A Prayer about a Future without Chaos and Evil
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. (Rev. 21:1)
Loving Father, as fresh coffee helps me transition from a good night’s sleep into a new day’s mercies, so your Word is quickening all of my senses. As you greet me this morning with your steadfast love (Lam. 3:22–24), I can hear the roar of waves breaking along the Gulf Coast. It’s a stormy morning— one that connects me with John’s hope filled vision of our sealess future.
I praise you that this very cosmos, this very earth, this very beach has been bought back by Jesus. I praise you that even as you’re presently redeeming your big family from the nations, so you’re restoring the world in which you placed us.
As surely as the waters cover the sea, so the knowledge of your glory will cover the earth one day (Hab. 2:14). The “passing away” of the first heaven and the first earth doesn’t speak of its replacement but of its restoration, to which I say a very loud “Hallelujah!”
I smile really, really big when I try to imagine the glorified beaches of the new heaven and new earth. I can hardly wait for the day when I get to hear “every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying: ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!’” (Rev. 5:13).
Indeed, Father, John’s vision is not about a “beachless” future but about a “sea- less” one— an eternity and a world delivered and devoid of all chaos and evil— no more sea beasts, only beauty; no more angry leviathan, only dancing dolphin; no more tempest, only the triumph of the Lamb!
I can only imagine such a glorious state of affairs, but may John’s vision compel and propel me and my friends to engage, not retreat; to show up, not disappear; to be filled with missional hope and gospel servanthood as we seek first your king- dom and the righteousness that is by faith— as we wait expectantly for that day. I pray in the name of our resurrected and reigning King, Jesus.
Amen.