Heaven: When Faith Becomes SightSample

The No Mores

Imagine that the day has come. We’re finally here. Our eternal home. Together. Sporting our resurrected bodies! Oh, you look good! Welcome home. Now that we’re in the forever heaven of the new earth, be prepared. There are a few things you were used to that are no more.

Revelation 21:4 says “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Death, mourning, crying, and pain will be no more because the old order of things has passed away. Those are old earth things, not new earth things.

In Isaiah 25:6-9 the prophet Isaiah described this day. Thousands of years ago, Isaiah prophesied about a celebratory event that will take place between God and His people. The event will include a feast, the destruction of death, and God wiping tears from the eyes of the saints. The imagery and application fit the new earth.

Perhaps tears are the shadow of earth’s sorrow. Perhaps our tears reflect where we’ve been, what we’ve felt, what we’ve endured. Death. Sorrow. Mourning. Pain. All these evoke tears. Perhaps the final wiping away of tears is an opportunity for us to really know, understand, and be assured that the old order is over. Behold, all things have become new.

I wonder, could it be that God lets us show up in Heaven with a few lingering tears just so we can feel His tender and compassionate touch as He wipes them away?

What a tender, heart-rending picture of God’s kind compassion as He brushes away the tears from your cheeks. It is intimate and sheltering. In some ways it feels to me like both a final and a first all at once, a “that was then, this is now” moment. Not only will we shed no more tears, but we will also enter into such a closeness and intimacy with God that we will feel sheltered and cared for. Perhaps you need to feel that way today. Oh, my friend, that ultimate longing will be fulfilled when our faith becomes sight, but you can still know the safety of the Lamb of God as your Shepherd even now.

On that day, there will be no more sin or effects of sin. You will be presented faultless before God’s throne (Jude 24-25). There will be no more spiritual ignorance because you will know as you are known (1 Cor. 13:12). You will walk in the light as He is in the light and will have fellowship with everyone you encounter (1 John 1:7). There will be no more groping or grasping because the glory of God and the Lamb will be your light (Rev. 21:23; 22:5).

Oh, can I just say: I cannot wait! I long for that day, that city, that light! Sure, some of my excited anticipation is because of my blindness. I will walk in the light with no white cane ever again! But also, it’s the freedom from sin and the comfort of being known, and it’s the absolute mind-blowing anticipation of having nothing to separate me from the One my soul loves. Oh, thank You, Jesus, our risen Lamb, Light of the world.

Read Revelation 21:4 and Isaiah 25:6-9 and thank God for the promise of His compassion and celebration that awaits us in our glorious unending!