And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will
dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God
himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe
away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be
no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain
anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Revelation 21:3-4
As we come away from the Christmas season I think it might be beneficial to look back one more time at the name the prophet Isaiah gave to Jesus and how it meets us where we live. The name Immanuel means "God with us." At the end of his last manuscript, the Revelation of Jesus Christ, John explains that when time has ceased to exist we will be with God and He will be with us...no holds barred. It will be complete and utter intimacy with Him all the time. Unfortunately that's not the life we now live. So what do we do with that?
Every single person on this earth experiences pain at one time or another. It's inevitable. Pain comes in a wide variety of forms from physical pain to emotional pain to relational pain to financial pain to... And the list goes on. I know I've experienced many of them on more than one occasion. Within the last month I experienced pain two different ways in a significant fashion.
About a week before Christmas I fell almost the entire length of our stairs when I decided to venture down to our main level in the middle of the night without a light on. I'm pretty sure I know what I'd be thinking if I were you..."Brilliant! Just brilliant! What on earth!" I've already given myself the lecture. Here's the thing though; I'd done this dozens of times before without any incident. My expectation was that because I'd maneuvered these same stairs successfully I would do it again. I spent nearly two weeks in excruciating pain, traveling cross country, hundreds of miles in the process. I can persevere through physical pain when I perceive the need for it is there. It doesn't mean I enjoy it! And because of the pain I didn't enjoy most of that trip. I may have been better off sending my family and relaxing quietly at home.
Then just yesterday an emotional response to a dashed presumption capsized me. It was certainly a spiritual attack as I know it hearkened back to a childhood soul-wound I've carried (and thought I'd successfully overcome!) for years. I wasted an entire afternoon and evening feeling unloved and disfavored. It was deep seated pain. I retired just after dinner, completely worn and exhausted. Even today the weariness of all of it still lingers.
In each incident I had times I didn't respond well (in fact one which had no redemptive responses at all!), a much too common occurrence in my experience. I had been lured by false assumptions and encountered negative consequences for each expectation failure. Pain.
It's difficult to find anything redemptive about pain. It is a symptom that something is wrong. Wrong with my body. Wrong with my mind or soul. Wrong with...you name it. Pain is the evidence that this present world is not well-suited for us. It became part of the conversation after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 3:16-19) Prior to that conversation, prior to the sin that brought about that conversation, it's safe to say the Adam and Eve lived in an environment that was suited just for them. It would have been the right temperature to not require any clothing. There was no need for shelter; dew watered the plants so there was no weather and therefore no reason for shelter. Work had been part of their story, but only pleasant exercises of cultivation and creativity that wouldn't have produced any debility. Food grew plentifully. Water was pure and clean. Eden. Paradise.
That "first" world is what God promises will be restored. "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." (Revelation 21:4) John goes on to share God's committment, "Behold, I am making all things new." (Revelation 21:5) Eden returned. Paradise renewed. Vines's Dictionary of New Testament words explains:
kainos denotes "new," of that which is unaccustomed or
unused, not "new" in time, recent, but "new" as to form
or quality, of different nature from what is contrasted as old.
God's use of the word "new" to describe the world to come promises something that we've never experienced before. Something we haven't been able to imagine even. It's the old transformed, restored, renewed. Our senses filled. Our hearts enlarged to take it all in. Our creativity on over-drive, destined to be the new normal. Evil and suffering and pain banished...forever! I believe it to be. It's what I look forward to each day. It's when I forget that pain becomes unbearable.
I would like to leave you with this provocative quote from John Eldredge's new book All Things New. When I first saw this excerpt before the book was released hope rose within me. I was overjoyed to receive it as a gift for Christmas. I trust that in any pain you're experiencing today you will find hope in these imaginative tidings which I also happen to think are biblically based. Though Eldredge never uses the word pain, it is definitely there by implication.
Imagine - after your enemies are judged
and banished, great treasure chests are then brought
in and set before you. Huge oak chests; it requires two men or
angels to bring each one in, and there are several. Jesus
tells you to open them. You ask, "What are these, Lord?"
and he replies, "Theses are the gifts I meant for you in your
former life but were stolen or prevented from making it to you.
I return them now, with interest." Imagine all that fills those
chests. You hear laughter coming from one, for so much of
what has been lost are memories and joy.
John Eldredge, All Things New, p.147-8
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