Tears
Summary
Tears are the physical expression of grief and sorrow in Scripture, with the promise that God notices them and will one day wipe them away forever.
☩God's Attention to Tears
Scripture portrays God as attentive to human grief. The psalmist declares, 'Thou hast put my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?' When Hezekiah wept and prayed during his illness, God responded: 'I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears.' This divine awareness of human suffering provides comfort that no sorrow goes unnoticed by the Lord.
☩Tears in Human Experience
Tears accompany various human experiences in Scripture: bereavement, as when Rachel wept for her children; national calamity, as in Lamentations; personal distress, as when Hagar wept for her dying son. Even our Lord wept at the tomb of Lazarus and over Jerusalem. The sowing of tears is connected with the reaping of joy: 'They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.'
☩The Promise of No More Tears
The ultimate comfort regarding tears is the promise of their complete removal in the eternal state. Isaiah prophesied that 'the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces.' This promise is repeated and expanded in Revelation, where God Himself will wipe away all tears from the eyes of His redeemed, and 'there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying.'
Related Verses36 mentions
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Tears," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. X (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Tears," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. V (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 3.F. N. Peloubet & M. A. Peloubet (ed.), "Tears," in Smith's Bible Dictionary (Porter & Coates, 1884).
- 4.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Tears," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).