In your study on the Revelation, I believe you said you think all of Rev. 21 and Rev. 22:1-6 fit in between Rev. 20:6 and Rev. 20:7. My question is regarding the sea. In Rev. 21:1, it says there will be no more sea, and if this happens at the beginning of the Millennium, how does the sea give up its dead in Rev. 20:13, at the end of the Millennium during the GWT judgment?
I believe that before the Great Flood a huge water vapor canopy surrounded the Earth to protect it from the harmful ultra violet rays of outer space. This is what permitted the long life spans of the first humans.
At the time of the flood it collapsed and fell to Earth. It provided a lot of the water for the flood. Genesis 7:3 describes this at the floodgates of the heavens opening. After the flood the ocean floors sank and the mountains were elevated to contain the excess water. About that time the Earth’s single land mass was also split up into the continents we see today.
Revelation 21 describes a new Heaven and New Earth. I believe this refers to the restoration of Earth to the condition it was in before the flood, even before the Fall. If that’s the case then the water vapor canopy will be restored, and much of Earth’s ocean water will be used in the process. This doesn’t mean there will no longer be any water on Earth, but just that the vast oceans will disappear and the land mass will again be like it was before the flood. As evidence of this, Isaiah 65:20 says that long life spans will again be the norm on Earth.
At the end of the Millennium all those who had drowned in the Great Flood will come to life again to be judged. This is what is meant by the sea giving up its dead.