The problem that most people would have in applying this description to a fulfilled event is that no one living on earth has experienced life without tears, mourning, crying, and pain (21:4). Therefore, the patented response is that this must be referring to heaven. However, after Christ cleared the threshing floor, gathered his wheat into the barn, and burned the chaff, the redeemed did expereince it. Isa. 65:16-17 reads, “so that he who blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of truth, and he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten and are hidden from my eyes. For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.” Our text describes it similarly. It reads, “the first things are passed away.” Furthermore, He that sits on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Isaiah describes the comfort of the redeemed in 66:10-14, “Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her; that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast; that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious abundance. For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you shall nurse, you shall be carried upon her hip, and bounced upon her knees. As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice; your bones shall flourish like the grass; and the hand of the Lord shall be known to his servants, and he shall show his indignation against his enemies.” They were the ones who mourned over the evil of Jerusalem (not Rome, cf. Matt. 23:37-39).
This heavens and earth are not physical. The plans for his new creation (Col. 1:9-23; 2 Cor. 5:11-19) was spiritual, heavenly, and eternal (cf. 1 Cor. 15:40-49). These prophecies are faithful and true. In other words, they will be fulfilled, on schedule, and according to the divine plan. Verse 6 adds, “They are come to pass. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give unto thim that is athirts of the fountain of the water of life freely.” Our physical bodies need water. But, to those who are spiritually athirst, He promises the water of life freely.