“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
Does this verse mean there will be no oceans in the new heaven and earth? No large bodies of water and therefore no dolphins or whales to swim with? No snorkeling or surfing? We can’t know for certain, but in ancient times the sea was the embodiment of chaos, danger and death – so its abolition in this verse is meant to convey tranquility and peace, not necessarily the absence of water creatures and activities.
Read this helpful article from the Gospel Coalition. Quoting Randy Alcorn, the author writes: “’There will be no more of the cold, treacherous waters that separate nations, destroy ships, and drown our loved ones. There will be no more creatures swallowing up seafarers and no more poisoned salt waters.’ In a cosmos purged of pollution, salt water would no longer be needed to serve as a global antiseptic, so perhaps the ‘sea’ that is ‘no more’ refers only to salt water oceans. In the new earth ‘huge lakes could, in effect, be freshwater oceans,’ teeming with sea life.”
Swimming with dolphins won’t be the central feature of the new earth, but there is good reason to believe those friendly creatures will be with us in that eternal paradise!