Tears in Heaven
Although I would rarely consider myself a skeptic or an idiot, there seems to be an interesting difference in the witness of the scripture and my own personal theology.
I always assumed there would be no tears in heaven. I was wrong:
“I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside of it” Rev. 5:4
Does anyone cry in heaven. Jesus talks a ton about the “weeping and gnashing of teeth” in hell. Maybe that is why so many dentists are going to hell……just joking.
In chapter 7:17, John says that God says, “For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes…”
This heavenly picture is laced with potent imagery which no sane human being should assume to fully understand. I understand that. The image that sticks out is that of tears. John has seen them before, so he knows what they are when he sees them. I have seen them out of they eyes on my own face. And so have you!
Tears are universal.
There are tears in heaven.
Heaven is the place where God wipes them off, not abolishes them.
Shelly Ivey wrote:
Okay, that’s a bit of a bummer. I really thought our sorrow would end once we reached heaven. But, it seems like there is hope!
I looked a bit further and found another passage regarding tears.
It is taken from Revelation 21:4, after a God creates a New Heaven and New Earth–
“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” Revelation 21: 4 NRSV
According to Revelation, we eventually will never experience tears or sorrow again, BUT we must wait until God establishes a New Heaven and New Earth.
Interesting.
So, why is God waiting to abolish our tears until He creates Heaven 2.0?
Posted on 18-Apr-07 at 5:19 pm | Permalink
AJ wrote:
Shelley…
You are brilliant.
Thank you
Posted on 23-Apr-07 at 7:19 pm | Permalink
Romayne wrote:
You may be interested in a blog post I also wrote on this intriguing topic a while back, as I also came to realise that the old adage about “no tears in heaven” is a myth. The reality is quite a surprise and somewhat concerning as we don’t know what instigates the tears, but I would have to contend with that God declares He will provide “joy for mourning and beauty for ashes”, so can’t see us in any sense crying for any ‘wrong’ reason. Blessings, TKR :-).
Posted on 08-Aug-07 at 2:16 pm | Permalink