The Sea Is No Longer (Rev 21:1c)

Abstract The absence of the sea from new creation (Rev 21:1c) is a curious observation made by the author of the book of Revelation, prompting traditional assumptions with insufficient conclusions. Since the sea had/has been a symbol of a realm of evil in the first creation, it has been assumed that the sea needed to be eliminated from the new creation. However, since the earth was able to be recreated, thereby eliminating its prior traces of evil, why could the sea not have been, returning to being a realm that is good and aligns with its original placiality (Gen 1:9–10). This article proposes that the elimination of the sea is a de facto polemic against Rome, with the city of “New Jerusalem” possessing a footprint that dwarfed Rome as a city and rivalled the footprint of the Roman Empire itself, leaving no room for a sea within the city’s borders.