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Revelation 21:4
Hope and Eternity
Revelation 21:4
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more. The first things have passed away.”
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Why it is worth knowing
- God himself wipes tears: this is an intimate, personal act by the Creator of the universe
- Death, mourning, crying, and pain are all categorically ended, not reduced
- “The first things have passed away”: all suffering belongs to this age, not the next
- This is the destination toward which all of Christian hope points
Where it sits: Revelation 21:1-5
I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more. I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people; and 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. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more. The first things have passed away.” He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” He said, “Write, for these words of God are faithful and true.”
Hear the passage it sits in, sung word for word, on BibleDo's Revelation page.
Background
Revelation 21 describes the culmination of all of history, not the destruction of the world but its renewal. The new Jerusalem comes down from heaven, reversing the fall and restoring what was lost in Eden. God’s dwelling is now permanently with humanity. The wiping of tears is not a metaphor for forgetting: it is the removal of every cause of tears. The final word of the God seated on the throne is not judgment but renewal: “I am making all things new.”