And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”
Revelation 21:3-5
The man named John who wrote this was a man who needed hope. He was writing at a time when innocent Christians were being ruthlessly killed in ways similar to the events of this past Monday at Virginia Tech simply because of what they believed. John was basically a prisoner of war on the
So how do these words keep Him from despair and hopelessness even though he knows that each moment people he loves are continuing to die?
1) These words give hope because they show that God is not ignorant of such evils and He doesn’t approve of such evils.
v.4 says: [God] will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.
God will wipe away every tear. He couldn’t wipe away any tears that He does not see. Death shall be no more. God can only bring an end to death if He knows that it is viciously stealing people. Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain, for the former things have passed. What are referred to as the former things have to at some point be the current things that God witnesses.
God is perfectly aware of these present realities. Not only is He not ignorant of these realities but we know that He doesn’t approve of them because, if He did, why would He want to bring an end to them? He is making all things new in a way that He will be able to one day take perfect pleasure in. He does not take perfect pleasure in the way the world is right now.
2) These words give hope because they show that God has the power to bring an end to such evil.
v.4 says: He will wipe away every tear…
v.5 says: I am making all things new…
The voice of the One seated on the throne is referring to God when He says He will wipe away every tear. The One seated on the throne says He Himself is making all things new. The One on the throne is the King over all who has all authority to be able to say these things. The One on the throne is God. The evils that we continue to witness and experience in this life aren’t just going to come to an end. God is going to bring them to an end. He alone holds all the power in the universe and He will use it to bring an end to all evil once for all. Terrorists think they have power, but their power isn’t as absolute as they think it is. God’s power is absolute over them because He will one day do away with them all.
3) Best of all, these words give hope because they show that God will one day be present with us physically.
v.3 says: Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God Himself will be with them as their God.
Three times this one verse tells us that God will be with us. He won’t just be our God. He will dwell with us as our God. John uses that same Greek word for dwell in his gospel when He says that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14).” Yahweh Himself tabernacled, if you will, among us in the person of His Son Jesus Christ. And God almighty will do so once again, NEVER to leave us that time. This is the reason there will be no more evil. Because evil CANNOT stand in the presence of a perfectly holy and goodness-filled God. Pain cannot happen in His presence. Mourning cannot happen in His presence. Crying cannot happen in His presence. Dying cannot happen in His presence. These things cannot happen because we know that “in [God’s] presence there is fullness of joy, at [His] right Hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11). That’s how great God is. And that’s why we feel His absence so strongly in this life. Pause for a moment and think about this. Let that take your breath away. There is no such thing as a perfect world without God. There would be nothing to make it perfect. Surely not us.
For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. But be glad and rejoice forever ...Father in Heaven, we weep with those who weep for the devastation that happened in Virginia. But more than that, we weep that this world doesn't know You as its only hope. Words cannot express how we ache for that day when we will be with You. Oh, if only the rest of the world could have the eyes to see that this is why our world is the way it is! Because You aren't present in Your fullness. In the aftermath of Monday's tragedies, I pray with all my heart that we wouldn't just join hands and love each other more, thinking that this will make for a better world. But I pray that we would see that we as sin-sick human beings are what is wrong with this world and that we need You to come and put an end to our sin once and for all. Thank You that that day is coming and the only reason that we will not be destroyed along with all the evil in this world that will be trampled under Your Sovereign foot is because the evil in us was destroyed in the destruction of Your Son's body on the cross. And His righteousness was imputed to us so that on that day we can stand in Your presence without being obliterated by Your holiness. Help us to see the incomparable beauty of Jesus Christ so that we might treasure Him above all in this sorrowful life. And make us to spend our short lives rejoicing in that which we see of You now so that we will indeed have our joy made complete when Jesus comes to wrap it up once for all. May He come quickly. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Isaiah 65:17,18
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