“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Revelation 21:4)
There is both hope and experience in this verse. Here we see the great comfort of knowing that the sometimes painful journey we take through life has a destination of consolation. It is a great vision of God himself - God himself! - wiping the tears from the cheeks of the believer. Mourning and pain will be a fast-fading memory, eclipsed by the very presence of God. As the preceding verse has it:
He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
There is the hope, but there is also the experience. Note that for tears to be wiped away, they have to be there in the first place. There is a realism in Christianity which does not shy away from the difficulties and disappointments of life. We carry the tears of earth into heaven with us.
To hold these two realities together is to keep a healthy balance in life. As we read in Psalm 30:5; “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” Don’t deny your pain, but don’t let it cloud your hope. The path of the Christian is sometimes difficult, but the destination is worth it.
