Tears in Heaven

No more crying there
We are going to see the king
No more crying there
We are going to see the king
No more crying there
We are going to see the king.
Hallelujah, hallelujah
We’re going to see the king.

There is coming a day when no heartaches shall come
No more clouds in the sky, no more tears to dim the eye.


All my life I’ve heard that there are no tears in heaven. But that is one of those phrases that is not actually in the Bible, like “righteous indignation” and “cleanliness is next to godliness" (see my earlier post)

The truth is, the single most sorrowful and tearful event in all of eternity is going to take place in heaven. And all of us will be there and we’ll all be crying out in anguish. And then, it will be over, and from that point on, some of us will be cast away, to cry out for all of eternity. For the rest of us there will be no more tears because God will wipe them away.

I am referring to the Great White Throne Judgment.

In the book of Revelation, Chapter 20, Scripture says:

"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Revelation 20:12-15

It is a few verses later that God says:

"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

Scripture seems to indicate that the redeemed will be present at the Great White Throne Judgement. That means that we will see every lost family member, friend, neighbor, co-worker or acquaintance stand before God, lost, their name missing in the book of life, and we will see their final punishment – which is to be cast into the Lake of Fire. The horror of that moment, especially if we never took the time to witness to them, will be the most sorrowful moment of all eternity for us. I wonder if they won’t look at us and ask why. If we knew they were facing this, why didn’t we say something? But it will be too late.

After witnessing the Judgment, how can we possible have joy, and no more tears? When the Scripture says God will “wipe away” our tears, the Greek word used is exaleipho {ex-al-i'-fo}, which means in part to obliterate or erase – to blot out. Again, I’m speculating, but I believe that God will literally blot out not only our tears, but our memories of anything that would cause sadness and tears …such as what we have just witnessed.

Some sobering thoughts for me just before I go to sleep… Also has me thinking about who I might be able to witness to tomorrow...