Revelation 21:1‑4 says “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.’”
In this text, God wipes away the tears of the redeemed in the context of dwelling in the New Jerusalem. This happens after the thousand years when the redeemed have been in Heaven following Jesus’ Second Coming. They have spent that time confirming God’s righteous judgment that separated the redeemed from the wicked before Jesus returned. Looking into the record of each person and what God did to save each one gives them full knowledge that God left nothing untried for their salvation. The redeemed will also know that those who are not saved would never be happy in Heaven because they did not love God or His Law. During the thousand years in Heaven, the memories of the past are not wiped away, but the healing process begins because the redeemed are in God’s presence. “The Lord builds up Jerusalem; He gathers together the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:2-3).
After the thousand years when the New Jerusalem, inhabited with those who have been saved, descends to Earth, the wicked will receive the final consequence of sin. “They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them” (Revelation 20:9).
God doesn’t want anyone to die. That’s why He paid such a high price so that all who would choose Him could be saved. Listen to God’s emotional plea for each of us to say yes to His gift of salvation while there is still opportunity to accept it. “Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’” (Ezekiel 33:11). We read about God’s love even for those who sin in Hosea 11:8, “How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim? My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred.” But the consequences of sin cannot be withheld from those who choose to reject the life God gives. For this reason, Isaiah 28:21 calls the destruction of the wicked “His unusual act.” The moment of triumph in the Universe when sin is destroyed forever will also bring the life of the wicked to an end forever. God loves each of these people, and there is sadness in this irreversible event.
The character of those who are saved will be in perfect harmony with God’s character. They will celebrate the end of the Great Controversy when sin is gone forever, and they will experience the same sadness felt by God when people He created are finally consumed. God promises to bring about complete healing even for the memory of those who would not accept God’s gift of eternal life. When sin is no more, the promise of Isaiah 65:17-19 will be fulfilled, “‘For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, and her people a joy. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people; the voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, nor the voice of crying.’”
“He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces; the rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; for the Lord has spoken” (Isaiah 25:8).