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

We read in the book of Revelation chapter 21 that John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. This is the image of New Jerusalem. In this world and today Jerusalem, everywhere you look, you can see the damage caused by satan. However, in the following few verses, God is making a promise, and He is showing that promise to the apostle John. God promised that He would wipe away all tears from our eyes, and there will be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying nor pain. He will repair the damaged hearts and be a consolation to all.

Apostle John was at Patmos, an island in Greece, where he was writing the book of Revelation. It is the last book in the New Testament; therefore, it was the last book in the Holy Bible. We can see, from the first few words, he is making a statement. When I read this verse, it seems like John has something very important to say. He saw the holy city, New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is in heaven. Every time the Scriptures mention the New Jerusalem, it is said that it descends from heaven, where angels guard its gates. The capital of Israel was ancient Jerusalem. It was Jehovah’s throne, where King David, his son Solomon and others ruled. So, Jerusalem represented God’s authority on earth. We know that old Jerusalem was full of sinful people. The longer sin stays in a person, the more damage it will do.

The New Jerusalem is full of followers of Jesus, that is, the bride of Christ. The New Jerusalem is referred to as the bride, the Lamb’s wife. In this symbolic description, the Lamb represents Jesus Christ. Lamb’s wife, the bride of Christ (Church), refers to Christians who will be in heaven with Jesus. Scripture compares the relationship between Jesus and these Christians to the relationship between husband and wife.

John saw the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven, and it looked beautiful. He was so fascinated with his beauty that he compared it with a bride prepared for her future husband. We all know how much time it takes for a bride to prepare. The New Jerusalem is described as coming down from God out of heaven, indicating that, through it, God is influencing what is happening on earth.

The last days on Earth 

If we look at the previous century, we will see that it was turbulent. Humankind has suffered two terrible and several smaller world wars. Revolutions thrilled one country after another. Starvations have caused more damage than ever before in human history. Financial insecurity, crime, environmental pollution, and terrible diseases, and other damage caused by Lucifer.

But God gives us the promise that a new Jerusalem is coming! Every pain will be forgotten. Sickness and death are never present on earth again, and people will be relieved of everything that oppressed and tormented them. This will something very special. God's throne will be on earth! The Lord will be with His people! 

Jesus has forever identified with his redeemed and will remain in the form of the Son of man, with the visible scars of his crucifixion, as an eternal testimony of the cruel work done by sin. Heavenly Jerusalem is something Jesus talked about and promised his arrival to his faithful (See John 14: 2-3; and Hebrews 11:16). The capital will not need light, for God's presence will replace it. 

Time of the last harvest

The earthly harvest has arrived. We have two groups of people.  Wheat is ready to be gathered for God's granary. As we read in the next verse in the book of Revelation, God says, "Swing the sickle because the harvest is ripe. Come, come down because the winepress is full. The barrels overflow because their wickedness is great." 

Here God calls us to the last harvest. Before the new Jerusalem comes and before God wipes every tear from our faces and removes all our pain. The Lord calls us to be cleansed of all sin and to be separated like wheat from weeds. The greater the sin, the more damage it will do. This has a double message. The other side of the message is that the Lord wants to invite as many people as possible into His Kingdom. So he invites us to that as well.

When I was preaching about New Jerusalem, and how God would remove every pain, we had a storm coming. I live in a place where we have dangerous storms. I am sharing this story with you to tell you how important is the message in the book of Revelation and that much the enemy is trying to stop us. The storm did only minimal damage. A pair of tiles flew off the roof and began to sour. Although the roof was leaking, the demolition team continued to sing, and we shared the message. But then there was the wife. Can you imagine the rain pouring and the port of the church burning? Nobody was panicking, we knew that the message was too important and that the enemy had to play all of his cards. The fire caused considerable damage to the church, but the storm had not done any permanent damage.

After the restoration of everything, we just stood and praised the Lord and welcomed the New Jerusalem. That message for us, today, let us prepare for the beginning of the end! That is great news!