The Bible talks about new heavens and new earth. It talks about the second coming of Jesus.

And when Jesus comes again, that is the time. We will receive our resurrection bodies. That is the time that we will be made new. That is the time when we will finally be at home. So there kind of is this home that we have at the moment when we are present in the body and away from the Lord. and then there we will be absent from the body and at home with the Lord in heaven,

but there is the ultimate home, and that is a restored body, a restored earth,

and all God's good creation being renewed and restored.

Welcome to the Crossway podcast, a show where we sit down with authors each week for thoughtful interviews about the Bible, theology, church history, and the Christian life.

I'm Matt Tully, and today I'm talking with Ian Smith.

Ian is the principal of Christ College, Sydney, where he also teaches Greek and New Testament.

He's also served in parish ministry and as a missionary in the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu.

He speaks regularly at churches and conferences around the world and is the author of a number

of books including Not Home Yet, How the Renewal of the Earth Fits into God's Plan for the World,

from Crossway.

Today, Ian and I discuss what the new heavens and new earth will be like when Jesus returns.

We talk about the popularity of heaven tourism books

and what that can tell us about common assumptions about life after death.

What the Bible says about our resurrected bodies

and what will actually be doing in the new earth for all of eternity.

Let's get started.

Ian, thank you so much for joining us on the Crossway podcast today.

Thanks, Matt. It's great to be here.

So a few years back, there was this, I think you might call it, a wave of heaven tourism books,

books about people saying they had been to heaven and had come back and kind of writing

about their experiences in heaven, what they saw, the people they talked to.

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