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.
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.
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