"And a Rainbow circled about the Throne in appearance like an emerald" (iv. 3).

The rainbow is referred to in four places in the scriptures, and it is from these only can be deduced the import of the symbol before us. In nature, the rainbow is evolved by the action of showery vapor upon the sun’s rays, which, in passing through the aqueous globules, are refracted, and form an arch upon that part of the clouds opposite to the sun, glowing with all the colors of the prismatic, or solar, spectrum. The rainbow is never seen except when the sun is shining, and when rain is falling between the spectator and the part of the horizon where the bow is seen. These facts must not be lost sight of in considering the significancy of the rainbow when used as a symbol. Sun, light, rain, cloud, are elements necessary to the production of the natural bow; so are they also to the evolution of a symbolical arch in the heaven pertaining to the throne. In the absence of the Sun of Righteousness from the heaven, and of the light of life, glory, honor, and power, which he will irradiate, the rainbow encircling the throne cannot be seen. Neither can the light irradiating from Him, be reflected to the spectator-world from the clouds of immortals about the throne, until the rain-showers of the heaven shall descend upon the mown grass to fertilize the earth. These are indispensable conditions to the evolution of the bow, which is the symbol of a clear and blessed sunshine after previous "lightnings, thunders, and voices from the throne," contemporaneously with gently descending rain.

Based upon these principles, I remark that the order of the bow’s development is,

1. The opening of the heaven by the Stone-Power smiting Nebuchadnezzar’s Image upon the feet;
2. The establishment of the throne in the heaven by mowing the earth at harvest time (xiv. 15); in the storm-period of "the lightnings, thunders, and voices proceeding from the throne" (iv. 5); by which the kingdoms of the world are taken possession of by the saints;
3. The grass of the earth being thus mown, its harvest reaped, and its vintage trodden out, the rain of the heaven descends in the blessing of Abraham upon the nations; which, being subdued, are blessed in Abraham and his Seed, or in Jesus and the saints;
4. "As brightness of morning, THE RULER rises, the Sun of an unclouded dawn, shining forth after rain upon the tender grass of the earth." The effect of this shining is that the Rainbow-Throne covenanted to David is beheld through the descending rain, which diffuses the knowledge of its glory to the utmost bounds of the habitable world.

The rainbow, then, is the token, or symbol of the Covenant. The bow in the natural heavens has been so designated by the Spirit from the days of Noah, after his salvation by water; and all who have looked upon the phenomenon with minds enlightened by the truth, from his day to this, have viewed it as the memorial of Yahweh’s covenant. The first place in which this covenant is alluded to is in Gen. vi. 18; it does not follow, however, that no covenant existed till the time therein indicated. Yahweh had a covenant which he styled, "My covenant." It was on account of this covenant that the race of Adam was perpetuated in Noah. If he had not found favor with Yahweh because of his faith in the covenanted promises, the race would have been exterminated from the earth. He became "heir of the righteousness which is by faith"; by that faith, which is "the substance of things being hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Noah died in this faith "not having received the promises." He has not received them yet; nor will he receive them "without us," for all the saints of all the generations are to be perfected together (Heb. xi. 7,13,39,40). Hence, the things Noah believed were the promises of the covenant with which he had been acquainted several centuries before the Flood. They were the promises made when the lives of the animals were cut off in Paradise for Adam’s transgression (Gen. iii. 15,21). This covenant was renewed with Noah as its Heir, and afterwards with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David. It was the covenant l’doroth olahm, "for the generations of the hidden period"; and therefore styled berith olahm, the "covenant of the hidden period." (Gen. ix. 12,16).

Now, the total destruction of the Adamic race in the line of Cain did not shake Noah’s faith in the covenant. He still hoped for the promises it revealed. Seeing this, the Eternal Spirit condescended to communicate with Noah, and to assure him through Angel-Elohim, that no such sweeping destruction by water should again afflict the race. Hitherto, he had seen the prismatic arch photographed upon the clouds by clear shining of the sun through the rain; but he had never beheld it as a token, or sign of any thing else than that the weather was about to fair off. The time, however, had now arrived when henceforth he would view it as the symbol of salvation. For Elohim said: "I have set my bow in the cloud; and it shall be for THE TOKEN OF THE 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 look upon it, that I may remember the covenant of the hidden period between the Elohim and every living soul of all flesh that is upon the earth."

In his "visions of the Elohim," Ezekiel beheld the same scene as that presented to John in Patmos, respecting the Rainbow-Throne. He saw the appearance of the Man upon the sapphire throne, which he describes as of the color of amber flaming from the loins upward, and as fire from thence downwards, and brightness about the whole; which brightness was as the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain. All of which represented "the glory of Yahweh" (i. 26,28). The Man and the throne, and the glory he bears, being under the bow, are thereby indicated as the subject-matter of the covenant of which the rainbow is the token, symbol, or sign. This symbol points to a certain day, styled by Ezekiel, "the Day of Rain." There can be no bow except in such a day. "The day of rain" is a phrase which implies the existence of a day in which there is no rain; or, as the saying is "of a dry time." This is truly the character of the time in which we live; and not only so, but of all the time symbolized by "the court given to the Gentiles" (Apoc. xi. 2), a time during which they are treading the Holy City under foot; concurrently with which also the Two Witnesses are prophesying, and the rain, consequently, cannot descend; for they have power to shut up the heaven, that it rain not in the day of their prophecy" (xi. 6).

As in nature, then, so in grace, no bow can be seen but in a day of rain. At present every thing is dried up and parched. "All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field; the grass withereth, the flower fadeth; because the spirit of Yahweh bloweth upon it; surely the people is grass; but the word (preached) of our Elohim shall stand to the hidden period" (Isai. xl. 6). Such being the past, and present, and the future till the lightnings cease to flash, and the thunders to roll forth from the throne, no rainbow can or will be seen. It is now a day of perdition for want of rain. The people are withered, and shrivelled up for want of moisture; for their clergies are wells without water, dry clouds driven about of winds, withered trees without fruit, from whom no spiritual sustenance can be derived. A day of rain is the opposite of all this; and the reader may have some idea of the nature of things when the bow shall be in manifestation about the throne, I invite his attention to the following testimonies.

"Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass; because I will publish the Name of Yahweh; ascribe ye greatness unto our Elohim. The Rock, his work is perfect; for all his ways are judgment; an Ail of truth and without iniquity; just and right is he" (Deut. xxxii. 1). "There is none like the Ail of Yeshurun riding heavens in thy help, and clouds in his majesty. Elohim of the east a refuge, and underneath the powers of the hidden period: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them. ISRAEL THEN SHALL DWELL IN SAFETY ALONE; the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall distil dew. Happy thou, O Israel; who like unto thee, O people, saved by Yahweh, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! And thine enemies shall waste away before thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places" (xxxiii. 26-29). >From the above we learn that when the name of Yahweh is being published to the peoples of the heavens and earth, the rain of the heaven is showering, and its dew in distillation; a state of the aerial favoring the appearance of the bow.

Between the opening of the door in the heaven, and the going forth of the lightnings and thunders, and voices from the heavens, there is no rain to cool off the sultriness of the aerial. For when the Ensign is lifted up upon the mountains, and the trumpet is being blown through the earth, Yahweh saith, "I will be still (yet in my dwelling-place I will be without fear) as dry heat impending lightning, as a Cloud of Dew in the heat of harvest" (Isa. xviii. 3,4); but when the storm of thunder and lightning has subsided, and which is to result in presenting Israel before their King; and in bringing them to the place of the Name of Yahweh Tz’vaoth the Mount Zion; then "as the rain cometh down, and the snows from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth, and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater; so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth; it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle-tree; and it shall be to Yahweh for a name, for the sign of the hidden period which shall not be cut off" (Isa. lv. 10). This is the rejoicing of the nations with Israel, all blessed in Abraham and his Seed "in the day of rain" -- the third day in which Israel is raised up, and lives in Yahweh’s sight; whose going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto them as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth (Hos. vi. 2,3); see also Joel ii. 21-29, in which it is foretold that the Spirit shall be rained down upon all flesh to the praise of the Name of Yahweh Elohim in the midst of Israel, dwelling in Zion, his holy mountain; "then shall Jerusalem be holiness, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more."

The symbol of all this blessedness and glory in the day of rain is the "rainbow circling about the throne in appearance like to an emerald." The light green, the predominant color, typifying the fertilizing effect of the rain that forms the bow. The grass of the earth has become tender. It is then no longer tough and withered, and parched. The old grass has perished; and emerald fertility obtains on every side; for the covenanted glory of Yahweh covers the earth as the waters the area of the deep.