Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
Two oldest manuscripts, A, B, Vulgate, Coptic, and Syriac read, "As it were a sea of glass."
like . . . crystal—not imperfectly transparent as the ancient common glass, but like rock crystal. Contrast the turbid "many waters" on which the harlot "sitteth" (Revelation 17:1, Revelation 17:15). Compare Job 37:18, "the sky . . . as a molten looking-glass." Thus, primarily, the pure ether which separates God's throne from John, and from all things before it, may be meant, symbolizing the "purity, calmness, and majesty of God's rule" [ALFORD]. But see the analogue in the temple, the molten sea before the sanctuary (see on Revelation 4:4, above). There is in this sea depth and transparency, but not the fluidity and instability of the natural sea (compare Revelation 21:1). It stands solid, calm, and clear, God's judgments are called "a great deep" (Psalms 36:6). In Revelation 15:2 it is a "sea of glass mingled with fire." Thus there is symbolized here the purificatory baptism of water and the Spirit of all who are made "kings and priests unto God." In Revelation 15:2 the baptism with the fire of trial is meant. Through both all the king-priests have to pass in coming to God: His judgments, which overwhelm the ungodly, they stand firmly upon, as on a solid sea of glass; able like Christ to walk on the sea, as though it were solid.
round about the throne—one in the midst of each side of the throne.
four beasts—The Greek for "beasts," Revelation 13:1, Revelation 13:11, is different, therion, the symbol for the carnal man by opposition to God losing his true glory, as lord, under Him, of the lower creatures, and degraded to the level of the beast. Here it is zoon, "living creatures"; not beast.
Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Revelation 4:6:
Isaiah 37:16
Ezekiel 1:5
Ezekiel 1:6
Revelation 1:4
Revelation 4:1
Revelation 4:4
Revelation 4:4
Revelation 4:8
Revelation 22:1
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