Chapter 72
No Tears – No Exceptions
“God shall wipe away all
tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor
crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed
away.”
-- Revelation 21:4
Every saved sinner has learned by the effectual
teaching of God the Holy Spirit what Jonah learned in the whale’s belly. Every
sinner who has experienced God’s omnipotent, saving operations of grace gladly
confesses with Jonah, “Salvation is of the Lord!” For
believing men and women, that blessed fact of grace, that universal declaration
of Holy Scripture cannot be stated too fully, too frequently, or too
emphatically.
Salvation is, in its
entirety, the work of God’s free and sovereign grace in Christ. That is the
foundation upon which we build all our doctrine. That is the hermeneutic
principle upon which we interpret Scripture, because it is the hermeneutic
principle laid down in Scripture.
Salvation is by grace alone,
through faith alone, in Christ alone. No part of salvation can be, in any
measure, attributed to the will, worth, or works of man. The language of
Inspiration could not be more emphatically clear in this regard (2 Tim. 1:9-10;
Eph. 2:8-9; Rom. 11:6).
Be sure you understand this: -- Salvation involves all that is required to
bring a sinner from the ruins of the fall into the glory of heaven.
There is no aspect of salvation, no part of the package, neither on this side
of eternity nor on the other, which depends upon or is in any way, or to any
degree, determined by man.
God’s
election of some to salvation is the election of grace. Divine predestination
is “to the praise of the glory of his
grace.” Our redemption by the precious blood of Christ, that redemption which
purchased and secured for us the forgiveness of all sin forever, was
effectually accomplished for us “according
to the riches of his grace.” We are “justified
freely by his grace.” We were born again by the power of God’s grace. Our
faith in Christ is the gift and operation of the grace of God. We are
sanctified by that same free grace. If we persevere unto the end, it will be by that
grace of God, which keeps us in grace and faith, being sealed by his Holy
Spirit, “unto the redemption of the
purchased possession,” that is to say, “until the day of our resurrection.”
When, at last, we stand before our God and Savior in heaven, we shall possess
all the glory of our heavenly
inheritance forever, as “heirs of God and
joint-heirs with Jesus Christ,” by free grace alone.
When our great God and
Savior says, “Time shall be no more,” when he makes all things new, when
he presents us before the presence of the glory of God, holy, unblamable, and unreprovable,
without any trace of sin upon us, when he, when he who made all things for
himself brings forth the Headstone and puts it in the place of everlasting
pre-eminence and glory before heaven, earth and hell, we will shout with Zerubbabel, “Not by
might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts…crying, Grace, grace unto it!”
Because this great and glorious thing we call salvation is all of grace, from start to finish, we are assured that it shall be equally, fully, and perfectly possessed by all who are the heirs of it. So thorough, so complete, so full is God’s salvation that when it is finished, there will be absolutely no regrets, no sorrows, and no tears in eternity for God’s elect. Difficult as that may be for us to grasp, it is plainly revealed in Holy Scripture.
“And God shall wipe away
all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow,
nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are
passed away" (Rev. 21:4). Isaiah tells us the same thing. "He
will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears
from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from
off all the earth: for the Lord
hath spoken it” (Isa. 25:8).
Notice
the very slight, but very significant difference in the way the two texts (speaking
of the same promise) are worded. Isaiah tells us that God will wipe away “tears from off all faces.” He promises
us that God will wipe tears from the faces of all who possess eternal life with
Christ in everlasting glory. But in Revelation 21:4, the apostle John tells us
that, “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” By
divine inspiration, he gives an added touch of grace. He tells us that our God is not only going to wipe tears from the
eyes of all his people, but also that “God
shall wipe away ALL TEARS from their eyes!”
Put the
two texts together and you have the glorious promise of God in the gospel to
every believing sinner. It is just this: -- when our great and glorious God is finished with all things, he will have
so thoroughly and completely saved all his people from all sin and from all the
evil consequences of sin forever that there will never be a tear in our eyes
again!
Who can grasp the fulness of
this promise? It is too great, too broad, too incomprehensible for our mortal
brains. Yet, it is gloriously true! Our
great God shall, in heaven’s glory, remove us from all sin, remove all sin from
us, and remove us from all the evil consequences of sin. He will remove us from every cause of
grief. He will bring us at last into the perfection of complete salvation and
every desire of our hearts will be completely gratified. God’s salvation is so
perfect and complete that when he is finished, we will not even have the
slightest tinge of sorrow for anything.
Revelation 21:4 clearly
implies that there is much weeping in the way to heaven, and there is. Faith in Christ brings
deliverance from all curse and condemnation, but not from pain and sorrow. There are many things which believers suffer
in this world along with other men. Because the world is a world of sin,
it is a world of sorrow. Believers suffer physical pain and sickness, domestic
trouble and heartache, financial losses, bereavements and many, many other
things, just like all other men and women in this world.
There are many things that bring tears to our eyes about which the world knows nothing. The world knows nothing of the warfare that rages in our souls between the flesh and the spirit. The world knows nothing of our struggles with and weeping over inward sin, unbelief, hardness of heart toward God, and overmuch love of the world and of self. The world knows nothing of our nights of weeping and days filled with sorrow because of our lack of consecration to our God, our lack of devotion to our Savior, and our lack of submission to the direction of the blessed Holy Spirit.
There are even some precious tears, which we shed here that will be dried on the other side of Jordan. Here we shed many tears of repentance, many tears of sympathy, many tears of concern for the souls of men and the glory of God, any many tears of longing for the manifest presence of Christ. But all these tears, too, shall be dried forever, once we have been delivered from this world of sin and sorrow.
Do not misunderstand my
meaning. Even now, our heavenly Father does much to dry our tears. The believer’s life is not a
morbid, sorrow-filled existence. Not at all! We do have our sorrows. Yet, even
in the midst of sorrow our Lord gives us great comfort (Isa. 43:1-6).
"But now thus saith
the LORD that created thee, O Jacob,
and he that formed thee, O Israel,
Fear not: for I have redeemed thee,
I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest
through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon
thee. For I am the LORD thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy
ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious in my
sight, thou hast been honourable, and I
have loved thee: therefore will I
give men for thee, and people for thy life. Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed
from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up;
and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from
the ends of the earth."
Even here, our heavenly
Father gives us a measure of resignation to his will. He teaches us to trust
his providence. He reminds us of his gracious purpose (Rom. 8:28-21). He causes
us to remember his promises. He blesses us with the sense of his presence. He
floods our hearts with the knowledge of his love (Eph. 3:19). He reminds us
that the cause of our pain is his own loving hand (Heb. 12:5-12). And he
comforts us by fixing our hearts on better things above (Col. 3:1-3; 2 Cor.
4:15-18).
Yet, in heaven’s glory our
God will wipe all tears from our eyes. Impossible as it is for us to imagine, there is a
time coming when we shall weep no more, when we shall have no cause to weep!
Heaven is a place of sure, eternal, ever-increasing bliss; and the cause of
that bliss is our God! Heaven is a place of joy without sorrow, laughter
without weeping, pleasantness without pain! In heaven there are no regrets, no
remorseful tears, no second thoughts, no lost causes, no sorrows of any kind!
If
God did not wipe away all tears from our eyes, there would be much weeping in
heaven. We would
surely weep much over our past sins, unconverted loved ones forever lost in
hell, wasted opportunities while we were upon the earth, our many acts of
unkindness toward our brethren here, and the terrible price of our redemption! But God will wipe away all tears from our
eyes – all of them! In heaven’s glory there will be no more death to part
loving hearts. There will be no more sorrow of any kind. There will be no more
crying for any reason. There will be no more pain of any sort. Why? How can
these things be? -- “The former
things are passed away!”
Our great God shall, in heaven’s glory, remove us from all sin, remove all sin from us, and remove us from all the evil consequences of sin. He will remove us from every cause of grief. He will bring us at last into the perfection of complete salvation and every desire of our hearts will be completely gratified. Then we will be like Christ. We will be with Christ. We will see Christ. We will love Christ perfectly. We will serve Christ unceasingly. We will worship Christ without sin. We will rest in Christ completely. We will enjoy Christ fully. We will have Christ entirely. These things shall be our everlasting experience, without interruption!