Revelation 21: God shall wipe away all tears
A new heaven and a new earth, where death shall be no more.
Bible reference: Revelation 21:1-4
At a glance
- Length, read slowly
- About a minute
- Where it goes
- New Testament reading · Christian funeral serviceRead by: reader or officiant
- New Testament Scripture · Homegoing serviceRead by: officiant or reader
- Scripture reading · Celebration of lifeRead by: family or friends
Have the officiant read your choice first: they have the last word.
We don’t show modern translations here: they are protected by copyright. You can find them in your church’s Bible or on the publisher’s website. Further down this page is the text from the King James Version, which you may use freely.
Use in your programWhat this reading says
John describes a vision. He sees a new heaven and a new earth, and a city coming down from God dressed like a bride on her wedding day. A voice announces that God will now live with people. Then come the lines families remember: God will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death, no more mourning, no more crying and no more pain.
When it fits
This is the reading for the end of a long struggle. Families choose it after years of illness, after dementia, after pain that medicine could only partly control, because it says that pain itself will stop. It also fits a child's funeral, where every other reading can feel too small. Many pastors read it as the closing scripture at a homegoing. Compared with John 14, which promises a room in a house, Revelation 21 promises a whole new world. If you want the same hope spoken from the grief side rather than the glory side, Romans 8 is the stronger match. Revelation stands apart by looking furthest ahead.
Reading it aloud
The pastor or officiant usually reads it near the end of the service or at the committal. A family member can read it at a celebration of life if the family is comfortable with scripture. Slow down for the list of things that end, and let the last sentence hang. The King James Version says "the tabernacle of God is with men," a phrase that trips some readers; a modern translation has "God's dwelling place is now among the people." If the reading closes the service, put it on the back page of the funeral program beside the thank-you note.
Text from the King James Version
Revelation 21:1-4
This older translation is in the public domain in the United States, so you may print it in your program for free. A Catholic Mass reads from the lectionary, so for a Mass, paste the text your parish uses.
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
Goes well with
- John 14: in my Father's house are many roomsJohn 14:1-6The prepared room that this new city fulfills; the two are often read together.
- Romans 8: nothing can separate us from the love of GodRomans 8:35-39The same hope spoken from the hard side, before the tears are wiped away.
- Psalm 23: the Lord is my shepherdPsalm 23A short, familiar psalm to open a service that closes with this vision.
- Crossing the BarTennyson's crossing ends at the same meeting, for a family that wants a poem at the committal.