How important is it for us to contemplate heaven while we live on this
earth? It is incredibly important because it is a real place that will be our
eternal home. I am grateful that John has given us a marvelous description of heaven
in the book of Revelation. I have read this passage several times in the last
few weeks, and I am struck by several of the statements here.
Rev 21:1-4 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. 2 I saw
the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared
as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from
the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live
with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be
their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more
death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed
away."
John’s description of heaven says that
we will be his people, and God will dwell with us. That is a powerful
thought to think of as we live fully and completely with God as his people.
Secondly, John states there will be no
more tears because God will finally wipe every tear from their eyes. We all
see sadness every day, and some of it is our own. As a pastor, I see tears
almost every day in some form. There is sadness from sickness; there is sadness
from death, and sadness from financial hardship. There is sadness in
disappointment and sadness from injustice, and on and it goes. But, in that
place there will be no more tears. The thought is incredible. Only God can do
that! Thirdly, the phrase that there will
no longer be any sea is really interesting.
We find this phrase so facinating because so much of our earth is an ocean. What a drastic change
from this earth as we know it. David Mc Cloud, in his book The Seven Last Days, gives us a better understanding of this phrase
in its heavenly context:
The first heaven will pass away, and a new atmosphere will surround the new
world. There will be no more violent
deadly storms, smog, or menacing blackness. At first glance we notice that there will be “no longer any sea.” Ocean lovers and fishermen might be taken back by that statement.
Consider for a moment why the ocean exists. Over 70 percent of the surface of
our earth is covered with salt water, and the avergage depth of the water is 2.3
miles. Why does our planet earth need such a massive covering of salt water? The
answer is to cleanse the earth and make life possible. The sea might be
described as a big sewer system or better God's great antiseptic solution, composed of 96% of
H20, 3.5 % salt, and about 0.5 % trace elements clorine,
magnisum, calcium and the like. The salty brine of the sea purges, cleanses and
preserves our planet making it fit to live in. Many of the pollutants and waste that humans produce get washed out
of the soil and into the streams and rivers. Other places those things are
deliberately dumped into there. The rivers wash these materials into the sea, and the antiseptic solitity of the sea
absorbs, scrubs, and breaks down these pollutants and waste. The sun heats the sea
causing only pure, clean water vapor to float up into the sky
forming clouds which bring refreshing rain back to the land, a continual cylce
of cleansing and renewal. But in the new earth there will be no more pollution, no more decay, no more need for
cleansing and thus no more need for a salty sea. This present order of things
is going to come to an end,
and there is nothing that more powerfully communicates the idea than the
assertion that there is no longer any sea.[i]
[i]
David McCloud, as quoted by Charles Swindoll, Stop Criticizing & Start Contemplating
Heaven, CDR-SCC928, 3.2.14
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