Objection: Pain Will Not Be Done Away with Until Heaven (Revelation 21:4)

This is another case of a correct statement coupled with a wrong conclusion.

It is certainly true that there will never be a time in this earthly life when there will be no pain.  There is no statement in Scripture that pain will stop until Revelation 21:4.

However, that is not proof that WE have to have pain until we go to heaven!  Jesus BORE our pains (Isaiah 53:4) as our Substitute to relieve us of having to bear them in this life.  Did you notice that this bold declaration is the only one in Isaiah 53 preceded by the word “surely?”  Now the whole Word is surely true, but it as if God were making a special point of singling out the fact that Jesus bore our sicknesses and carried our pains.  Maybe He knew how few people would actually believe it.  (Isaiah also wondered who believed the report about Him!  I hope that YOU are one of the ones who do.)

Jesus certainly didn’t agree with the objector that pain relief had to wait for heaven, because He healed all kinds of painful ailments rather than telling people they’d have to wait until they get to heaven.  We don’t have to wait until we all get to heaven to sing and shout the victory – I’m going to do it in this life, even if others never know the victory that they could be enjoying in Christ.

The premise that WE have to be stuck in our pains because pain is only gone forever in heaven does not make sense when you think about it, because based on that same logic, I could “prove” to you that you have to be a slave of sin until Jesus returns:

“SIN will not be done away with until we get to heaven and then go to a new earth in which righteousness dwells.  There will never be a time in this earthly life when there will be no sin.  There is no statement that sin will stop until the end of the book of Revelation.  Therefore, YOU have to be stuck being a slave of sin until then!”

Let’s be consistent.  If you admit that the logic is fallacious when it comes to sin, you should admit that it is equally fallacious when it comes to sickness.

Although OTHERS may be slaves of sin, Paul made it clear that the believer is not – even though there will be others who are until Jesus returns.  Although OTHERS may be stuck with pain, Paul made it clear that the believer is not – you are redeemed from the Law’s curse and every sickness known to mankind.  The fact that SOME will be somehow burdened does not prove that the redeemed, victorious Church must be burdened along with the unbelievers.