What makes heaven heaven?
Heaven is made heaven by God's personal presence with His people and by the removal of death, sorrow, crying, pain, and the curse. All former things pass away, and God wipes away every tear, making everything new. So the eternal state is characterized by unbroken fellowship with God rather than the sorrows of this fallen earth.
Les explains that in these verses the tabernacle of God is with men, and God Himself will dwell with them and be their God. God will not be far off, someone we take by faith, but present personally; in eternity each believer will know God as personally as they know their own parent, even among billions upon billions of inhabitants. Verse 4 says God shall wipe away all tears, and Les says this is what makes heaven heaven as we think of it: no more death, no more sorrow, no crying, no more pain, because all those former things are passed away. He ties it to the earth and the curse—all that the earth has been known for under the curse will be put away. Verse 5 says He makes all things new, even the heavens, so nothing tainted by satanic or human sin remains. The Lord Jesus, the Alpha and Omega, says, 'It is done.'
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.