heavenly scene, it naturally follows that there cannot be that outward passionate lamenting for the dead0which is the sorrow mentioned in the present passage. “ Neither shall there be any more pain. . . .” The burn ing, blighting pangs of pain will be missing in heaven. Pain is one of the most trying experiences of life. Such adjectives as frightful, tortuous, excruciating, unbearable, fierce, and fearful sometimes but dimly describe it. It gnaws and stings, it throbs and aches, it racks and con vulses. At times, I have been unable to visit with patients because of the extremity of their pain. But, praise be unto God, the moans, the groans, the sighs and cries of pain will some day vanish forever. “ For the former things,” says the last part of the verse, “ are passed away.” Pain will be missing in heaven. 111. ALL THE UNSAVED WILL BE MISSING IN HEAVEN A frightful scene is presented in Revelation 21:8: “ But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which bumeth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” We shall not indulge in an extended de scription of the various types of sins and sinners men- * * + + * + * * + + + + * + + + + * * 1 * 1 * + * »
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MISSING IN HEAVEN (continued) No tears in heaven will be known.3 “And there shall be no more death. . . .” This, to me, is one of the most glorious thoughts in God’s Word. One of the acomplishments of the cross, and especially of the empty tomb, was Christ’s triumph over (Rom. 6:9; II Tim. 1:10). Now, for the believer, death no longer reigns (Rom. 5:17), but it is still a cruel enemy. As one writer has put it: There is no flock, however watched and tended, But one dead lamb is there! There is no fireside howsoe’er defended, But hath one vacant chair.1 The Bible teaches that death is the last enemy that shall be destroyed, but it shall be destroyed, thank God! Just recently, I attended a funeral. The departed one had received Christ a few months before his death, and the funeral message was being delivered by the godly chaplain who had pointed him to the Saviour. And so it did not seem hard for me to bear, until I watched the faces of the loved ones who filed past the casket with sobs of sorrow. Some looked long moments, for it seemed they could not bear to leave their dear one in the grip of death. Others glanced quickly at the mortal remains, and as quickly turned away, as if they were unable to stand the thought of departure and decay. Then I remembered. Some day there would be no more death. The decay of the body would be completely reversed by the miracle of the resurrection. Death will be missing in heaven. The words “neither sorrow” probably refer to the sorrow over death, for death immediately precedes them in the verse. The term used in this connection ( penthos) has special reference to mourning the dead in a number of passages in the Septuagint, where it is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew ebel, mourning5, and in Reve lation 18:7. Since death will have disappeared from the “Words and music by Robert S. Arnold. '‘Cited by J. A. Seiss, The Apocalypse (fourteenth edition; Philadelphia: Approved-Books Store, 1865), III, 385. “Thayer, op. cit., p. 500. See O. T. examples in Gen. 27:41, 50:10; Deut. 34:8; II Sam. 11:27.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
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God of the burning bush. Give me a burning heart; From this earth's frantic rush Help me to draw apart. Keep me, while nations fall. And atoms split in space, Looking beyond it all Steadfastly on Thy face. Not tossed by winds of chance, Not running to and fro. Not swayed by circumstance— I would "be still, and know." Give me the lifted look. That all who pass may see, As written in the Book Thy grace inscribed on me. Helen Frazee-Bower
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And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed (Exod. 3:2).
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tioned here. It is enough to notice that the unbelieving are included among the fearful, the abominable, the murderers, whoremongers, sorcerers, idolaters, and liars. Some may object, Why? Unbelief is not so reprehensible a sin as some of these others, is it? Surely it should not be classed with murder, or witchcraft, or immorality, or idolatry! But I did not write this verse, God did. He in cluded unbelief for a reason. Actually a refusal to believe on Christ as Saviour is the greatest sin which anyone can commit, for by unbelief a person excludes himself totally from God’s merciful forgiveness of all other sins. Some sins are chiefly against fellow human beings; others, against oneself. But this sin is a direct insult to Almighty God, who gave His own Son in death, that we might be freed from death and hell. We are wretches to spurn such love! We are mad to throw away the lifebuoy that is
“Trench, op. cit., p. 238.
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