He must be wiping all of our tears away NOW

Time is here, and then it is gone. Minds better than mine have mused about this conundrum -- Augustine, for one, in Chapter XI of his Confessions.

As I get old, this matter has been profoundly weighing on me. I’ve come to a conclusion of sorts: it cannot be as simple as this. It cannot be that what I experienced a year ago, or a minute ago, is GONE.

They are not gone. My experiences are not gone. They are somewhere; just not here. But then … even as I write this, even here is not here.

And so if I only dwell on the here, woe is me.

As a matter of fact, to dwell well – to really DWELL – requires that you take in more than just NOW and HERE. For example, it takes about three years in a new house before that house becomes a home. What has happened? Well, the accrual of all of your experiences in that house has transformed that house, that land, into a home in which you dwell. The house has become you; you have become the house. The sum is HOME.

… In my father’s house are many dwellings; I go to prepare a place for you …

Here is what I am thinking: it is the totality of what the inner man has been made by all of his or her experiences that somehow goes into eternity.

But eternity is also here and now. This is another mistake we make. We think we live the moments of life now. And then when we die … eternity. But this is logically incorrect. Eternity can’t be eternity if it starts to be eternity only tomorrow. Eternity is eternity by virtue of the fact that it is NOW.

So how can time be gone; how can our experiences all be gone; if eternity is now?

And so we need to live in the fear of God. And all that I do today – ah, I am writing again on my recliner – should be done, should be experienced, with the expectation that I will someday experience it again more fully.

Think of it: it says that God will wipe away all of our tears someday in the New Jersusalem. But how can it be ALL of our tears if he is only to wipe them away someday?

For it to be ALL of our tears, He must be wiping them away NOW.

Logos2Go

John 14.2 In my Father's house are many rooms ( μονή dwellings). If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

Revelation 21.4 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."