Answers from church history on today's questions
What Christian writers said, from about AD 206 to 1930.
28 passages · 18 writers · 6 centuries
Writers read Revelation 21:4 and Isaiah 25:8 as the end of grief: God wipes away every tear, and death, sorrow, crying, and pain are no more. Barnes says the word for sorrow covers grief of every kind, including the loss of friends. Tertullian places this after the resurrection, Wesley says it belongs to eternity, and Watson says death ends the believer's sorrows. Tillotson calls the prospect a mighty consolation now, and Barnes says it would change the world if no more tears were shed. Spurgeon says tears fill believers' eyes until they enter the promised rest, and that Christ will wipe the mourner's tears now.
5 passages · 4 writers · 1700s to 1900s
Robertson, Barnes, Bullinger, and Wesley go through the terms of Revelation 21:4, including tears, death, sorrow, mourning, crying, and pain.
1754 · John Wesley, Explanatory Notes on Revelation 21.4
And death shall be no more - This is a full proof that this whole description belongs not to time, but eternity. Neither shall sorrow, or crying, or pain, be any more: for the former things are gone away - Under the former heaven, and upon the former earth, there was death and sorrow, crying and pain; all which occasioned many tears: but now pain and sorrow are fled away, and the saints have everlasting life and joy.
1754 · John Wesley, Explanatory Notes on Revelation 21.1
St. John is not now describing a flourishing state of the church, but a new and eternal state of all things. For the first heaven and the first earth - Not only the lowest part of heaven, not only the solar system, but the whole ethereal heaven, with all its host, whether of planets or fixed stars, Isai xxxiv, 4 Matt. xxiv, 29. All the former things will be done away, that all may become new, verses 4, 5, 2 Pet. iii, 10, 12. Are passed away - But in the fourth verse it is said, "are gone away." There the stronger word is used; for death, mourning, and sorrow go away all together: the former heaven and earth only pass away, giving place to the new heaven and the new earth.
1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: Revelation 21.4
Neither sorrow - The word "sorrow" here - πένθος penthos - denotes sorrow or grief of any kind; sorrow for the loss of property or friends; sorrow for disappointment, persecution, or care; sorrow over our sins, or sorrow that we love God so little, and serve him so unfaithfully; sorrow that we are sick, or that we must die. How innumerable are the sources of sorrow here; how constant is it on the earth! Since the fall of man there has not been a day, an hour, a moment, in which this has not been a sorrowful world; there has not been a nation, a tribe - a city or a village - nay, not a family, where there has not been grief. There has been no individual who has been always perfectly happy. No one rises in the morning with any certainty that he may not end the day in grief; no one lies down at night with any assurance that it may not be a night of sorrow. How different would this world be if it were announced that henceforward there would be no sorrow! How different, therefore, will heaven be when we shall have the assurance that henceforward grief shall be at an end!
1909 · E. W. Bullinger, Commentary on Revelation (The Apocalypse, or 'The Day of the Lord') 20
And God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more, neither sorrow nor mourning, nor crying; neither shall there be any more pain: because the former things are passed away.] Every tear, for there are many tears, and many causes for them. Death no longer, no more dying beds, funerals, or graves. Sorrow ceases. Mourning is at an end: and crying shall be hushed and pain unfelt (Isa. xxv. 7, 8; xxxv. 10. Jer. xxxi. 16).
1930–1933 · A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament: Revelation 21.4
Shall wipe away every tear from their eyes (εξαλειψε παν δακρυον εκ των οφθαλμων αυτων). More exactly, "shall wipe out every tear out of their eyes" (repetition of εξ) like a tender mother as in 7:17 (Isa 25:8 ). There is no more that ought to cause a tear, for death (θανατος) is no more, mourning (πενθος), associated with death and crying (κραυγη, wailing), and pain (πονος as in 16:10) are all gone. There is peace and bliss.
4 passages · 3 writers · 1500s to 1800s
Barnes says Isaiah 25:8 is a plan of perfect consolation and that the Lord will abolish death. Calvin says sorrow and sighing flee away.
1551 · John Calvin, Commentary on Isaiah, part 3 (chapters 33-48) 35.10
Sorrow and sighing shall flee away. The joy is everlasting, and all “sadness flees away;” for although many bitter griefs are daily endured by the children of God, yet so great is the power and strength of their consolation, that it swallows up all sorrow.
1712 · Matthew Henry, Commentary on Isaiah 25.6-8
In the covenant of grace there shall be that provided which is sufficient to counterbalance all the sorrows of this present time, to wipe away our tears, and to refresh us. Those particularly that suffer for Christ shall have consolations abounding as their afflictions do abound. But in the joys of heaven, and nowhere short of them, will fully be brought to pass this saying, as that before, for there it is that God shall wipe away all tears, Rev. vii. 17; xxi. 4. And there shall be no more sorrow, because there shall be no more death. The hope of this should now wipe away all excessive tears, all the weeping that hinders sowing.
1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: Isaiah 25.8
Will wipe away tears from off all faces - This is quoted in Rev 21:4, as applicable to the gospel. The sense is, that Yahweh would devise a plan that would be suited to furnish perfect consolation to the afflicted; to comfort the broken-hearted; and that would in its final triumphs remove calamity and sorrow from people forever. The fullness of this plan will be seen only in heaven. In anticipation of heaven, however, the gospel now does much to alleviate human woes, and to wipe away tears from the mourner's eyes. This passage is exquisitely beautiful. The poet Burns once said that he could never read it without being affected to tears.
1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: Isaiah 25.8
He will swallow up - This image is probably taken from a whirlpool or maelstrom in the ocean that absorbs all that comes near it. It is, therefore, equivalent to saying he will destroy or remove Isa 25:7. In this place it means that he will abolish death; that is, he will cause it to cease from its ravages and triumphs. This passage is quoted by Paul in his argument respecting the resurrection of the dead 1Co 15:54. He does not, however, quote directly from the Hebrew, or from the Septuagint, but gives the substance of the passage. His quoting it is sufficient proof that it refers to the resurrection, and that its primary design is to set forth the achievements of the gospel - achievements that will be fully realized only when death shall cease its dominion, and when its reign shall be forever at an end. Death - Vitringa supposes that by 'death' here is meant the wars and calamities with which the nation had been visited, and which would cease under the Messiah. In this interpretation Rosenmuller concurs. It is possible that the word may have this meaning in some instances; and it is possible that the calamities of the Jews may have suggested this to the prophet, but the primary sense of the word here, I think, is death in its proper signification, and the reference is to the triumphs of God through the Messiah in completely abolishing its reign, and introducing eternal life. This was designed, doubtless, to comfort the hearts of the Jews, by presenting in a single graphic description the gospel as adapted to overcome all evils, and even to remove the greatest calamity under which the race groans - death.
13 passages · 12 writers · 200s to 1800s
Tertullian places the end of sorrow and sighing after the resurrection. Wesley, Spurgeon, Watson, Bayly, and Baxter say that in eternity and in heaven sorrow, crying, and pain end.
c. 206–207 · Tertullian, On the Resurrection of the Flesh (De resurrectione carnis) 58
Well, there is nothing eternal until after the resurrection. “And sorrow and sighing,” continues he, “shall flee away.” The angel echoes the same to John: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes;” from the same eyes indeed which had formerly wept, and which might weep again, if the loving-kindness of God did not dry up every fountain of tears. And again: “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death,” and therefore no more corruption, it being chased away by incorruption, even as death is by immortality. If sorrow, and mourning, and sighing, and death itself, assail us from the afflictions both of soul and body, how shall they be removed, except by the cessation of their causes, that is to say, the afflictions of flesh and soul? where will you find adversities in the presence of God? where, incursions of an enemy in the bosom of Christ? where, attacks of the devil in the face of the Holy Spirit?—now that the devil himself and his angels are “cast into the lake of fire.”
1605–1610 · Johann Arndt, True Christianity 2.44
Sixthly, how glorious shall the recompense of past afflictions be to the faithful in the other world, which they would not exchange for all the pleasures and glories of this! Rom. 8:18. “Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted.” Matt. 5:4. And in Rev. 21:4 and Isa. 25:8, it is said, that “God shall wipe away all tears from the eyes of” his saints.
c. 1611 · Lewis Bayly, The Practice of Piety 17
Death brings to the godly an end of sinning (Rom. vi. 7), and of all the miseries which are due to sin; so that after death, “there shall be no more sorrow nor crying; neither shall there be any more pain; for God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” (Rev. xxi. 4.) Yea, by death we are separated from the company of wicked men; and God “taketh away merciful and righteous men from the evil to come.” (Isa. lvii. 1.) So he dealt with Josiah: “I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be put into thy grave in peace; and thy eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring unto this place.” (2 Kings xxii. 20.) And God “hides them for a while in the grave, until the indignation pass over.” (Isa. xxvi. 20.) So that as paradise is the haven of the soul’s joy, so the grave may be termed the haven of the body’s rest.
1650 · Richard Baxter, The Saints' Everlasting Rest (abridged by Benjamin Fawcett) 3
The poor man shall no more be tired with his labors: no more hunger or thirst, cold or nakedness: no pinching frosts or scorching heats. Our faces shall no more be pale or sad; no more breaches in friendship, nor parting of friends asunder; no more trouble accompanying our relations, nor voice of lamentation heard in our dwellings: God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes. O my soul, bear with the infirmities of thine earthly tabernacle; it will be thus but a little while; the sound of thy Redeemer’s feet is even at the door.
1692 · Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity, Contained in Sermons upon the Westminster Assembly's Catechism 7.2
Judges 2:2. Rachel wept for her children: some grieve that they have no children, and others grieve that their children are undutiful. Thus we spend our years with sighing: it is a valley of tears; but death is the funeral of all our sorrows. ‘And God shall wipe away all tears.' Rev 7:17. Then Christ's spouse puts off her mourning; for how can the children of the bridechamber mourn, when the bridegroom is with them? Matt 9:15. Thus death gives a believer his quietus; it frees him from sin and trouble. Though the apostle calls death the last enemy, I Cor 15:56, yet it is the best friend. ‘To me to die is gain.'
1693 · Thomas Manton, Works, vol. XX Sermons on Several Texts of Scripture, Sermons upon 2 Thessalonians I, Sermon IV. 2 Thes. i. 6, 7
] There is no more misery nor affliction. Whatever is painful and burdensome is a fruit of the fall, a brand and mark of our rebellion against God; but there affliction is done away as well as sin. Both recompenses are without mixture. In hell there is an evil and only evil, without any temperament of good; and in heaven there is happiness and only happiness, without any allay of evil: ‘God will wipe all tears from our eyes, and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor any pain,’ Rev. xxii. 4. No more doubts of God’s love, no sense of his displeasure. Here, when the wounds are healed the scars remain; we have many suspicious thoughts still; we need to be dieted; the honey of God’s love would grow too luscious if we did not taste something of the vinegar and the gall; but there is full and uninterrupted joy. Here the candle of the Lord doth not always shine upon us alike brightly, but there our sun remaineth in an eternal high noon, without clouds or overcasting.
c. 1714 · William Tong, Commentary on Revelation 21.1-8
This new and blessed state will be free from all trouble and sorrow; for, 1. All the effects of former trouble shall be done away. They have been often before in tears, by reason of sin, of affliction, of the calamities of the church; but now all tears shall be wiped away; no signs, no remembrance of former sorrows shall remain, any further than to make their present felicity the greater. God himself, as their tender Father, with his own kind hand, shall wipe away the tears of his children; and they would not have been without those tears when God shall come and wipe them away. 2. All the causes of future sorrow shall be for ever removed: There shall be neither death nor pain; and therefore no sorrow nor crying; these are things incident to that state in which they were before, but now all former things have passed away.
1740 · Jonathan Edwards, The Portion of the Righteous 1
The Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and he shall present them also to God his Father, having redeemed them to him by his blood, who shall also abundantly welcome them there. Then the soul shall behold that glory and taste that pleasure which it long hoped for, and thought of with delight, and the thoughts of which were wont to be such a support to it when on earth; then shall it know by experience what the joys of heaven are; then shall the great and precious promises of the gospel be fulfilled; then shall faith be turned into vision, and hope into fruition; then shall all sin be eternally left behind; there shall be no more indwelling corruption, wicked thoughts, or sinful dispositions, to torment them. And whatever sorrow and affliction they underwent on earth, God shall now wipe away all tears from their eyes; and though they have lately passed through death, yet there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; neither shall there be any more pain, because the former things shall be passed away. Rev. xxi. 4. If they have lived hardly in this world, and suffered hunger and thirst, there shall be an end of it all; and they that have suffered persecution, and have had their raiment stained with their own blood, shall now suffer no more.
1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: Revelation 21.4
See the notes on Rev 7:17. Compare the notes on Isa 25:8. And there shall be no more death - In all that future world of glory, not one shall ever die; not a grave shall ever be dug! What a view do we begin to get of heaven, when we are told there shall be no "death" there! How different from earth, where death is so common; where it spares no one; where our best friends die; where the wise, the good, the useful, the lovely die; where fathers, mothers, wives, husbands, sons, daughters, all die; where we habitually feel that we must die. Assuredly we have here a view of heaven most glorious and animating to those who dwell in a world like this, and to whom nothing is more common than death. In all their endless and glorious career, the redeemed will never see death again; they will never themselves die. They will never follow a friend to the tomb, nor fear that an absent friend is dead. The slow funeral procession will never be witnessed there; nor will the soil ever open its bosom to furnish a grave.
1860–1870 · Edward Bouverie Pusey, Notes on the Bible: Hosea 13.14
O grave, where is thy destruction?" It is a burst of triumph at the promised redemption, then fulfilled to us in earnest and in hope, when "Christ," being "risen from the dead, became the First-fruits of them that slept" 1Co 15:20, and we rose in Him. But the Apostle teaches us, that then it shall be altogether fulfilled, when, at the Last Day, "this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality" 1Co 15:54. "Then shall death and hell deliver up the dead which shall be in them, and themselves be cast into the lake of fire" Rev 20:13-14. "Then shall there be no sting of death; sorrow and sighing shall flee away; fear and anxiety shall depart; tears shall be no more, and in place thereof shall be boundless pleasure, everlasting joy, praise of the glory of God in most sweet harmony."
1865–1868 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening: Daily Readings aug-23.am
The glorified weep no more, for all outward causes of grief are gone. There are no broken friendships, nor blighted prospects in heaven. Poverty, famine, peril, persecution, and slander, are unknown there. No pain distresses, no thought of death or bereavement saddens. They weep no more, for they are perfectly sanctified. No “evil heart of unbelief” prompts them to depart from the living God; they are without fault before his throne, and are fully conformed to his image. Well may they cease to mourn who have ceased to sin. They weep no more, because all fear of change is past.
1872 · John Wesley, Sermons on Several Occasions 64
(Rev. 21:3, 4.) Hence will arise an unmixed state of holiness and happiness far superior to that which Adam enjoyed in Paradise. In how beautiful a manner is this described by the Apostle: “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 done away!” As there will be no more death, and no more pain or sickness preparatory thereto; as there will be no more grieving for, or parting with, friends; so there will be no more sorrow or crying. Nay, but there will be a greater deliverance than all this; for there will be no more sin. And, to crown all, there will be a deep, an intimate, an uninterrupted union with God; a constant communion with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ, through the Spirit; a continual enjoyment of the Three-One God, and of all the creatures in him!
1900 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 46 (1900) 2676
Water that is spilt upon the ground can never be gathered up again—and it is one of the charms of the heavenly world that our sorrows will never reach us there. No more poverty, no more cold, no more heat, no more sin, no more depression of spirits, no more pain, no more forsaking of friends, no more sorrow of any kind, for, "the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." That is a very beautiful expression—"Sorrow and sighing shall flee away." Here, they keep clinging to us, one on one arm and the other on the other! Sorrow and sighing will come with us wherever we go and we sometimes say to them, "Now, you might go somewhere else, for we do not want you," yet they still hold fast to us. But when we get up to the golden gate, no sooner shall the eternal light flash on our eyes than we shall look in vain for our old companions, for they will be gone! "Sorrow and sighing shall flee away" and lest there should be any trace of their mournful companionship left, we are expressly told that "God shall wipe away all tears from our 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."
6 passages · 4 writers · 1800s
Tillotson calls the prospect a mighty consolation now. Barnes says it would change the world if no more tears were shed. Spurgeon says Christ will wipe the mourner's tears now.
1820 · John Tillotson, Works, Volume 4: Sermons LV-LXXXIV 78
How can it choose but be a mighty consolation to us, whilst we are in this vale of tears and troubles, to be assured, that the time is coming, when “God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes, and there shall be no more sorrow, nor crying.” There are none of us but are obnoxious to any of the evils of this life; we feel some of them, and we fear more: our outward condition, it may be, is uncomfortable—we are poor and persecuted: we are destitute of friends, or have many enemies; we are despoiled of many of those comforts and enjoyments which we once had: our bodies perhaps are in pain, or our spirits troubled; or though we have no real cause of outward trouble, yet our souls are ill-lodged, in the dark dungeon of a body; overpowered with a melancholy humour, which keeps out all light and comfort from our minds. And is it not reviving to us to think of that happy hour, when we shall find a remedy and redress of all these evils at once; of that blessed place, where we shall take sanctuary from all those afflictions and troubles which pursued us in this world; where sorrow, and misery, and death are perfect strangers, and into which nothing that can render men in the least unhappy can ever enter? where our souls shall be in perfect rest and contentment, and our bodies after a while shall be restored and reunited to our souls; not to cloud and clog them, as they do here, but so happily changed, and refined to such a perfection, that they shall be so far from giving any disturbance to our minds, that they shall mightily add to their pleasure and happiness?
1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: Revelation 7.17
And what a change would it make in our world if it could be said that henceforward not another tear would be shed; not a head would ever be bowed again in grief! Yet this is to be the condition of heaven. In that world there is to be no pain, no disappointment, no bereavement. No friend is to lie in dreadful agony on a sick-bed; no grave is to be opened to receive a parent, a wife, a child; no gloomy prospect of death is to draw tears of sorrow from the eyes. To that blessed world, when our eyes run down with tears, are we permitted to look forward; and the prospect of such a world should contribute to wipe away our tears here - for all our sorrows will soon be over. As already remarked, there was a beautiful propriety, at a time when such calamities impended over the church and the world - when there was such a certainty of persecution and sorrow - in permitting the mind to rest on the contemplation of these happy scenes in heaven, where all the redeemed, in white robes, and with palms of victory in their hands, would be gathered before the throne. To us also now, amidst the trials of the present life - when friends leave us; when sickness comes; when our hopes are blasted; when calumnies and reproaches come upon us; when, standing on the verge of the grave, and looking down into the cold tomb, the eyes pour forth floods of tears - it is a blessed privilege to be permitted to look forward to that brighter scene in heaven, where not a pang shall ever be felt, and not a tear shall ever be shed.
1848 · Henry Edward Manning, Sermons, Volume 2 11
When all the relations of this lower life shall be dissolved, the bonds of their heavenly kindred shall be revealed. Mourners and comforters shall meet at last in the holy city. “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.”
1855 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 1 (1855) 18
When our friends die, the napkin is laid aside for us to use; but do our ascended brethren and sisters use it? No; the Lord God hath wiped away all tears from their eyes. We stand and view the corpses of the dear departed, we moisten their faces with our tears, letting whole showers of grief fall on their heads; but do they weep? Oh, no. Could they speak to us from the upper spheres they would say, “Weep not for me, for I am glorified. Sorrow not for me; I have left a bad world behind me, and have entered into a far better.” They have no napkin—they weep not. Strange it is that those who endure death weep not; but those who see them die, are weepers. When the child is born it weeps while others smile, (say the Arabs,) and when it dies it smiles while others weep. It is so with the Christian.
1861 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 7 (1861) 400
You know what Christ’s occupation is in heaven—“If he shall wipe away tears from off all faces.” What a blessed occupation—wiping away tears! Soul, Christ will be glad to wipe away thy tears now.
1865 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 11 (1865) 643
Our first subject of meditation is the inference that TEARS ARE TO FILL THE EYES OF BELIEVERS UNTIL THEY ENTER THE PROMISED REST. There would be no need to wipe them away if there were none. They come to the very gates of Heaven weeping and accompanied by their two comrades, Sorrow and Sighing. The tears are dried and Sorrow and Sighing flee away. The weeping willow grows not by the river of the Water of Life, but it is plentiful enough below.
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