It is shocking for my wife and me to consider that it has been almost 18 years since we heard that our son was dead. Overcome by suicidal depression, he took his own life after graduating from college.
It took some time for us to come to grips with the reality of what had taken place, but not long after that painful moment, we became part of a grief recovery group sponsored by a neighboring church. Eventually, we embraced the idea that we were to be conduits of comfort flowing out to others and not just containers of recovery for ourselves (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). That insight shaped the rest of our ministry.
One of the things that we learned from our time in GriefShare was that people react to loss differently. This has certainly been the case for Candy and me. As she has led a grief group in our church over the years, she often tells people that tears come easily for her. While I also grieve, I very rarely cry. Our unique experiences help us to comfort others who may find their varied styles of deep mourning to be jarring to their relationships with other survivors.
In Revelation 21:1-4, God gives us a precious promise of a new resurrection world. These verses can captivate our sanctified imagination. What will this promised existence be like? How will this gift of God come down out of heaven? Will the city be a holy place, but somehow also a glorious person—a bride adorned for her husband, Jesus? Will we, perfected in holiness, be the dwelling place of God forever? What will it be like to be in this new world where death, crying, and pain will be no more?
Included in the description of the grand-finale new Jerusalem is this comforting picture: “He (God) will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” This particular promise gives me pause, since I rarely weep. But even though I don’t shed tears often, I am certainly in need of permanent emotional repair. The tearlessness I experience now can actually be far from pleasant. What will it mean to me that Jesus will wipe away every tear from my eye, since I don’t cry?
As I have meditated upon, memorized, and sung these beloved words from the end of the Bible, I am satisfied that Revelation 21:4 is good news not only for those who frequently cry but also for people who can’t seem to shed a tear. Our Lord will not only take away the outer manifestations of sadness, he will also beautifully heal all of the inner pain that comes from guilt, shame, anger, fear, confusion, division, and so much more. The citizens of the resurrection world will experience perfect shalom from the tender hand of the Almighty.
Who is this God who is full of kind compassion and so powerful to save? He is Immanuel Jesus— God with us and the I AM of salvation. The hands that can wipe away physical tears and cleanse our damaged souls so wonderfully are the same hands that were “wounded for our transgressions” (Isaiah 53:5).
The image of a God who comforts us was prophesied long ago in Isaiah 25:8. So many centuries before Roman nails pierced the Messiah, the prophet proclaimed this: “He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken.”
This verse helps me to see behind the tears to the inner turmoil of separation and shame. Will Jesus take away my reproach? Consider two thoughts regarding the Man of Sorrows whose death and resurrection have become the hope of all who believe in His Name:
1. Jesus will be the King over a new and united heaven and earth.
No longer will we have a painful breach between this world and the next, keeping us from the presence of loved ones who have gone ahead of us.
Since Genesis 3, grieving people have suffered great sadness because of the division between life on earth and the present heavens. When our Messiah returns, we will be together with the Lord forever. One of the most painful facts of loss in this world is that we are kept from safe contact with Christians who are on the other side of the divide. No longer can we enjoy the experience of being together. Conversations, laughter, and the subtle body language of encouragement that make our existence so rich are now out of the question.
We may have treasured photographs or videos of past days, but even the best memories may remain painful for decades. Many survivors find that they are not yet ready to look back on former happy moments because they are still working through their anguish about those earlier times that now seem to be gone forever.
All this will one day be more than repaired. We will have joyful contact with the redeemed that will be far richer than anything we have ever experienced in this mortal life. Our new environment will be without the dangers and sorrows of our existence today. We will be living in a place where we will not have a hint of disappointment and where all things will be eternally new. Only the Triune God can do this amazing miracle, and he will do this for all who are in Jesus.
2. Jesus will be our Prince of Peace forever.
Yes, our Lord will reunite a perfect resurrection environment, but don’t lose sight of this comforting truth: the brightest jewel in the City of God will be the Captain of our Salvation, the Prince of Shalom. In our days of sorrow, we may find it impossible to imagine that Jesus will be more glorious to us than our first sight of a loved one that we miss so deeply.
This is just part of our soul damage that the Lord will certainly repair. He understands our weakness and will make everything right again. He “is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20).
Our enjoyment of Jesus in heaven will be fuller and more glorious than we can possibly imagine. Even now “our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself” (Philippians 3:20-21).
As Paul instructs us in Colossians 3:1–4, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”
All this gospel encouragement does not mean that we can sidestep the painful reality of grief in this broken and sad world. We do grieve, but not “as others do who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). We have a future. We have come to believe in the truths that we absolutely need in order to thrive today. We have a confident expectation that the promises of God are trustworthy.
Yes, he will wipe away every tear from our eyes. He will even take away the reproach of those of us who have forgotten how to cry. He will be the ultimate answer for us.
It is a troubling fact of life that “in the world you will have tribulation.” But as Jesus assures us in John 16:33, “Take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Stephen Magee is the founding pastor of Exeter Presbyterian Church in Exeter, New Hampshire.