Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
As we began to study yesterday, the lack of a sea on the new earth is an intriguing detail: “And I [John] saw a new heaven [universe] and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea” (Revelation 21:1). In Scripture, the sea is a symbol of mystery (Psalm 36:6; 77:19; Romans 11:33). It is also, at times, a symbol of evil. I am not particularly enamored of the seashore, for I like trees, shade, and food free of sand. However, I do not think of the sea as evil. Isaiah 57:20, though, uses the imagery of the sea to illustrate the reality of evil: “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.” Verse 21 then concludes, “’There is no peace,’ saith my God, ‘to the wicked.’” This symbolism is also found in Revelation 13:1a, where John, speaking of the Antichrist, records, “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea.” Again, we need to remember that symbolism is being employed here, for the sea is not intrinsically evil and, in fact, is part of God’s good creation. As Genesis 1:9-10 says, “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.” Thus, the sea is not actually wicked, but it is used as a symbol of wickedness. The “no more sea” of the “new earth,” then, represents no more evil. We will be transformed as we enter into eternity with our Savior: “We shall all be changed” (I Corinthians 15:51c). The sin nature of each believer will be no more, just as there will be “no more sea.”