DAILY DEVOTIONAL

When God Makes All Things New

“And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God [is] with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, [and be] their God. 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. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.” — Revelation 21:3-5 (KJV)

There are mornings when the evidence of a broken world is already waiting for you before you leave the bedroom. A message brings difficult news. The chair at the table is still empty. Your body hurts in a way that makes the day feel longer, or a sorrow you thought you had set down rises again while you’re making coffee. We learn to keep moving through these things, but moving forward isn’t the same as being untouched. Some wounds become quiet without becoming small.

Revelation 21 comes after John has been shown judgment, the passing of the former order, and the descent of the holy city from God. This isn’t a promise that trouble will simply become manageable if we wait long enough. It is the announcement of God’s final work, when sin, death, and everything that has opposed His good purposes will no longer have a place. The center of this hope is not merely a better environment. It is God Himself with His people.

John writes, “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God [is] with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, [and be] their God. 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. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.” The repeated promise is presence: God will dwell with His people, and He will not stand at a distance from what they have suffered.

The picture of God wiping away tears is tender because tears are not treated as an inconvenience or a failure of faith. He knows the particular griefs that no one else fully understands. He sees what has been carried privately, what has been endured in silence, and what still hurts even after you’ve learned how to answer, “I’m fine.” The promise of no more sorrow, crying, pain, or death does not ask us to pretend those things are harmless now. It tells us they are temporary enemies, not permanent rulers.

When God says, “Behold, I make all things new,” He is not describing a cosmetic repair. He is not putting a fresh coat of paint over the same corruption. The One who sits upon the throne has authority to renew creation completely, and His words are “true and faithful.” That matters when your present circumstances seem to argue otherwise. You may not be able to see how a loss could be redeemed, how a damaged life could be restored, or how justice could finally be done. Christian hope rests less on our ability to imagine the outcome than on the character of the One who has promised it.

That hope also changes what we do today. Because God cares about tears, we should not dismiss the tears of people near us. Make the call you’ve been postponing. Sit with someone who is grieving without trying to explain the grief away. Ask for help if pain, fear, or depression is becoming too heavy to carry alone; seeking wise pastoral, medical, or professional care is not a refusal to trust God. If you are in danger, take practical steps toward safety and involve people who can help. The coming renewal of all things doesn’t make present suffering irrelevant. It teaches us to meet suffering with truth, compassion, and patient faithfulness.

You may still have unanswered questions tonight. Revelation 21 does not give us a timetable for every personal sorrow, and it does not promise that every earthly relationship, diagnosis, or circumstance will turn out as we wish. But it gives us something stronger than a vague assurance that things will work out: God will be with His people, death will not have the final word, and the former things will pass away. Jesus does not ask you to manufacture cheerfulness. He invites you to bring your honest grief to Him while keeping your heart open to the hope He has secured.

Before this day ends, name one sorrow plainly before God instead of hiding it behind general words. Then write down this sentence from the passage: “These words are true and faithful.” You may not feel its strength immediately, and that’s all right. Hold it as a promise from the Lord who sees what is broken and will one day say, with complete authority, “Behold, I make all things new.”