Then God said, "Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so.

 

       And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good (Genesis 1:9-10).

 

In Scripture, seas often represent nations, as we see in Isaiah 17:12: "Alas, the uproar of many peoples who roar like the roaring of the seas, and the rumbling of nations who rush on like the rumbling of mighty waters!" This is also seen in Revelation 17:15:  "And he said to me, 'The waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues."'

 

In the previous verses in Genesis, the Lord established the heavens. Immediately after this, He established the seas, which represent nations. As Paul explained in I Corinthians 15:46-49:

 

       However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. 
 

       The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. 

       As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly.

 

       And just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

 

The new creation follows the same pattern as the original creation. Immediately after we have our place established with Christ Jesus seated in the heavenly places, He then wants to give us a vision for the nations (seas). As was written concerning the Son in Psalms 2:8: "Ask of me, and I will surely give the nations as Thine inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Thy possession." The church is the Lord's bride, but the nations are His inheritance. He created the nations, the different cultures and peoples, and they each have a specific and glorious purpose in Him. The Great Commission was:

 

        "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

        teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19-20).

 

We were not saved just so we can sit in the heavens, but so we can go forth with the glorious message of the cross. We need to be firmly established with the Lord and His authority before we go, but then we do need to go. If we do not live with a mission in life, we will be counted with the backsliders, or old wineskins. Our love for the Lord compels us to see that He will receive the reward for His sacrifice—the nations.

 

When the Lord finished separating the water into seas, which represent the nations, He said that it was "good." God obviously loves the diversity of different cultures and nations. He has deposited unique gifts in each one which reflect His own nature. The first response of those who love the blessed Creator, when meeting those who are different, should be the expectation of a deeper revelation of the Lord's ways through them. Our differences are not meant to contradict and conflict with each other, but rather to complement one another. As the Scripture teaches, even those with the gift of prophecy only see in part. To see the whole picture, we must put our part together with what He has given to others. To have an accurate view, we need each other. After the Lord divided the waters into different seas, He said that it was a "good" thing.

 

Loving diversity is one of the basic natures of God. However, this is one of His basic characteristics that much of the church has tended to neglect. The pressure toward conformity is not from God. He loves diversity. Accordingly, those who know the Creator should be the most creative and free people on earth.

 

It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery (Galatians 5:1).