WOW!

One thing that always bothered me when reading, studying and teaching the book of Revelation was when John the Revelator said "there will be no more sea." If you know anything about me, you know that I love the sea - I am energized by the sight, smell, feel and sound of the sea. This BOTHERED me!

I have a DVD series by Anne Graham Lotz called "My Father's House" in which she also mentions this puzzle. She, too, loves the sea. Her explanation is that the sea covers LOTS of land which (if not covered by salt) might be useful for populations. Also, the sea divides. Anne says that maybe THIS is why there will be no more sea. (Sorry Anne - it's a good explanation - but it just doesn't do it for me! How can there be no tears in heaven and no sea - I will miss it so much!)

SO, today, I read from one of the Jewish rabbi teachings I subscribe to. The story is told of a Rabbi in a Warsaw Ghetto during WWII. He (the rabbi) is teaching on a section of the Talmud where a different rabbi had visited some ruins in Jerusalem and heard a divine voice weeping and saying "Woe to me for I have destroyed My house, burned My temple and exiled My children." Here is part of what the ghetto rabbi said:

Precisely because Hashem is infinite, His suffering is infinite and beyond human conception. In Yiddish, there is a saying "der velt iz nisht hefker!" (The world is not gratuitous.) The rivers of tears shed by pained Yidden are like a mere trickle compared to the ocean that is Hashem's suffering. He stands with us at every street crossing and knows our fears. There is a reason and the questions do have answers. On March 14, 1942, the Pieseczna wrote: "Hashem is to be found in His inner chambers weeping, so that one who pushes in and comes close to Him by means of living in a Torah way weeps with Him and lives together with Him. Only this makes the difference, for the weeping and pain a person undergoes by Himself alone may have the effect of breaking him and bringing him down so that he becomes incapable of doing anything. But the weeping a person does together with Hashem strengthens him. He weeps, and is strengthened; he is broken but finds courage to study and teach. It is hard to raise oneself up, time and again, from the tribulations, but when one is determined, stretching the mind to connect with Hashem, then he enters the Inner Chambers where the blessed Holy One is to be found; he weeps and wails, together with Him, as it were, and finds the strength to study and serve Him.

These words were written/taught/spoken by a rabbi who went to his death alone and without his family - but secure in where he was going! And we think WE have issues, questions, problems, concerns, HELLO?!

Did you get it? It seemed that the heavens opened and a light shone on my dark mind. TEARS ARE SALTY and the sea is salty and if God is not crying anymore, then there will ... be ... NO MORE SEA! The Word doesn't say there will be no more water! The Word doesn't say there will be no more swimming, snorkeling, fishies, ... just no more SEA! In fact, the Word DOES say that the River of Life flows from the throne - a HUMONGOUS river! (And if it's a clean river, I don't think I'll mind swimming in it : )

No - I'm not positive - but I'm just saying ......................................................................