Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth,
for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. Rev. 21:1
Heavenly Father, good friends just sent me an iPhoto of a gorgeous Florida beach, after journeying by car all the way from Green Bay. It connected me with John’s hope-filled vision of our “sea-less” future. Thankfully, it’s not a “beach-less” forever.
As surely as the waters cover the sea, so the knowledge of your glory will cover the earth one day (Hab. 2:14). The “passing away” of the first heaven and the first earth doesn’t speak of its replacement, but its restoration. As surely as our bodies our destined for resurrection, so is your beloved cosmos.
I can’t smile big enough, contemplating the glorified beaches of the new heaven and new earth. I can hardly wait for the day when I get to hear “every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying: ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!’” (Rev. 5:13).
Indeed, John’s vision is not about a “beach-less” future but about a “sea-less” one. As he wrote Revelation, “the sea” represented everything broken and dark, chaotic and evil in the world. Thankfully, all that stuff has an expiration date.
By the Spirit, John saw our forever home as a place of no more sea beasts, only beauty; no more angry leviathan, only dancing dolphin; no more lethal viruses, only viral joy; no more tempest, only the triumph of the Lamb. Hallelujah on steroids.
Father, help us see what John saw, that we might live with missional engagement, neighbor love, and Gospel-hope. So very Amen I pray, in Jesus’ making-all-things-new name.
