I love the sea. It is beautiful and interesting. One of the things that I appreciate about my present home on the Isle of Sky is the view of the sea. I love boats: sailing, boats, fishing boats, the ferry which keeps between the mainland and the islands. I love seeing God’s wonders in the deep. For many people the holiday of their dreams is by the seaside on some tropical island. Why does John notice that there is no sea in heaven? He was on a Greek island but it was not on holiday. He was a prisoner suffering for the faith, on the island of Patmos. To him the sea was a barrier. It was his prison walls. It separated him from the church he loved. It cut him off from the work which was his life and from the friends and fellowship which were his chief delight. There will, however, be no barriers in heaven. All will be together as one family with God as Father and Christ as the elder brother. Coming from different denominations and races, individual Christians will be the parts of the body and Christ will be the head. Of course there will be a barrier, a great impassable gulf between heaven and hell. No bridge will ever be built. None from heaven will go to hell or from hell will go to heaven (Luke 16:26). In paradise, God’s people will be together with their Saviour in love and unity and harmony forever. There will be no cliques or divisions.
Some people have lost family and friends in the sea. They have no love for the angry deep. It frightens them. There will be no sea in heaven to take away our loved ones from us. Some have lost homes and property in tidal waves and floods. There will be no destructive sea in heaven. We are told that in hell there will be a lake of fire and brimstone (Revelation 20:10), but in heaven there will be nothing that hurts.
Our lives in this world can be described as sailing across a sea. God sends his storms to test us and then are cast down to the depths. We ‘reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man’ and are at the end of our wits. We cry unto the Lord and he delivers us. ‘He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.’ We are glad because he brings us to our ‘desired haven’ (Psalm 107:24-30). When we reach that port our sailing days are over forever with all their dangers and hardships. ‘There was no more sea.’Are you sailing for that blessed harbour?
