WE MUST REACH THE RAINBOW

August 5, 2001 am
MF Blume

Revelation 4:1-6 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. 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. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. 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. And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.

 

God more often than not chose to teach us spiritual truths through stories of physical events.

In this vision of John, we see Heaven opened up, John called to go up to see Heaven, and the sight of a throne with a rainbow around it.

Let’s look at the origin of the rainbow in the well-known story of Noah and the Ark.

Genesis 8:15-16 And God spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.

Genesis 9:8-13 And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. 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.

The rainbow was a token of the covenant between God and Noah and all living creatures.

So the rainbow was a blessed sight after such a horrific experience of watching the world drown in death.

We have to come to the rainbow!

Noah saw all the sin in the world around him, and God’s attention was directed to him alone out of all of the world.

And Noah built AN ARK, entered into it, and the door closed behind him.

We Must Reach the Rainbow.

Everyone around him, who did not get into that ark, never enjoyed the sight of a rainbow.

Floods represent death.

2 Samuel 22:5 When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid;

After the Flood there was a rainbow!

The water saved Noah and his family when it killed the rest of the world.

1Pet 3:20 …the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

The ark made the difference.

Something else killed some while saving God’s people!

Exodus 12:5-7 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.

Exodus 12:12-13 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

PASSOVER NIGHT!

The last plague to hit Egypt was death.

In Noah’s case and Israel’s case, ENTRANCE made the difference.

And the death of the Lamb was considered to be the death of the Hebrews.

Exodus 12:29 And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt,…

You might think there is a contradiction since the firstborn of Israel were saved.

In God’s eyes, every firstborn died.

As Noah escaped a world of sin and iniquity, and entered into a world where there would never be that same sin again, Israel escaped a world of Egyptian bondage.

The idea of entering a door with blood around it is a picture that is trying to get the image of entering into the lamb’s death!

This is absolutely pivotal in the story of the Gospel.

And when we look at John’s vision once again, we see all the elements of the two stories.

Revelation 5:1-3 And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.

When nobody was able to get across the crystal sea to reach the throne where the rainbow was, and the little sealed book, we see….

Revelation 5:6-7 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.

He appeared on the water!

Revelation 5:9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;

Suddenly we read:

Revelation 6:1-2 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw,…

How could John come after not being able to come?

Everyone will face death one day.

The flood appearing before the throne speaks of the uncrossable obstacle of death.

And once we are baptized into His death and reach the other side, THERE ARE NO MORE FLOODS!

NO MORE DEATHS.

WE HAVE TO REACH THE RAINBOW!

You have to get to the place where the curse is gone!

You the only death you enter is your own death at the end of your natural life, then you will not rise from it.

AND YOU WILL NEVER REACH THE RAINBOW.

The rainbow is the blessing of no more floods of death.

Recall that the rainbow was EMERALD.

This stresses the point even moreso!

People speak about their Christianity since they joined church.

Its not joining church that saves your soul.

Its being baptized into Jesus Christ’s death, and coming out on the other side where the rainbow is!

The one who had the vision in Revelation also wrote:

John 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

Sin brings death.

Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

But Christ reversed it all.

His death removes sin!

Genesis 8:4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.

ARARAT literally means THE CURSE IS REVERSED.

Who would have thought the flood of death would end with a rainbow that told the tale of no more deaths?

Between John and the throne with the rainbow was the resurrected Christ!

1 John 5:11-13 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; [and] he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

After salvation, keep your life clean, since the entire reason God flooded out the world was due to its sin.

Isaiah 59:1-3 Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid [his] face from you, that he will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.

Sin separates us from God.

There are people here who have already traversed the Flood and are at the throne where the rainbow is.

The world may be so-called "progressing" by condoning more sins than in times past, BUT THE WORD OF GOD REMAINS THE SAME.

Ezek 43:7-10 And he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile, [neither] they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, nor by the carcases of their kings in their high places. In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds, and their post by my posts, and the wall between me and them, they have even defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in mine anger. Now let them put away their whoredom, and the carcases of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever. Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern.

Revelation 7:9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;

Revelation 7:14-15 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.

Sin cannot allow you to stay with the Lamb!

Revelation 3:4-5 Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.