The prospect of the wicked in the eternal world is one which is indescribably solemn and awful. The terms in which it is set forth in Scripture are fitted to fill the minds of sinners with dread if only they laid these things to heart. The eternity of the lost is one of weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. Their sorrow and sighing shall never cease. The sorrow of hell is unmitigated sorrow and the atmosphere of the place of woe is one of unrelieved gloom. The eternity of hell makes it that place where hope dies forever and it is a place of unutterable despair. It is not only that the soul is lost with all that lostness means, but that the soul is lost forever. As the soul of the damned cries out in its agony — “Lost” — the echo that reverberates in the depths of the bottomless pit is “forever” “Lost forever” — that is the description of the impenitent sinner’s plight when cast off from God. May it never be the plight of any who read these words.
In contrast to the prospect of the wicked is the prospect of the righteous in the eternal world. As the one was so indescribably awful, the other is indescribably glorious. Sorrow and sighing, we are told, shall flee away, and these are the words of Him who cannot lie. God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. As hell is a place of unrelieved gloom, heaven is a place of perpetual happiness and delight. The prospect for the righteous is altogether glorious. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man the things that God hath prepared for them that love Him.” This is what the Word of God holds out to sinners in the Gospel of God’s grace — eternal life. This will mean for all who receive and rest upon Jesus Christ in the Gospel, the possession ultimately of eternal blessedness. Christ prayed for His people — “Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast given be with Me where I am, that they may behold my glory.” Heaven is a place where sorrow and sighing shall never enter. The reason for this is that sin shall never enter there. Wherever sin is it brings sorrow and sighing in its wake but nothing that defileth shall ever enter heaven. Heaven is a place of holiness, perfect holiness; therefore it is a place of perfect happiness. No tear, no anguish; no, not even a frown is seen there. “There the wicked cease from troubling, there the weary are at rest.” There the soul experiences holy and heavenly delight in God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. “The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” If there were to be any swooning in heaven it could only be from too great draughts of the love of God but even this shall God prevent by strengthening and tempering the vessel to contain the measure of the love of God poured out. The language of their soul shall be — “My cup runneth over.” As the soul of the redeemed in glory cries out — “saved,” the echo that reverberates in the heights of heaven will be “forever.” Saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation, that will be the portion of the redeemed. Were it possible that for a fleeting moment a doubt could enter their mind as to the eternity of the blessedness of heaven, that thought would mar the happiness of heaven to them, and a tear would drop from their eye. But that can never be for the joy of heaven knows no intermission.
Heaven could never be a place of rest for the wicked, even were it possible for them to enter there. It is a place of holiness and in holiness the wicked have no delight. A godless Balaam could say: “Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!” yet he had no heart to serve God, either in this life or in that which is to come. A heaven of idleness would be a heaven to the godless but the heaven of God is not a heaven of inactivity though it is a heaven of rest. There in His temple shall God’s people serve Him day and night. As the Holy angels now serve God and as the bright shining seraphin do with unwearied diligence, willingness and delight so shall His people serve Him in His holy temple. There shall be no night there — they shall serve Him day and night in His temple. Their service here in this world is varied and we may expect that it will be so also in the world to come. What will make it so delightful to His people in heaven is that in their serving of Him the Lord will be glorified. Here in this world they ever came short in the glorifying of God but there they will not but will ever attain the end which they seek. As they serve God so haltingly here below let them encourage themselves with the thought that it shall not be so when they reach the haven of rest. There are no Mephibosheth’s there, lame on both feet. Rather will they have to say “He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet, and setteth me upon my high places.”
Who are they of whom these things are true? Certainly not of many of the great men of this world for “not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.” It is the poor and the despised of this world that are to inherit glory. “Hearken, my beloved brethren,” says the Apostle James in his epistle, “Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him?” Seeing these things are so must this question not arise in our hearts as to whether God shall ever wipe away all tears from our eyes. Shall we indeed see the King in His glory and the land which is very far off? These are questions of great moment and the exercised soul would desire a true answer to them. The assurance of men or of their own heart that all is well with them will not suffice for them. What they will desire is to have a word from the Lord Himself sealing upon their hearts that they are His. The Lord is not a wilderness to His people and will not ever keep them in doubt of their salvation if they do sincerely seek it from His hand. One thing is certain — and that is that when the Lord gives His people in this world an assured hope of their interest in Him its effect will not be pride, but unfeigned and profound humility, joined to soul meltings of heart.
May everyone who reads these words be brought by divine power to the footstool of free and sovereign grace to seek the mercy of God in Christ. May each one who is still in his or her sins be brought to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ as their own personal Saviour and Redeemer. Only then may we entertain the hope that we shall yet have fulfilled in our experience what John recorded in the Revelation when he said — “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”