The Subjects of Praise: Those who Conquered the Beast
Where is the Worship?
The scene described for us has a fantastic aesthetic that ignites out imaginations. After angels with seven cups of wrath are announced we are introduced to a group of people that are standing beside a sea of what looks like glass and fire. If we had been reading the book of revelation from start to finish we should know where the worshipers in our text are.
Revelation 4:6 (ESV)
and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.
This is the throne-room of God, at first inhabited by four creatures and twenty four elders, now full of a multitude.
However, the sea of glass is different this time; it is mingled with fire. At first there were seven torches that symbolized the Spirit of God sent out into the Churches, but now fire mingles with the crystal sea. We get a clue as to why this in only one verse before.
Verse 2 seems to take a strange turn from the wrath that is about to be revealed in the seven angels with the seven plagues. So the appearance of fire in the sea of glass is likely tied to the wrath that is formerly mentioned.
