Bible Text: Isaiah 25:8 | Speaker: Darlene Sala | Series: Encouraging Words |

Joey O’Connor was exhausted. He had just come home from the memorial service for a close friend who had been killed in a freak boating accident. 600 people had attended the service to celebrate the life of this young man whose future was so suddenly cut short. Worn out by grief, Joey flopped down on the bed to spend a few quiet moments with his three-year-old daughter, Janae. Immediately Janae began to ask questions about the accident and Joel’s death, and “Where’s heaven?”

“Well, I don’t know exactly where heaven is,” Joey admitted, “but I can tell you what heaven is like.” Then he explained that the Bible promises heaven is a place where we get to live with God forever—that there’s no death in heaven, no pain or ow-ees or scraped knees, and finally, that there’s no crying or tears in heaven because it is a wonderful, happy place with nothing to make us sad.

Suddenly the light came on for Janae. “Yeah,” she responded, “heaven’s not a crying place.”i

You got it right, Janae. The prophet Isaiah tells us that in the life to come God “will swallow up death forever. The sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces” And then like a signature, he adds, “The Lord has spoken” (Is. 25:8).

The book of Revelation tells us more about life in heaven. It says “The Lamb at the center of the throne [who is none other than Jesus Christ Himself] will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Rev. 7:17). The promise is repeated in chapter 21: “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” (Rev. 21:4).

Tears are a God-given outlet for the pain that we experience. But be encouraged: one day all grief will be forever past. It’s God’s promise.

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i Joey O’Connor, Heaven’s Not a Crying Place (Grand Rapids, MI: Fleming H. Revell, 1997), 15-19.