Will there be tears in heaven?

There is a moment coming when tears will all be gone. Three times in Scripture are we told that God will wipe away all tears; Isaiah 25:8; Revelation 7:17; Revelation 21:4. Two references would have been adequate testimony to the fact; but we have the Holy Spirit's complete testimony to the fact that the day is coming when God Himself will remove all tears, and the cause of those tears will be gone for ever, "He shall wipe away every tear," (New Trans.). Every true tear recorded; every true tear valued by God; but every tear wiped away. Beloved, let us value the opportunities of the night of weeping; it is on the divine calendar, "There is… a time to weep." We see the breakdown around us and we have to take account of it in our own histories, too. Peter was brought to the realization of the fact that he had grieved the heart of Christ, and "he went out, and wept bitterly." If we were more sensitive in regard of all that which is contrary to the holy love of Christ, and sorrowed in a godly way over it, there would be compensating occasions of joy, for He delights to "give … beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." (Isa. 61:3).

Rev. 21:4. — “And He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall not exist any more, nor grief, nor cry, nor distress shall exist any more, for the former things have passed away,” It is only in the eternal state that the effects of sin, physical and moral, are completely removed. The millennial era is not, as we have seen, a perfect condition, and hence even under the beneficent sway of the Lord tears will be shed on earth. The words, “He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes,” is verbally repeated in Revelation 7:17. There, however, it is a millennial scene; here it is in the everlasting state. The wiping away of tears is not an action ascribed to the Lamb either here or in the earlier scene. God does this. If He wipes away every tear, then He removes every cause and occasion of sorrow. The tear-drop will never again glisten in the eye. The eye is said to be “the fountain of sorrow,” but God shall wipe it dry.

"They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." (vv. 16, 17.) These are blessed promises, but promises fitted for an earthly rather than a heavenly people. In the eternal state "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." (Rev. 21:4.) Then tears and sorrow, pain and death, are all done away, while the blessings of the Gentile multitude are rather exemption from trouble and protection from evil. They shall neither hunger nor thirst. To an earthly people just rescued from suffering, but still in the scene of their privations, this promise is most gracious, but how little appropriate to those dwelling in the Father's house.

Again, not merely are they there themselves, but it is said, "He that sitteth on the throne shall" — not exactly "dwell among them," but — "tabernacle over them." It is the gracious shelter of the Lord's care and goodness that is set forth by it. This is of importance: because, though God now dwells by the Holy Ghost in the church as His habitation through the Spirit, it will not be so when these Gentiles will be called to the knowledge of Himself. There will be — what is more suited to their character — His protection. Of old God had His pillar of cloud, which was a defence and a canopy over the camp of Israel (though He also dwelt in their midst); here, too, He graciously shows it is not alone the sealed of Israel that enjoy His care, but these poor Gentiles. It is added that "they shall not hunger any more, neither thirst any more; nor in any wise shall the sun fall on them, nor any heat." I confess to you that I think such a promise is much more exactly adapted to a people about to be on the earth, than to men in a glorified state above. Where would be the propriety of a promise to glorified people not to hunger or thirst any more? If to a people on earth, we can all understand the comfort of its assurance. "For the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall tend them, and shall lead them unto fountains of waters of life: and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes."

It is explained to John that this blessed company has come out of "the great tribulation" about to come upon all the world under the judgments symbolised by the Seven Trumpets, as set forth in the following chapter. Of this solemn time we have already heard in the address to the assembly in Philadelphia, as "the hour of trial which is about to come upon the whole habitable world to try them that dwell upon the earth" (Rev. 3:10). Already we have learned in Revelation 6:9-11 that there will be during this time of judgment a martyred remnant, but there is nothing to indicate that this great company will suffer martyrdom. It is said that they "came out of the great tribulation," words that would indicate that they are preserved through the trials. They come under the cleansing of the blood of the Lamb, and for this reason they are accepted before God and have access to God, and are sheltered by God, for God "shall spread His tabernacle over them" (N. Tr.). If, however, they are preserved through the judgment this does not mean that they will not have to face trial and suffering, represented by hunger and thirst, and heat and tears. But in the end their sufferings will be for ever past, for "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more." The Lamb "shall lead them to living fountains of waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."

199 Before the judgment comes out, the Lord shews His saints all cared for. In the first eight verses of chapter 7 we see the sealing of the elect 144,000 of Israel 12 being a mystic number). In verse 9, onwards, we see the countless company out of every nation under heaven. These are distinct from the elders who have intelligence. One of the elders says, "these are they which come out of the great tribulation." The church always has intelligence. "We have the mind of Christ." What are the blessings of this remnant? Simply relief. They have neither joy nor intelligence like the elders. It would be a great comfort to have rest in this way, but that is all. They have been through tribulation, and they shall now have no more of it; but we do not find them filled with the Spirit, worshipping in the fulness of joy: "Thou art worthy," etc. By-and-by will be fulfilled in the crisis of the world the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be delivered out of it. So will these Gentiles also. They cry, "Salvation to our God which sitteth on the throne and unto the Lamb." This is to me a proof that it is not the church here speaking, for there is nothing of the Father. The place and character given to their salvation is that it is from God upon the throne. It is real salvation, of course, but of a different character. It is not they who go in with Christ into the Father's house, or are coming with Christ to the judgment. It is the throne of judgment, and God has delivered them from the great tribulation: "Therefore are they before the throne of God," and "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." In the gospel we may say God is doing all this for us now; He wipes away all tears from their eyes, and gives rest to our hearts now. Tears we may have for others, but not for ourselves. The saints are going in triumph to heaven; they even sit with Christ in the heavenly places, while here. They have got nearer to God in a different revelation from this. They have lived near Christ - members of His body; in an atmosphere which this language will not suit.

As regards ourselves, the saying of Isaiah 25:8 will be fulfilled when we are changed bodily into a condition of immortality and incorruptibility. This illustrates what we have just said. The Old Testament has in view the victorious resurrection power of God exercised on earth. Our Scripture brings to light a greater fulness of meaning, lying dormant in the verse until the Gospel day was reached. When the saints reach the image of the heavenly, death will be swallowed up in a victory that none can deny. Our Scripture, you notice, does not speak of the "rapture," the catching up of the saints. For that we must turn to 1 Thessalonians 4.

But we must not overlook the great statements of verse 8, particularly the one that Paul quotes in 1 Corinthians 15:54, as finding fulfilment in the day of resurrection. Whether the saints who lived before Christ came, discerned the resurrection in these glorious words, may be open to question, but we now know what they infer, and in the faith of them the victory enters our hearts, and we have it before the actual day of resurrection dawns. Death being removed, the tears, that by reason of it have been on innumerable faces, will be wiped away for ever, and the "rebuke," or "reproach" of His people will be gone for ever too. Primarily no doubt, His "people" here refers to the redeemed and born again Israel, who will enter the millennial age.

"And in this mountain shall Jehovah of hosts make to all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the veil which veils all peoples, and the covering that is spread over all the nations. He will swallow up death in victory. And the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the reproach of his people will he take away from off all the earth: for Jehovah has spoken" (vv. 6-8). The Spirit of God refers here to resurrection: so the apostle, in 1 Corinthians 15:54, applies the beginning of verse 8, "When this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." The resurrection synchronises with the deliverance of Israel, which itself will be "life from the dead" for the world (Rom. 11:15). Thus the first open stroke at death will be at this very time. Jesus is the resurrection and the life; and when He comes with His risen saints He will receive His ancient people, and will swallow up the covering that is spread over all the nations. For there is no deliverance wrought in the earth up to that time. It is when His reign over the earth is to begin, not when it ends.

But see the place that this triumph has in relation to the coming kingdom of peace. I quote from Isaiah 25. First, the faithful witness of Christ will be the light and the power that will “destroy the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations”: they will know the Lord from the least to the greatest; but second, “He will swallow up death in victory, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces.” That could not be unless the power of death had been broken. It has been broken, thank God, for Jesus Christ is the First-begotten from the dead.