By Paul Tatham
tatham47@hotmail.com
Heaven will be place of eternal bliss. No crying, no injuries, no disease, no suffering, no mosquitoes, no greed, no envy, no taxes, no crime, no problems. Utter joy will be the order of the day. It will be, quite simply, heavenly.
But some Bible passages seem to indicate that Paradise Found might not fully unfold the moment we arrive in Heaven, whether that moment is at the Rapture or if we die sometime prior.
Heaven’s complete glory may not be revealed in its entirety until sometime after we are buzzed in to the Pearly Gates. Up to that point, there may be some sorrow intermingled with our joy. Perhaps guitarist Eric Clapton was right; perhaps there will be tears in Heaven.
There are three significant prophetic events that have yet to transpire:
1.The Rapture of the church--when both living and dead Christians will suddenly be beamed up to Heaven.
2.The Tribulation--seven years of Hell on Earth, for those left behind at the Rapture. At the conclusion of the Tribulation, Christ will return to earth, accompanied by His raptured saints, and establish His Millennial Kingdom. This is known as the Second Coming and is sometimes confused with the Rapture.
3.The Millennium--1,000 years of Heaven on Earth in which Edenic conditions will return.
Until the end of the Millennium, when what is commonly referred to as the Eternal State is ushered in, there may be a degree of sorrow experienced by those who inhabit Heaven. There might be occasional tears shed up until this point, despite the fact that we will be in Heaven.
Then, at the end of the Millennium and the onset of the Eternal State, God will “wipe away all tears” (Rev. 21:4). No more sorrow, no more tears. Period. It will be at this point that Heaven will be everything—and much more—that we had ever imagined it to be. It is not until this point, the end of the Millennium, that sorrow in Heaven will cease entirely. Rev. 21 is the last time we read of God wiping away all tears.
So what about those tears?
So what would be the reason for any eye-dabbing prior to the end of the Millennium? May I suggest a few?
1.Although the Millennium will certainly be a tranquil situation in which the “wolf shall dwell with the lamb” and “neither shall [nations] learn war any more” (Isaiah 11:6; 2:4), sin will still occasionally rear its head. Toward the end of the 1,000 years, Satan will be paroled from his imprisonment in the Bottomless Pit and allowed by God to roam the Earth and win followers (Rev. 20). He will definitely cause sorrow.
2.During the Tribulation, people will continue to come to Christ, acknowledging Him as their Savior. (These are folk who likely never had the opportunity to hear the gospel prior to the Rapture.) For these Tribulation saints it will be a time of sorrow, with many being persecuted and martyred for their faith. Revelation 6 says that their souls, now in Heaven, sorrowfully cry out for revenge.
3.Prior to the beginning of the Eternal State is scheduled a momentous and most sobering event called the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev. 20). Unbelievers, only, will be on trial. The GWTJ is designed as their day in court, and perhaps God may call upon some Christians to be witnesses for the prosecution. God will address each lost soul individually and ask why He should allow that person to enter His Heaven.
No doubt, most will produce their accumulated good works, hoping against hope that they will appease almighty God. But none will offer the correct answer: “I should be allowed into Your Heaven because I accepted your Son’s payment for my sins by His death on the cross.”
With each name unable to be located in the Lamb’s Book of Life, they will be banished to Hell with the words “depart from Me” ringing in their ears for all eternity. For any believers who may happen to be involved in the proceedings it will undoubtedly be a most sorrowful, gut-wrenching experience.
Another heavenly ceremony probably scheduled for the conclusion of the Millennium will be the Judgment Seat of Christ (II Corinthians 5:10; Romans 14:10; I Corinthians 3:12-15). Meant only for believers, it is described as the great heavenly awards ceremony.
The JSOC deals with our service, not our salvation, and we will be rewarded commensurate with the treasures we have sent on ahead. Some will need to rent a large U-Haul truck to haul away their awards--crowns, plaques, trophies, and the like. They have taken seriously the old adage that “only one life, ‘twill soon be past; only what’s done for Christ will last.”
For others, a small envelope will suffice to hold their “participant” certificate. Some will rejoice; others will shed tears of regret. The passages cited above use sobering language and certainly imply that not everyone will be gleeful.
Someone has rightly stated that although Christians may not be afraid to die many may be ashamed to die. John warns, “Abide in Him, that when He shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming” (I John 2:28). The Apostle Paul cautions us to “be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Corinthians 1:8), i.e., the Rapture. Some of us will “suffer loss.”
At the end of the Tribulation, we read of a “great multitude” in Heaven standing before the throne of God (Rev. 7:9). They are in tears. We know that because God wipes their eyes (Rev. 7:17). Then, in Rev. 21, at the conclusion of the Millennium, there are more heavenly tears. God opens another box of Kleenex and for one last time dries their eyes.
That concludes the reign of sorrow, initiated in the Garden of Eden, and we can finally rejoice in the fact that the “former things are passed away.”
Summing up
There are several other examples of tears in Heaven, but these will suffice. We can rest in the fact that those tears are temporary and will one day be done away with entirely. Heaven is not yet in its final state.
