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May 17, 2025 06:00am

Sorrow’s Gift

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In a recent study of Revelation 5, I became aware of the writer’s sudden shifting through the emotions of great sorrow and hopelessness, to relief and joy, and its culmination in humility and worship by all who are gathered around God’s throne. The writer, John, is seeing the throne of God in all its glory. On that throne sits the Almighty God of the Universe with a scroll in His hand that contains all of His decrees, which were written in full and sealed with seven seals. John heard an angel calling for someone who is worthy to open that scroll and someone capable of fulfilling God’s plan for the redemption of mankind.

In verses 3–4 of this chapter, the search over all creation in both heaven and earth turned up no one who was worthy to open the scroll, and so John is weeping. Almost immediately—at least in its written form—one of the elders comforts John by drawing his attention to the fact that Jesus, “the Lion of Judah, has prevailed to open the scroll.” The significance is that Jesus, the “Lamb of God,” through His coming to earth to live a sinless life and His substitutionary sacrifice, is capable of carrying out God’s plan to redeem mankind to Himself.

As I pondered this view of heaven, the words of Jesus in His model prayer echo in my mind as He prayed, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” The view of heaven in Revelation chapter 5 gives us some insight into what God’s kingdom in heaven is like. The first thing I noticed was John’s response to the fact that sin had separated him from God and that there was no remedy. At first glance, this may not seem significant to us because we know of Jesus’ sacrifice for us, but I think it is important that we understand and ponder regularly that our status without Jesus is that our sin separates us from God and there is no remedy.

Pondering the misery and hopelessness of our state apart from Jesus is not to make us fearful or self-loathing but to bring humility and gratitude for the extravagant gift of God’s Son given for us. If we are living out God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, the attitude of our hearts should reflect brokenness over sin and its consequences. In fact, it is our brokenness that leads us to repent of that sin, and our trust in Jesus is what makes it possible to even have a place around God’s throne in heaven. What a wonderful gift this sorrow brings!

The second thing I notice about God’s kingdom in heaven from Revelation 5 is that the “Lamb of God” is at the center of everything that is going on. He is the center of their attention, He is the center of their affection, He is the center of their activity, He is the center of their worship, and He is the central topic of their song. It’s hard to even imagine this impact of living in God’s kingdom as we walk around in this sin-cursed world, but as I attempt to imagine it, there are many impacts that this would have on myself personally and on the world as a whole. I imagine that many of the things that we deem so very important and overwhelming would become unimportant and not even a blip on the radar to distract us from the tasks related to growing God’s kingdom and glorifying God with every act and every fiber of our being.

As I think about this, it would likely impact how we treat our bodies, the words we speak, the motivation behind every action, how we spend our time, energy, and resources—and probably much, much more. If Christ were the center of everything here on earth as He is in heaven, there would be no concern for people-pleasing, only concern for pleasing God. And it wouldn’t matter whether others saw or noticed or gave appreciation and credit for what we do, because we understand that God sees everything. He alone is our judge, and He alone rewards obedience, and He alone punishes sin. We likely would not fret when money is tight, or when we aren’t sure how a situation is going to play out, or if we or a loved one are going to get well or not, because His promise is that we are given eternal life in a place where sin’s impact is not felt, its consequences have been paid for, and sin itself is not allowed to dwell.

Doesn’t this sound wonderful?! Certainly, these are things that we strive for as we pursue righteousness to make the kingdom of God living in the hearts of men reflect the kingdom of God in heaven. But sadly, this is not possible to attain this side of heaven. Because of this, we as followers of Christ experience sadness in this world because God put in us a longing that cannot be satisfied by anything but Him.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that “God has placed eternity in men’s hearts,” but it also says that this side of heaven we cannot fully know all the works of God from beginning to end. This means we were created as eternal beings and therefore have an innate desire for eternal things and for a relationship with God that we cannot experience fully until we reach heaven, where sin has no power, death is not a threat, and we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. But the only way we reach this place that our “soul thirsts for in this dry and weary land” (Ps. 63:1) is to become sorrowful over our sin and repent. But Scripture assures us that “the sufferings in this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that awaits us” (Rom. 8:18), making sorrow’s gift worth the wait.