Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–

August 23– Morning

 by C. H. Spurgeon, revised and edited by W. C. Neff

“The sound of weeping will no longer be heard.” 

—Isaiah 65:19

Those who are glorified no longer cry, for all outward causes of grief have been removed. There are no broken friendships or blighted prospects in heaven. Poverty, famine, danger, persecution, and slander are unknown there. There is no pain and no thought of death.

They also do not cry because they are perfectly sanctified within. No “evil heart of unbelief” prompts them to depart from the living God; they are without fault before his throne and are fully conformed to his image.

In addition, they don’t weep anymore because all fear of change is past. They are secure forever in Christ. Sin is shut out, and they are shut in. They live in a city that will never be overtaken; they bask in a sun that will never set; they drink of a river that will never dry up; they pluck fruit from a tree that will never wither. They are forever with the Lord.

There is no reason to cry anymore because their every desire is fulfilled. They can’t wish for anything that isn’t already their possession. Eye and ear, heart and hand, imagination, hope, desire– all are completely satisfied. We don’t know much about what awaits us, but we at least know that the saints above are supremely blessed. The joy of Christ brings them infinite delight.

The same joyful rest remains for us, and it may not be far away. Before long the weeping willow will be exchanged for the palm-branch of victory, and the droplets of sorrow will be transformed into the pearls of everlasting bliss. Knowing this we should “comfort one another with these words.” [M&E]