Appalachian Disciple

Twice in Revelation it says that God will “wipe away every tear from our eyes.”  I’ve always thought of that metaphorically; all the accumulated reasons I’ve had to cry — wiped away, gone!  And that sentiment is true.

 But lately I’ve been thinking about how you buckle down through a traumatic event, how you shut down and focus to get through a tragedy, to keep taking the next step, to survive. You get through it, and then you fall apart. Then you shake and weep and let the emotions out from their bottled-up place.  When the adrenaline is thick, you’re focused on your fight or flight.  But when the adrenaline fades, when you collapse because it’s over now; it’s done and you made it, then it’s safe to cry.

I wonder if we might, all of us believers, have tears like that with Jesus?  Having escaped the clutches of all the powers assembled against us, having made it through this broken, barren, landmine-riddled world, will we arrive on the other side of eternity like shell-shocked fugitives realizing it’s safe now, it’s over, we’re home?  We will never hear the accuser again. Never take another blind-siding, grieve another loss, feel another rejection, betrayal, or dark night of the soul. Might it take some serious crying — tears needing literally to be shed — to come to grips with this new reality: safe, healed, clean, known, loved, home?

The first time this idea is recorded in Revelation is when John is viewing the great multitude from every nation and asking who they are.  The elder says, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation…”(7:14)  who will no longer hunger or thirst or be scorched or without shelter or lost… “and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (7:17) 

The second time is when the New Jerusalem descends and it is announced that, “God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them and be their God.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes…” (21:3,4)  The time of wandering, of being hurt and hunted, of being without His physical presence, is over. “The old order of things has passed away.” It’s really done.  It’s okay to cry.

‘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