Revelation 21:4 Explained

"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." — Revelation 21:4 (KJV)

The verse most often read at funerals, and the reason it works there is that it does not deny anything.

Read it in context: Revelation 21 · The Book of Revelation. Also gathered under verses about sickness.

Revelation 21:4 in context

What does Revelation 21:4 mean?

The gesture is domestic — wiping a face is what you do for a child, close up, one person at a time. Then four things are abolished by name: death, sorrow, crying, pain. Naming them is an admission that they were real, which is why the verse can be read to someone in the middle of them. 'The former things' are passed, not denied.

What is the context of Revelation 21:4?

John is writing to churches under Roman pressure, some of whose members had died for it. The vision comes at the very end, after judgment: a new heaven and new earth, and God moving in among people rather than taking them away.

How do I pray Revelation 21:4?

Pray it in the future tense it is written in, without collapsing it into the present — the verse does not claim the pain has stopped now. Name your own four things. Then let the last clause stand as the promise it is, and let the crying be what the first clause assumes it is.

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