6Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. (NKJV)

Commentary

Now there are several things going on in this next section of Scripture, so I decided to break this part of the passage away from the rest of the chapter. In this verse, we read of a sea of glass before the throne of God. The Greek word here is θάλασσα (thalassa) which means sea or lake, but this is no ordinary sea. This is a heavenly sea in the temple of God. In the Old Testament God commissioned King Solomon to set up a type of sea whereby the high priests would come and cleanse themselves before entering the temple. These priests of God were not clean. They had to become clean before entering God's presence.

Jesus, our greater high priest and has no need for cleansing like those in the Old Testament sacrificial system. One commentator says it this way, "Our great high priest [Jesus] has no need of purification, and the bronze sea [the sea of the high priests in the Old Testament] is now a crystal sea [as we see here in Revelation 4]"[1]. In the heavenly temple, the sea is crystal. The sea leading up to the throne of God is clear. The path to God is clear. And it's all because of Jesus. Jesus is our great high priest who made purification for sins once and for all, gained us access to the throne of God and is seated at the right hand of God (Hebrews 10:12).

Meditation Point

We have no use for priests. Jesus is the only priest we need and He is sufficient. He has granted us peace with God through His shed blood and He intercedes on our behalf as our high priest (Romans 8:34).