Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. –Revelation 21:1
Dear heavenly Father, as the gift of fresh coffee helps my transition from a good night’s sleep into a new day’s mercies (Lam. 3:22-24), so your Word is quickening all of my senses. As you greet me this morning with your steadfast love, I can hear the roar of waves breaking along the Gulf coast. It’s a stormy morning-one which connects me with John’s hope-filled vision of our sea-less future.
How I praise you, Father, that this very universe… this very earth… this very beach has been bought back by Jesus. How I praise you, Father, that, even as you’re redeeming your sons and daughters from every single tribe, language, people and nation, so you are restoring the world, this world, in which you placed us. For as surely as the waters cover the sea, so the knowledge of your glory will cover the earth one Day (Habakkuk 2:14). The “passing away” of the first heaven and the first earth doesn’t speak of its replacement, but it’s restoration… to which I say a very loud, “Hallelujah!”
I smile really, really big when I try to image the glorified beaches of the new heaven and new earth. I can hardly wait for Day when I get to hear (and join!) “every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them singing: ‘to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, forever and ever!'”
Indeed, Father, John’s vision is not about a beach-less future, but a “sea-less” one-an eternity and a world delivered and devoid of all chaos and evil-no more sea-beasts, only beauty… no more angry leviathan, only dancing dolphin… no more tempest, only the triumph of the Lamb!
I can only imagine such a glorious state of affairs… but may John’s vision compel and propel me and my friends to engage, not retreat… to show up, not disappear… to be filled with missional hope and gospel-servanthood as we seek first your kingdom and the righteousness that is by faith… as we wait expectantly for that Day. So very Amen, I pray, in the name of our resurrected and reigning King, Jesus.