Revelation 21:1

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

The church is many things. It is a hospital where wounded people come and find healing in Jesus. It is a school where truth is taught and hearts are grounded. It is a place where believers grow strong and learn to walk with God. But it is also a travel agency, pointing men and women toward the country that really is home.

That is what Revelation 21 begins to do. It opens the brochure, so to speak, and lets us look ahead. John does not show us a repaired world with a few improvements around the edges. He shows us a new heaven and a new earth. God is not doing cosmetic work on a ruined order. He is bringing in something altogether new.

We understand why there must be a new earth. This one is worn down by sin, sorrow, disease, death, violence, and loss. Everywhere you look, the marks of the fall are plain to see. But John also says there will be a new heaven. Scripture says even the heavens are not clean in God’s sight. The stain of rebellion has reached farther than we realize. So when God finishes His work, He will leave nothing polluted behind.

Isaiah 65:17

For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.

That word create matters. God is not patching this up like an old shed out back. He is creating. The same God who spoke in Genesis will speak again. The One who made all things in the beginning will have no trouble making all things new in the end.

Peter says the scoffers are willingly ignorant. They mock the promise of His coming because they have already rejected the truth of His creating. But the same word that made the world is the word that sustains it, and the same Lord who judged it once by water will judge it again and then bring in a world where righteousness dwells.

2 Peter 3:13

Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

That is the phrase that steadies the heart. Righteousness dwells there.

Not sin hiding in the shadows.
Not corruption under the surface.
Not grief waiting around the next corner.
Righteousness dwells there.

That means no funerals, no temptation, no devil accusing the brethren, no weary battle with the flesh, no late night burden that follows you to bed and meets you again in the morning. The whole atmosphere of that world will be clean.

Then John adds, “and there was no more sea.”

Now that is a line that makes you smile a little. John is writing as a man exiled on a small island, surrounded by sea on every side. And when he gets a glimpse of glory, one of the details he includes is, “and there was no more sea.” There is something almost humorous about that. You can almost hear him saying, “And another thing. No more sea.” For a man stuck on Patmos, that would have sounded pretty good.

But there is truth in it too. The sea often speaks of separation and unrest. John knew what it was to be cut off, isolated, and confined. So when he says there is no more sea, he is showing us a world with no more distance, no more exile, no more separation from what God has for His people.

That is where the church points people. Not merely to a better life now, although Jesus does heal and strengthen and restore. The church points people beyond this broken order to Christ and to the home He is preparing for those who are His.

So hold this world loosely. It is passing away. Do your work faithfully. Love people well. Serve the Lord fully. But do not drive your tent stakes too deep in a place God says will be dissolved. We are headed somewhere better.

A new heaven.
A new earth.
A home where righteousness lives.
A country with no curse, no grave, and yes, for John’s sake, no more sea.