March 30

Revelation 21:1—The sea is no more. (R.V.)

All through this book we hear the clash of the waves. Throughout there is the voice of many waters. But when there dawns on the eye of the seer the bright and blessed time, which is yet to come; when the new heavens and earth appear, this is among the chief attractions of that glorious world—that there is no more sea. The sea is a characteristic emblem of this age, but not of the next.

There shall be no more painful mystery.—To the Jew there was a double mystery in the sea—that which lay in its sunless caves, and that which lay beyond the rim of the horizon; and because there was mystery there was dread and alarm. We, too, live on the shores of mystery, and float above it, with only a plank between it and us. But there we shall know as we are known; our questions answered; our problems solved.

There shall be no more rebellious power.—The sea is the emblem of untamed power. Lashed into yeasty foam it drives the great ships before it and eats into the land. Men cry, Let us break his bands asunder, and cast away his cords. But God laughs at them. Remember the motto that England struck on its medal to celebrate the destruction of the Armada: "The Lord blew upon them, and they were scattered." And so shall it be one day when all proud opposition to his will is vanquished.

There shall be no more disquiet and unrest.—Life is like a voyage over the sea—now miles of calm, then days of storm; now monotonous and slow progress, then the awful stress of peril and threatening death. Outside of Christ life is like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, but casts up mire and dirt. But yonder there will be unbroken peace and rest.