Wipe Away Your Tears

By Dr. Brandon Steenbock, Family Minister

Revelation 21:3-4 - 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. 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.”

There’s an image burned into my memory: My son Paladin, age 3, sitting at the table across from me. His mouth is curved down and his chest is heaving as he tries to suppress his sadness. A single tear rolls out of his eye and down his round cheek. 

I don’t remember why he was sad or how we resolved it. But I remember how it made me feel, and I think that’s why the image is so strong in my mind. I reached forward and wiped away his tear, and then pulled him into a hug. I never wanted this little boy to feel sad again. 

I have to confess that over the years I have not only failed to keep him from feeling sadness, all too often, I have been the source of his sadness. We live in a sin-cursed world, bringing death in little ways by the words we say, the anger we unleash, the stupid choices we make, the misplaced priorities and missed opportunities. That’s been my story, and I know it’s yours as well. And the ones closest to me have felt that grief the most. 

That’s just counting what I can control. There is grief and pain and heartache and death beyond all our control. Tears are inevitable. 

My son is an adult now. He’s going to continue to experience grief and pain and ache. So will I. So will you. We can’t solve the problem of our own sin, let alone the problem of death.

But Jesus can. And Jesus has. His sacrifice paid for all my hurtful words, my uncontrolled anger, my failures and my sin. And my son’s. And yours. He has solved the problem of sin by becoming sin for us, and erasing the guilt of our sin forever. And not just that, he has defeated the death our sin brings. By his resurrection, Jesus took away all of death’s power, so even the little death we bring daily by our sin is just a small and passing thing. 

Because in the end, Jesus is coming back. With him will come all of heaven - cherubim and seraphim and archangels and heavenly hosts. And the Father himself. God, our heavenly Father, will come to live with us. He sees the tears rolling down our cheeks, and he will take us in his arms and wipe away our tears. 

The sin-cursed world will be no more. Death will be eliminated once and for all. Every sad thing will become untrue. And we will never be sad again. Not my son. Not you. Not me. 

I can’t wait.