Daily Bread

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. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

‘See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.’

And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ Then he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.

When I was a curate, a woman in the congregation approached me to ask me a question. She was quite anxious because she read in the book of Revelation that there would be no sea in heaven, and as she liked sea creatures, it made her feel sad. I assured her that there would absolutely be sea creatures in God's new creation and not to worry! So, why does this passage say there would be no more sea?

We have to remember that Revelation is symbolic, and in Hebrew writing the sea often represented chaos and land represented order. Think of the Spirit hovering over the waters of chaos, or Jesus walking over the stormy waters, and so on — all symbols of chaos being ordered. This idea was being carried over in John's Revelation and by saying there was no more sea, it was a bit like saying that in the new creation there would be no more chaos — especially the chaos of persecution experienced by those first readers.

In John's vision, the new heaven and earth overlap, and once again, as with the Garden of Eden, God makes home among mortals. Note that it is not mortals that make their home in heaven but the other way round! God makes home with us on earth and in creation. Heaven comes to, or overlaps with, earth. Our destiny is new creation and it will be the same as the creation that we experience every day, but different in that there will be no more pain or suffering.

John's book of Revelation does not describe an escapist theology, where creation is bad and we need to escape from it, but the idea that creation will be restored and made new. God is in the business of bringing healing out of chaos in the world — healing in the environment, healing in our relationships, and healing in our own lives. This is our God.

Holy God
Thank you that one day heaven and earth
will fully overlap and you will dwell with mortals.
Thank you that I can meet with you now
and have a foretaste of the future
through being filled with your Holy Spirit.
Help me work towards a time
when there will be no more pain and suffering,
and be a bringer of heaven to earth
in the here and now.