Bobby L. Graham preaches and is an elder for the Old Moulton Road church in Decatur, AL. He is married to Karen (Hodge) Graham and has three children: Richard, Mary Katherine Winland (Darren), and Laura Paschall (Jeremy). bobbylgraham@pclnet.net

Questions and Answers

Question: What does the Bible say about knowing each other in heaven?

Answer: This question is one which people interested in heaven have long discussed. I believe the Bible teaches personal recognition in heaven, based on some very convincing principles of divine truth. We will be like the Lord, know Him, and therefore be knowable, according to 1 John 3:2. Though incomplete in our knowledge of the afterlife ("it has not yet been revealed what we shall be"), John affirmed our confidence in being like the Lord when He is revealed at the resurrection of all and return of Jesus. The resurrection being the time of the change in our bodies, whether dead or alive (1 Cor. 15:50-54), it follows that the same spiritual state will remain in the judgment and the heavenly state. David's statement concerning being with his son who had died, found in 2 Samuel 12:23, also implies that personal recognition shall exist. This meaningful and confidence-instilling affirmation becomes meaningless and senseless without the understanding that we shall know each other in heaven.

The Lord's description of the kingdom - both in its temporal phase and its heavenly phase - in Matthew 8:11f, further implies personal recognition in heaven. That the eternal phase of the kingdom is here included can be easily seen from the contrast of the state of the "sons of the kingdom" in outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, a picture of the final punishment of the wicked (v. 12). In vivid contrast is the blessedness enjoyed in the kingdom with saints like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who were no part of the kingdom of Christ. It is the extension of this enjoyment to the eternal kingdom which is necessarily implied in this passage.

That individuals retain their identity and power to recognize others, as well as their consciousness and mental powers, is seen again in the rich man depicted by the Lord in Luke 16:24. He obviously recognized Abraham when he called him by name. Likewise Jesus's teaching about the resurrection in Matthew 22:32 involves the survival of individual personality. Along with individual personality also comes personal identity and personal recognition. Long after their deaths God continued to be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not just of the beings who used to be Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This provides a very strong basis for believing that we shall know each other in heaven.

The chief objection raised to what I have here taught is one based on emotion, not on a discussion of the passages cited or the argumentation used. Some have objected that, if there is personal recognition in heaven and we thus fail to see our loved ones there, there could be no joy because of their absence. Will the perfect happiness of the eternal city be marred by such considerations? I try hard to understand why eternal happiness depends on who is present or absent, but I do not yet understand it. We ought to know, however, that we do not love those relatives any more than God does. Appreciating God's eternal plan will help us to be content with the working out of that plan. It might also prove helpful to ask if there is no personal recognition in heaven and, consequently, no one recognizes anybody, how could there be any joy or bliss in the presence of non-entities and non-personalities? The thought of joy in our present state depends entirely on present experiences, as must its anticipation in the next world, if the assurances of the Bible are not accepted. The truth is that we do not know whether we will be joyous, based on present experiences. After all, we do enjoy life even when we now know that loved ones are living their lives apart from God. God will take care of this matter in heaven, when our joys shall exceed all that we have known or anticipated while in this world (Rev. 21:4)