Thanks for responding to all of you,…Peggy, I’m pasting your response, or I guess Pastor Riley’s response below so everyone can follow the thought pattern, then I’ve got some more comments after…..

 

 I called Pastor on the way home last night and asked him.  He said it literally means NO sea.  Right now, 75% of the earth is covered with water, due to The Flood.  Before The Flood, there WAS no water covering the earth.  Water spray came up out of the earth and kept things watered (reminds me of Houston, humidity capitol of the world… ha!). In eternity, however, there will no longer be big waters, because there will need to be plenty of space on earth for people to live, therefore no seas, oceans, or rivers… almost all land.  The Flood was brought about as a form of destroying evil from the earth, and there will no longer be any sin, evil, tears, etc.

   Well, I have to admit that if that is correct, then I am really bummed.  I mean, I know this is Heaven and all, so I know the Lord has not overlooked this….BUT, I, for one, being from California, thoroughly love the water…oceans, lakes, rivers, etc…..and I was very much looking forward to an eternity of rafting, swimming, surfing those huge waves on Hawaii’s north shore, etc.   And, in Genesis 1:9, it says that God  “….gathered the waters into one place…”  which sounds a whole lot like an ocean or lake to me.   And, if there was no oceans, or will be no oceans,…then what happens to the ocean creatures?   Again, I’m looking forward to seeing whales and sharks and riding those manta rays (how cool!!), and then this…..in the book Heaven, by Randy Alcorn, if I recall correctly, he sees the earth as basically as it is now, except cleaned up.  I don’t have the text in front of me, so I can’t recall if or how he addresses the sea issue.  I’ll check when I get home.  I know they’ll be at least one river, the river of life runs through the heavenly city, but somehow it doesn’t seem proper to play in that.   So anyway, the ‘no seas’ issue still doesn’t quite seem so black and white to me.  I’d be interested in what others are thinking…….RJ