Revelation 4: 6a

Revelation 4: 6a

Revelation 4:6a and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal

Reference I

Moses, the sons of Aaron, and the elders of Israel saw something similar when they met with God on Mount Sinai:

Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity.

Exodus 24:9 Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up,

Exodus 24:10 and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness.

Reference II

1 Kings 7:23 Then he made the sea of cast metal. It was round, ten cubits from brim to brim, and five cubits high, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference.

1 Kings 7:24 Under its brim were gourds, for ten cubits, compassing the sea all around. The gourds were in two rows, cast with it when it was cast.

1 Kings 7:25 It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The sea was set on them, and all their rear parts were inward.

1 Kings 7:26 Its thickness was a handbreadth,^[1] and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held two thousand baths.^[2]

Reference III – Ezekiel Vison

This sea may also symbolize the “river of life” which flows from the temple during the Millennium (Eze. Eze. 47:1-9) and proceeds from the throne in the eternal state     Ezekiel 47:1 Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar.

Reference: IV John saw the river of water in heaven, its look like bright andcrystal

Revelation 22:1 Then the angel^[1] showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb

Reference VI – God’s Instruction to Moses

Reference VII:  Bronze laver in the tabernacle

Exodus 38:8 He made the basin of bronze and its stand of bronze, from the mirrors of the ministering women who ministered in the entrance of the tent of meeting.

Reference:   Solomon’s Temple

2 Chronicles 4:2 Then he made the sea of cast metal. It was round, ten cubits from brim to brim, and five cubits high, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference.

Why this Sea Glass ?

 To cleanse our self from our sin

Exodus 30:17 The Lord said to Moses,

Exodus 30:18 "You shall also make a basin of bronze, with its stand of bronze, for washing. You shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it,

Exodus 30:19 with which Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet.

Exodus 30:20 When they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn a food offering^[1] to the Lord, they shall wash with water, so that they may not die.

Exodus 30:21 They shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they may not die. It shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his offspring throughout their generations."

Conclusion

The water pictured the cleansing of sin, the repentance of the believer. When we are baptized, the believer is pictured dying and rising with Christ (Col. 2:12).  Paul in Ephesians calls the water the word which washes us from our sins. 

Ephesians 5:26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,

Ephesians 5:27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.^[1]

What is the washing of water and word is nothing but baptism. What will happen, when we are taking baptism? We are all dying with Christ for sin. With Christ we are rising for the new life for salvation.

Colossians 2:12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.