No More Crying There
Scripture Reading — Revelation 21:1-5
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
—Revelation 21:4
A few years ago my wife and I were standing in a small-town cemetery in the Netherlands, looking at the gravestone of my parents. Below their names is the text “And God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”
There had been much to cry about. Hardships during World War II, with three sons in hiding from the Germans, and a daughter in a German concentration camp. Soon after the war my dad became a widower for the second time, and three years later a son was killed.
There is a lot to cry about during a lifetime. Sooner or later every family and individual will shed tears for one reason or another. It may be the loss of someone we love, the onset of a lingering disease, the limitations that come with getting older, or a lifelong challenge or disability that keeps us from doing what we want to do.
Whatever causes us to cry, in the words of an old song, the day will come when there will be “no more … crying or pain.” The day will come when pain and death and mourning will be gone. Someday, perhaps sooner than we think, God himself will wipe every tear from our eyes. Someday the new Jerusa-lem will come down from heaven, heaven and earth will be-come one, and God himself will live with his people. And on that day he will make all things new!
Lord our God, please come soon to make all things new. Be-cause of Jesus, Amen.
About the author — Arthur J. Schoonveld
Rev. Art Schoonveld is a retired minister in the Christian Reformed Church. Before retiring in 2001, he served churches in California, Illinois, and Michigan. Since his retirement he has worked part-time for the denomination and has served as an interim pastor. Art and his wife, Anita, have four children and nine grandchildren.
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