Worthy is the Lamb who was slain…(Revelation 5:12)

So great is the unspeakable joy of the new heavens and earth, so glorious, that “the former things” of the “first” heaven and earth which God created in the beginning shall have “passed away.”

In the new heaven is no more of these “former things”: death, sorrow, crying, pain.

They shall have “passed away” because God sends them away. There are no tears because God wipes them away.

They pass away, they are ushered out of our existence and our experience, as unwanted unwelcome guests. People at the wedding with no wedding garments. Things like corona viruses. Be gone!

It is a wonder how that shall be—that so much of what describes and even defines our existence now shall then be…gone. Simply, wonderfully…no more.

No more sorrow, pain, limitations, angst, anxieties, people that bother, sin that bites, things that bite, that sting, that infect, dying, death.

How…not?

One wonders then if we shall have any remembrance of these bad and nasty and shameful and killing things. For if we did how could we have perfect joy? But if we do not how shall we have the joy of knowing that from which we have been delivered?

One thing to remember, dear people of God: in heaven, in the new heavens and earth one suffering, the suffering of One, shall be not only remembered, but celebrated.

It is the suffering of the Lamb. It is the Lamb Who suffered your death, and to take away all your sorrow, your crying, your pain.

Remember and celebrate this and this One, our Lord Jesus crucified for sinners.

Sing with the choir of heaven: Worthy is the Lamb who was slain…(Revelation 5:12)

Let us sing this now, in our present distress. Foretaste of new heaven and earth glory and joy and praise.

For such a time as this.

With you in Him, confiding in the Savior and His truth and love,