What would the world look like if every drop of water was removed? That was a project undertaken by the folks over at Python Maps. By using data from topography as well as bathymetry (water depth / underwater topography) they recreated an alternate earth without oceans, seas, lakes, or rivers. The image above is the eastern seaboard – now an alien landscape of new canyons and mountain ranges. The lowest points are shown in green (bottom center is the Hispaniola Trench) with the higher ground in shades of brown and gray. This is the same planet we live on, but without its beautiful, life-sustaining water.
Isaiah is given a vision of the new earth –the transformed creation aligned again with its Creator. He tells us:
They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
Isaiah 11:9, ESV
Imagine the earth full of the knowledge of the Lord! Imagine human beings living together without one person being hurt. Imagine even one week without the destruction and chaos of war. Extend your vision to a world where everyone walks with God and knows Him as the loving Father.
While we wait for that transformation, we live in a world that is not as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. In fact, the world often looks like the barren, waterless terrain in the image above when it comes to reverence for God. Where we expect to find streams, we find crags. Where we expect to find some human decency, we find callous violence. Though God formed it with His own hands, the world is not known for godliness.
The church – God’s kingdom breaking in from eternity – is designed to be different. Our founder claimed to be a spring of living water welling up to eternal life (John 4:14). Jesus was the living embodiment of God and told his followers that knowing him was knowing the Father (John 14:9). Paul makes it clear that followers of Christ have moved from ignorance of God to knowing Him (Galatians 4:8-9). Isaiah’s vision of a world overflowing with the knowledge of the Lord is coming into focus. The church heralds the new era with the promise that fellowship with the Creator is possible once again!
We long for the day when knowing God is as common among us as water in the sea! Pray that every person will find Christ and come to see that day as a comfort.