Tears in a Bottle

Try to imagine a world with no grief, no loss, no sickness of any kind.

Try to imagine a world with eternal joy, sharing daily life with friends and family, and our Creator. 

The Bible talks of a time when everything will be made new, and the old ways will be no more. The Bible talks of a time when there will be no more tears; a time when God Himself will wipe every tear, from every eye. 

But recently, I began to wonder if there might be tears in heaven before they are wiped away. 

I started to imagine when God’s final judgment is revealed...no doubt there will be moments when we become aware that someone we dearly loved, someone we prayed for, hoped for, is not among the redeemed. What if we feel the weight of that absence and our grief is great?

Could it be that before joy is complete, there is a time of sorrow? A moment when our tears fall, not for ourselves, but for those we will never see again? 

The bible tells us, "For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." Matthew 7:14 ESV 

That tells me not everyone is going to live forever. That could cause immense pain.

One of the most comforting promises in Scripture comes from Revelation 21:4 ESV: 

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

This verse paints a picture of a God who not only sees our sorrow but personally tends to it. Notice the wording: “He will wipe away every tear.” It does not say there will not be any tears, but that God will remove them. Gently. Permanently.

This suggests something beautiful to me: God, in His mercy, meets us in that moment and brings full healing. Whatever sorrow we might fell in Heaven, He promises to erase it, not just the tears themselves, but the need for tears.

In the very near future, there will be no more death, no more brokenness, and no more pain. The things that brought tears in this life will have no place in the life to come. Heaven will not be a place of denial, but of restoration.

So, if your heart aches today, if you have shed more tears than you care to count, take heart.

The God who counts every tear will one day wipe them all away. Forever.

"You have kept count of my tossings; [wanderings] put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?" Psalm 56:8 ESV

by Jeanette Stark - Sunday, May 11, 2025