By Dan Maines

No More Death Pain or Crying

Revelation 21:4 (NASB) and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away."

Most people think this is talking about heaven, but verse 2 tells us it The New Jerusalem.

The death spoken of here refers to the death that came through Adam in Genesis 2:17. The death that came through Adam was spiritual, not physical. (I'm back to what I originally believed. Some have a good argument for Adam dying physically, I do not agree) In the New Jerusalem, where we're at now, man continues to die physically but not spiritual because there's no more death. Jesus promised us Christians no matter if we physically die IN HIM or physically live IN HIM we would never die. (John 11:25-26) under the old covenant, before Christ, there was death. At first, Jerusalem cried because they did not have a lasting atonement. They cried out for the day of Christ's salvation. They knew their sins were not put away (Hebrews 9:26-28; 10:4, 11; 8:13). The no more "mourning, crying, or pain" is the freedom from the law. What do you think it means from the verse above "the first things have passed away." It means Israel and the old covenant which is the same as the old heaven and earth have passed away. IN Christ we're free indeed (John. 8:36).

Many Christians were taught that a day will come in the New Earth where death, mourning, crying and pain will be no more. This is false teaching. First off, the new Heavens and Earth is the New Covenant and New Jerusalem. There's no more death, crying and pain because we are no longer dead in sin under the curse of the law.

Under the old covenant, when David or the nation was exiled from Zion and God's city and temple, there was inner pain, weeping, and bondage that followed (2 Samuel. 15:30; Psalm 137; Isaiah 14:3; Isaiah 22:4-5; Jeremiah 9:1; 13:17; Jeremiah 22:9-10; Lamentations 1:16; Joel 2:17). Under the new covenant the New Jerusalem is not subject to being made desolate or shaken by invading armies as was the old (Isaiah 62:4; Hebrews 12:27-28).

In the New Jerusalem the gates always being open, even at night (Isaiah 60:11; Revelation. 21:25), is not merely a picture of evangelism; it is also a picture of security for the residents of God's City. The believer, through faith in Christ, is the new covenant creation and it is impossible for him to be exiled from the City (2 Corinthians 5:17; Revelation 3:12; 22:12). The new covenant believer is one whose weeping has ended, because God has forever taken away his sin and united Himself with him (Isaiah 60:20; 65:14, 18-19; John. 17:21-23).

Christians in the new covenant world do not shed tears in agony and cry out to God to save them from the Adamic Death of Sin, as Jesus Himself did on our behalf (Hebrews. 5:7). "The sting (pain) of the Death" cannot harm us anymore (1 Corinthians 15:56) because the power of Sin has been removed through Jesus, the Law-Fulfiller who clothes us and indwells us. Now we live and reign with Christ in the new covenant world, where dwells the Righteousness of God.

Christians have been deceived into believing that the events of 70AD mean nothing.

They believe Jesus did not return in His Kingdom, New Jerusalem, in judgment of the 12 tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28) during the disciples' generation (Matthew 24:34)while some of them were still alive to witness His return in His Kingdom (Matthew 16:28).