On a Sea of Glass: The Life and Loss of the RMS Titanic

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary2. sea of glass—Answering to the molten sea or great brazen laver before the mercy seat of the earthly temple, for the purification of the priests; typifying the baptism of water and the Spirit of all who are made kings and priests unto God. And before the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. It is a ‘sea of glass mingled with fire.’ Divine acts of retribution as it were flash through it, if I may so say, like those streaks of red that are seen in Venice glass, or like some ocean smitten upon the one side of every wave by a fiery sunlight, while the other side of each is dark. So through that great depth of God’s dealings there flashes the fire of retribution. They who have conquered the animal, the godless self, see into the meaning and the mercifulness of God’s dealings with the world; and we here, in the measure in which we have become victors over the rude animalism and the more subtle selfishness that tend to rule us all, and in the measure in which we bear the image of Jesus Christ, and therefore have come into sympathy with Him, may come to discern with some clearer understanding, and to trust with more unfaltering faith, the righteousness and the mercy of all that God shall do. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and them that come off victorious from the beast, and from his image, and from the number of his name, standing by the sea of glass, having harps of God.

Cf. Revelation 5:8, Revelation 14:2, 1 Chronicles 16:42. The “ harps of God” are such as serve only for the praise of God.[3620] And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. And I saw what seemed to be a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who had gained the victory over the Wild Beast and over his statue and the number of his name, standing by the sea of glass and having harps which belonged to God.

And over his mark - See the notes on Revelation 13:16. Over all the attempts of the beast to fix his mark upon them, or to designate them as his own.

stand on the sea of glass; which, if applied to the blood of Christ, shows that these confessors were purified by it, and were more than conquerors through it; that they were come out of great tribulation, and had washed their garments, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb; and were just come up from the washing, and stood upon, or rather by, or "near the sea", as the Arabic version renders it, in allusion to the priests at the molten sea, in the temple: but if the world is meant by the sea, their standing upon it designs their victory and triumph over it by faith, their having it under their feet, and their contempt of it; but rather, since the Gospel is intended, it may denote their solid standing upon the doctrines of it, the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and their steadfast continuance in them, and faithful abiding by them, whereby they got the victory over antichrist: g0- ὅσιος-g0-. The variation ἅγιος arises from the classical linguistic prejudice, according to which the predicate ὅσιος, which in the N. T. is said only ( Revelation 16:5) of God, is applied to godly men.[3633] Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the. The goal in producing this volume was to take nothing for granted, not to rely on conclusions made through generation after generation of re-tellings by various researchers and authors, some of whose “facts” are of dubious origin; emotional attachment to dearly-cherished and often-retold aspects of the disaster were cast aside in the light of the historical record. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gained the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(2) And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire.—The wild beast rose out of the sea ( Revelation 13:1); the evil-hearted woman sits upon many waters ( Revelation 17:1); they draw strength from the wild, and ungoverned, and short-sighted impulses of human passion; in opposition to this near the throne of God is the calm and translucent sea of God’s counsels of righteousness and love, now clear as crystal, now ruddy with the fire of righteous indignation, the expression of His eternal will against sin. Such is the appearance of this glass-like sea now that the angels of the plagues are going forth.

Expressions which seem to mean nearly the same thing; standing on the sea of glass — Which was before the throne; having the harps of God — Most books on the Titanic through the years have steered clear of a scholarly approach to telling the history of the legendary liner. Unfortunately this has allowed many errors to be perpetuated through the years, simply because many of these “facts” are considered “common knowledge” and get repeated in many other Titanic books. It has also allowed some authors too much leeway in presenting a single picture as fact, when other possibilities and interpretations are possible or probable. Other books take only a half-hearted stab at a scholarly approach, presenting token citations which give the appearance of respectable research, and which in some cases present only the evidence that supports the author’s/authors’ personal preconceptions. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire, and them that had overcome the beast, and his image, and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having the harps of God:

Shots in the Dark: Did an Officer Commit Suicide on the Titanic? – This appendix studies survivor evidence regarding the possibility that one of the ship’s officers killed himself as the disaster played out, with remarkable results. And before the throne was something like a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne and around the throne were four living creatures, being full of eyes in front and behind. Although the words ὅτι μόνος ὄσιος present the alone holiness of God simply as the ground because of which every one must fear him, and the name of God be praised by every one, the fundamental reference to the succeeding words is not so readily afforded. The interposition of the first clause ὅτι μόν. ὅσ. modifies in a certain degree the inner connection, in the sense that the words ὅτι πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, κ. τ. λ., which express the sum of the O. T. prophecies concerning the conversion of the Gentiles—and that, too, in its universality, so that the question is not that in fact only a certain number of the heathen are converted—give the foundation for the thought of the question, τίς οὐ μῂ φοβ., κ. τ. λ.: “Thee, who art the King of the nations, every one must and certainly shall fear, for all the nations shall adore Thee as their King.” And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:

And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. Of the three clauses introduced by the ὅτι, the first two are co-ordinated with each other, since the former in its way gives the basis for the interrogatory τίς Strong's 1504: An image, likeness, bust. From eiko; a likeness, i.e. statue, profile, or representation, resemblance. It would be difficult to be too extravagant in praise of this book. … [It is] comprehensive … I doubt that anyone in the foreseeable future is likely to match, let alone exceed, the quality of this book on this subject.”– B.T. Strong's 2192: To have, hold, possess. Including an alternate form scheo skheh'-o; a primary verb; to hold.

According to my kindle that chapter was a little less than 2 hours long, which certainly felt very tedious and a bit of a time waster. It's understandable to put as much info as possible even if it's repetitive, but I personally would've preferred it to be more condensed since it didn't really offer anything new. Southampton to Cherbourg. – Learn more about this least-documented and frequently misunderstood portion of Titanic‘s maiden voyage from a navigational / timing perspective. Thomas Andrews’ Fate. – Andrews is almost universally portrayed as last seen in the First Class Smoking Room just minutes before the liner foundered … but is this the most accurate representation of the historical record? What was the last well-reported sighting of Andrews, and how does that fit in with other available evidence? A groundbreaking analysis. It’s striking what t