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Colin Smith: The scriptures encourage us to set our minds on things above where Jesus Christ is seated. I want to give you today a very simple grid for doing this, for meditating, reflecting, thinking on the life that is to come.

Four strategies. It’s very simple. You’ll be able to remember this and to use it. Add, subtract, divide, multiply.

Guest (Male): This is Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. Colin, I hope it’s simple because the whole reason I went into radio and not math is because I didn’t like math.

Colin Smith: This is, I promise you, the best mathematics you will ever enjoy. Think about this. A new heaven and a new earth. That means that there's an add to the life that we have here. It’s not something completely other. It is heaven and earth made everything that God ever intended it to be.

Then there’s a takeaway. There’s a subtract, because there’s going to be no more pain, no more mourning. God will wipe away all tears from our eyes. There’s a big divide because God separates humanity. And there’s a multiplication because you take the greatest joys you can know in this world now and you multiply them up and make them last forever. You’re just beginning to touch the edge of what God’s preparing for those who love him.

Guest (Male): All right, well, you convinced me. It sounds a whole lot better than calculus. So I’m excited about this. Let’s open our Bibles and get going in Revelation 21 today as we begin the message, "How Much Will I Enjoy Heaven?" Here’s Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: We have a marvelous subject in front of us here this morning. We’re going to look at the happiness of heaven or, perhaps more specifically, the happiness of the resurrection life that all of God’s people will share with Jesus Christ in the new heaven and the new earth.

A central aim of the short series that we’ve been pursuing on heaven has been to heighten our anticipation, to awaken within us an interest in this great, great subject of the future that lies ahead of every Christian believer. I want to try and banish any notions that lurk at the back of perhaps some of our minds that heaven in some way may be less than what we experience and enjoy now, that it may be in some way dull or perhaps even boring.

I want to encourage us with the kind of relish that you find in the New Testament as Christian believers anticipate the joy of all that is to come for those who are in Christ Jesus. You know, it’s very striking to me that the pundits of pop psychology often talk these days about living your best life now. You hear this on the television talk shows and so forth, magazine articles.

Living your best life now. Think about that. That is only possible to live your best life now. It's only possible for a person who is going to hell. If that is a person’s ultimate destiny, then it is their best life now. It will never be better. "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die" would have to be the philosophy if that is the case.

But if you are a Christian, if you are headed for an eternal future in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, how can you possibly live your best life now? Your best life is ahead of you. Everything that you enjoy in life at its best here and now is only an anticipation. It’s only a taster. It’s only a sample of the joys that are to come for the people of God in the presence of Jesus.

Think of it this way. When a couple are planning a wedding reception, they go for a tasting and they taste the meal that is to be served on the great day. But the tasting is only a little sample. It’s not the meal. It is a preparation, part of the preparation for the great event toward which the bride and the groom are moving, counting the days in eager anticipation.

And that spirit of anticipating what is yet to come, what Jesus Christ has prepared for those who love him, runs all the way through the vibrant faith of the New Testament. We’ve been seeing in this little series that there is a good, better, best pattern to the Christian life.

To be in Christ, which is our position by faith as Christian believers now in this world, that is good. I mean, even when life in this world is at its toughest, when you’re in Christ, you are blessed with every spiritual blessing in him.

But to be with Christ, that is better. In fact, the scripture says it is better by far. Philippians chapter 1 and verse 23. But then we saw that even for those who are present with the Lord Jesus right now, for believers who have died and their souls are present with Jesus, the best is yet to be. They still await the resurrection body, the new heaven and the new earth that we’re going to look at together from the Bible today. For these things come after the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed in power and in glory.

So I invite you then to turn in your Bible, if you would, to Revelation chapter 21 where we read about the new heaven and the new earth. Throughout this marvelous book at the end of the Bible, John has seen much about the joy of believers in heaven and he has seen much about the ongoing conflict of believers on earth with the great forces of evil.

And the story continues right up to the final triumph of the Lord Jesus and then to his righteous judgment on the wicked, which is at the end of chapter 20. And then John says, "I saw a new heaven and a new earth."

Now, the scriptures encourage us to set our minds on things above where Jesus Christ is seated, that we are to think about heavenly things, about our life in Jesus Christ and indeed our life as it will be with the Lord Jesus Christ.

And I want to give you today a very simple grid for doing this, for meditating, reflecting, thinking on the life that is to come. Four strategies. And it’s very simple. You’ll be able to remember this and to use it. Here they are. Add, subtract, divide, multiply.

Those are the four things you want to do, four strategies for thinking about the life which is to come. Very simple, right? Add, subtract, divide, multiply. That’s where we’re headed today. I hope you have your Bible open. First is add. Verse 1: "I saw a new heaven and a new earth."

Now, I’m using the word add here to communicate continuity. Life in the new heaven and the new earth will not be other than the life that we have here. It will be more than the life we have here, hence the word add, but it will not be other.

You will have this life in the new heaven and the new earth. It will be your soul that will be made perfect. It will be your body that is resurrected from the dead as the body of Jesus Christ was raised from the dead in the power of an endless life. So forget floating on clouds. You will have a flesh and bones resurrection body.

That’s how Jesus described his resurrection body in Luke’s Gospel chapter 24 and verse 39. And you will live this new life in the new heaven on earth. The new heaven, new earth. Now, this word new can be used in two different ways, and it’s important to understand the way in which it’s being used here.

You can use the word new, for example, in this way. You may say, "We’re going to move to a new house." You say, "We’ve been through too many Chicago winters. We’re going to move to a new house in Florida or move to a new house in Arizona" or whatever it is.

And if you were to do that, there is no continuity between the two houses. They are different houses, different places, different locations. And the only connection between the two is that you happen to have lived in both of them at different times, and presumably you take some of your stuff with you when you actually move. But that’s one way of using the word new. New in the sense of different.

But there’s another way in which you can use the word new. Think of this. Suppose you decide to renovate your house, your house. It’s an old house, and it needs everything doing to it. But the old house is in a great position. It was built on a secure foundation, and you know in your heart that although it needs everything done to it, it could actually become something very special.

So you get to work and you have the plumbing renewed and you get new electric and you tear down some wall that the last owner in a moment of madness had put in and it’s been frustrating to you. You say that wall should never be there, and so forth. You do a total rehab of your house.

And when it is done, you say, "Well, now everything is new." Well, you see, that is exactly what God says here in verse 5. He who is seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new."

Not all things different. Not like scrap the world and just start again and make another world. But take the one that I have made and the one that I have pronounced good that needs all kinds of things done and make it as I always intended that it should be. I am making all things new.

And the confirmation that that is how we are to understand this great work of God comes from Romans chapter 8 where it is very clear that God renews or renovates this planet. It is a new earth. This is earth.

And Romans chapter 8 and verse 21 states this quite plainly: "The creation itself," that’s this creation, this planet in which we live, "it will be set free from its bondage to corruption and it will obtain the glorious freedom of the children of God."

Guest (Male): You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called "How Much Will I Enjoy Heaven?", part of a larger series simply entitled "Heaven". And if you ever miss a broadcast in the series, you can always listen online. Come to openthebible.org and there you can stream the program or download an MP3 for free.

You can also listen if you have the Open the Bible app. That’s free. You’ll find it at your app store. It’s a great way to listen to Pastor Colin’s teaching on demand whenever it fits your schedule. Or again, come and listen online at openthebible.org. Back to the message. Here’s Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: So here’s the story of the world in which we live in a nutshell. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And what God made was good. But sin brought a curse, not only into the human race, but also a curse onto the ground itself.

So that we live with the effects of sin in this fallen world, and the effects of sin show up in human nature as hatred and violence and murder and war and extortion and all kinds of evils. And the effects of sin also show up in the planet in tornadoes and earthquakes and landslides and floods and droughts and even aggression in the animal kingdom.

But here is the great promise of God again in a nutshell. That when God has removed all the effects of sin from his people, then he will remove all the effects of sin from the planet so that the new earth, that is the earth as we know it renovated fully and completely, will become a place fit for God’s children to share a life of unclouded joy in a resurrection body forever and forever. That is a glorious prospect.

So think about the joys of life even as they are experienced by unredeemed people in this fallen world. And thinking about the joys of life as we have them now will help you to project what the added joys are going to be in the life that is to come in the renovated, the new earth.

Think of the joys of music and the joys of sport and all the joys of art and all the joys of science and technology and travel and food and friendship. All the joy that that is even to unredeemed people even in this fallen world.

And what will it be for all of these things created good by Almighty God when the planet is renovated and we in our very nature in our bodies are completely renovated? None will be less. None of this will be less in heaven. Everything will be more. Add is the word that you must think of when you think of the new heaven and the new earth. Not something wholly other, but something that is infinitely more, wonderfully more. And therefore every joy of this life should sweeten and hasten our anticipation of the greater joys that are to come.

I think the moment that this really settled in my own mind more clearly than it had before was when I was having lunch up at Trinity with Dr. Willem VanGemeren, who for many years served as a very distinguished professor of Old Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

And I’d gone to talk to him about the book of Isaiah, about which he knows a very great deal. And we were talking about Isaiah 65 where Isaiah the prophet speaks about the new heaven and the new earth. And I will never forget what Willem said.

"You know," he said, "when I am enjoying the new earth, I think one of the things that I would enjoy doing in the resurrection body is to climb Mount Everest. Because that is something I would have neither the capacity nor the opportunity to do right now."

Now, you see what he’s thinking. We’re talking about this planet. Now, it’s going to go through the fire of God’s judgment. 2 Peter chapter 3: "The earth melt with fervent heat." It's going to be wonderfully renewed and replenished. But the topography remains. And the resurrection body isn’t some kind of phantom body.

Jesus says, "Flesh and bone." Luke chapter 24 and verse 39. The new heaven, the new earth. Real life. Someone came up to me after the service last night and said, "You know what? Thinking about this, I’ve realized I don’t have to worry about my bucket list."

I thought that was a great line. Because the things that I do not get the chance to do in this world—and there are things that we don’t get the chance to do in this world—I will have the opportunity to do in a renewed earth with a resurrection body.

Friends, as we think about what scripture makes real to us and reveals to us, it will wonderfully, wonderfully hasten and sweeten our thinking about that which is yet to come. Now notice that John sees not only new earth, but also new heavens. Why new heavens?

Listen to this very good and helpful comment from John MacArthur. He says, "God will remake the heavens and the earth, merging his heaven with this earth in a perfect dwelling place that will be our home forever."

"In other words," he says, "heaven, the realm where God dwells, will expand and it will encompass the entire universe of creation, which will be refashioned anew in a manner fit for the glory of heaven."

Now, here heaven is the place where God’s immediate presence is known and his glory seen. And this swallows up and consumes this wonderfully renewed planet Earth so that as the prophet puts it, the earth will be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea. Heaven touching earth, encircling earth.

That’s why it says so beautifully here that the presence of God will be with his people. He will dwell with them. Heaven and earth being brought together, the renewed earth being the home not only of God’s people but of the Almighty immediately present himself.

So by the way, it is therefore entirely legitimate to speak of heaven when we are referring to the new heaven and the new earth because heaven will fill the new earth. The earth will be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.

So add. Add. Don't think other, think more, and you will be greatly helped in regards to thinking about the joys to come.

Second: subtract. I’m looking at verse 4. And look at what is taken away. "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."

Now, you see why I’m using the word here subtract. He’s describing that which is gone, that which is no more, that which we will no longer experience in the new heaven and the new earth. What will be taken away? Well, there will be no more death. In the new heaven and the new earth, no one will ever die. There will be no one growing old, there will be no one sick, there will be no one ill, no need for hospitals or for emergency services. You will never attend a funeral in the new heaven and in the new earth.

And there will be no more pain. So think about this. I referred to Jesus’ words about his own resurrection body: "flesh and bones". But in the resurrection body, bones that never ache. Bones that never go brittle, bones that never break, bones that never lose their strength. No more crying.

And there are two reasons for this. The first, of course, is that in the presence of Jesus, there is nothing in your future life that could ever bring you sorrow, sadness, disappointment, or pain. Nothing will ever happen to you to all eternity that would ever cause you to cry. That will be entirely a past experience. So no tears ahead in the future as there always are in this world.

But also, what about tears from the past? What about regrets as we still know ourselves? How will God deal with all of that? And that, of course, is why we have verse 4: "God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." Just pause there just for a moment.

There are tears in this life and in this world that even the people who love you most cannot wipe away, even though they try. They may sympathize with you in some loss, they may come alongside you in your sorrow, but they cannot wipe away the tears from your eyes.

There are wounds that can be experienced in this world that even those who love you most and seek to come alongside and to bring healing within your life—they cannot quite get to the very bottom of it, so that some scar remains, some fragility remains within the personality. But think about this. God, God will do what even the person who loves you most cannot fully do in this life. He will wipe away every tear from your eyes.

Guest (Male): What a truth that is. In heaven, God will wipe every tear from our eyes. You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called "How Much Will I Enjoy Heaven?", part of a larger series simply entitled "Heaven".

And you can find out more about the series when you visit our website, openthebible.org. You can stream the program, you can download an MP3 for free, or you can order a copy of the entire series on CD. Ask about "Heaven" when you call 1-877-OPEN-365. That’s 1-877-673-6365. Or you’ll find ordering information online at openthebible.org.

Well, Open the Bible is a listener-supported ministry. We’re able to do what we do, bringing you Pastor Colin’s teaching each day, because of your generous financial support.

And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to send you three copies of our very first graphic novel. It’s inspired by Pastor Colin’s book "Heaven, How I Got Here: The Story of the Thief on the Cross". Plus we'll send you one copy of the original book. Colin, how does this graphic novel speak to young people today?

Colin Smith: Well, if you’re a young person and especially if you have grown up in church, you probably find yourself asking the question: "Am I living a good enough life? Am I living a life that’s really going to be pleasing to God?" And you maybe have in your mind the idea that pleasing God’s going to be a very, very hard thing to do.

And here’s the marvelous good news. You know, entrance into heaven and peace with God don’t depend on you living a good enough Christian life. It’s the gift of God’s marvelous grace, and that is made wonderfully clear in the story of the thief on the cross.

And this graphic novel tells that story in a way that’s clear, simple, and compelling. And it communicates the greatest good news ever: that God’s marvelous grace comes to us in Jesus Christ. He’s the one who gives us peace with God. He’s the one who opens the door of heaven.

There is hope for every person in Jesus Christ, and especially for the person who’s saying, "I haven’t lived a good enough life. I feel very, very far from God." That’s the message, and I hope that it is going to be very encouraging to every young person, to everyone who’s a visual learner, and to everyone who needs to understand God’s marvelous grace.

Guest (Male): Well, you can give your gift of support to Open the Bible by calling 1-877-OPEN-365 or going online to openthebible.org. Again, our phone number is 1-877-673-6365 and our website is openthebible.org. For Pastor Colin Smith, I’m Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening and I hope you’ll join us next time. This program is a listener-supported production of Open the Bible.

Colin Smith: Hi, this is Pastor Colin again and I want you to know about "Watch Your Doctrine". "Watch Your Doctrine" is a six-session course that is geared for leaders but accessible for every believer. The six sessions will introduce you to six central truths of the Christian faith: how we know God, how God speaks to us, how sin affects us, how God’s Spirit brings new life, how we’re made right with God, and what Jesus accomplished on the cross.

There are questions at the end of each session, and you can use them on your own or you can discuss them with a friend. For more information or to begin this free online course, visit openthebible.org/courses. That’s openthebible.org/courses.