Revelation 4:6

and before the throne as it were a sea of glass like unto crystal; and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, four living creatures full of eyes before and behind.

A sea of glass ... If the sea represents populations of the earth, as in late chapters, the calmness of it here would indicate the tranquillity and peacefulness of souls in the service of God, and how his eyes can penetrate to the very bottom. The purpose of the crystal sea might have been simply the creation of an emphatic distance between the beholder and the throne itself. There is also the possibility that it is an inert factor in the vision, as are certain ingredients in the parables of the Master.

The four living creatures ... The many eyes "before and behind" in these creatures have a suggestion of something approaching omniscience, yet their being "creatures" limits this. The visions in Ezekiel 1 and Isaiah 6 are so similar to this that we feel justified in accepting what is revealed there as having the same application here. For some time, it appears, Ezekiel wondered what the living creatures were; but a later vision (Ezekiel 10) gave him the clue to the mystery. Then he said:

This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river Chebar; and I knew they were cherubim (Ezekiel 10:20).

We may safely set aside, therefore, the ancient interpretations that interpret these as the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, or the symbols of the four divisions of Israel's marching formation in the wilderness,[38] "the countless living earthly agencies of God's providence,"[39] "the entire animate creation,"[40] or "the four chief signs of the Zodiac,"[41] etc. There is practically nothing that can be fully known about these living beings in God's presence. John's description of what he saw in this vision of God's throne is not a photographic depiction, but an impressionistic view.

[38] Adam Clarke, op. cit., p. 989.

[39] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 181.

[40] G. R. Beasley-Murray, op. cit., p. 117.

[41] Ibid.