ght. The
rainbow on the cloud, to Noah and his descendants, constitutes the sure
pledge of God's covenant promise not to destroy the earth with another
deluge; so, also, the bow surrounding the throne is a symbol of God's
covenant favor with his people eternally.

There were "lightnings and thunderings and voices" proceeding from the
throne--the same outward manifestations as heralded the Godhead when he
came down on Sinai to declare his holy law. The "seven lamps of fire
burning before the throne" are said to signify the seven spirits of God.
These are not lamp-stands or candle-sticks, such as the ones in the
midst of which the Son of God walked on earth, but seven lights or
flames of fire, representing the operation of the Holy Spirit upon the
hearts of men and women. Surrounding the throne also was "a sea of glass
like unto crystal." In the Greek it stands in a little different
form--"And before the throne _as it were_ a sea of glass." Describing
the same object in chapter 15:2, the Revelator says, "I saw _as it were_
a sea of glass." It was a broad expanse spread out before the throne
with a glassy or transparent appearance like crystal. Its signification
will be made clear hereafter.

In addition to this description of the throne and Deity, our attention
is directed to certain objects before and surrounding the throne. Four
beasts and four and twenty elders are brought to view. The word _beasts_
is a very unfortunate translation, being necessarily associated in our
minds with the brute creation. It is not the word _therion_, which in
thirty-five instances in the Apocalypse is translated beast, denoting an
animal of wild disposition, but the word _zoon_, which signifies "a
living creature," and is thus rendered by many of the translators of the
New Testament. Their being full of eyes signifies sleepless vigilance
and superior intelligence and discernment. The chief description given
of the first living creature is that it was "like a lion." It is stated,
not that the creature was a lion, but that it was "like a lion." It
possessed some peculiar quality characteristic of the lion; namely,
strength and courage. The second living creature, "like a calf," or,
more properly, the ox, is symbolic of sacrifice or of patient labor. The
third, with "a face as a man," denotes reason and intelligence. While
the fourth, "like a flying eagle," is an emblem of swiftness and
far-sighted vision.

But the peculiar qualities thus s