Will We Know One Another in Heaven?

Had a question this week about this topic, so here is a lesson on this subject. Hayward

 

A lot of discussions and probably a lot of misinformation have been going on for a long time about this topic.  And it is still going on today.  But we should have a good feeling on this subject.  

 

A great preacher of the South, must have felt this way when he said: “I believe in recognition in Heaven as surely as I believe there is a God. If consciousness, character, love, memory, fellowship, are in that life, why should there be any question about it? May God help me for your sakes to take the doctrine of Heavenly Recognition out of the area of surmise and speculation into the region of absolute certainty?”

 

The belief in recognition and reunion in the afterlife is a universal one. It prevailed among very educated philosophers and poets of old, among uneducated pagans, and it is voiced by the peoples of the world in our own day. The universal, instinctive belief is that we shall know each other in the future life. Someone has expressed the yearning of his heart in the following verse:

 

When the holy angels meet us
As we join their happy band,
We shall know the friends that greet us
In that glorious spirit-land.
We shall see the same eyes shining
On us as in days of yore.
We shall feel the dear arms twining
Fondly, round us as before.

Heavenly Recognition in the Old Testament

 

An encouraging theme repeated in the Old Testament supports the concept of Heavenly Recognition:

“Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people. His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre,” (Genesis 25:8).

 

When Abraham died, he was buried in a cave in the land of he had travelled to after to leaving his birth place at the request of God. He purchased the field to be certain he had a burying place at his death, but it was not the in the land of his ancestors. Therefore,  this Scripture does not mean that his body was gathered/taken to the place of his ancestors for burial  that he had left many years before.  We notice also that Abraham was gathered to his people before his body was buried.

 

“Ishmael lived a hundred and thirty-seven years. He breathed his last and died, and he was gathered to his people.” (Genesis 25:17).

 

 ^“Then he (Isaac) breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people…….. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.” (Genesis 35:29).

 

“When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people.” (Genesis 49:33).

 

“Aaron will be gathered to his people. He will not enter the land I give the Israelites, because both of you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah.” (Numbers 20:24).

 

^“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go up this mountain in the Abarim Range and see the land I have given the Israelites.  After you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was,…” (Numbers 27:12, 13).

 

We can see here that the scriptures say the same about Aaron’s’ death as it did about  Abraham’s.

The same is true also of Moses.  Scripture says both were gathered to their people.  And later in Deuteronomy  we see Moses was buried “….  in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is.” (Deuteronomy34:6). As we study the lives of other Old Testament characters where scriptures say they were “gathered” to their people, we will find that it meant more than merely being buried with them. They were gathered to their loved ones in the home of departed spirits with not one moment of loneliness between their memories on earth and their joining them in Heaven. A blessed recognition! A hallowed reunion!

 

The attitude of David at the death of his child shows that Israel’s King believed in Heavenly Recognition. He had fasted and wept in the hope that God would be gracious to him and allow the child to live. But when final word was received that he was dead, David ate food, wiped the tears away from his eyes, and found comfort in a hope that he expressed in these words: “But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.” (2 Samuel 12:23). Would there be any comfort for David if he had to go to his child whom he would not know?

 

Here we need to note the writer here says that he does not believe there will be infants in Heaven as such. All bodies in Heaven will be perfect. There will be no old age or infancy in the home of the blessed. In an earlier writing the author of this lesson said that no infant who dies will be lost and sent to Hell. However, he goes on to say, they will not appear in their resurrected bodies as infants, for infancy is an immature stage and an imperfect state of existence. Adam and Eve were not infants when made, but adults. What a tragedy if weak and helpless infants were to be doomed to an eternal state of weakness and infirmity! We encounter no problem here in a parent recognizing its child in Heaven. When we think of Christian mothers who have died giving birth to a child, and the child growing to full maturity and becoming a Christian, we still believe that the mother shall recognize her son or daughter even though her last view of the child was in its infancy.

 

Heavenly Recognition in the New Testament

 

The scene on the Mount of Transfiguration is generally accepted as strong evidence of Heavenly Recognition. After death the spirit is “clothed” with a spirit body that is recognizable. This fact was in evidence when Jesus took Peter, James, and John up into the Holy Mount known as the mountain of transfiguration. “There he (Jesus) was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.  Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.   (Matthew 17:2-3). These two Old Testament saints did not appear as angels or ghosts, but, Luke says: “Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus.” (Luke 9:30). Not only were Moses and Elijah recognizable by our Lord, but they were also recognized by the apostles. Peter certainly knew them, for he said: “…… Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (Matthew 17:4) When we recall how the disciples with earthly, limited vision could recognize the two saints from Heaven, certainly when we arrive there in our glorified bodies and with heavenly vision, we will be able to recognize people we associated with on earth.

 

In Luke Jesus tells of a rich man and a poor beggar. “….the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side.  The rich man also died and was buried.  (Luke 16:22) The rich man went to Hell, “….  he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.” (Luke 16:23). Here is a case that proves both recognition and remembrance in the future life. If, in the eternal residence of the lost with its limitations of spiritual wisdom and perception, there is feeling for and recognition of loved ones, how much greater will be the perception and knowledge of our loved ones in the eternal Home of Believers where awareness is not limited!

 

Heaven is revealed as a social place, where enjoyment and fellowship are explained as the example of a feast. Jesus said: “I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 8:11). So if Jesus said this about these great patriarchs knowing each other at this holy feast, then so will the saved from all ends of the earth.

 

The Apostle Paul believed and taught that Heaven was a place of mutual recognition for the children of God. Paul wrote: “After all, what gives us hope and joy, and what will be our proud reward and crown as we stand before our Lord Jesus when he returns? It is you!  Yes, you are our pride and joy.” (1 Thessalonians 2:19, 20). There is no mistaking what Paul had in mind. He fully expected to meet the converts from Thessalonica in Heaven, and furthermore, he looked forward to being able to distinguish them from others who had found Christ during the years of his ministry. By the Holy Spirit, Paul taught also that those who were saved under his teaching and preaching would know him. He says, “even if you don’t understand us now. Then on the day when the Lord Jesus returns, you will be proud of us in the same way we are proud of you.” (2 Corinthians 1:14).  Heaven is our home, and all who go there are one family with God as their Father. How sad if we had to live throughout eternity as strangers! It would not be home.

Paul also writes, “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.” (1 Corinthians 13:12). Today our knowledge is confined to what God has given us in His Bible, and how we do praise Him for that marvelous revelation in His Word! In Revelation 22:3-4, we read “his servants will worship him. And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads. they will see His face, …..” This is very special scripture.  It is the culmination of the revelation of God. 

 

To “see the face of God” will be an incredible moment and experience, and it is not unreasonable to suggest that this is more than what man has experienced in the past. It is first important to understand the context of Revelation 22:4.  This experience will take place in the New Heaven and New Earth.  This means that the verse is for believers, and that the believers will be in their resurrected bodies.  So we will all be “different”.  Paul calls this “the change”.  ^“What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever.   But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed.  For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.  (1 Corinthians 15:50-58). 

 

But, as the following verse from the old hymn “Face to face with Christ, my Savior”, syas, what we will be really excited about is seeing our Jesus “face to face”

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Face to face! O blissful moment!
Face to face--to see and know;
Face to face with my Redeemer
Jesus Christ Who loves me so.