Special Study: The Sea in the Bible

Introduction

Are you afraid of the ocean? Have you ever walked on the beach and stared out into the vast sea of water and been taken over with awe, while also a little terrified?

There is something about the ocean that, despite all of our knowledge and technology, is still very mysterious. Much of the oceans are still unexplored. And going down far enough leads to a place of darkness that light cannot reach.

A general unease, or in some cases even fear, of the open ocean seems to be fairly common to most of humanity. I think the Bible can help us understand why that is by what it has to tell us about the sea.

In the beginning...

We first find the mention of water in the Bible in Genesis 1:2 “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”

This was immediately after God created the heavens and the earth. Notice what this verse tells us about “primordial” creation.

The earth was without form and void - two words here that emphasize that creation was chaotic.

The earth was covered in darkness.

The earth was covered in deep waters.

Is there anything more chaotic than the open ocean at night? Especially during a storm?

In the midst of the chaos...the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.

The rest of the creation account is God taking this watery chaotic and disordered mess and ordering it into the Creation that he wants.

This one verse sets the ground work for how Scripture understands the seas and oceans.

Before God ordered creation = chaotic seas. After God ordered creation = dry land and peace.

This was how ancient Israel’s theology of the seas really developed. Because of that, they weren’t really a seafaring people, despite living on the coast of the Mediterranean. To put it simply, the sea represented chaos, and it was scary! But it also meant the Lord overcomes the chaos.

Other passages that develop this theme of water and darkness, and the Lord overcoming it:

Psalm 18:11 “He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him, thick clouds dark with water.”

Psalm 29:3 “The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over many waters.”

Psalm 89:9 “You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.”

Job 9:8 “who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea;”

What lives below

Another aspects of the seas and oceans that can be scary is the mysterious creatures that may or may not live in the depths.

Plenty of movies and fiction have capitalized on the theme of sea monsters, and for good reason. Go watch a National Geographic documentary of the ocean, and the creatures God created are both amazing...and at times a little scary, especially the big ones!

Scripture picks up on this theme by not only highlighting the chaotic nature of the seas, but also the creatures that live in them. These creatures are usually described as sea serpents or “dragons” who symbolize power and evil.

The most well known example is that of the Leviathan in Job 41. Here the Lord asks Job if he knows anyone who can “tame” the great sea monster. This is a rhetorical question of course, since nobody can...except for God himself.

Job 41:1–5 ““Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook or press down his tongue with a cord? Can you put a rope in his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook? Will he make many pleas to you? Will he speak to you soft words? Will he make a covenant with you to take him for your servant forever? Will you play with him as with a bird, or will you put him on a leash for your girls?”

There is also mention of another sea creature named Rahab, which is used symbolically to describe Israel’s enemies.

Isaiah 30:7 “Egypt’s help is worthless and empty; therefore I have called her “Rahab who sits still.””

Psalm 87:4 “Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon; behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Cush— “This one was born there,” they say.”

Ezekiel 29:3–5 “speak, and say, Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lies in the midst of his streams, that says, ‘My Nile is my own; I made it for myself.’ I will put hooks in your jaws, and make the fish of your streams stick to your scales; and I will draw you up out of the midst of your streams, with all the fish of your streams that stick to your scales. And I will cast you out into the wilderness, you and all the fish of your streams; you shall fall on the open field, and not be brought together or gathered. To the beasts of the earth and to the birds of the heavens I give you as food.”

Ezekiel 32:2–8 ““Son of man, raise a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him: “You consider yourself a lion of the nations, but you are like a dragon in the seas; you burst forth in your rivers, trouble the waters with your feet, and foul their rivers. Thus says the Lord God: I will throw my net over you with a host of many peoples, and they will haul you up in my dragnet. And I will cast you on the ground; on the open field I will fling you, and will cause all the birds of the heavens to settle on you, and I will gorge the beasts of the whole earth with you.

This theme of God defeating the great sea monsters symbolizing Him defeating evil and His enemies is all over Scripture: Job 26:12–13 “By his power he stilled the sea; by his understanding he shattered Rahab. By his wind the heavens were made fair; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.”

We also see this theme of “sea monsters” as symbols in the Daniel 7 vision where he see four creatures coming up out of the sea (and the parallel passage in Revelation). Each beast represented a different nation, and one that God ultimately conquered/destroyed.

The Sea symbolizes the World

Since the world was, according to Genesis, originally all chaotic sea, this came to symbolize the evil parts of the world/humanity.

As we’ve seen, sea monsters who live in the sea are often symbolic of evil nations that came out of the world.

The Lord Jesus continues this symbolism in his parable of the dragnet

Matthew 13:47–48 ““Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad.”

In the parable the sea is the world, and the dragnet is the kingdom that gathered it’s inhabitants from the world, like a fishermen gathers fish from the sea.

As you read the New Testament, keep this symbolism in mind whenever it talks about seas or waters or oceans.

Calm Waters

According to Scripture, it isn’t just that the seas/oceans/waters represent chaos and evil, but that the Lord God has and/or will overcome them and make them peaceful.

In the OT we’ve already seen this in several passages, but another key one is Isaiah 27:1 “In that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.”

The New Testament authors were very familiar with this theme and wanted to show how everything the OT has promised about God destroying evil and bringing peace to the world was being fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Two very important stories stick out here:

Jesus walking on water

Calls himself “I AM”

Does something only God can do: Genesis 1:2 (Spirit of God ‘hovered’ above the waters), and Job 9:8 (God tramples the waves)

He calms the storm

Calming of the storm

In the middle of the night during a very dangerous storm out on the sea (reminiscent of the beginning of the world)

Jesus says, “Be still.” and the elements obey him, bringing peace to the waters.

Jesus Christ is YHWH incarnate, and as the Logos who was “with God in the beginning”, He was hovering upon the waters and He brought peace, calm, and order to the world.

This symbolism of the Sea is most clearly seen in Revelation.

When John first sees the throne of God in Revelation 4, he notes that Revelation 4:6 “and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.”

Clear, calm waters surround the throne of God, symbolizing peace. And as the sea can also symbolize the world, it can also symbolize a throne sitting upon a subdued and conquered world.

Just like in Daniel, we have the visions of creatures (the dragon and the beast) coming up out of the waters.

After the dragon was unable to stop Christ’s birth and the Gospel (Rev 12) He went to make war against Christians and “he stood on the sand of the sea”.

The first beast also rises out of the sea.

But in the end these “sea monsters” are destroyed (just as we saw in the OT). Revelation 20 describes the serpent being thrown into the abyss - that Greek word meant the depths of the ocean.

The final resting place of the devil and all evil is described as a body of water: the lake of fire and sulfur.

In the end, chaos and evil and the world and every “monster” that lives in them will be destroyed, God will conquer, and there will be peace. This is made known to us through the symbol of a sea-less heaven.

Revelation 21:1–2 “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. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

For many people the line that “the sea was no more” is an odd one. There’s no oceans in Heaven?? But once you really understand what the “sea” means in Scripture, this isn’t a bad thing. It means that there is no more chaos. No more evil. No more darkness. No more sea monsters. There is only peace.

In fact the only “water” that John sees in this renewed world is the River of Life: Revelation 22:1–2 “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”

Conclusion

Next time you are out on a large body of water, perhaps a lake, or the sea or the ocean, if you find yourself a little bit uneasy, don’t worry, it’s normal. The sea is scary. It represents the scariest parts of the world...and ourselves. Chaotic, dark, full of monsters. But take heart, the Lord Jesus has overcome the sea, or has he puts it “overcome the world”. He has calmed the raging seas, and He promises us a new heavens and a new earth where chaos and evil and monsters will be a thing of the past. At long last, we will dwell in His presence, and we will have peace.