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. Revelation 21:1 (KJV)
How many times have you read this passage focusing on the New Heaven and New Earth instead of the last part of the verse about no more sea? In John's vision, did he see an Earth without oceans, or was he speaking metaphorically? According to the Smithsonian Ocean Portal, 70% of Earth's surface is ocean, with 29% to 30% landmass. At creation, the oceans covered the entire planet, as Genesis 1:2 (KJV) notes: And the Earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Water is essential for life; the human body is about 60% water, though some range from 55% to 65%. When the Apostle John wrote the last phrase, "there was no more sea," it caught my attention, and I wanted to learn more about its meaning.
https://ocean.si.edu/planet-ocean/seafloor/just-how-big-ocean
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/what-percentage-of-the-human-body-is-water
To understand the essence of "there was no more sea," one must view this text through the eyes of first-century believers rather than 21st-century readers. For instance, in the Book of Job, the sea is not merely a body of water but a vast, untamed force of chaos that only God can create, restrain, and govern. In Job 38:8-9, the sea bursts forth from the womb like a newborn infant, with clouds as its garment and thick darkness as its swaddling band. The sea and its deep places are home to untamed terrors and creatures like the Leviathan in Job 41. This creature symbolizes wild, unmanageable chaos that bows only to its Creator. In Job 38:16, God asks Job a rhetorical question: "Have you entered into the springs of the sea?" From this question, one can gather that the ocean contains deep, hidden realms and pathways that human understanding cannot fully master. Therefore, Biblical writers associated the sea with hostile forces and evil beasts lurking in the deep, such as the Leviathan, as threats to humans. Such as in Revelation, the satanic beast rises out of the sea (Rev 13:1), and the sea holds the dead (Rev 20:13). Even the Prophet Isaiah compares the wicked to the "troubled sea" (Isa 57:20). Because the ancient world lacked modern technology, sea travel carried constant dread of shipwrecks, storms, and loss of loved ones.
Therefore, Biblical history views the oceans and seas as vast physical barriers that isolate continents, nations, and people groups from one another.
When John mentions the absence of the sea, it serves as a time stamp for Revelation 21, describing the final eternal state rather than the Millennial reign, as Old Testament prophecies mention bodies of water during the 1,000-year kingdom. By stating "no more sea," John emphasizes that God alone will sustain this New Heaven and New Earth, since ocean-driven water and oxygen cycles currently sustain life. When there is "no more sea," it speaks volumes about the sustainer of life, which leads to the fountain of the water of life flowing from the life-giver himself, Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, while making the oceans literally unnecessary.
