and the fulfilling of all the prophecies, and the bringing in of everlasting righteousness, and the filling of the earth with the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Everything in the Old Testament has a companion piece in the New Testament, and the 9th of Genesis and the 4th of Revelation are companion chapters, the one being the fulfillment of the other. Isaiah prophesied of this millennial kingdom, with its rainbow at the opening of the new age or divine glory on earth.

If we carefully read Isaiah 54th we will see a description of the Lord as a Husband being married to believers that should be selected from among the Gentiles, and that the Lord, under the character of a Husband and a Redeemer, shall be called in that day the God of the whole earth, and that He will establish His everlasting kindness, and that the curse which He put on the earth should be removed just as the waters of Noah's flood were removed, and that the covenant which He made with Noah concerning the earth not being drowned any more should be repeated and refulfilled in the covenant of peace which He will make at that time. He also prophesies the building up of His millennial throne and kingdom in Jerusalem by laying the foundations with sapphires, and making the windows of agates and the gates of rubies, and that righteousness shall be established, and ail terror and fear removed, and concludes the gorgeous prophecy by saying, "This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord." Thus Isaiah prophesies the intimate connection between the facts and phenomena of Noah opening the new age and Jesus opening the millennial age.

4. There is great significance in the fact that the predominant color in the rainbow was that of emerald or green. This color represents hope, verdure, or spring of the year, prosperity. When the High Priest in the Jewish economy put on his breastplate, there were twelve precious stones in the breastplate, a stone for each of the twelve tribes, and it is significant that the stone for Judah was that of the emerald. God foresaw that Judah was to be the ruling tribe, from which should spring King David and his greater Son, King Jesus. Hence God selected the emerald as the precious gem of the ruling tribe. It is in keeping with this thought that all through the Jewish age, Jesus was denominated the "Hope of Israel," and it is in keeping with the same truth that the coming of Jesus and His reign on the earth is set forth all through the New Testament, as "the Hope'' of the Gentile believers. So the green rainbow and the emerald stone belong to Jesus in the special relationship of the King of the Jews, and the King of Saints, and the glorious rulership of this world in the millennial age. This color of green represents also the lifting of the curse from man and animals and the earth at the opening of the new age. If you will read the ninth chapter of Genesis and notice carefully you will see that the covenant which God made with Noah was a covenant first with Noah, and then with his children, and then with the cattle, and then with the fowls of the air, and then the creeping things, and then with the very earth itself, so that nothing was left out from the range of that covenant.

The same truth applies to the covenant which will be carried out in the theocratic government of Jesus on earth. The curse will be lifted from men, and women, and children, and from the four-footed beasts, and the fowls of the air, and the trees of the field, and the earth itself. The curse God put on man was that of hard work, and sweat; difficulty of making a living, and this will be lifted away. The curse God put on woman was that of suffering in her office as a mother in the bearing and caring for of children, and this curse will be removed at the opening of the millennial age from the people who are living at that time. Of course, we must remember that these truths apply, not to the glorified saints who have returned with Christ from the wedding, but to those human beings who have lived on the earth through the great tribulations, and who will be the progenitors of the millennial generations. The curse on the four-footed beasts was that of devouring each other, and this curse will be removed, for we are told emphatically that the lion will eat straw and grass, and be perfectly harmless in that age. The curse on the ground was that it should not bring forth its normal crops, and this curse will be removed under the reign of Jesus. "And all the trees will yield their fruit, and the earth will yield her increase" and one acre of ground will doubtless yield more than twenty acres now. The curse will be taken away from the atmosphere, and there will be no abnormal seasons, no storms, no cyclones, no earthquakes, but every movement of the four seasons, and of the winds, and the temperature, and of the harvests of the earth, will be as accurate, and beautiful, and harmonious, as the roll of the shining stars along their unvarying orbits. Everything will take on the character of verdure, and healthfulness, and vigor, and prosperity. All outward sin will be prohibited. Satan will be bound, and though the nations, by their natural generation, will have the principal of inward sin, the same as now, yet there will be no demons to tempt, and no outward forms of wickedness allowed, hence the people will be born under conditions of perfect love. Their intellects will be clear, and vigorous, and not possessed as they now are by demons. Everything will conduce to deep spirituality, and breadth, and clearness of intellectual wisdom, and the rapidly multiplying populations of that age will be under the continual guardianship, instruction, and dominion of the glorified saints, who will be, as Scripture teaches us. the elder brethren, that is "the church of the first born," to the nations who will live on the earth.

Thus the theocratic throne, with the emerald rainbow around it, sets forth the coming government, that it shall be one of glory and prosperity, extending from the centre of the throne out into all the ramified details of nature, and grace, and all men and animals, and the laws of the material world.