Now, over or upon the head of this angel, John saw "the rainbow." Before iris, all the recent editors of the text insert he, "the" which is no doubt correct, as having special reference to the rainbow in ch. iv. 3. This is the symbol of the covenant, and inseparably connected with the throne. Upon this sat one like a jasper and sardine stone; and, as the rainbow was round about the throne, it was also over Him who sat thereon. The occupant of the throne is the Spirit, and those to whom he says, "he that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne;" so that the rainbow arches over all such. The Spirit-Host is the pillar of cloud between the Cherubim, which reflects the light of the divine countenance, and develops the bow. This token of the Abrahamic covenant is well and appropriately placed over "the Head" of the Angelic Spirit-Host, seeing that in Him all the fulness dwells; and that, in the days of his flesh, his blood was the blood of that covenant brought into force by His death; and by which all the individuals of the cloud were sanctified (Heb. ix. 15; x. 10). Arching over this symbol, it signifies that the angel is a company of kings and priests, related to the rainbowed throne -- the throne covenanted to David and his seed.

The rainbow occurs only twice among the symbols of the Apocalypse; once in the fourth chapter, and again in the tenth. When seen by the scribe instructed for the kingdom of the heavens, it reminds him of "the covenants of promise," in which he has become interested by adoption into "the Commonwealth of Israel," when he put on Christ by immersion, as "the obedience of faith" (Eph. ii. 12; Gal. iii. 27,29; Rom. xvi. 26). The rainbow token in a scene reminds him, that the symbol with which it is associated, has to do with the Holy Land, and the Kingdom, of which the land is the territory. It suggests, that the things signified by the symbol are connected with the avenging of the holy (Dan. viii. 14); when the covenant with Jacob, and the covenant with Isaac, and the covenant with Abraham, has been remembered; and the land also (Lev. xxvi. 42).