In Front of the Throne
Revelation 4:6, “And before the Throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal.”
“I looked, and Behold! A Door standing open to heaven!” Revelation 4 catapults John into the throne room of heaven. (This is what apocalyptic literature does: it peels back the unseen, but super-real, spiritual, heavenly realm.)
John sees and hears many things as his (and our) journey begins. But I want to draw your attention to one detail that I’d overlooked for years of being familiar with this passage: what was before the Throne of God.
Several weeks ago, at the outset of the pandemic, the LORD put me in mind of Psalm 29:10: The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD sits enthroned as king forever. So while the nations rage and the kingdoms are shaken, we learn from the Psalmist (nearly 3,000 years ago) that God is still sitting on His throne.
This is a powerful image, especially for a Midwestern boy. I know how to swim, but I am not enthusiastic about water deeper than I can touch. And while I enjoy a good fish fry, I’m not passionate about discovering what lurks in the shadows of the world’s waterways. So I can empathize with the Ancient world’s correlation of The Sea with chaotic evil, fearful malevolence—up comes a storm and down goes the family business; up comes Leviathan and down goes the crew. “The Flood” symbolized destruction, chaos, darkness, and death. All that opposed God’s “good” creation, orderly calling on Israel, and prophetic hope of life.
The Psalmist says, God’s sitting on the throne over it all. Amen!
But notice, John says something different in Revelation. He sees, in front of the throne, “a glassy sea, like crystal.” What does this mean? It means that when we pop our heads out of this world’s chaotic news cycle, its wars-and-rumors, we find something remarkable. God is on His throne. And before Him, the Sea, the power of chaos, darkness, and evil, is powerless and still.
First, John says that it’s a glassy sea. Drive into Palmyra from the East some early morning and you’ll get an idea of what John’s describing. It’s still—“a great calm.” (Mat 8:26) Nothing to be afraid of, at all. No waves, no ripples, no wind—and what is under the surface is see-able—no fearful mystery, no Nessie down there! The powers of chaos, the powers that ruined God’s good world, that ripped out all boundaries and is ever urging anarchy and destruction, those powers are powerless.
Second, John says that it’s like crystal. It’s not moving or movable. Glassy describes its appearance; Crystal describes its condition. “The LORD sits as king forever.” The powers of darkness have no power, nor will they forever.
Now, you might say, “Well, sure, this is Revelation. That’s how things will be in the end, right?” No, you’re thinking of Revelation 21:1, “I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” Remember, in that place there will be no evil. No more tears then. “The Sea” will be no more—caput, gone, sent packing, put where it belongs, fin. No more.
But in Revelation 4, at the beginning of the Revelation, John’s peaking into what is now.
This is good news. John just got done encouraging “the seven churches of Asia Minor” to “endure” and “conquer.” But he’s in exile, with the rest of the apostles murdered by the state, and persecution of Christians rolling in waves across the Roman Empire.
Endure. Conquer.
Where will they get the strength to endure? To conquer?
Where will we, for that matter, get the strength to endure? To conquer? As more and more the cultural props that made being a Christian easy and convenient get swatted away and it makes less and less sense to look to an ancient book and stories of miracles for truth and hope. The future is foreboding. There’s a storm coming. Batten down the hatches.
Endure. Conquer. How? “Behold! A door standing open into heaven!”
What do we see? The LORD God enthroned over all, and before His power there is no other power nor shall there ever be any power. Evil quiet like a mirrored lake, immobile as six-inches of February freeze.
We will experience raging and thrashing and destruction and woes, but the story of what evil does here is not the whole story, the Truth. Evil does not sit on the throne. Evil doesn’t even skittle like a water-bug before the throne. Evil makes no waves.
Endure. Conquer. Someday the sea will be no more. Until then, see Who sits enthroned in power over all that rages and threatens here and now.
“Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things and by your will they existed and were created!” (Rev 4:8, 11)
Photo by Jacky Huang on Unsplash
