Week 2: The Sea Was No More

DEVOTIONAL:

In the ancient Near East, the sea was seen as a force of primordial chaos, the embodiment of fear and anxiety and disorder. This is why ancient mariners wrote “There Be Dragons” on the uncharted waters of their maps. With no GPS nor depthfinder, it’s easy to let your imagination run wild. Here in verse 1, John says that “there was no longer any sea.” He is getting a glimpse of a world free of threats to our wellbeing. This is paradise restored, and his language is emphatic: NO MORE death (not just less death). NO MORE crying (not just fewer tears). NO MORE pain (not just fewer cancer patients). For believers, this is our future, too: A sin-free, un-fallen world where—as J.R.R. Tolkien puts it—everything sad will come untrue.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:

1. What “sea” (evil forces of disorder, unknown, chaos) do you face? What “sea” does your neighbor face?

2. How does sin bring disorder and chaos to our lives and the lives of others?

3. Read Colossians 2:13-15. What happened at the Cross? Why is this good news?