Palm Beach, NSW, Australia. Barry Collins Landscape Photography www.barrycollins.com.auI am blessed to have the opportunity to be a regular visitor to Palm Beach. Just being near the ocean seems to have a calming effect, the worries of the world and the stresses of the mind gradually ebb away. Oh and how great is it to actually get into the sea! I can't think of a better way to wash off the grime of day to day life, than a dip in the ocean. (There was a time I actually wanted to live underwater, but that's a story for another post).
Then there's just the simple pleasure of walking along the beach. My sister and I spent many, many hours every summer for 20 years walking up and down Kendall's Beach in Kiama (also a beautiful spot). Something about the beach just seems to allow for gradual relaxation and easy conversation.
Then there's just the simple pleasure of walking along the beach. My sister and I spent many, many hours every summer for 20 years walking up and down Kendall's Beach in Kiama (also a beautiful spot). Something about the beach just seems to allow for gradual relaxation and easy conversation.
So what's the problem? Well I was recently shocked to discover that in the New Creation there will be no more sea! I am ecstatic to hear about no more tears, death, mourning, crying or pain. Bring it on, I say. But no more sea???
Revelation 21:1 "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."
On further investigation it seems that some of God's most spectacular displays of power have been against/over the sea. Think the parting of the Red Sea, Jonah and his adventures, Jesus calming the storm, Jesus walking on the sea.
There certainly seems to be a degree of personification of the sea as an evil force for God to deal with. And deal with it he does - fairly dramatically in Revelation 18.
'Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea and said "With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again. The music of harpists and musicians, flute players and trumpeters, will never be heard in you again. No workman of any trade will ever be found in you again. The sound of a millstone will never be heard in you again. The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. The voice of bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again. Your merchants were the world's great men. By your magic spell all the nations were led astray. In her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints, and of all who have been killed on the earth." Revelation 18: 21-24
God must have something even better than walks on the beach, and cool dips in the ocean prepared for us. That's a nice thought.
Revelation 21:1 "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."
On further investigation it seems that some of God's most spectacular displays of power have been against/over the sea. Think the parting of the Red Sea, Jonah and his adventures, Jesus calming the storm, Jesus walking on the sea.
There certainly seems to be a degree of personification of the sea as an evil force for God to deal with. And deal with it he does - fairly dramatically in Revelation 18.
'Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea and said "With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again. The music of harpists and musicians, flute players and trumpeters, will never be heard in you again. No workman of any trade will ever be found in you again. The sound of a millstone will never be heard in you again. The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. The voice of bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again. Your merchants were the world's great men. By your magic spell all the nations were led astray. In her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints, and of all who have been killed on the earth." Revelation 18: 21-24
God must have something even better than walks on the beach, and cool dips in the ocean prepared for us. That's a nice thought.
2 comments:
If I recall correctly, the ocean represents this chaotic force of nature. If you imagine back of the sea as this untameable randomness through which one day you'll go fine, another, you'll hit a storm and start panicking. So in removing the seas, there will be no more apparent randomness, no chaos, no "lost at sea never to be found, buried in Davey Jones Locker", etc.
As usual Jason, your recall is correct. I found this little gem in the Psalms..
'But you, O God, are my king from of old; you bring salvation upon the earth. It was you who split open the sea by your power; you broke the heads of the monster in the waters.It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan and gave him as food to the creatures of the desert.' Psalm 74: 12-14.
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