“No More Death or Pain?” What Your Pastor Never Told You About Revelation 21:4

If Revelation 21:4 is true, why do graveyards still exist?

Every Sunday, churches read:

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)

Yet, you still bury your loved ones.
People still suffer.
And the world, let’s be honest, is still a mess.

So what happened?
Did Jesus drop the ball, or did we all miss something staring us in the face?

The Futurist Claim

“Jesus can’t have returned. There’s still death. There’s still pain. Revelation 21:4 can’t be fulfilled. Look around.”

But what if “death and pain” in Revelation 21:4 doesn’t mean what you were taught?

What “Death” (Thanatos) Really Means in the Bible

• Strong’s G2288 – θάνατος (thanatos)

• Literal: physical death (Matt 10:21, Heb 11:5)

• Metaphorical: “the loss of the life which alone is worthy of the name.”The misery of separation from God, the result of sin and the Old Covenant curse (Romans 6:23, Eph 2:1, Gen 2:17).
  

• Isaiah 25:8 - The OT prophecy behind Rev 21:4:

  “He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces.”
  Isaiah was talking to Old Covenant Israel, promising restoration after judgment, not the end of funerals.

• 1 Corinthians 15:54-56

  “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting?”
  Paul is quoting Isaiah 25:8 and Hosea 13:14 (about Israel’s exile), showing that “death” is the spiritual separation/covenant curse, not just graveyards.

• 2 Timothy 1:10

  “Our Savior Jesus Christ… who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”
  If it’s physical, why are Christians still dying?

• Hebrews 2:14-15

  “…that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”
  The “fear of death” was about covenantal separation, not heartbeats.
  

What “Pain” (Ponos) and “Sorrow” (Penthos) Mean

• Strong’s G4192 – πόνος (ponos)

• Great trouble, intense hardship, labor, anguish (see Thayer’s, Vine’s).

• Used in Rev 16:10 for agonizing pain under judgment; in 21:4 for the end of that anguish.

• Strong’s G3997 – πένθος (penthos):

• Mourning, sorrow, grief, specifically for judgment and loss under the old age (James 4:9, Matt 5:4).

• Revelation 16:10-11

  “And they gnawed their tongues for pain (ponos), and blasphemed the God of heaven…”
  That’s the kind of suffering being wiped away. Not stubbed toes and backaches.
  

The Real Fulfillment: The End of Old Covenant Death, Not Physical Immortality

• Revelation 21:4 restates the promise originally given to Old Covenant Israel in Isaiah 25:8 and Isaiah 65:19.

• The old order, filled with curse, separation, and law-based agony, is gone.

• Hebrews 8:13 - “In that He says, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.”

• 2 Corinthians 3:6-14 - The Old Covenant was a “ministry of death, written and engraved on stones.”
  It was being “done away.”

• Matthew 23:36; 24:34 - Jesus:

  “All these things will come upon this generation… this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled.”
  The time was the first century. Not some far-off future.
  

Objections Smashed

“But people still die, so this can’t be fulfilled.”

Refuted: Jesus conquered death through His death and resurrection. Paul and John lived through the generation when this victory was legally accomplished, but the full, practical end of covenantal separation, the ‘no more death’ of Revelation 21:4 came when the Old Covenant system passed away (Hebrews 9:8).

“It has to mean the end of physical pain.”

Refuted:
“Ponos” means suffering and hardship under the old order (see Rev 16:10). Christians still got sick, martyred, and died even after Jesus’ victory.

“This only happens in heaven, after we die.”

Refuted:
Revelation 21:2-3 describes the New Jerusalem “coming down out of heaven,” God making His dwelling with men. Not us going “up” to heaven. The context is the arrival of the New Covenant, not a future space city.

Why You Can’t Relate to the Old Testament (and Why That’s the Point)

Let’s be honest:
You read about God wiping out whole nations, demanding animal sacrifices, or punishing people for things you’ve never even considered “sins”… and you wonder,

“How is any of this good? Is this even the same God Jesus talked about?”

Here’s Why You Can’t Relate:

1. You Don’t Live in a World of Tribal Warfare and Idols

   • The ancient world was a brutal, violent place. Genocide, slavery, child sacrifice, and blood feuds were “normal.”

   • There were no hospitals, no human rights, no police to protect you. If you didn’t wipe out your enemies, they’d do it to you.

2. You’ve Inherited 2,000 Years of Jesus’ Influence

   • Even atheists expect compassion, equality, and forgiveness, values that only entered the world through Jesus and His followers.

   • The ancient mindset was “an eye for an eye.” The modern mind expects “turn the other cheek.”
     You think Old Testament justice is harsh? That’s because you’re standing on New Testament ground.

3. You’ve Never Seen Real Idolatry, Paganism, or Child Sacrifice

   • The Canaanites sacrificed infants in fire, worshipped gods with sex rites, and built cultures on violence (Leviticus 18, Deut 12:31).

   • God’s commands to Israel weren’t arbitrary they were about purging a cancer from the earth.

4. You’re Judging the Ancient World with Modern Eyes

   • We lock up people for things that were legal back then, and vice versa.

   • To really “get” the Old Testament, you need to read it like an ancient person: someone who knows that mercy is rare, life is short, and evil is in your face, not hidden behind screens.

You can’t relate to the Old Testament… because you’re living in the world it made possible.

Why You’ve Never Heard This In Church

The reason you’ve never heard this preached?
Because the world of the Bible wasn’t your world.

Two thousand years ago, everything changed.
The Old Covenant was ending, Jerusalem was about to fall, and a new era was being born. When John wrote Revelation, he wasn’t talking about iPhones, modern hospitals, or your neighbor’s funeral. He was describing the end of an entire age, a system built on law, sacrifice, and separation from God, a world that no longer exists.

What Does It Mean For You Right Now?

• You don’t have to earn your way into God’s presence.

• No more curse. No more exile. No more agony of wondering if you’re accepted.

Paul longed to “depart and be with Christ” (Philippians 1:23), and Jesus truly accomplished the way for us through His death and resurrection, opening the way for us (Hebrews 10:19–20).

But Scripture is clear:
While Jesus finished the work at the cross, Hebrews 9:8 shows that “the way into the holiest was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing.”
The full, practical reality of direct, unhindered access to Christ, no more waiting, no more separation became manifest when the Old Covenant system vanished in AD 70.
That’s why now, on this side of fulfillment, believers who die in Christ “rest from their labors” and are immediately with Him (Revelation 14:13).

What To Do Now

Still waiting for a world with no funerals? Or ready to live in the freedom Jesus already bought?
Test everything. Fact-check every sermon. Stop letting tradition rob you of what Jesus finished.
Get the truth, straight from the Bible.


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