Oceans and Seas

 

The Word of God is filled with symbolic expressions and figurative language; we see this throughout the bible but especially in the Old Testament.

The bible’s authors use of inanimate or abstract objects and things found in nature is rampant, therefore, if we are to truly understand what is being conveyed in the pages of bible, we must determine to recognize and learn this language, through Holy Spirit-led research.

It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out. (Proverbs 25:2 ESV)

It is not enough to simply read the text, we must desire to know more, to dive deep into His Word to gain divine insight for ourselves. Too many of us get lost in the theology without ever once experiencing the reality of it.

Take for instance the symbolism of oceans and seas. Today is as good a day as any to understand what these represent spiritually rather than literally, for hardly anything written in the bible carries a literal meaning.

The oceans and seas represent the godlessness of the world and its systems which are dead to God. In the bible oceans and seas can symbolize a satanic world system. When we are told to not love the world or the things in the world (1 John 2:15), it refers to the system, not the world that God created.

John even goes on to say that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one (1 John 5:19). The world system which the oceans and seas symbolize cannot sustain life, that is, spiritual life.

We may be walking around and seemingly getting through under this system but there will always be something missing, causing us to be forever searching for another level of motivation, the next high but unless we encounter the sustainer of life, Jesus Christ, we will continue to feel an inward emptiness gnawing at out souls.

Beloved, understand that Jesus is the creator and source of all matter, He holds it all together.

Colossians 1:17 (ESV) clearly states that Jesus is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Jesus is the source of the invisible yet tangible force that glues everything together at the very core of its structure.

Look at what Job 12:10 (ESV) says,

In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.

Without God in your life, you are subjected to this world’s system of confusion, chaos, oppression, injustice, exploitation, evil, and wickedness. You may seem to be alive but you’re spiritually dead because the ocean not only represents the world but also the underworld – the abode of demons.

Fixated on the things of the world a person becomes a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast (Revelation 18:2 ESV). This verse illustrates that there is a connection between the realm of the flesh and demonic activity.

Look at all the debauchery that has been revealed recently, the hedonistic activity that supposedly intelligent persons, holding high office and held in high esteem have been indulged in for years –  sexual assault of the very young, the killing of innocent children, alleged consuming of the dead and other acts of depravity – theirs is the epitome of a demonic lifestyle.

don't sin against the truth by boasting of your wisdom. Such wisdom does not come down from heaven; it belongs to the world, it is unspiritual and demonic (James 3:15 GNT)

This world system has produced leaders of nations who are depraved. Ironically, oceans and seas also symbolize the nations. Just as the oceans and seas can be calm or raging or turbulent or dangerous so can nations. There are nations that are at peace and those at war; leaders who choose peace and leaders who choose war.

Powerful nations are in commotion with a sound like the roar of the sea, like the crashing of huge waves. (Isaiah 17:12 GNT)

Beloved, there are several Scriptural parallels of the oceans and seas to the world system, even more than are quoted in this blog post. But despite the connotation here briefly outlined, there is something that you must never forget, God not only treads upon the waves and high places of the sea (Job 9:8 AMPC), also,

The sea is his, for he made it (Psalm 95:5 ESV)

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

He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. (Psalm 107:29 ESV)

though the waves toss, they cannot prevail (Jeremiah 5:22 ESV)

Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb (Job 38:8 ESV)

And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” (Mark 4:39 ESV)

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. (Revelation 21:1 ESV)

And in Matthew 14:25-26 (ESV),

And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear.

Jesus is no ghost, He is real and He has dominion over the oceans and seas and though the seas may be raging, to Him those roaring nations are nothing, no more than a drop of water; The nations are nothing at all to him (Isaiah 40:15, 17 GNT).

So let us not be fearful but be faith-filled, focusing on Jesus and not on the tumult of the oceans and seas, trusting that in due time, He will give the order, and the raging waves will have no choice but to cease and there will be calm (ref. Luke 8:24).

Amen †

Shelley Johnson “Oceans and Seas” ©2026 March 3, 2026