Crystal Sea

John is caught up to the heavenly temple (Revelation 4), and it’s not surprising that he sees a “sea” in front of God’s throne. The sea is a recognizable peace of temple furniture. Further, the sea corresponds to the “waters above” that were caught up above the firmament on the second day of creation. Since John is in heaven, it’s not surprising that he would see the heavenly waters from above.

There is something of a puzzle, however, in the fact that the sea is described as being “as a glass sea like crystal” (4:6; Gr. hos thalassa huline omoia krustallo ). The sea seems to be solid, a gemstone, in contrast to the raging sea of nations that appears so frequently in Scripture. Beyond that, what is the force of these extra details about the sea?

We can begin by noting the re-use of these terms later in Revelation.

The sea is mentioned again in 15:2. Those who have gained victory over the beast and the image of the beast stand on the “sea of glass” holding harps and singing. These are the saints who were harvested in the grain-and-grapes harvest of chapter 4. Through their baptism in blood, they have passed through the sea of glass (an exodus, hence the “song of Moses,” v 3) and are not in the presence of God, along with the elders and beasts (v. 7). They are safe from the final destruction, and now their blood is going to be poured out on the harlot city until she is destroyed (ch. 16). The sea is now described as a “sea of glass mixed with fire” (v. 1), a crystalline solid sea with fire mixed in. The saints have passed through fire and water to reach the heavenly temple.

The word krustallos is used again in Revelation 22:1, describing not a sea but the river that flows through the city. That river flows “from the throne,” like the river in Ezekiel, and it has the same crystalline quality as the sea itself. The sea is the source, and whatever the sea is, flows into and through the city, nourishing the trees of life that line the banks of the river.

The LXX use of krustallos suggests other associations. In a number of places, the word refers to ice (Job 6:16; 38:29; Psalm 147:17; 148:8). The translation makes sense, since ice is of course crystalline. Job 38:29-30 is particularly relevant. There, the Lord claims to be the one who gives birth to ice (“from whose womb has come the ice?”), and the frost that descends from heaven is said to come from God. God is also the one who makes water “hard like stone” so that the “surface of the deep is imprisoned” (v. 30). As krustallos , the heavenly sea is from God’s womb, water turned to stone (the reverse of the wilderness experience, where stone turned to water), the imprisonment of the water. Because the sea is crystal, it shows God’s power to keep the turbulent waters in their place. From the heavenly crystalline sea, further, comes the frost that descends to the earth.

The use of the term in Psalm 147 runs along the same lines. Yahweh is the one who gives snow, scatters frost, and casts down ice like breadcrumbs (vv. 16-17a). Normally, we think of God’s presence as heat, but the Psalmist asks, “Who can stand before His cold?” (v. 17b). Yahweh’s power over solid water in its various forms is linked in the context to the power of His Word – the command sent to the earth, the Word that runs swiftly, the word that melts the frost and the breath/wind that makes waters flow (vv. 15, 18). This section of the Psalm is a modified chiasm:

A. Yahweh blesses Zion, vv 12-13

B. Wheat, v 14

C. His Word/command goes out, v 15

D. Snow, frost, ice, vv 16-17

B’. Sends forth word and breath to melt ice, v 18

C’. Words, statutes, ordinances, v 19

A’. Blessings to Israel, v 20

The sequence from verses 18-19 suggests that the Lord’s statutes to Israel, accompanied by His Spirit, liberates Israel from her frozen condition. There is also a creation theme behind this: The word and breath of God loosen the original formless-and-empty sea so that it becomes flowing water and fertile earth.

Turning back to Revelation 4, we can conclude: Just as Yahweh travels in a cloud that produces fertilizing rain for the earth, so on His heavenly throne He sits before a crystalline sea, from which snow, frost, and ice fall to earth. Hardened water is not life-giving, but when the Word and Breath of God go out with the crystalline water from the sea, water flows and the earth is refreshed. In the background, we can see that the various plagues of hail throughout Scripture (in Revelation, cf. 8:7; 11:19; 16:21) are linked to the crystal sea – He gives ice from above like breadcrumbs, and that can be destructive or nourishing, depending on whether the Word and Breath of God melt the ice that falls from heaven. The crystal heavenly sea corresponds to the ice-capped mountains, from which, during the warm season, water flows to irrigate the land. The Lord has a crystal sea, He is in a “cold place” because He is high up, even higher than the tallest peaks.

Krustallos also translates the Hebrew bdellium in Number 11:7. Manna is like bdellium stone (cf. Genesis 2:12), a crystal. The associations we have already noted are at work here as well. Manna is bread from heaven, falling from the crystal sea. When the Israelites first go out to find the manna, they find “frost” on the ground (Exodus 16:14; cf. Job 38:29; Psalm 147:16), and when the frost melts there are seeds of “manna” that can be turned to bread. Melting frost and ice thus turns directly into food; usually the process is more indirect -snow and frost fall, melt, irrigate fields, which produce grain that can be transformed to bread.

The closest LXX parallels to Revelation 4’s sea are in Isaiah 54:12 and Ezekiel 1:22. In the first, the walls and gates of the restored Jerusalem are compared to crystal and precious stones. The Hebrew phrase translated by krustallos is ebne-‘eqdach , “stone of fire.” That phrase captures the appearance of the heavenly sea, especially in Revelation 15:2: It is solid, icy, rock-hard, yet it sparkles with reflected light that makes it look as if fire is trapped within. As in Revelation 22, the city of God shares this crystalline quality.

Ezekiel 1:22 describes the firmament ( raqia’ ) over the heads of the living creatures as crystal. This links crystal directly with the firmament, and confirms our initial conclusion that the sea before the throne of God is the firmament, the dome of the blue sky, seen from above. The Hebrew phrase is qerach hanora’ , which might be translated as “ice of fear.” Elsewhere, qerach , “ice,” is associated with night (Genesis 31:40) as heat is associated with day, and we are told that the Lord’s breath brings frost (Jeremiah 36:30). Yahweh breathes out fire, but He also can freeze with His breath. Interestingly, the name “Korah” is the same Hebrew word.

All I’ve done here is assemble the data (or most of it) and drawn some preliminary connections. Perhaps the most interesting, given the fact that our God is a consuming fire, is that in God’s heavenly throne room there is a sea that resembles ice. More to be done; but a start.