In our Monday morning prayer session this week, we got into something of a discussion concerning whether or not we should be longing for heaven and urgently waiting to go, or should we just be living the life we have here and just let it happen when it happens. I suggested BOTH. That led into a discussion concerning the theology of longing to see our loved ones there since Jesus teaches there will not be marriage (human relationships) in heaven (Mark 12:18-27).
Then, that night, I get the horrible news that Les Fersuson, Jr.’s wife and son were tragically and sensibly murdered. I got to thinking about what his life is going to be like from here for him. How does he deal with the pain and perspectives that come with such a tragedy? I think the Bible gives us hope in all sorts of ways, but to think of the relationships with your loved ones as completely ended once they leave this Earth doesn’t really do it for us does it? While I do believe what Jesus said, we will ”be like angels” in heaven and we won’t be married. When a spouse dies, we are free to marry another if we so choose (I Corinthians 7:39; Romans 7:2). With every new relationship, comes new family members. With every death, relationships end…..or do they?
It seems cold and far from comforting to think that when someone dies, that is the end of that relationship. I don’t think God intended for us to think like that. Sure, things definately change, but the memory and experiences remain. The truth is, we do not know what heaven will be like, nor really to what extent we will know each other. We do know the angels have different names. They are individuals, and seem to be known as such. The scriptures imply that people such as Moses and Elijah still retain their identity after this life. Yet, God does often present spiritual things to us in ways that we can identify with as humans. In our discussion, it was noted that we cannot know what heaven is really like, nor can we really understand and picture such a spiritual place. So, God describes heaven with streets of gold and gates of pearl (earthly elements).
While we do not know exactly what our relationships with our loved ones may be, nor to what extent we might recognize one another, there are a few things we do know. First, that even if there are those from Earth we do not find in heaven, we will not be sad about it; at least not in the Earthly sense of sadness.
Revelation 21:4-5 (NIV) 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.” Did you catch that? The OLD ORDER OF THINGS has passed away. What does that mean? Whatever it means, it tells us that things will not be like they are here on Earth. Thing will be changed, and our emotions will not be of sadness. But, we must keep in mind that we are not there YET. We are on this side of eternity.
God doesn’t leave us alone here, nor does it mean we should stop being human. God made us human, and humans living in time and on this globe have limitations of understanding and perspective. We also have emotions. But, God is indeed the “God of comfort” (II Corinthians 1:3). And He allows us to have a perspective that is comforting to us, even though we do not know what things may be like beyond us. In fact, much of our perspective may even be inaccurate – how can we really know? We only ”know in part and we prophesy in part” (I Corinthians 13:9).
So just how should we view our loved ones who have gone, and our own urgency for heaven? I think God answers that for us. Abraham was looking for that new city (Hebrews 11:10). We all are looking for that new city (Hebrews 13:14). And Peter says we EAGERLY look for it to SPEED its coming (II Peter 3:12). But Paul reminds us that we go in God’s time. We have a time and purpose here on Earth, even though our ”citizenship is in heaven”. Read Philippians 1:21-26! Paul longed to go on and be with God, but he also knew his work here wasn’t done. So, he was content to stay a little longer.
Even though we do not know what heaven will be like, nor what our relationships will be like in heaven to any great extent, God leaves us with the comfort that we SHOULD be looking forward to seeing them again.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (NIV) 13 Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. 14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.
Do you notice all those comforting principles? We have hope. There is a resurrection. Our loved ones are / will be with the Lord. We WILL see them again (regardless of what the relationship may be). We may believe we will not know each other in heaven, and that Paul is just telling us heavenly things told in Earthly ways. But my question is, “Does it matter?” The real answer is not found in the questions of: “Will we know each other? What is heaven like? What kind of body will we have? Where do we go immediately when we die? Is heaven really made of gold?” and the many other human things we ponder. Rather, the only thing that really matters is that we are ready to go, and that we love and appreciate a God who both cares what happens to us after this life, AND cares enough about our emotions in this life. The focus is not on what we will know about those who come with Jesus, but that we know that they are in the hands of Jesus and we WILL see them again. Because of that we should ”ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER WITH THESE WORDS”.
Therefore, I think we SHOULD be longing for home, and we SHOULD be looking forward to meeting our loved ones again. At the same time, we should remember that God has given us our time here and we should live it to His glory regardless of long long it may be or what may happen while we are here. WHAT DO YOU THINK?
