Friends and Loved Ones in Heaven
One of the other wonderful things about Heaven is that all our friends and all our loved ones who have passed on before — if they died having received the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior — are also going to be in Heaven. The scripture says that, when Jesus comes again, He is going to bring with Him those of our loved ones who have passed on before us (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14). So, we know friends and loved ones and parents are going to be there.
All of those who placed their faith in God are going to be there.
Angels are going to be there. People from all nations will be there.
Our Relationships in Heaven
Now, when it comes to who is in Heaven, the second thing to think about is what kind of relationships we are going to have there. How will we relate and connect to one another? Well, to answer that question, we have to go back to this idea of glorified bodies. You will recall the apostle Paul said that
our citizenship is in Heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. — Philippians 3:20-21
Therefore, our bodies are going to be transformed like the body of Christ — and remember that His glorified body was a visible, physical body. And glorified bodies are imperishable.
A significant passage to think about when it comes to the relationships we will have in Heaven with our glorified bodies is where Mary Magdalene and Jesus met in the garden after His death. This is a significant moment, because most of us wonder what we are going to be like in Heaven, and how other people will be able to recognize us when we are there. So, Mary was standing outside the tomb, weeping. Then the Scripture says,
When she had said this, she turned around, and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus.
Now, she saw Him, but she did not know it was Him.
Jesus said to her, 'Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?' Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, 'Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.' Jesus said to her, 'Mary!' She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, 'Rabboni!' — John 20:14-17
Notice that she looked at Him, and at first she didn't recognize Him. He had a glorified body, so there was some difference, some change. Remember the last time she saw Him, He was stretched out on a cross and covered with all that bloody ugliness. What was it that made her recognize this was Jesus? It was what He said. It was His voice.
This is a familiar scene for us all in some ways. Oftentimes, I'm somewhere in a crowd, or sometimes I'll be on a plane, and somebody will walk up to me and say, "You know, I didn't recognize you until I heard you speak." And then, "I've heard your voice so many times I knew this had to be you." Well, this is exactly what happened to Mary. When she saw Jesus, she wasn't expecting Him, and there was something about Him that was different enough that she didn't quite recognize Him at first. But when He called her name, she knew that voice.
Now, when you and I have our glorified bodies, we are going to be recognizable, and we are going to have similar voices to the ones you and I have now. We are going to be recognized just as we are down here. The people who love us are going to know us, and we are going to know them.
The reason I say this much about the body is because of Jesus Christ. You will recall that Jesus went to the apostles and He walked in and showed them His hands with the nail marks in them. Yet, even while they were looking at His hands, they were having a hard time believing that it was Him. Then He said, "Do you have anything to eat?" And they gave Him a piece of broiled fish, and He ate it, and He digested that fish even though He had a glorified body (Luke 24:36-43). So you and I will never be able to explain humanly what that glorified body is going to be like, except that it is made to perfection for its new environment.
People always ask me specific questions about their bodies in Heaven, like, "If I die at seventy-five, what am I going to look like?" Well, I can't answer that question. I can tell you this. You are going to be the best-looking seventy-five-year-old you've ever seen. Or I am asked, "Well, suppose a person dies as a baby. Will that person always remain a baby, or will they grow up?" Nobody knows the answer to that, so all those things are conjecture. We just know some things that are absolutely certain, given to us in the Scripture. Anything else is our imagination, and yours is as good as mine.
The one thing we know for certain is that the glorified body will be absolutely perfect.
It will be the best that almighty God can do, and we will be perfectly, totally, and completely fulfilled.
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Excerpted with permission from The Gift of Heaven by Charles Stanley, copyright Charles F. Stanley.
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