III: Exodus and Wilderness

Sea of Glass

the holiness barrier before the throne

Root
Exod 24:10 · raqia (H7549)
Old Testament chain
  1. Exod 24:10
  2. 1 Kgs 7:23-26
  3. Job 37:18
  4. Ezek 1:22, 26
  5. Rev 4:6
New Testament
Rev 4:6; Rev 15:2

At the covenant meal on Sinai the elders saw under Elohim's feet "a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness" (Exod 24:10). Ezekiel saw the firmament "as the colour of the terrible crystal" spread over the living creatures with the throne above it (Ezek 1:22, 26). In Revelation 4:6 the sea of glass is a barrier of holiness separating the Court from all that is unclean: what Ezekiel saw from below, John now sees from within. Mingled with fire in Revelation 15:2, where the victors stand singing as Israel stood beside the Red Sea, it is holiness joined with judgment.

From The Courtroom of Heaven, pp. 63, 66, 237, 239