WILL WE KNOW AND RECOGNIZE OUR LOVED ONES IN HEAVEN? 4-4-09
MATT. 22:23-30
It really would be a sad situation if we didn’t know our friends and loved ones in Heaven, all of us have loved ones that have passed and gone on to be with the Lord, and those of us that are saved are looking forward to being with them again when it comes our time to depart this life.
So what does the Bible have to say about this question? We can rest assured that we will know our friends and loved ones in Heaven according to the Word of God.
Listen as I read to you our beginning verses in MATT. 22: 23-30
Matt. 22: 23-30 The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him, 24Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.
25Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue,** left his wife unto his brother: 26Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh. ****
27And last of all the woman died also. 28Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.
29Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. 30For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.
The reason why there will be no marriage in heaven is: there is no need for it.
Marriage will end, but the deep relationships don’t, it’s the relationship that we have had with one another that continues, the marriage does not. There’s no need for it.
These Sadducees were talking about what Moses had said back in Deuteronomy 25:5, where marriage called for an unmarried brother to take his widowed brother’s wife to be his own in order that the deceased brother would have his family name still with the people. This ancient practice was recognized by the Jews but rarely followed in those days.
In heaven it will not be necessary to continue the race by means of birth. But this doesn’t mean that a husband and wife who were very close down here cannot be together in heaven, if they want to be together. As the old saying goes,” not all marriages are made in heaven” some marriages are abusive and in many instances become dangerous and end in divorce, so a situation such as this would not be the case in heaven, but to the people who truly love each other they’ll still have this loving relationship in heaven but without marriage, there will be no need for marriage in heaven,
Lets remember that all saved people will become the Bride of Christ as we’re told in Rev. 19:
To be “as the angel’s” means that resurrected believers will have a glorified non-mortal body (capable of neither reproduction nor destruction).
The Lord didn’t say that we’d become angels or that all earthly family relationships are lost in heaven. All resurrected (or raptured) believers will be in a state of perfect glorification and fellowship.
1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
Luke 24:39, Jesus said after His resurrection: ’It is I myself’, implying that they ought to recognize that He was the very Jesus that walked with them for three years.
Christ’s disciples recognized Him countless times after His resurrection: on the shore as He cooked breakfast for them in John 21: 7Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord.
When He appeared to a skeptical, doubting Thomas in John 20; 26-29And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
27Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. 28And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. 29Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed:
And then in 1 Corinthians 15: He appeared to over 500 disciples at one time. 1 cor.15:5-6 5And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: 6After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once;
1st JN. 3:2-- but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. So we will have glorified bodies that will be recognizable, like His.
Remember we’re talking about today; “will we recognize and know our friends and loved ones in heaven”.
In Matthew 17: we have the record of the Transfiguration of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus was transfigured in the presents of Peter, James and John on the Mount of Transfiguration, and we’re told there that Moses and Elijah appeared beside the Lord Jesus. Moses died centuries before this took place, and Elijah was translated to heaven without dying in his physical body.
Lets notice that both Moses and Elijah, although they were in glofied bodies, did not lose their physical human identity. And lets also realize that Peter, James and John had never in their lifetime had met are seen Moses or Elijah, and yet they recognized and knew who they were.
I’m sure that the same will be the case for all the saints when we get to heaven.
Jesus said in matt 8: 11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven .
And it stands to reason that if we’re going to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven we would have to be able to recognize them.
And so I can say without any doubt at all, that yes, we’ll recognize and know our loved ones in heaven.
The very first one that we’ll see and want to see is the Lord Jesus Christ; if it wasn’t for Him none of this could be possible.
Rev.4: 1-2 1After this*** I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. 2And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And of coarse that ONE will be the Lord Jesus Christ.
Just think of it, to get to talk to all the O.T. Prophets, and I believe that we’ll not have to be introduced to them either; I believe that we’ll know them on sight.
In Rev.2:13, we’re told about the Church of Pergamus, and we read there about a man named “ANTIPAS” who the Lord said was His faithful Martyr. Revelation 2:13--Antipas was my faithful ---------martyr—no where else in the Bible is this man mentioned, nothing is said about his life, we know nothing at all about ANTIPAS, but I believe we’ll know him on sight.
And another thing I want to point out about this man ANTIPAS is that the Lord Jesus had not forgotten about him, I’m sure he’ll have a great reward there in heaven.
I want to ask old Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego how they felt there that day when they were toss into the fiery burning furnace as the Lord appeared there with them that we read about in Dan. 3:16. I tell you dear heart we have a lot to look forward to.
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Have you ever considered all the aborted little babies of the world? Our country kills untold thousands of little innocent babies every year, I read from a Jewish news paper over the internet, that Israel aborts 50,000 little babies a year.
These little innocent babies goes right away to be with the Lord, I’m sure that a great number that makes up the Lords True Church is made up by these dear souls. These little innocent babies are filling up the True Church.
Have you ever considered how these aborted babies will appear in heaven?
Let me say that there will not be a nursery there in heaven to look after little aborted babies.
Let me read to us once again
John 3: 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
JESUS was in His glorified Body at about the age of 33 ½ years old, and when He returns to this earth in Zec.14: He will still look just exactly like He did when He ascended back to heaven in
Act. 1:9-12 9And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. 10And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;** 11Which also said, Ye men of Galilee,** why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
12Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet,**
So according these verse here in Acts 1:9-12, this SAME JESUS will return in like manner as He left. ---He left in His glorified Body.
So there’ll be no little infant babies there in a nursery that will have to be cared for until they grow up, all the saints, including them will have a glorified body as He had. They’ll not be still little babies.
Let me say right here just in case that there might be some dear lady that might be listening that may have had an abortion, if you’ll ask God to forgive you and receive Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, He will for give you, there is not any sin that the Blood of Jesus Christ can not wash away.
All of us have made foolish mistakes that we wish we had not made, and if we could call them back we would.
Paul said in Philippians 3:13-- forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before –
The psalmist said in Psalm 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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But lets get back to our subject today, ~will we know our loved ones when we get to heaven~
We have already read many passages that assure us that we will know not only our loved ones, but we’ll also know every body else there, I mean after all, are we not brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, we all have at this present time the same Heavenly Father, we have a Hugh Family.
I don’t have any earthly brothers, I do have one sister, but the Great Heavenly Family that we that are saved belong to is Hugh. Why do you think we use the term “brother so and so or sister so and so?”
And you know what, the biggest part of the Family has already departed and is now with the Lord, we that are still here are swiftly closing in on that final number, God the Father knows the very number that it will take to make up the Lords True Church, and we’re surely about there, after all the True Church was born on the day of Pentecost, over 2000 years ago, so it surely can’t be to for away.
Listen as I read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
13But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
To understand what these verses are telling us and them, we need to understand that the believers there in Thessalonica were concerned that their loved ones that had died since Paul had been away might be hopelessly dead and gone because the Lord didn’t return in their life time.
Paul had been telling the Church at Thessalonica about the rapture of the Church and then he left for a time to go about his missionary travels, Silas and Timothy brought the concerns to Paul from the Thessalonians to do with their departed loved ones, and Paul sent them this letter to comfort them. Now it wouldn’t be very comforting to the Thessalonians or to you and I, if we thought that we’d never see our loved ones again.
Paul is saying: ’No, it’s not the end, for when Christ comes the dead in Christ shall rise first, and then we that are alive and remain will be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air.’
What comfort would that truth be if these words didn’t mean that these troubled believers would not see & recognize their loved ones who had died in Christ? How would they know if they were OK if they are unrecognizable at the rapture of the True Church?
These words wouldn’t make any scène at all if we’d never see them again. The comfort of reunion makes no scents without mutual recognition!
Yes we will know and recognize our loved ones in heaven.
