Ezekiel 1:1, 26-28
Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God…
Above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.
H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): Ezekiel had visions of God. Again and again in the Old Testament we have these marvelous Scripture passages that tell of men beholding God, and yet it says in John 1:18, “No man hath seen God at any time.” What does it mean? It means that all of these were but theophanies. Men did not actually see God in His essential Being, but He manifested Himself to them—as a man to Abraham, as an angel to Daniel, as a marvelous appearance to Ezekiel.
JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): At length he says, “this was a vision of the likeness of the glory of Jehovah”—the glory of God was so beheld by the Prophet, that God did not appear as He really is, but as far as He can be beheld by mortal man.
MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): It was not the full glory of God—it was not the splendour of unveiled majesty.
ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Never forget, that amidst all the mysteries of this vision, the face of a man was held forth in it, and a voice was heard by the Prophet, which he distinctly observed. Surely, this could be no other than the Lord Jesus.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): The person of the Son is the glory of the Father, shining forth with a truly divine splendour. As the beams are effulgent emanations of the sun, the father and fountain of light, Jesus Christ in His person is God manifest in the flesh, He is light of light, the true Shechinah. The person of the Son is the true image and character of the person of the Father; and being of the same nature, He must bear the same image and likeness.
JOHN GILL (1697-1771): His glory is as the only begotten of the Father; and Who is the brightness of His Father’s glory, and the express image of His person, Hebrews 11:1-3.
JOHN CALVIN: Since, then, it is certain that Jesus Christ was beheld by Ezekiel, He is Jehovah, that is—Eternal God; and although He is distinct from the person of the Father, yet He is entirely God, for the Father is in Him.
THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): Here the Lord of life appears seated on His royal throne. “Above the firmament was the likeness of a throne;” the symbol of that universal dominion and eternal kingdom which, as God over all, the Lord Jesus essentially possesses; or which, as Mediator, He has received: “as the appearance of a sapphire-stone,” very glorious—“and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it;” even that divine Lord, Who in the fullness of time condescended to appear in fashion as a man.
ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): Over the canopy on which this glorious personage sat there was a fine rainbow, which, from the description here, had all its colors vivid, distinct, and in perfection—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.
JOHN CALVIN: What, then, is the object of this bow in the heavens?
THOMAS GOODWIN (1600-1679): It notes out the memorial of His covenant of grace; that as the rainbow was the sign of the covenant of nature, to put God and us in mind that He would not destroy the world any more by water, so this rainbow is to God a memorial of His covenant of grace to His church: “With everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee; this is to me as the waters of Noah; for as I have sworn that the waters should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn not to be wroth with thee,” saith God, in Isaiah 54:8,9. Which covenant is round about His throne, so to put Him in mind, in all His dispensations towards His church, to “remember His covenant.”—And therefore He also said, He will “ever be mindful of His covenant,” Psalm 111:5, and so of these mercies of His covenant—Let Him go forth any way in His dispensations towards His church, He may still be minded of mercy.
ADAM CLARKE: The rainbow is an illustrious token of mercy and love.
THOMAS GOODWIN: And His church, in all their intercourses with God, and all dispensations from God, and occasions of coming to Him, may be put in mind of mercy also, and His covenant of grace, to trust in it—that the prayers of the church may still pass from them through the rainbow, as all God’s dispensations to the church do come through the said rainbow.
ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): The expectant eyes of the trustful man and the eye of God meet, as it were, in looking on the sign. On earth it nourishes faith; in heaven it moves to love and blessing. God can be reminded of what He always remembers. The rainbow reminds Him of His covenant by its calm light. Jesus Christ reminds Him of His grace by His intercession before the throne. We remind Him of His plighted faithfulness by our prayers.
MATTHEW POOLE: A like appearance of Christ you have in Revelation 4:2,3—“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.
MATTHEW HENRY: In John’s vision, He appeared with a rainbow, the seal of the covenant, about His throne; for it is His glory to be our Redeemer.
ROBERT HAWKER: That throne which John saw surrounded with a rainbow in Revelation 4 is accessible on every side. Jesus, the Lamb, is in the midst of it. He still hears prayers; still feeds the church which He hath purchased with His blood; still acts as a priest upon His throne, and wears thy nature—and He is infinitely more ready to take in petitions and bestow blessings than His people are to ask or receive.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): If we can see the “rainbow round about the Throne,” the token of God’s Covenant Love and Grace, then we can pray very differently from the way in which we would pray if we could only see the naked sword of Divine Justice brandished to and fro to keep us back from the holy God who would not have His peerless Majesty polluted by our sinful presence! Let us always remember that when we pray aright, we deal with God on terms of Grace—and answers to our petitions come to us not according to what we deserve, but according to His Infinite Mercy and Grace in Christ Jesus our Lord! The promise that the rainbow should be seen in the cloud in the day of rain has not been forgotten—nor shall any one of the promises of the Covenant ordered in all things, and sure, be forgotten by the God of Grace!
THOMAS COKE: The bow in the clouds is the refraction of the beams of the sun. Jesus, the Sun of Righteousness, sits with the rainbow round about His throne, and therefore His people are safe from fear of evil. The sign of our security in the cloud, should ever awaken our thankfulness, and lead our minds from temporal promises thus fulfilled, to conclude the certainty of the eternal promises, which are yet in hope.
