by Kevin Burton
The former things. The former things. May they soon become former.
There is a song, “The Tabernacle of God,” released in 1979 by Cynthia Clawson. It has always been a favorite of mine, but these days it leaps up and grabs me.
My mother is in hospice care now. That started this week. She is 91. I don’t think she will pass before I can get this post onto the website. She has some good days and some bad days. But we think she doesn’t have long.
This next may be instructive to you as you ponder your own mortality. Within maybe three days, my mother told me “Kevin, I just want to go home” then prayed with tears for “a little more time” with me, my wife and my brother.
You and I will walk down that road. It will not be surprising if some of us aren’t sure in the moment, which way we want to walk.
Anyway, The Tabernacle of God is a musical treatment of the first few verses of Revelation 21. Today I’m landing on verse 4, which in the KJV reads “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.”
The former things.
As you can imagine, my mind does not stray far from these thoughts in these times. This was magnified by a recent message from Truth For Life, the radio and television ministry of Alistair Begg.
That message begins with Isaiah 65:19, which I will expand to verses 17-19 (KJV):
“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.”
The passage from revelation is more resonant to me because of the song and because I have so many scrapes, bruises and black eyes because of the “former things” which have yet to pass away.
So let’s get to the good part, and be encouraged those of you who have trusted in Jesus Christ. This is what Christ followers can look forward to in Heaven (and who knows how soon!):
“In heaven the glorified do not weep, for all outward causes of grief are gone. There are no broken friendships, nor unfulfilled longings in heaven. Poverty, famine, danger, persecution, and slander are unknown there.”
“There will be no pain to distress us, no anxious thoughts of death or bereavement to sadden. Those there do not weep, for they are perfectly sanctified. No evil heart of unbelief prompts them to depart from the living God; they are faultless before His throne and fully conformed to His image.”
“Well might they stop mourning since they have stopped sinning. They do not weep, because all fear of change is past. They know that they are eternally secure. Sin is shut out, and they are shut in.”
“They are safe in a city that will never be taken; they bask in a sun that shall never set; they drink of a river that will never run dry; they pluck fruit from a tree that will never wither. Countless cycles may revolve, but eternity will not be exhausted; and while eternity endures, their immortality and blessedness shall endure with it.”
“They are forever with the Lord. They do not weep because every desire is fulfilled. They cannot wish for anything that they do not have. Eye and ear, heart and hand, judgment, imagination, hope, desire and will—all the faculties are completely satisfied.
“And although our present ideas of what God has prepared for those who love him are imperfect, still we know by the revelation of the Spirit that the saints above are supremely blessed.”
“The joy of Christ, which is an infinite fullness of delight, is in them. They bathe themselves in the bottomless, shoreless sea of infinite blessing.”
“That same joyful rest awaits us. It may not be too long before the weeping willow is exchanged for the palm-branch of victory, and sorrow’s tears will be transformed into the pearls of everlasting bliss.”
“Therefore encourage one other with these words.”
Page 7 