Revelation 21:1

1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.

A. John now turns his attention in a new direction. He sees a new heaven and earth. This is not, as some religions teach, a renewed, rebuilt earth. Some believe that the saved will be returned to the earth in a refurbished Garden of Eden. The term “new heaven and new earth” is not to be understood as two separate things.

B. 2 Peter 3:13 describes the end of this world and all material things. Then we will “look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.” This cannot be the earth because it has been burned up.

C. The sea was the thing that separated John from the churches he wanted to visit and encourage. He was trapped on the island of Patmos. The sea represented the great separator, the divider. “To John on Patmos the sea was the thing which separated him from the things dearest to him, the churches of Asia.” (2, 212)