Revelation: Sea of Glass

Revelation: Justification by Faith

Sea of Glass

Revelation 4:5: And from the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God.
Verse 6: And before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind.

Again, our eyes are drawn to the sanctuary.
We’ve already established that the earthly sanctuary was a depiction or explanation of the heavenly sanctuary, where John now sees the throne—or ark—of God.
The ark of the covenant, which in the earthly temple sat in the Most Holy Place, was seen as the throne of God. It was from there that God spoke to mankind.
And now we have seen that it is from this throne that He speaks the Gospel to us and calls us to obey it.
Before the throne or the ark, we now find a sea of glass, like crystal.
In Solomon’s temple we find a bronze sea in the outer court. If the golden temple represents the heavenly one, then the bronze outer court is the earth, where the sacrifice was also made.
Here we find the sea of glass. We must see the sea of glass as being on earth but before the face of God. We must be regarded as standing before God Himself, since He sees us from His throne.
What, then, was this sea of glass?

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.
Verse 24: Under its brim were gourds, encircling it all around, ten to a cubit, completely surrounding the sea. The gourds were cast in two rows when it was cast.
Verse 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.
Verse 26: Its thickness was a handbreadth, and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held two thousand baths.
Verse 27: He also made ten stands of bronze. Each stand was four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high.

This sea was used for washings:

2 Chronicles 4:6: He also made ten basins in which to wash, and set five on the right side and five on the left. In them was rinsed what was offered for the burnt offering, but the sea was for the priests to wash in.

So the basins were linked to it.
The priests washed themselves in the cast sea.
In the tabernacle of Moses—which was a less elaborate and less wealthy type than Solomon’s—we find only the bronze basin for washing. Interestingly, this basin was made from the mirrors of the women, which gave a clear reflection:

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.

Here we begin to understand something about the ‘sea of glass.’ It gives us the idea of a place where one was meant to wash and something that reflected, like mirrors.
Job happens to show us the connection between “cast” and “mirrors,” thus making an incidental link between the cast sea and the mirrors of the basin:

Job 37:18: Can you, like him, spread out the skies, hard as a cast metal (brasen) mirror?

So we have a cast bronze sea, in which the priests washed, which in an earlier version was a basin made from mirrors. This stood before the ark, the throne of God, in the temple.
James explains better than anyone the meaning of these things:

James 1:21: Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
Verse 22: But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
Verse 23: For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.
Verse 24: For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.
Verse 25: But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

It is the intention that we look into the law of God (James later quotes the Ten Commandments as the law of love to show what this law is). Then it will act as a kind of mirror in which we see our own filthiness. That is when we ought to wash and be doers of the Word.
This is the experience of a Christian.
They see their defects, but are also washed. They do not reject the law of liberty, but look into it as a mirror to prepare themselves for their Bridegroom.
Often this is painful and not a pleasant experience, but it will prove to be worth it. The Holy Spirit works like a burning flame upon our conscience and convicts us of sin. It is like a lamp shining in our hearts to expose all the mess.
But He does not do this for our condemnation:

Revelation 3:19: Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.