GOD’S WORD FOR AUGUST 22~ ~ Psalm 16:3 ~ ~ “As for the saints who are on the earth, “They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.”

From “We Shall See God”

“AND THE SEA WAS NO MORE”  Part 2

ALCORN:

When we read about  no more seas, we think of God’s doing away with the oceans that cover most of His beloved earth.  We think there will be no more surfing, tide pools, snorkeling, and fun on the beach, and there will be no ore wonderful sea creatures.  From Spurgeon’s viewpoint, and most of us would feel the same way, that sounds like bad news.  While Spurgeon’s meditation from “Morning and Evening” is very brief, in tribute to him I’d like to further develop from Scripture the issue he raised, making a case I think he might have appreciated.

When Revelation 21:1 says that “the sea was no more,” we must try to understand “sea” in exactly the way the writer and his readers of the Book of Revelation would have understood it.  To the great majority of them, the sea was devoid of the romantic properties many of us associate with it.  Rather, the sea consisted of those vast, icy, treacherous, stormy waters that separated families, destroyed ships, and drowned loved ones.  It posed a constant threat, with its great creatures that swallowed up seafarers and its salt waters that poisoned people on the open sea who craved fresh water.  With that understanding, “no more sea” was a reassuring prospect!

Author and Bible teacher Steven Lawson points out, “To the ancient peoples, the sea was frightful and fearsome, an awesome monster, a watery grave.  They had no compass to guide them in the open sea.  On a cloudy day, their ships were absolutely lost without the stars or the sun to guide them.  Their frail ships were at the mercy of the tempestuous ocean’s fearsome angry storms.  The loss of human life in the sea was beyond calculation.”

But let’s look at the larger picture.  Of course, it was God who created the seas (Genesis 1:9-10).  Like everything else He made, they were very good (Genesis 1:31).  But the curse had a devastating effect on creation, including the ocean waters.

Even if Revelation 21:1 is a literal promise of “no more ocean” this doesn’t necessarily mean the absence of large bodies of water.  Revelation tells us a great river flows right through the capital city (22:1-2).  How much more water will there be outside the city?  Flowing rivers go somewhere.  Some of the world’s lakes are huge and sea-like, so theoretically the new earth could have even larger lakes.  Huge lakes could, in effect, be freshwater oceans.

Ezekiel 47 speaks of the water flowing from the Temple, which parallels the water flowing from the Messiah’s throne on the new earth (Revelation 22)  Ezekiel says, “I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river”  (47:7).  Then he is told, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh.  Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows.  There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live.”  (Ezekiel 47:8-9)

Ezekiel 47 goes on to say, “Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river.  Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail.  Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them.  Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing (verse 12).  This promise is applied directly to the new earth in Revelation 22:2.  Since this is clearly a new earth passage, it appears that the reference to “no more sea” in Revelation 21 may simply mean “no more sea as we now know it.”

In “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader”, on of C.S. Lewis’s books in the classic Chronicles of Narnia series, the talking mouse Reepicheep is on a quest to find Aslan’s country, which can be a type of heaven.  As Reepicheep nears Aslan’s country, the salt water transforms into pure, refreshing, life-giving “sweet” water.  Will something similar happen on the new earth?

Romans 8 suggests that “the whole creation,” not just human beings, will experience a renewed existence on the new earth.  Since most of the earth’s species live in the ocean, it seems likely some of them will be re-created.  Surely it would be easy for God to enable today’s saltwater creatures to live in fresh water.  I think that is more than wishful thinking, and there are Biblical grounds to support Spurgeon’s instinct that there may well be bodies of water of some sort of God’s new earth.

I’ve done enough snorkeling and diving to know it’s exhilarating and worshipful to be immersed in the God-made undersea world.  Twenty years ago I took out a boat and went snorkeling with one of my daughters and some friends.  Suddenly, in very deep water, we heard the melodic sounds of whales calling to one another.  We floated, nearly motionless, as the sounds grew louder and louder.  We found ourselves absorbed in musical beauty and power that defied words.  I felt indescribably close to God during that almost magical experience.

While I can’t be sure, I believe we will swim and dive in large bodies of water, perhaps without tanks or masks, opening our eyes wide and playing with God’s creatures of the deep.  And if not, of course, God will have still better things in store for us, all of them for His glory and our delight!!!

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Psalm 37:4

Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

Revelation 3:12

He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.

Revelation 4:1

After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.”

Psalm 19:14

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.

Psalm 33:4

For the word of the Lord is right, And all His work is done in truth.

Psalm 68:11

The Lord gave the word; Great was the company of those who proclaimed it:

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