WILL THERE BE SORROW IN HEAVEN?

It all started (as so many of these things do) with a question during our home Bible study: If there will be no sorrow in heaven, what about those we love who don’t become Christians before they die? Will we forget about them, or just not care any more?

Of course, everyone had their own opinions, and none of us really expressed them to our satisfaction. And then the conversation shifted, and the topic was abandoned for something a little more immediate. But I couldn’t forget the question, and decided to see if I could find an answer.

The passage we were discussing was Revelation 21: 3, 4: “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” I figured immediately that there must be some nuance in the original Greek that didn’t survive the translation. After all, the Greeks had at least four different words that we translate “love”, each with its own shade of meaning; could the same be true with “sorrow” or “mourning”? So I went to a Greek-English concordance, and looked up the verses. And they were of no help whatsoever. All they said was that the Greek word meant “sorrow”; there was no suggestion of a subtle shade of meaning.

Now, this is not to say that there is no difference; all it means is that I don’t know how to find out. The concordance told me what that one word in that one verse meant; it didn’t tell me if there were other words for “sorrow” or “mourning” with different shades of meaning. So, out of frustration, I came back and thought about what the English words mean to us.

When we talk about sorrow and mourning, we usually mean something mixed with other emotions, especially regret and guilt. This, I believe, is what Paul meant when he said “worldly sorrow brings death” (2 Corinthians 7:10). Of course, we don’t actually die – usually – when we feel that kind of sorrow and mourning. However, that kind of sorrow can leave us in despair and depression, which in turn can draw us away from God and from our Christian brothers and sisters.

However, this is only one kind of sorrow. In the same verse, just a few words earlier, Paul observes, “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret”. The contrast between Godly and worldly sorrow was graphically displayed in the days and hours following Jesus’ crucifixion. Judas Iscariot’s betrayal led to Jesus’ arrest; Simon Peter’s denial came at a time when Jesus needed the support of a friend. Both Judas and Peter felt sorrow for what they had done. Peter went out and wept; Judas tried to make up for his betrayal by confessing his sin to the priests and returning their money. Both felt remorse, both felt guilt. But Peter’s sorrow led him to hope and repentance, while Judas’ sorrow led to hopelessness and suicide.

Both Godly and worldly sorrow involve regret and guilt and, as such, are sometimes hard to tell apart. But there is another kind that is clearly different. We’re told that Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus (John 11:35), and that He was to be a “man of sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3). Yet He couldn’t possibly have felt the kinds of sorrow and mourning that we’ve talked about above, because they involve having said, done, or thought something resulting in guilt or regret. In other words, sin. But Jesus was sinless; what had He said, done, or thought that He could regret or feel guilty about? Nothing! There must be, therefore, another kind of sorrow. It reached its purest expression in Jesus, but we, too, can feel it. This sorrow is based either on tragedy that touches our own lives in which no sin is evident on our part, or on the observation of sin or tragedy in others’ lives and mourning on behalf of them. One can speak of a “righteous anger”, an anger untouched by personal sin; in a similar way, one can speak of a “pure sorrow”. The Scriptures are full of pictures of God or Jesus mourning over the sins of humans, and we’re told that the Spirit can be grieved; if there is absolutely no sorrow in heaven, how can these things be true?

Which brings us back to our original question the passage from Revelation. Will there be sorrow for us in heaven? If, by “sorrow”, we mean the kind of grief coloured by guilt and regret, then no, it won’t exist. We’ll be in the presence of perfection and will finally be able to fully understand and enjoy the complete forgiveness of our sins; there will no longer be anything for us to feel guilty about. But if, by “sorrow”, we mean that “pure” sorrow that mourns for the losses of others, then yes, I believe that will be there, if only for a time. I believe that this kind of sorrow will be transitory, since we’ll be able, finally, to fully understand the holiness of God and the free will of humans and everything this implies. But we won’t forget our loved ones who perished outside of God’s salvation.

Of course, the easiest way to avoid any sorrow of that sort is to do everything we possibly can to see that our friends and family members are with us in eternity. But that’s a different column.