Revelation 21:4

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Revelation 21:4

Revelation 21:3 describes the benefits of the New Jerusalem positively, and Revelation 21:4 does so negatively. Probably God will wipe away all tears at the inception of the eternal state rather than at some time after that. These are tears caused by life in the old creation, not tears of repentance. This reference to wiping away tears highlights God’s compassion for His people. Sorrow, death, and pain will all end along with the tears, mourning, and crying that result from them. This is a... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Revelation 21:1-27

The Holy CityThe enemies of the Lamb have been conquered. The Judgment is over. The old condition of things has passed away: cp. Revelation 20:11. Now St. John sees in a vision the blissful glory of heaven, in which the Lamb’s redeemed people will dwell for ever.1-8. The eternal dwelling-place prepared for the redeemed is seen from a distance (Revelation 21:1.), and the voice of God declares what it means (Revelation 21:3-6), and for whom its glories are (Revelation 21:7.).Three points come out... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Revelation 21:4

(4) And God shall wipe away all tears . . .—Instead of “all tears” we should translate “every tear,” and so possess the promise in its true and tender form. The first, or former, things are passed away: death shall not be any longer; neither shall mourning, nor crying, nor pain, be any longer. The splendid array of negatives come as heralds of the positive peace of the new Jerusalem: no sea, no tears, no death, no mourning, no crying, no pain; with the former things these six shadows pass away... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Revelation 21:1-27

Revelation 21:1 While I think of it, why is the sea (in that apologue of Attar once quoted by Falconer) supposed to have lost God? Did the Persians agree with something I remember in Plato about the sea and all in it being of an inferior nature, in spite of Homer's 'Divine ocean,' etc. Fitzgerald's Letters, I. p. 320. Revelation 21:1 Will not one of the properties of the spiritual body be, that it will be able to express that which the natural body only tries to express? Is this a sensual view... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Revelation 21:1-27

CHAPTER XVII.THE NEW JERUSALEM. REV.Revelation 21:1-27; Revelation 22:1-5.THE first part of the final triumph of the Lamb has been accomplished, but the second has still to be unfolded. We are introduced to it by one of those preparatory or transition passages which have already frequently met us in the Apocalypse, and which connect themselves both with what precedes and with what follows: - "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away; and... read more

Arno Clemens Gaebelein

Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - Revelation 21:1-27

CHAPTER 21 Revelation 21:1-8 . And now the eternal state comes into view. “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and the sea is no more.” This is the revelation concerning the final and eternal state of the earth. “Thou hast established the earth and it abideth” (Psalms 119:90 ); “But the earth abideth forever” (Ecclesiastes 1:4 ). These divine statements are now fulfilled. Many Christians have a very vague conception of the eternal... read more

L.M. Grant

L. M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible - Revelation 21:1-27

The New Heaven and New Earth Revelation 20:11 has indicated that at the time of the Great White Throne the earth and the heaven flee away. Now John sees a new heaven and a new earth, and the earth had no more sea. The earth is transformed. It is not a different earth, but a renewed earth, just as a sinner being renewed becomes a new creation in Christ. The sea is typical both of the nations in constant tumult (Revelation 17:15) and of the flesh in its swelling unrest and vanity (Isaiah... read more

James Gray

James Gray's Concise Bible Commentary - Revelation 21:1-27

THE SEVEN NEW THINGS The seven “new things” are the new heaven, earth, peoples, city, temple, luminary, and paradise. The “introduction” in this case covers the first two, the new heaven and the new earth (Revelation 20:1-8 ). Observe the sequence of events suggested by Revelation 20:1 : In the present time, we have the church, in the Millennium will be the kingdom, and after that the new world where God shall be all in all (see 1 Corinthians 15:23-28 ). Man’s soul is redeemed by... read more

Robert Hawker

Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary - Revelation 21:4

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. Reader! let us pause over this verse, for it is a refreshing one. What a happy climate this must be? Contrast it to the present state. Then look to Jesus, who hath purchased for us such vast mercies. Depend upon it, there is more of Jesus, even in the least of our common blessings, than we are aware of. The... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible - Revelation 21:1-8

1-8 The new heaven and the new earth will not be separate from each other; the earth of the saints, their glorified, bodies, will be heavenly. The old world, with all its troubles and tumults, will have passed away. There will be no sea; this aptly represents freedom from conflicting passions, temptations, troubles, changes, and alarms; from whatever can divide or interrupt the communion of saints. This new Jerusalem is the church of God in its new and perfect state, the church triumphant. Its... read more

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