And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no
more sea. Revelation 21:1
The oceans are an integral part of this world’s life-support system. It is believed that oceans account for approximately 70% of the Earth’s surface. The gases in the air we breathe are regulated by the seas, and almost all the rains that refresh the Earth are said to come from oceanic evaporation. Scientific deductions aside, a day spent at the seaside testifies to the cleansing, invigorating, and healing qualities of the ocean. For these and many other reasons, it is difficult to imagine how life on Earth could continue to flourish without the seven seas. Given the environmental catastrophe that would result if these seas were deleted from our present world, how can it be that creation will thrive more abundantly on the new Earth when there is ‘no more sea’? To begin to answer this question, we need to examine the sea in its pristine condition at creation.
The waters of our vast oceans have their origin in the deep – that vast body of waters which were created ‘in the beginning’ when ‘God created the heaven and the earth’ (Genesis 1:1). While not specifically mentioned in Genesis 1:1, these waters are mentioned in the succeeding verse, which describes what was created in verse 1: ‘and the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep’ (Genesis 1:1-2). If we fail to identify these waters as part of Genesis 1:1, we are left with no account of the genesis of these waters. In the account of the third day of creation, we find that seas were only the ‘gathering together’ of these primordial waters:
And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:9-10
As the waters were ‘gathered together’ on the third day, the dry land is recorded to have ‘appeared’. The receding waters revealed the land that had been concealed beneath them. In an inference to Genesis 1:1-2, the psalmist describes the obscure condition in which the Earth was initially created:
Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever. Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains. Psalm 104:5-6
As a garment covers a man’s body so that his nakedness cannot be seen, the deep covered the mountains - the highest parts of what would be the dry land. Skipping down to the third day, the psalmist interprets God’s spoken word in Genesis 1:9 as a rebuke. As though the waters displeased Him for smothering and obscuring the earth beneath them, the Lord’s voice thundered from Heaven:
At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away. Psalm 104:7
Having been put to flight, the rebuked waters ran like a startled animal, even up the mountains, until they were finally gathered together in the hollows appointed for them:
They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them. Psalm 104:8
Looking down upon the seas gathered in their proper place, ‘God saw that it was good’ (Genesis 1:10).
While today, oceanic evaporation may account for the majority of the Earth’s precipitation, there was no rain prior to the deluge. In its pristine state, the Earth was hydrated by a mist from the ground:
…the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth…But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. Genesis 2:5-6
This demonstrates that, at least in function, the antediluvian oceans differed from those of today. Given the scars the Earth bears from the flood, it is fair to say that the post-flood oceans are much wider and deeper than they were before the flood. While these treacherous depths may exist on account of man’s disobedience, there is a great blessing in the open seas. In light of the violence that has filled the Earth since the flood, having vast oceans to separate tribes and nations has spared much bloodshed, and allowed peace-loving people to live securely away from more hostile societies.
In Scripture, deep waters are often used as a figure for deadly danger and oppression. As the ocean and its waves smother a sinking ship and its crew, the sinful nature of a righteous man and his adversaries seek to drown him in death. David prophesied of the sufferings of Christ who figuratively was drowning in waters:
Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. Psalm 69:1-2
As the children of Israel crossed the overflowing Jordan before entering the promised land, we also must pass through the floodwaters of death before reaching heaven. While death and decay are results of sin, both are necessary evils in this sin-stricken world. Death purges the wicked from the Earth and allows the righteous to rest in peace, and the bodies of both man and beast are consumed by decay. As does death, the oceans serve to cleanse in this polluted world. There is nothing better than a fresh ocean breeze to disperse the miasma caused by decomposition, or the pollution thrown up in the industrial age. Receiving back its evaporated water as runoff, the sea works to sanitise all the filth and decay washed into its salty depths.
Given that sin and death (and the decay and pollution that comes with it) will have passed away in the new Earth, the cleansing functions of the seas will no longer be necessary. While we may yet glory in the roaring wave and deep ocean trench, such things will find no place in that land of light and rest. But rest assured, great lakes and diverse aquatic life will doubtless continue for the enjoyment of the redeemed.
Christopher Sparks