END OF TIME PROPHECIES 245

The eternal state                The absence of sin's consequences                    Revelation 21v4.

"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."

When John saw the new Jerusalem descend from God out of heaven, and called it  "the holy city" he was indicating that from now and throughout all eternity there would be no more sin; no more lies, no more dirty deals, no more deception, no more corruption, no more thieving, no more murders, no more wars, no more unfaithfulness; because this new world is a world free from all unrighteousness and in which dwells only righteousness (2nd Peter 3v14).

The Holy Spirit says little of what the new life will be like, because it will be so wonderful that human words cannot describe it, and human minds are unable to comprehend it.   What he does say however, is what will not be there of the dread consequences of sin that we have all experienced in this world.   Notice the repetition of the words  "no more."  

• No more tears.   -     these are the tears caused by earth's suffering.   Life here is different for all of us, but common to us all, our journey through this world has produced many tears and emotions have gone deep because of the traumas we have known.   Tears because of unfulfilled expectations; tears for unrequited love; tears for loss of health; tears for loss of wealth; tears for loss of loved ones; tears for hurt caused by persecution; tears for rejection; tears for lost opportunities.   Coming after Revelation 20v11-15, perhaps tears because close family have entered the lake of fire.   Psalm 56v8 says  "Thou tellest all my wanderings.   Put thou my tears into Thy bottle."   (Note the singular, suggesting every single tear).    In Revelation 21v4 it says  " God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."   Again the word is singular and means every single tear.   God will take us individually and will explain each and every tear that we experienced in life.   Before we enter into eternal bliss He will remove all the hurt that is inside us.   Not only has He banished all our sins, He will also wipe away all our tears.
• No more death.     -     "The king of terrors has been destroyed and banished and no death will ever take place again."   The grief that death brings is such that no one can assuage. The loss of a mother, father, wife, husband, child, grandchild..... a life separation when part of us die with them and life is never the same.   No more death, no more open grave.
• No more sorrow.     -     Sorrow because of many things, like, failure in life, misunderstandings, false accusations, sins committed.   Sorrow because of sin.   The One who came to be our Saviour was Himself a "man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" and He will take all our sorrows away.  
• No more crying.     -     Crying is loud wailing, and is usually associated with unexpected tragedy.   Hagar cried when banished from her home, Abraham wept loud and long for Sarah, Jacob mourned for Joseph, David for Absalom, the lamentation in Ramah for the slaughtered infants at the hand of Herod.   Perhaps crying for hunger and lack of resources.   There will no tragedy overtake the saints in eternity.  
• No more pain.     -     Everyone has pain from toothache to headache to earache to heartache, pain in the joints, pain in the nervous system, pain in the flesh, back pain, muscular pain.   The pain and toil of heavy work.   Sin has indeed caused much distress but in eternity no more.

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