IF there's one thing that stops us in our tracks it's the sight and sound of a grown adult weeping.

Something deep inside hits us and prevents us from concentrating on anything else. Conversation stops and the crying person suddenly has our attention.

The TV media now exploit that reaction to make us listen and take notice of their newscasts and documentaries. It's so commonplace that we're becoming hardened to it and sometimes we deliberately ignore the distress of other people and get on with our lives.

But the Christian has good news. In the Bible God makes a firm promise, in Isaiah 25: "… the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine – the best of meats and the finest of wines … he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death for ever.

The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth."

How did God honour this promise? Jesus, God's own Son, became a human and took His Father's wrath against us, his rebellious creatures, on his own body by being crucified on a cross. And then, three days later, His astonishing resurrection was the proof of His sovereignty over death.

Following this, at the end of the Bible in the Book of Revelation, God repeated

His promise with: "Look! God’s dwelling-place is now among the people, and he will dwell 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.”.

God’s everlasting party is still to come and I, for one, don’t want to miss it!

David C. Smith

Parr Street Church

Kendal.