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Recognition in Heaven
Open the
Bible Question Form to send your own question.
Q: Will we actually
recognize our friends and relations who have accepted
Christ and died before us on this earth. I am not sure of the
biblical
teaching on this point, I have asked several people and have
got differing
answers.
A:
The following are examples from the Bible showing the reasons I
believe we
will be able to recognize and be known of others after we die.
-
Ability to recognize people we’ve never met. In
Luke
9:28-33 Peter, James
and John are with the Lord when Moses and Elijah appear. From the
Apostles’
reaction they seem to have no trouble identifying them even though
they had
never met before. In another instance the rich man in
Luke
16:19-31 is able
to discern who Abraham is without previously meeting him. I would
also
venture to assume that those Jews who were in Jerusalem at the
time of
Christ’s resurrection had no trouble identifying the saints who
arose from
their graves also (Matthew 27:52-53).
Could you imagine a large group of
strangers just showing up and wandering around a Jewish city in
a Roman
controlled territory and no one being a little suspicious of them
if they
didn’t know who they were?
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The Bible’s promise of
comfort to the believer. In 1Thessalonians
4:13-18 Paul is consoling the Christians in regard to their
loved ones who
have died in the Lord. Verse 13 reads, “But, I would not have you
to be
ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow
not, as
others which have no hope.” We know that our
“blessed hope” (Titus 2:13) is
the Lord Jesus Christ but I believe the hope Paul is referring
to here also
is the hope of these believers being reunited with their saved
loved ones;
“Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together
with them in
the clouds…” (1Thessalonians 4:17).
So there for he can say in verse 18, “Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” In another
instance (2Samuel 12:23) we see David consoling
himself with the fact that he would be reunited with his deceased son. If we cannot recognize our
saved loved ones and friends from this life where would the comfort be in
that?
-
The make up of our
eternal souls. Since man is a triune being created
in the image of God (1Thessalonians
5:23, Genesis 1:26), he has
a spirit
(albeit a dead one until quickened by God’s Spirit), a soul and,
of course,
a body. The soul, I believe, is composed of your will, mind,
emotion,
personality, etc. I believe your soul also includes your memory.
In the
Bible there are several instances where after death the individual
still has
the capacity for the memories of their former life. In Luke
16:19-31,
Abraham admonishes the rich man in hell by reminding him of his
prosperity
on Earth. The rich man also remembers his brothers who are still
alive. He
also recognizes who Lazarus is from their previous life together.
In Revelation
6:9-10 the souls in Heaven
that were slain during the
tribulation
recall those that murdered them when they dwelt in the Earth.
From the
following it appears possible that others in hell will still
have their
memories along with the ability to recognize others from this
life (Ezekiel
32:17-31 and Isaiah 14:9-16).
-
The promise of our
glorified bodies. Paul writes in 1Corinthians
13:12,
“For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face:
now I know in
part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” “Face to
face” in the
Bible means to come together in person with nothing between (2John
12, 3John 13 , 14).
As stated above I believe that a person’s soul is the
“real
you” and is what differentiates us from one another. Just as
our fingerprints, DNA, personalities, etc., make people distinct and identifiable
in these present bodies, I feel our souls will have similar, distinguishable
traits. With this corrupt flesh and our fallen nature completely done away with I believe
that we will be able to know each other just like we do now but on a spiritual
plane. Again, Paul writes concerning these bodies in 2Corinthians
3:18,
“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are
changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the
Lord.” Note the phrase “open face” which once again implies that with these
bodies there will be nothing to cover, hinder or obstruct our person. As our Lord
was recognizable in his
glorified body I have no doubt that we too shall be recognizable.
In addition, with these new bodies we will have the capability to know and be
known as our Lord does and will have no trouble-recognizing saints from
the ages past. From my study along with these verses it seems to me that death in the
Bible does not mask the identity of believers.
Jeff Newman
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