The Sea of Glass, Like Crystal
12/13 Reading Portions: 2 Chronicles 14-15; Revelation 4; Haggai 2; John 3
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12/13 Reading Portions: 2 Chronicles 14-15; Revelation 4; Haggai 2; John 3
Revelation 4:6
and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.
GOSPEL
Some take the fourth chapter as a period of time, a measure of an instance because of the Greek term Μετὰ ταῦτα (me-TA TAU-ta), translated “After this” (Rev 4:1). But that term here, cannot be separated from the word following, εἶδον (EE-don), meaning “I looked” or “I saw” for two reasons. First, the first term without the second doesn’t make sense in classical or koine Greek. Second, John entered the timelessness of the eternal throne of God. “After this I looked” must simply refer to being after he had seen the vision of Christ (Rev 1) and received the words of Christ for the churches (Rev 2-3).
Everything is striking here, and John can only describe what the Spirit reveals to him to disclose because this is what Paul explains is the third heaven (2 Cor 12:1-4). The one item we will meditate upon today is the sea of glass, like crystal. Now, there are too many things about this glassy sea to be touched upon in a single devotional thought, so let us concentrate on just a few of the most important. Because it is before the throne of God, we must recognize its representation of the gospel, and therefore, it is a picture of Christ (John 14:6). There is no access to God apart from Christ and His eternal gospel. It is a sea deep enough to cover a multitude of sins, vast enough to reach the chief of sinner, and pure enough to cleanse the vilest wretch. This gospel sea has a glass-like quality that is not opaque like the glass we know on earth, but instead, is as transparent as rock-crystal, indicating Christ’s purity, majesty, holiness, and a calm that is free of the turbulence of sin; just as Jesus walked upon the waters of Galilee in the midst of the storm (John 6:18-20). Again, it is “before the throne” of God because, from earth’s fallen perspective, there is the allegorical picture of the sky of the first heaven and the outer space of the second heaven that separates sinful man from fellowship with God, just as Israel’s elders beheld “a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness” beneath the God of Israel’s feet (Ex 24:9-10). Man’s sin, and his associated separation from God, must be bridged by Christ and His gospel, and therefore, the glassy sea indicates God’s mercy, grace, and love. Hallelujah! What a Savior!