God made the body of Adam from the dust of the ground, and then He breathed the breath of life into this body. So, Adam was the union of a body and a soul. This is the reason that the Bible sometimes speaks about death as an “enemy,” because death is the undoing of our nature. It is the tearing apart of what God has joined together.

If a mobile phone is not connected to a network, it cannot fulfil the function for which it was made. The same can be said for the network. The fact that there is a cellular network is of no value to you if you do not have a phone. It is the joining of the two together that makes this wonderful gift of telecommunication possible.

Our bodies, as we experience them now, are very different from the bodies that Adam and Eve experienced as they were created by God in the garden. Their original bodies did not age, and they were not subject to disease, pain, or death. All of that came with the entrance of sin into the world. Sin has affected every area of our lives.

God created your body as much as He created your soul. And sin has ruined us in body and soul. But what God has made, He will redeem, and that means your body as well as your soul.

Think about the effects of sin, personally, on your body and soul. Can you imagine what it would mean for God to redeem them?

In the light of what we have been learning about heaven, here are two things to reconsider:

First, if you are holding back from full commitment to Jesus: However hard it is for you to come to Christ in repentance, however hard it is for you to look to Him in faith, however costly it may be for you to confess Jesus as Lord of your life, you cannot ultimately lose.

No one in the presence of Jesus regrets following Him, not even those for whom it cost their lives! What are you holding onto now that is so good it would be worth missing out on all that the people of God will share with Christ in the new heaven and new earth?

Second, if God is calling you to walk on a difficult path: John Newton tells the story: “Imagine a man on his way to New York. He is in a carriage drawn by a horse, and he is on his way to receive a million-dollar inheritance. A mile outside New York, the wheel on his carriage breaks, so he has to walk the last mile to get his million-dollar inheritance. And all the way to New York he grumbles because his carriage is broken. What would you think of such a man?”

In Christ, you are on the last mile of your journey to inherit the new heaven and new earth, and you will find strength for the journey as you anticipate the joy that lies ahead.

Do you need strength for your journey? Anticipate the joy that lies ahead for you, Christian.

There will be no marriage in heaven (Matt. 22:30), but we will still be male and female, because that is how God created us and it was good. The gift of marriage was given to point to something greater that God has in store for all who love Him.

Marriage, at its best, is a pointer to the joy that we will find in Jesus Christ and that Christ will find in His people in the new heaven and new earth. Even if you have an unhappy marriage, you have some sense of what marriage should be.

Christ is the bridegroom, and He brings His people into union with Himself. This shared life will be with God Himself, and the joy will go on increasing. The joys you experience in life remain in your memory so that you continue to derive happiness from them.

Jonathan Edwards says that it will be the same in eternity. Think about what that will be like when you have been in heaven for a million, million ages…. “Your knowledge will increase to eternity; and if your knowledge, your holiness; for as you increase in the knowledge of God, you will see more of his excellency (beauty), and the more you see of his excellency, the more you will love him, and the more you love God, the more delight and happiness you will have in him.”

All your experiences of joy in this life point to the ever-increasing joy that will be yours in Christ for all eternity. This is an “Amen!” moment.

Precisely when God is telling us about the new heaven and new earth, He also tells us that He will separate all that is evil from His people and from His creation—the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars.

All these are descriptions of character. This does not mean that all who have been guilty of these sins will be excluded from heaven. But there are men and women who do not turn to God in repentance. They do not look to Jesus Christ for forgiveness and cleansing. They do not see a need for a Saviour, and so they die in their sins.

Bishop Ryle says, “Most men hope to go to heaven when they die; but few, it may be feared, take the trouble to consider whether they would enjoy heaven if they got there.”

Here is the tragedy of sin: The sinner could not be happy in heaven and, at the same time, cannot be happy in hell. Sin is a complete dead end. It leaves you with no place to go. Sinners will want to be out of hell, but they will not want to be in heaven.

The new heaven and the new earth will be the home of righteousness: “Nothing unclean will ever enter it” (21:27). If it is the home of righteousness, and nothing unclean will ever enter, how could we be there? Only through the cleansing that comes from Jesus Christ.

Do you see your need for a Saviour?

If these things are passing away, then your eternity in the new heaven and new earth will not be spent doing any of the following three things.

1. You will not spend eternity grieving over your past sins and missed opportunities. We will never forget that we were sinners because we will always be finding joy in the Lamb who was slain, the Son of God who redeemed us by the shedding of His blood. We will know ourselves to be redeemed sinners—not in a way that will bring pain or regret, but in a way that will cause us to magnify and glorify Christ for all that He is and for all that He has done.

2. You will not spend eternity carrying baggage from difficult relationships. Even at our best, Christians are so far from what we will be that it is sometimes hard for us to imagine broken relationships completely restored and deep wounds completely healed. But God is able to do more than we could ever ask or imagine.

3. You will not spend eternity nursing any grudges. In heaven, every Christian will be made perfect in repentance and in humility. There will be, in all of us, complete ownership of all sin that is ours and complete repentance from the heart. At the same time, every Christian will be perfect in forgiveness—no grudges. There will be a giving and a receiving of forgiveness among God’s people that will position all of us for a life of harmony in the new heaven on earth.

What a happy day it will be when we no longer grieve the heart of God and no longer bring pain or disappointment to our brothers and sisters.

What are some past sins, regrets, or painful baggage you would like to be free from?

Notice what will be gone, subtracted, taken away in heaven. All these things—death, mourning, and pain—are passing away. You will not find or experience them in the new heaven and new earth. Let’s consider them one at a time.

Death: Nobody in the new heaven and new earth will ever die. No one will grow old. No one will become sick or ill. There will be no need for hospitals or for emergency services. You will never attend a funeral there.

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (John 11:25), and “Everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (11:26). Because there is no more dying, there will be no more mourning, no more saying goodbye.

Mourning: Nothing in your future life will bring you sorrow, fear, sadness, or disappointment. When you share this life of joy, nothing will ever happen that would cause you to cry. What about tears from the past? There are tears on earth that even those who love us most cannot wipe away. But God will wipe every tear from our eyes.

Pain: There will be no more aching bones. The resurrection body is made of flesh and bones (Luke 24:39), but the flesh will not wrinkle and the bones will not ache. Instead of diminishing, your resurrected body will be rejuvenated with new strength and new capabilities.

Soak in these promises until they restore your hope.

Life in the new heaven and new earth will not be less than the life you have now. It will be more!

The word “new” can be used in two ways. The first is to say, “I’m moving to a new house.” You are in a different place, and there is no continuity between your old house and your new house. The second is to renovate your house. It is an old house and everything in it needs to be redone. So, you do a total refurb, and when you are done you say, “Everything is new!” And that is exactly what God says: “I am making all things new” (21:5).

Here is the great promise: When God has removed sin and all its effects from His people, He will then remove all the effects of sin from His creation so that the new earth will become a fit place for God’s children to share a life of unclouded joy.

Think about the joys of life in this fallen world—the joys of music, sports, the arts, science, technology, travel, food, and friendship. None of that will be less. All of it will be more, as you enjoy life in the resurrection body on the new earth. All that God has made is good, and when He redeems it, He will make it better than it was before.

God is going to remake the heavens and the earth. He will merge heaven and earth into a perfect place that will be our home forever. This is the reason why we can speak of heaven when we talk about the new heaven and new earth, because heaven will fill the earth.

How does the promise of a “new” heaven and “new” earth affect the way you think about the world around you?

Satan’s master strategy is to have people think that what lies ahead will be far less than what we have now. He wants you to believe that your life would be less if it were in God’s hands.

If you believe that the life you have now is better than the future life you could have in the presence of God, it will be like trying to hold onto sand as it slips through your fingers.

People sometimes talk about “living your best life now.” But living your best life now is only possible for a person who is going to hell. For the person who is going to hell, this life is as good as it is ever going to be. But if you are headed for life in the new heaven and the new earth, how could you possibly live your best life now? Your best life lies ahead of you.

When a couple plans a wedding reception, they go for a tasting. They taste the meal that will be served on the great day. But the tasting is only a sample. It is preparation for the great event toward which the bride and groom are counting the days. All that you enjoy in this life, and all that you have in Christ in this world, is just a foretaste of the joys that are to come.

Have you been living your life as if the best is now, or as if the best is yet to come?