Seas
"I must go down to the seas again,
To the lonely sea and sky..."
John Mansfield, "Sea Fever"
There is something about the sea that is wild, untamed, calling, haunting... Lake Waco is unable to quench my sister's pining for water, for sea, for Lake Michigan. She is a little put out by God's picture of the new heavens and new earth, "for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea" (Rev. 21:1). No sea!!!
Yet from the very beginning, the "sea" represented something more than "the vagrant gypsy life" (John Mansfield) and the songs of the sea shells. Rather than a "wild call and a clear call" it was an anti-call, a destroying force of chaos and nothing wiping of meaning. It ushered in death rather than a "quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over" (again, John Mansfield). It was chaos, dis-order, dis-creation, yet a sweeping and powerful force of chaos that threatened creation. In the beginning, "the earth was formless and empty [anti-life, inhabitable], darkness was over the surface of the deep" BUT "and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said..." (Gen. 1:2-3a). God formed the earth, separated the waters, created a world, created life, created order, and saw that it was good.
The sea in Genesis was anti-shalom, anti-life, chaos and disorder and the life-threatening forces. God is greater and Life itself.
It is a theme played out in Noah's flood--the waters destroy, God gives life. In the Exodus--the Red Sea threatened life, but God ensures his people walk across on dry land. The psalms echo the threats of the water, "He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters" (Ps. 18:6)."Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck" (Ps. 69:1). It is not lost in the prophets--"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you" (Is. 43:2). The waters are seen as a chaos, anti-life, but God is greater.
In light of this, Jesus calms the storm--no wonder why the disciples comment, "In fear and amazement they asked one another, 'Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and the obey him" (Luke 8:25). No wonder Jesus says, "Where is your faith?" (Luke 8:25). "Do you not realize yet that I am God? That I, like my Father, have protected the Israelites from the waters time and time again? That I and we, in the beginning, tamed the waters? I tamed the Red Sea with my Father? I brought dry land after the flood. I protected David and the Israelites in the new exodus after the exile. I am here now, and am doing something greater. Do you not have faith?" He is God--not only with the same power, but with the same life-giving-love, the same character that zealously guards his own against forces of evil.
It was Jesus who ultimately conquered the forces of evil--the calming of the winds and water was only a snippet of what he could do, echoing the themes of the Old Testament. He took on the full chaos of death and hell and sin and separation from God that the waters had for ages threatened people with. Conquered were the anti-life enemies of chaos and darkness and Satan and death.
In the new heavens and new earth, there will be no more sea, a chaistic parallel with "no more death or mourning or crying or pain" (Rev. 21:4) for he has made everything new. Jesus is Lord, and he has conquered.
When we feel like we face our own flood of Noah's day, cross our own Red Seas, cry out with David that the waters are coming up to our necks, pass through the rivers and waters with Isaiah, feel like our whole life is empty and formless and meaningless--we know that Jesus is the One who has crossed all that, took the waters, and conquered them. We are in him, and he is just as zealous to protect us as he and his Father and the Spirit were in the Old Testament. He will guard us through the waters. He will guard us through whatever chaos, because he has conquered and tamed the winds and the waters.
To the lonely sea and sky..."
John Mansfield, "Sea Fever"
There is something about the sea that is wild, untamed, calling, haunting... Lake Waco is unable to quench my sister's pining for water, for sea, for Lake Michigan. She is a little put out by God's picture of the new heavens and new earth, "for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea" (Rev. 21:1). No sea!!!
Yet from the very beginning, the "sea" represented something more than "the vagrant gypsy life" (John Mansfield) and the songs of the sea shells. Rather than a "wild call and a clear call" it was an anti-call, a destroying force of chaos and nothing wiping of meaning. It ushered in death rather than a "quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over" (again, John Mansfield). It was chaos, dis-order, dis-creation, yet a sweeping and powerful force of chaos that threatened creation. In the beginning, "the earth was formless and empty [anti-life, inhabitable], darkness was over the surface of the deep" BUT "and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said..." (Gen. 1:2-3a). God formed the earth, separated the waters, created a world, created life, created order, and saw that it was good.
The sea in Genesis was anti-shalom, anti-life, chaos and disorder and the life-threatening forces. God is greater and Life itself.
It is a theme played out in Noah's flood--the waters destroy, God gives life. In the Exodus--the Red Sea threatened life, but God ensures his people walk across on dry land. The psalms echo the threats of the water, "He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters" (Ps. 18:6)."Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck" (Ps. 69:1). It is not lost in the prophets--"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you" (Is. 43:2). The waters are seen as a chaos, anti-life, but God is greater.
In light of this, Jesus calms the storm--no wonder why the disciples comment, "In fear and amazement they asked one another, 'Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and the obey him" (Luke 8:25). No wonder Jesus says, "Where is your faith?" (Luke 8:25). "Do you not realize yet that I am God? That I, like my Father, have protected the Israelites from the waters time and time again? That I and we, in the beginning, tamed the waters? I tamed the Red Sea with my Father? I brought dry land after the flood. I protected David and the Israelites in the new exodus after the exile. I am here now, and am doing something greater. Do you not have faith?" He is God--not only with the same power, but with the same life-giving-love, the same character that zealously guards his own against forces of evil.
It was Jesus who ultimately conquered the forces of evil--the calming of the winds and water was only a snippet of what he could do, echoing the themes of the Old Testament. He took on the full chaos of death and hell and sin and separation from God that the waters had for ages threatened people with. Conquered were the anti-life enemies of chaos and darkness and Satan and death.
In the new heavens and new earth, there will be no more sea, a chaistic parallel with "no more death or mourning or crying or pain" (Rev. 21:4) for he has made everything new. Jesus is Lord, and he has conquered.
When we feel like we face our own flood of Noah's day, cross our own Red Seas, cry out with David that the waters are coming up to our necks, pass through the rivers and waters with Isaiah, feel like our whole life is empty and formless and meaningless--we know that Jesus is the One who has crossed all that, took the waters, and conquered them. We are in him, and he is just as zealous to protect us as he and his Father and the Spirit were in the Old Testament. He will guard us through the waters. He will guard us through whatever chaos, because he has conquered and tamed the winds and the waters.
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