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, fresh coffee is helping me transition from a good night’s sleep into a new day’s mercies and your Word is quickening all of my senses. As you greet me this morning with your steadfast love (Lam. 3:22–24), it’s a stormy morning along the Gulf Coast—one which connects me with John’s hope-filled vision of our “sea-less” future.
I praise you that this very cosmos, this very earth, even this very beach has been bought back by Jesus. I praise you that even as you’re presently redeeming your big family from the nations, so you’re restoring the broken world in which you placed us. As surely as the waters cover the sea, so the knowledge of your glory will cover the earth one Day—every square inch of it (Hab. 2:14). The “passing away” of the first heaven and the first earth doesn’t speak of its replacement but of its restoration, to which I offer a very loud “Hallelujah!”
Joy floods my heart when I try to imagine the glorified beaches of the new heaven and new earth. I can hardly wait for the day when we 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). Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus, come!
Indeed, Father, John’s vision is not about a beach-les future but about 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 war among the nations, only shalom everywhere we step; no more tempest, only the triumph of the Lamb!
I can barely imagine such a glorious state of affairs, Father, but as we wait expectantly for that Day, may John’s vision compel and propel us 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. Help us to love mercy, work for justice and walk humbly with you every day, including this one. We pray in the name of our resurrected and reigning King Jesus. Amen.