He will wipe every tear from their eyes. Revelation 21:4
“I measure every Grief I meet,” the nineteenth-century poet Emily Dickinson wrote, “With narrow, probing, eyes – / I wonder if It weighs like Mine – / Or has an Easier size.” The poem is a moving reflection on how people carry the unique ways they’ve been wounded throughout their lives. Dickinson concludes, almost hesitantly, with her only solace: the “piercing Comfort” of seeing at Calvary her own wounds reflected in the Savior’s: “Still fascinated to presume / That Some – are like my own –.”
The book of Revelation describes Jesus, our Savior, as a “Lamb, looking as if it had been slain” (5:6; see v. 12), His wounds still visible. Wounds earned through taking upon Himself the sin and despair of His people (1 Peter 2:24–25), so that they might have new life and hope.
And Revelation describes a future day when the Savior will “wipe every tear” from each of His children’s eyes (21:4). Jesus won’t minimize their pain, but truly see and care for each person’s unique grief—while inviting them into the new, healing realities of life in His kingdom, where there is “no more death or mourning or crying or pain” (v. 4). Where healing water will flow “without cost from the spring of the water of life” (v. 6; see 22:2).
Because our Savior has carried our every grief, we can find rest and healing in His kingdom.
A New Heaven and a New Earth
21 1 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”[a] for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’[b] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.
INSIGHT
- When have you felt truly seen in your pain?
- How has God comforted you in hard times?
Exiled on the island of Patmos (Revelation 1:9), the apostle John was given a glimpse of “what must soon take place” (v. 1) when Jesus returns to rule the world as king. God will judge and punish an unbelieving, sinful world for her wickedness and evil (chs. 4–19). Satan will be sent into eternal punishment (20:10). In the final vision (21:1–22:9), John saw “a new heaven and a new earth” (21:1), a fulfillment of a promise God made in Isaiah 65:17–25. Scholars say both Isaiah and John are describing heaven, “God’s dwelling place,” where He will live with His people forever (Revelation 21:3). “Nothing impure will ever enter it . . . but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life” (v. 27). The apostle Peter says this new heaven and new earth is “where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13).
PRAYER
Dear God, thank You for seeing, understanding, and carrying all my grief. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen!!
Read: REVELATION 21:1-6 (NIV) | Bible in a Year: PSALMS 37-39; ACTS 26
