FAQ's Sermon Series: How Do We Interpret the Bible, such as the Creation Story?

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
How Do We Interpret the Bible; such as the Creation Story?
Psalm 104: 1-24, 27-30; Psalm 8: 4-6; 2 Timothy 3: 14-17
by Rev. Carson Overstreet
Van Wyck Presbyterian Church
July 29, 2018

Bless the Lord, O my soul.
O Lord my God, you are very great.
You are clothed with honour and majesty,
wrapped in light as with a garment.
You stretch out the heavens like a tent,
you set the beams of your chambers on the waters,
you make the clouds your chariot,
you ride on the wings of the wind,
you make the winds your messengers,
fire and flame your ministers.


You set the earth on its foundations,
so that it shall never be shaken.
You cover it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
At your rebuke they flee;
at the sound of your thunder they take to flight.
They rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys
to the place that you appointed for them.
You set a boundary that they may not pass,
so that they might not again cover the earth.


You make springs gush forth in the valleys;
they flow between the hills,
giving drink to every wild animal;
the wild asses quench their thirst.
By the streams the birds of the air have their habitation;
they sing among the branches.
From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.


You cause the grass to grow for the cattle,
and plants for people to use,
to bring forth food from the earth,
and wine to gladden the human heart,
oil to make the face shine,
and bread to strengthen the human heart.
The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
In them the birds build their nests;
the stork has its home in the fir trees.
The high mountains are for the wild goats;
the rocks are a refuge for the coneys.
You have made the moon to mark the seasons;
the sun knows its time for setting.
You make darkness, and it is night,
when all the animals of the forest come creeping out.
The young lions roar for their prey,
seeking their food from God.
When the sun rises, they withdraw
and lie down in their dens.
People go out to their work
and to their labor until the evening.


O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures. - Psalm 104: 1-24

what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?

Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands. - Psalm 8: 4-6

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work. - 2 Timothy 3: 14-17

The B-I-B-L-E / Yes that’s the book for me /
I stand alone on the Word of God/ the B-I-B-L-E

You know the song, but how would you describe the way you stand alone on the Word of God?

Thomas Jefferson did so in a unique way. Like many of the founding fathers, Jefferson subscribed to deism – the belief that after God created the world, God no longer actively related to it. Deist thinkers liken God to an all-knowing clock maker who made the world like a perfect clock; God set it into motion and it needs no help from its maker [2].

A highly educated man of the 1800’s, Jefferson was drawn to science, reason, and theology. Jefferson read the Bible in Greek, Latin, French, and King James’ English, but took issue with parts of it. Most of us wrestle with the Bible too.

But Jefferson had a distrust of the gospel writers, “whom he considered to be untrustworthy correspondents” [1]. As a result, Jefferson created his own Bible. He took the likes of an X-Acto knife and cut out pages of the New Testament to reflect his personal interpretation of Christ’s philosophy and teachings.

It is surprising to note that the Jeffersonian Bible “[omitted] anything that Jefferson perceived as “contrary to reason;” including Jesus’ miracles and even the accounts of Jesus’ resurrection.”[1]

To say we stand alone on the Word of God leads us to our next question from the pew today: How do we interpret the Bible, such as the Creation story? For example, is the earth young or old?

There is a sea that divides us when we read the Bible from the time in which it was written and our time today. The reading of Scripture in the fourth century was greatly influenced by Saint Augustine who said, “We turn to the faith within only to accede beyond, to God.” [3]

Thomas Jefferson lived in the time when the social tides of authority significantly shifted. Rene’ Descartes (pronounced ‘day-cart’) was a 17th century French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician. He brought about this shift known as the Enlightenment, marking modernity as we know it. Descartes completely shifted the world’s thinking.

Dr. George Stroup (Theology Professor of Columbia Theological Seminary) describes this modern thought as, “Clear and distinct ideas are [now] the criterion for discerning truth…The center of reality is now thinking, reasoning, and self, and not God.” [4]

You and I are children of the Enlightenment. We are driven to interpret and prove or disprove ideas based on empirical facts and logic. As a result, science and faith have since been perceived as rival teams that threaten one another, especially when it comes to understanding the Creation story.

Some read the Genesis account of Creation literally (Genesis 1). This interpretation of Scripture holds that God created in a twenty-four hour – six day period. This shapes a reading of the world as a young earth. For some that brings clarity and understanding. For others it brings more questions.

The truth is that regarding Creation, science and faith are asking two different questions. Science asks how Creation happened. Faith asks why God created the heavens and earth and you and me?

And yet the big question remains hanging out there: How do we interpret the Bible? How do we render a faithful understanding of God’s Word?

I would be remiss if I did not share a disclaimer to you. To answer this question faithfully through much prayer and study, the answer is not a denominational answer. Rather our faith seeks understanding through the Reformed tradition, which goes back to the 16th century.

Its voice is a collective one for millions of Christians across the world. Its foundation is the authority of Scripture because the Bible always points to God’s authority in all things. This tradition urges our faith to seek understanding by asking questions of the living Word of God. The Holy Spirit leads us to articulate what we believe in every time and place for God is on the move to do a new thing through the Word of Jesus Christ. We do this by prayerful study of the Scripture as we are guided by the confessions. This is the task of the Reformed tradition.

We faithfully interpret Scripture when we stand under the Bible’s authority. “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3: 16-17).

The Bible holds such powerful authority for our lives because it points to God’s authority. “The authority of God’s Word does not depend on the testimony of the church or any human, but solely rests upon God (Westminster Confession of Faith 6.004).” Scripture points to God’s authority as our Creator, the Maker of heaven and earth, our refuge, rock, shepherd, judge, and redeemer.

As our faith seeks to understand the Bible we must remember Scripture is not a text book of religion or science. If we engage the Bible to find scientific answers (such as the age of the earth) or to validate its historical accuracy, then we will be sorely disappointed. This is not the purpose of Scripture.

The biblical focus of the Creation stories (Genesis 1-2 holds two Creation accounts) is not solely about the creation. The biblical focus is about the Creator.

A beloved mentor, professor, and the ninth President of Columbia Theological Seminary – Steve Hayner once preached, “The Bible is largely a narrative of God’s people who are trying to figure out their lives in relation to God.”

Therefore, we must read the whole of Scripture and not stand alone on parts of God’s Word. So, let us hold our texts today alongside the first two chapters of Genesis.

God did not create, set us in motion and turn us loose. Rather God’s wisdom has made all of creation, creatures, and humanity to live in relationship with God and one another (Psalm 104:24). The heavens and earth, the springs, the grass, the trees, the birds, the mountains, the lions, and we ourselves all share a God-given manifold intimacy that the Psalmist poetically describes (Psalm 104: 1-24). Oh, that we would be captivated by our Maker to praise God and enjoy the Lord forever because the Lord delights in us (Genesis 1, Psalm 8, Psalm 104, 2 Timothy 3: 16).

Approaching the Bible faithfully means we should not be satisfied with just the plain reading of Scripture. The Bible was first passed down through the oral tradition and was later written. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, the New Testament was written in Greek, and both have been prayerfully translated into every language to witness to God’s life-giving hope.

Did you know that of all the world’s religions the Bible is the only sacred book that is translated in various languages?

The Bible holds writings of different literary genres: narratives (traditions and cultural memories), history (not facts but deep truths), prophecy (interpreting the future through the past), poetry, wisdom, gospels, parables, and letters. These genres resist literal interpretation. They reveal truths of how we are to live into God’s purposes, and they invite us to join God in fulfilling them by way of Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit.

It matters that God’s Word was written in a particular time, in a particular context, and in a particular language that is not always clear to understand. Therefore, we honor the Bible’s authority by studying its historical and literary context in order to comprehend it in our time and context today.

The Jewish tradition attributes Genesis and the next four books of the Bible to Moses. However, biblical scholars hold that the Creation accounts in Genesis were actually written when God’s people were held captive in Babylon (586 B.C.E. – 516 B.C.E.).

The Babylonian culture understood their origins from the mythical god Marduk. In the beginning chaos was stirred up like a choppy ocean from the goddess Tiamat. Marduk and Tiamat engaged in an epic struggle. Marduk subdued the chaos by killing Tiamat. Marduk cut her body in two, making two domes, and then brought forth the created order. Then Marduk claimed his position as the almighty god [5].

God’s people of Israel did not hold this to be their truth. Instead the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the Lord alone. When you look toward heaven and count the stars, remember you are descendants of Abraham (Genesis 15:5). The breadth of God swept over the watery chaos and brought the order of creation; the assurance that God would bring God’s people order in the chaos of exile. (Genesis 1:1-2; Jeremiah 29: 4-13; Ezekiel 37: 1-14). God created all things between heaven and earth and called each one good; the assurance of God’s steadfast love and promise to bring forth a future with hope (Psalm 104, Jeremiah 29:11).

Does learning the historical context of Genesis invalidate the authenticity of the Bible? As the Apostle Paul says, “By no means!” The context reveals that Creation is more than a one-time event. It is a theological claim about identity; the identity of God and God’s people.

When life seems like an endless void – you might say a ‘hot mess’ – well that is when God does his best work. Nothing is impossible for God.

If God told the chaos of the sea, “You will only come this far,” then God will tame the chaos around and within you too.

If God has a vision for creating everything with goodness and great detail one day at a time, then God is trustworthy to care for every detail of your daily living too.

If God connects every living thing with purpose, then God surely has blessed your life with a purpose to bless others.

Remember that God brought forth new life from a formless void – nothingness (Genesis 1:1). God made the valley of dead bones live again (Ezekiel 37). God resurrected our Savior who suffered and died.

And if God has done all that, then God will surely raise up new life within you and me and this weary world. God will do it today and every day until we are united in heaven.

That’s how our Reformed tradition stands alone on the Word of God.

My dear friend The Rev. Dr. Steve Hayner once said, “The Bible is there so that by its proper use, the Creator may be glorified, and the creation may be healed.”

May you and I strive to be faithful students of the B-I-B-L-E. It is God’s gift to us and our responsibility to be faithful to it.

As a dear colleague of mine says - It’s all that easy and it’s all that hard.

In the name of God our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Amen.

Sources Referenced:

[1] Owen Edwards, “How Thomas Jefferson Created His Own Bible,” Smithsonian Magazine, January 2012
[2] Daniel Migliore, “Faith Seeking Understanding: An Introduction to Christian Theology” (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co, 2004), p. 407.
[3] George Stroup, “Before God” (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2004), p. 32.
[4] George Stroup, p. 32.
[5] Michael D. Coogan, "The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures" (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), p. 5-6

FAQ's Sermon Series: What If Prayers Never Seem to Have an Answer?

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
What If Prayers Never Seem to Have an Answer?
Psalm 42: 6-11; Isaiah 55: 6-11
by Rev. Carson Overstreet
Van Wyck Presbyterian Church
July 22, 2018

My soul is cast down within me;
therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep
at the thunder of your cataracts;
all your waves and your billows
have gone over me.
By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
and at night his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.

I say to God, my rock,
‘Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I walk about mournfully
because the enemy oppresses me?’
As with a deadly wound in my body,
my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me continually,
‘Where is your God?’

Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God. - Psalm 42: 6-11

Seek the Lord while he may be found,
call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake their way,
and the unrighteous their thoughts;
let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.


For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and succeed in the thing for which I sent it. - Isaiah 55: 6-11

Do you think you could do God’s job?

Bruce Almighty did. Bruce, who was played by Jim Carrey, was a constant complainer of what God did not do. So, God, played by Morgan Freeman, taught Bruce a lesson. God gave Bruce almighty powers to learn firsthand that only God can be God.

First on the agenda was for Bruce to answer prayers. Voices uttered from across the world flooded Bruce's mind; they came in all at once, non-stop. Overwhelmed by the overlapping voices, Bruce decided to organize all the prayers to shut off all the voices.

And suddenly “YAHWEH Insta-Prayer” was formed. The computer screen said, “Welcome to the super-revelation highway. We bless, no mess…downloading prayers now.” Bruce took a seat, smiled, and then fell asleep because the downloading took so long. When he woke up, over 1 million prayer requests in his inbox.

At lightning speed, he made a huge dent in answering all those emails! And then – just like that - another 3 million requests popped up. Well, Bruce stood up, raised his hands in defeat, and said, “What a bunch of whiners! This is gonna suck up my whole life!”

This scene always cracks me up. And yet in a lighthearted way it begs another question from the pews today: “What if prayers never seem to have an answer?” Did God hear my prayer?

There are a number of Scriptures that assure us that God does indeed hear our prayers:

I call upon you; for you will answer me, O God (Psalm 17:6).
When you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you (Jeremiah 29:12).
..They will call on My name, And I will answer them; I will say, 'They are My people,' And they will say, 'The LORD is my God (Zechariah 13:9).

Even Jesus said, If you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you (John 16:23b).

When we have prayed, and prayed, and prayed and there is no answer it is not well with our soul. The Psalmist named our human experience saying, “Why have you forgotten me, Lord?” We hear that naysayer voice rise up saying, “Where is your God?” (Psalm 42:9-10).

What if some prayers never seem to have an answer?

Sometimes prayers do not have an answer because we are asking with the wrong motivation. When Saul was King, Samuel the court prophet spoke to Saul as God’s mouthpiece. Upon Samuel’s death, Saul did not know what to do. You see, Saul was not obedient to God and Samuel had already called Saul out on it (1 Samuel 15:10-29). Saul knew he was standing on sinking sand. Now the Philistines were encroaching and Saul was very afraid.

Saul prayed to God for direction, but God did not listen. Being met with silence, Saul consulted a medium to get answers (1 Samuel 28: 3-20). Not only was consulting a medium prohibited against Jewish law. Saul was also seeking his own interest over and against the welfare of the people in which God had entrusted to Saul’s leadership.

The prophet Isaiah had the unpleasant task of holding a mirror up to Israel’s wrong motivations. The people of God would fast in prayer but never felt that God saw their piety. They asked what was the point of humbling themselves in prayer when God did not take notice? Isaiah had to bear the news that of course God noticed; God noticed that a ‘me-centered’ faith which serves one’s interest alone at the expense of others would not be heard on high (Isaiah 58:3-4).

I am not talking about praying for one's mother to be healed. I am talking about praying for one's self-interest when it oppresses others.

In these two instances, prayer was met with silence because the motivations were not godly. It is as if God is saying, “I love you too much to give you your way.” Having the wrong motivation can certainly block God’s grace. It is always right for us to question our motivations, even in prayer.

When it comes to prayer I look to the wisdom of Marjorie Thompson. She learned so much from her beloved friend Henri Nouwen. Marjorie Thompson says, “If you see no indication of God’s grace, ask God to reveal what is blocking it - a lack of humility or gratitude, lack of trust, a hidden sin, or even a need to forgive someone” so that the door may be opened when we knock.[1]

Sometimes prayers do not have an answer because they are not God’s will.

Jesus knew his hour had come. He went to Gethsemane deeply grieved and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want” (Matthew 26:36-39; Mark 14: 32-36).

It was not God’s will to allow Jesus to pass the cup of suffering, to pass the shame of the cross, and to pass the complete obedience required to humble himself to the point of death - even death on a cross. Instead God’s will was to work through Jesus Christ to bring about God’s purposes of salvation and new life through the resurrection for us.

The Apostle Paul prayed three times (if not more) for God to remove the thorn – whatever that thorn was. And God would not answer Paul’s prayer the way Paul wanted; it was not God’s will. The only answer Paul received was, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12: 7-9a).

Marjorie Thompson says, “If over time there is no positive response (perhaps praying several weeks or even months, depending on the nature of the situation you are praying for), ask God to reveal to you whether another prayer is more in accord with [God’s will]. If the substance of your prayer is not transformed and there is still no sign of the grace asked for, God’s answer may be no.” [2]

I will never understand why some prayers for healing or safety seem to be granted while others are not. When prayers are met with silence Scripture says that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and God’s ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8).

I can only trust that God embraces us in a love that will never let us go. I can only trust that God’s grace is sufficient when we hit rock bottom. I can only trust that God will give us the grace to accept the situations in life that are beyond our control. And I pray that God’s word shall not return empty; it shall accomplish God’s purposes even though we may never understand them (Isaiah 55:11).

Sometimes prayers do not have an answer because we have forgotten the importance of waiting.

A pastoral colleague in ministry shared with me this week, “We live in an instant culture. There is an app for practically everything we want to get in a moment’s notice. The rapid pace of technology is causing us to miss the waiting. And waiting is our lesson to learn” – and I will add this is our lesson to re-learn. My colleague added, “How does our faith grow if we always get it now?”

Our spiritual ancestors knew all about waiting. God’s people were enslaved in Egypt for 430 years. While many waited for God to deliver them, some were skeptical and even complacent. Moses told the people in all their grumbling about God’s timing to cross the Red Sea, “The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still AND THEN listen for God to say, ‘Go forward!’ (Exodus 14:14-15).

Waiting is a gift because we listen and look for God creating the opportunity for us to join God in working out God’s will. Sometimes we expect God to solve the world’s problems with his victorious right hand, but God doesn’t roll that way.

Israel followed God another 40 years on the longest hike of their lives to the promised land (Joshua 5:6). Another lesson of waiting. God revealed that waiting with hope means to remember past stories of God’s deliverance in order to claim the hope of God’s future activity (Joshua 5: 20-24).

Still later generations waited 70 years to be delivered from the Babylonian exile. Can you imagine waiting your WHOLE life for God to answer your prayers to break the chains? And the prophet Jeremiah encouraged the people saying, “My soul [like yours] has hit rock bottom, but this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: the steadfast love the Lord NEVER ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; GREAT IS YOUR FAITHFULNESS. The Lord is my portion therefore I will hope in him” (Lamentations 3:21-24).

We all have uttered prayers in which we wait and wait and wait and there never seems to be an answer in sight. God’s silence is deafening. And we wonder is God like Bruce Almighty with his hands thrown up in the air? Is someone else’s prayer more important than yours right now? We wonder where is God?

If God is Almighty then what Scripture says is trustworthy, “The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth” (Psalm 145:18).

You may not hear God’s voice, but Isaiah says, “Do not fear for God is with you”…“God goes before you and is your rear guard” (Isaiah 41:10; 52:12).

When God is silent, where are you and where am I? The Lord is no stranger to you. The Lord knows your going out and your coming in. You are loved beyond measure, so don’t be a stranger to the Lord.

The Spirit is encouraging you and me to show up every day in prayer. We show up and we wait for the Lord. God always honors our faithfulness even when it is broken and not perfect. There is a gift of grace in the waiting because the Lord cares for you and me, therefore cast your cares upon God.

The Apostle Paul once said we are to rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, and persevere in prayer (Romans 12:12).

We rejoice in hope because we trust that God will bless the broken road in God’s timing.

We are patient in suffering because we endure only by the grace of God’s power at work within us. And yes, some days the miracle is that we endured one more day with God by our side.

We persevere in prayer because our faith is set in the fixed direction of the cross of Jesus Christ.

Rev. Jane Vennard says, “If I depended on the answer I believe God should give to keep me faithful in prayer, I would have stopped praying a long time ago. But when I trust that God hears those prayers, I am able to keep praying.”[3]

Prayer is not about you and I changing God’s mind. It’s about God transforming ours.

May it be so for you and for me.

In the name of God our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Amen.

Sources Referenced:

[1] Marjorie Thompson, “Soul Feast” (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2005), p. 43.
[2] Thompson, p. 43.
[3] Jane Vennard “A Praying Congregation” (Herndon: The Alban Institute, 2005), p. 53.

FAQ's Sermon Series: Will We Know Each Other in Heaven?

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
From the Scriptures Will We Know Each Other in Heaven?
Genesis 1: 26-27; Revelation 7: 9-17
by Rev. Carson Overstreet
Van Wyck Presbyterian Church
July 15, 2018


Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’ So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. - Genesis 1: 26-27

After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying,
‘Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!’
And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, singing,
‘Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honor
and power and might
be to our God for ever and ever! Amen.’

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, ‘Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?’ I said to him, ‘Sir, you are the one that knows.’ Then he said to me, ‘These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
For this reason they are before the throne of God,
and worship him day and night within his temple,
and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them.
They will hunger no more, and thirst no more;
the sun will not strike them,
nor any scorching heat;
for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of the water of life,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’ - Revelation 7: 9-17


The gift and grit of faith is walking along the path of life with those who know us most; our Maker and our fellow sojourners. Jesus sets this path of faith apart to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, mind, soul, and strength and also to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:30-31).

This path is trod by the footsteps of God’s people –the saints past and present. We know this to be true because we are created to live in relationship with God and with one another (Genesis 1:26).

And yet when a loved one dies, we continue to walk this hallowed path right beside our beloved to her or his eternal home. Our beloved’s baptismal journey is complete in death. The community of faith lifts up her voice to proclaim the gospel story once again. We lift our voices to thank God for all that was good and kind and faithful in this beloved child of God.

After we celebrate this gift of life in song, prayer, and story, after God’s promise of resurrection is proclaimed, after we commend our sister or brother to God’s eternal rest, and after the hugs and casseroles start to embrace us we cannot help but ask the question:

Will be really see our loved one again? “From the Scriptures will we know each other in heaven?”

Shirley Guthrie helps us to frame the question about the future life that awaits. He says, “We must remember the clearest clue to what is going to happen in the future is what God has been doing in the past.”[1] So what does Scripture say?

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke tell a story of Jesus taking Peter, James and John to a mountain top. It is there the disciples see Jesus glorified by God’s love. They also recognize and see Moses and the prophet Elijah talking with Jesus. And the disciples were scared out of their tunics to see eternal things flash before their earthly eyes. And yet Jesus said, “Do not be afraid!” (Matthew 17: 1-7; Mark 9: 2-8; Luke 9: 28-36).

Luke’s Gospel tells a story of two men who were once acquainted in life had both died; a rich man and a poor man named Lazarus. In death, the rich man saw and recognized Lazarus, the one who had been longing for help on the street in his earthly life. In death, the rich man recognized and conversed with Abraham, attempting to make amends for his regrets of not helping Lazarus (Luke 16: 19-31).

Before Jesus was tried before Pilate, Matthew’s Gospel remembers the way Jesus forever unites us in God’s eternal love through the Last Supper; the bread of life and the and cup of salvation. For Jesus said to his disciples as they shared the foretaste of God’s eternal kingdom, “I tell you, I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it NEW with you in my Father’s kingdom (Matthew 26: 26-30).

The disciples were promised to sit with our Risen Lord and commune around God’s heavenly banquet together! It is an intimate experience to gather around table in God’s hospitality, look into one another’s eyes and see, touch, and taste the grace of God. I can only imagine how much more amazing that will be when we are in heaven face to face.

Scripture gives us a yes to the question from the pew today. We will recognize one another in heaven and we will probably be surprised by some faces we see in heaven too! God is the One who holds the keys to the kingdom!

But the most encouraging affirmation comes when others recognized the Risen Lord on this side of heaven. Mary Magdalene recognized the Risen Lord when he said her name (John 20:16). The Apostle Paul says, “[Jesus] appeared to Cephus and the twelve. The he appeared to more than 500 hundred brothers and sisters at one time. Then he appeared to James, and then to the apostles. Last of all, he appeared to Paul” (1 Corinthians 15: 5-8).

“If we share in a death like his, then surely we will share in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6:5).

As I hold up Paul’s words with how God has acted in the past, then I trust we too will not only know each other in heaven, but we will continue to experience the blessing of the relational ties that bind us in Christina love.

When I read and study and proclaim the resurrection, Holy Spirit brings about a peace that surpasses human understanding to me. The Gospel of Jesus Christ says that nothing in all the world can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ – not death or life or things present or things to come…there is nothing in all of creation that will be able to separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ (Romans 8: 35, 38-39). There is but a breath between this life and life eternal.

But there is one part of all this that gets in our craw. There is a question that nags many of us about what life will be like in heaven. And there never seems to be a satisfactory answer to it. That question is, “Will there be marriage in heaven?”

Jesus was asked that question (Matthew 22: 23-34; Mark 12: 18-27; Luke 20: 27-39). The Sadducees did not believe in resurrection. They could not find biblical support of it in the first five books of the Bible. The Pharisees believed in resurrection. But they got caught in literal and logical interpretations of heaven. For example, one commentary states when a person died, they believed that in the resurrection the individual would be wearing the same clothes at death.[2]

One day the Sadducees walked up to Jesus. The Pharisees were there. And the Sadducees asked Jesus a hypothetical question about marriage according to ancient Levirate law. The question was to take a jab at the Pharisees, dismissing resurrection, and also to trick Jesus.

According to Old Testament law, when a husband died childless, it was important for the man’s lineage to continue through his wife. The family name and the family inheritance were critical to survive and thrive in society. Therefore, the law stated the brother of the deceased would marry the widow to bear sons (Deuteronomy 25: 5-10).

You see, the Sadducees’ question, “In the resurrection, if this woman had married seven times, whose wife will she be?” was meant to be absurd. William Barclay says Jesus’ answer spoke into the Sadducees error in thinking.[3]

Jesus said if you read the Scriptures and knew the power of God then this question is irrelevant. Barclay says that Jesus’ answer warns us about thinking of heaven in earthly terms and thinking of eternity in terms of time.[4]

The Old Testament covenant of marriage held a purpose of procreation. Therefore, Jesus considered this earthly understanding of marriage out of place.[5] Jesus understood the depths of love that bind two in marriage like a three-way chord with God.

The greatest things in life are faith, hope, and love, and yet the greatest of these three is love; unconditional and sacrificial love. We love because God first loved us (1 John 4:19). Therefore, in heaven, we trust will see our beloveds again however our eternal relationships will transcend what we know and experience on this earth.

Guthrie says, “Heaven is an eternal life of genuine and completely free realization of our humanity in a new heaven and a new earth. It is the life originally willed for us by God the Creator of heaven and earth, lived for us by Jesus Christ, and promised and worked in us by God’s life-renewing Holy Spirit. It is the eternal life of self-fulfillment that comes in loving, praising, and serving God, and in living in peace with fellow human beings.”[6]

Jesus speaks to us in our limited understanding about heaven, saying, “In my Father’s house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go and prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14: 1-3).

When Jesus says that word, “you,” it is not singular but plural' Jesus is saying "You all". Jesus is speaking about the eternal community in which we will live fully present in God’s covenant love.

The whole of Scripture says that from our beginning to our end that God lives with humanity and walks with us. God says over and over, “I will be their God and they shall be my people…God will be our Father and we shall be Almighty God’s daughters and sons (2 Corinthians 6: 16b-18).

Every ending brings about a new beginning. And God’s resurrection promise will gather us as a great multitude in heaven– so many that no one can count – from every nation, standing before the throne and before the Lamb of God with celebration and singing God’s praise like nobody’s business! (Revelation 7:9-10).

To be made in the image of God is to be God’s family on earth and in heaven. We are created by a love that will never let us go. We are bound and tethered to God’s love yesterday, today, and forever. Believe it and trust God’s truth with your life!

In the name of God our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Amen.

Sources Referenced:
[1] Shirley Guthrie, "Christian Doctrine" (Westminster John Knox Press, 1994), p. 395.
[2] R. T. France, “The Gospel of Matthew” (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2007), p. 838-839.
[3] William Barclay, “The Gospel of Matthew” (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975) p. 276.
[4] Barclay, p. 276-277.
[5] France, p. 838-839.
[6] Guthrie, pp. 395-396.

FAQs Sermon Series: How Do We Understand the Soul and Body in the Resurrection?

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
How Do We Understand Our Soul and Body in the Resurrection?
1 Corinthians 15: 1-4, 42-57
by Rev. Carson Overstreet
Van Wyck Presbyterian Church
July 8, 2018

Now I should remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, 2through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain.

3 For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, 4and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures,

42 So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. 43It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body.

45Thus it is written, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living being’; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. 47The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. 49Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.

50 What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, 52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:

‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’
55 ‘Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?’
56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. - 1 Corinthians 15: 1-4, 42-57

Every time we recite the Apostles’ Creed we reaffirm our faith with the words, “I believe in the resurrection of the body.” And so, our question today asks what does that actually mean? How do we understand the immortality of the soul and our mortal bodies in light of the resurrection?


The Rev. Dr. Tom Long shares the story of a radio talk show who picked up some hot news that Costco has gotten into the discount casket business (Yes, it’s true but only valid in 37 states!):

“Geez, can you imagine,” said the dj. “You go into Costco and say, “I think I’ll buy 48 rolls of toilet paper and, hey, while I’m at it, I’ll pick up a casket!”

“Right!” said the other. ‘Can’t you see yourself wheeling that thing out to the parking lot on the buggy?”

The first dj replied, “Really, I think this is great. It’s American free enterprise, competition in the marketplace, bringing prices down…When I’m gone, if you need to cut a corner, cut it out on the casket. I don’t need it. This body is just a shell. The real me will be gone somewhere else….”[1]

Long commented, “It really was just a silly exchange tucked between the traffic report the weather and sports, but in some ways, it was a snapshot of contemporary cultural attitudes about death… The “real me” had nothing to do with the dead body.”[1]

The concept of an immortal soul and a body as two separate things is not new. It actually goes all the way back to the Greek philosopher Plato, who lived from 428-347 B.C.. “Plato affirmed life beyond physical death. He believed in the immortality of the soul.”[2]

This philosophy has long held that bodies are cheap imitations of the soul, they are technically not real and could be considered as evil. The soul, then, is imprisoned by the body and longs to be set free by means of death, whereby it is then joined to the True–the Forms, a non-physical reality.[3]

The Apostle Paul was a Pharisee in the Jewish tradition, an interpreter of God’s word and a well-trained debater. He was a fine-tuned orator and was quite knowledgeable of the Greek philosophy of the day. When Jesus Christ turned Paul’s world inside out, Paul was sent to proclaim Jesus Christ and to reinterpret the culture through the lens of our crucified and Risen Lord.

He says in the beginning of his first letter to the church in Corinth, “Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” (1 Cor 1:20).

Paul specifically addresses the pinnacle of Christian hope in our text today. Our ultimate hope does not lie in the immortality of the soul but in God’s promise of the resurrection, revealed in Jesus Christ.

When Paul writes “the perishable body must put on imperishability,” he is reinterpreting Plato through the Christian hope of resurrection (1 Cor 15:53).

Paul knows because humanity is created by God. But God did not stop there; Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. This proclaims that our Maker desires to redeem all of our humanity and make us new. His word for “body” always points to the problem of the human condition of sin which touches all of humanity. It is Christ’s dying and being raised to new life that frees us from sin and death.

Paul begins preaching and teaching of the resurrection from Jesus’ own death and being raised by God. “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised then our proclamation and our faith has been in vain” (1 Cor 15:13-14).

Jesus’ resurrection is not something we can fully explain or understand.

What Paul understands about resurrection is through the Jewish perspective and the Christian prespective. “The Hebrews accepted death as a limit ordained by God as told in Genesis 3:19. The notion of immortality is a Greek Helenist idea. “The Jewish teachings regarded the “soul” as the unity of the human person. The Hebrews were living bodies, they did not have bodies.[4]

And Paul understands resurrection through the Christian perspective. He goes back to the Creation story in Genesis when God created the heaven and earth (Gen 1: 1, 14-19). God created humankind in God’s image; God created us from the dust and breathed the breath of life into us (Genesis 1:26; 2:7). Paul understands we are created by “the physical first and then the spiritual,” but they are united (1 Corinthians 15:46).

Paul knows “From dust we were created and to dust we shall return” (Genesis 3:19). And yet by the Creator’s hands, the Redeemer’s sacrificial love, and the life-giving breath of Holy Spirit these dried up bones shall live (Ezekiel 37).

Even in the gospel accounts of Matthew, Luke, and John, it is revealed that Jesus was fully resurrected physically and spiritually. Our Risen Lord was touched by human hands. He ate with the disciples. He was seen in his newly glorified body.

Paul says, “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust [Adam], we will also bear the image of the man of heaven [Jesus Christ]” (1 Cor 15:49). “For if we have been united in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6:5).

One of the most comforting Scriptures of Jesus’ promise of resurrection is that merciful and hope-filled conversation which Jesus had with the criminal who was nailed to the cross beside him. The criminal said, “Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And Jesus replies, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me I paradise” (Luke 23: 42-43). We read Scripture and interpret Jesus’ own words to be true.

Therefore, resurrection is understood as both individual and communal. Our Reformed Confessions strive to articulate what we believe and how we interpret God’s Word. And our confessions strive to put words around the mystery of death and resurrection in ways that we might understand.

The Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) was written to instruct our younger disciples in a question and answer format. It says:

What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death?
The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness and do immediately pass into glory; and their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves till the resurrection.[5]

The Larger Catechism of the Westminster Confession of faith was written for adults, saying:

What are we to believe concerning the resurrection?
We are to believe that, at the last day, there shall be a general resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust; when they that are found alive shall in a moment be changed; and the self-same bodies of the dead which are lain in the grace, being then again united to their souls forever, shall be raised up by the power of Christ….immediately after the resurrection shall follow the general and final judgment of angels and men, the day and hour whereof no one knows.[6]

Notice that as the confessional statements strive to keep a unity regarding the physical and spiritual within body and soul; these confessions interpret the Scriptures regarding a general resurrection in the last day.

“…With the sound of God’s trumpet, the Lord will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore, encourage one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4: 16-18).

God’s resurrection promise is surrounded by mystery. For now, we see in a mirror dimly, but one day we will know fully (1 Cor 13:12) We do not grieve as others do who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13). We stand on the promises of God.

The greatest truth is that God’s promise of resurrection not only embraces us in the hope of God’s future eternal presence. The resurrection power of Jesus Christ also completely changes our lives today as the eyes of our hearts are enlightened.

May each of know the hope of our calling in heaven and here on earth too (Ephesians 1:18).

In the name of the God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sources Referenced:

Abstract Artwork, "Resurrection," by Philippin Inge.

[1] Thomas G. Long, “Accompany Them with Singing: The Christian Funeral” (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), p. 22.
[2] Justo Gonzalez, “The Story of Christianity Volume 1 (New York: Harper Collins, 1984), pp. 16, 54-56.
[3] “Plato versus The Apostle Paul,” February 11, 2016 https://platovschristianity.wordpress.com/2016/02/11/plato-vs-the-apostle-paul/
[4] Paul Achtemeier, “Bible Dictionary” (New York: Harper Collins, 1996, "soul" definition.
[5] The Book of Confessions Study Edition (Part 1 of the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996), p. 232, question and answer 36 and 37.
[6] The Book of Confessions, The Larger Catechism, p. 262 questions and answers 87-88.