Dr. Craig Brandick
In last week’s blog we looked at the first part of our hope of final sanctification. Specifically, we saw that there will be no more separation from God, and there will be no more Deceiver. This week we will examine how Our Heavenly Hope is free of those things that frighten, sadden, challenge, and hinder us.
There Will Be No More Death, Sorrow, Tears, or Pain
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”
(Revelation 21:4)
I recently took a seminary break from my church to work on this book. That Sunday I visited another church over the mountain from where I pastor. The associate pastor is a friend of mine with whom I attended seminary. For the past year or so we had kept in touch and prayed for one another. One of his prayers was for his father who was suffering with cancer. When I entered the church I was greeted by another former seminarian who told me that they had several people lose loved ones in the church in the last month; including my friend’s father who had died the week before. When I saw my friend I embraced him and told him of my sorrow for him. His reply was one commonly heard among believers, “He is not suffering anymore.” This was no off-the-cuff or stock remark for those who know the hope described here in Revelation 21:4; in our final sanctification pain ends. In the weeks prior to this I was grieved to find that another friend with whom I had served succumbed to the heart crushing load that he bore as a pastor. He needed to leave the ministry for a time of healing. Sadly, this was not the first, or second, or even the third or fourth servant of God that I know who has been overwhelmed with sorrows in ministry.
The hope that Revelation 21:4 offers is that those things which cause our tears will be forever gone. The voice of the mourner will no longer be heard, the sound of the ambulance will be silenced, and all of the former things will be passed away. There is even hope that the very memories of those things will be gone as well. Much of the Revelation is a direct quote or an allusion to the Old Testament—such is the case with Revelation 21:4. In Isaiah 65:17 God promises, “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.” John Walvoord rightly observes that, “The Scriptures make plain that not only the old earth and heaven pass away but also the details and associations that belong to it that would mar the situation in the new heaven and the new earth.”[1] Think of the hope that this offers for the person who has suffered severe trauma or has succumbed to some dreadful sin. Their wish is often for selective amnesia. There are things that many wish that they could just forget. As we continue into eternity the very memory of this world will be gone. Whether it is by a special work of God, or by the memory fading into the oblivion of time past all of the things that bring sorrow will be gone.
There Will Be No More Sin
“But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” And there shall in no wise enter into [the city]
any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie:
but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
(Revelation 21:8; 27)
Not only will the things that cause sorrow be forgotten, none shall ever be able to enter in. We often look at the warnings of judgment in Revelation evangelistically, “Repent or burn!” But God offers this to his people in a sense of hope. Our first theme teaches that God creates life out of death and beauty out of chaos. How could this fit in that theme? We must remember that God’s judgment is also an act of love for his people. In Revelation 6:9-10 John saw “…under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?’” In chapter 8 it is from that very altar that an angel offered up incense to God with the prayers of the saints, and then took the fire from that altar and cast it to the earth thus opening the judgments upon the enemies of God and his people.
But not only is there judgment in view, there is also protection. Cities in the ancient world were protected to an extent by their walls and gates. No matter how formidable they may have been, cities often fell to marauding armies that would burn and pillage. But the final state in heaven will be safe. Nothing harmful will enter in. All those who would cause harm will have been cast into the
Our final sanctification is in heaven. Until then we must seek to be faithfully obedient as God’s representatives here on the earth. But until then we may joyfully anticipate that time as our hearts cry out, “Oh, Lord Jesus; How long? How long?”
No comments:
Post a Comment