May 20, 2020 – Click here to listen
Will we know each other in heaven? Many people are anxiously awaiting the chance when they die to be reunited with those who died and went before them. C.S. Lewis wrote the following after the death of his wife:
I know that the thing I want is exactly the thing I can never get. The old life, the jokes, the drinks, the arguments, the lovemaking, the tiny, heartbreaking commonplace. On any view whatever, to say, ‘H. is dead,’ is to say, ‘All that is gone.’ It is a part of the past. And the past is the past and that is what time means, and time itself is one more name for death, and Heaven itself is a state where ‘the former things have passed away.’
Talk to me about the truth of religion and I’ll listen gladly. Talk to me about the duty of religion and I’ll listen submissively. But don’t come talking to me about the consolations of religion or I shall suspect that you don’t understand.
Unless, of course, you can literally believe all that stuff about family reunions ‘on the further shore,’ pictured in entirely earthly terms. But that is all unscriptural, all out of bad hymns and lithographs. There’s not a word of it in the Bible. And it rings false. We know it couldn’t be like that. Reality never repeats. The exact same thing is never taken away and given back. How well the spiritualists bait their hook! ‘Things on this side are not so different after all.’ There are cigars in Heaven. For that is what we should all like. The happy past restored.
And that, just that, is what I cry out for, with mad, midnight endearments and entreaties spoken into the empty air.
C.S. Lewis was a genius and knew the Bible well. He is not saying we won’t know people in heaven, rather that heaven will not resemble life on earth in any fashion. He seems to be lamenting that in this writing. He loved the happy times with his wife and realized that it was not going to be resurrected.
I believe we will most certainly know people and be able to rejoice with them in heaven and celebrate the glory that surrounds us. It isn’t just some far-fetched notion on my part rather it is logic based upon Scripture. It begins with Jesus who was born both a man and God. We will surely recognize Him, and the Bible declares that when we arrive in heaven, we will “be like Him; for we shall see him as he is”. Just as our earthly bodies were of the first man Adam, so will our resurrection bodies be just like Christ’s, “And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven. Many people recognized Jesus after His resurrection and if Jesus was recognizable in His glorified body, we also will be recognizable in our glorified bodies.
In eternity, there will be plenty of time to see, know, and spend time with our friends and family members. However, that will not be our primary focus in heaven. That will be reserved for worshipping God and enjoying the wonders of heaven. We will rejoice all the more because we can praise and worship the Lord in the company of other believers, especially those we loved on earth.
We are given numerous examples of this in the Bible in both the Old Testament and the New Testament such as when King Saul recognized Samuel when the witch of Endor summoned Samuel from the realm of the dead. When David’s infant son died, David declared, “I will go to him, but he will not return to me.” David assumed that he would be able to recognize his son in heaven, despite the fact that he died as a baby. (Something for abortion supporters to consider.) In Luke 16, Abraham, Lazarus, and the rich man were all recognizable after death. At the transfiguration, Moses and Elijah were recognizable. In these examples, the Bible does seem to indicate that we will be recognizable after death but that does not mean our life in heaven will resemble our life on this planet.
There will be no marriage and we will all be as angels but Being able to see our loved ones is a glorious aspect of heaven, but heaven is far more about God, and far less about us. What a pleasure it will be to be reunited with our loved ones and worship God with them for all eternity.
One final thought: Isaiah 65:17 says, “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.” Some interpret Isaiah 65:17 as saying that we will have no memory of our earthly lives in heaven. However, one verse earlier in Isaiah 65:16, the Bible says, “For the past troubles will be forgotten and hidden from my eyes.” It is likely only our “past troubles” will be forgotten, not all of our memories. Our memories will eventually be cleansed, redeemed, healed, and restored, not erased. There is no reason why we could not possess many memories from our earthly lives. The memories that will be cleansed and removed are the ones that involve sin, pain, and sadness.
The old order of things will have passed away and there will be no cigars in
heaven . . . I’m happy about that one . . .
Revelation 21:4
“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”