Will We Recognize Each Other in Heaven?

Dear reader,

Throughout your life, you have the opportunity to have many wonderful, loving relationships with friends and family. But at some time during your life, some of those family or friends will pass away from this Earth. It is part of being a human, that one day you will have to leave this earthly world. For the Christian, this is not a day to fear or dread, because the Christian's home is really in heaven anyway. The fear of death is only for people who do not obey God. And one of the most comforting thoughts is being with your loved ones again in heaven. But will you recognize them?

First, we need to remember that our relationships in this world will not be like the relationships we have in heaven. Je-sus said that in heaven "they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God" (Matthew 22:30). However, there will be a form of recognition provided by God. The Scriptures speak often of the joy we will have together when Jesus returns (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 2 Corinthians 4:14). In Matthew 22, Jesus quoted the Scriptures, saying that God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and that "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." In Luke 16, we find Jesus' story about the rich man and Lazarus. The story describes the death of a good beggar named Lazarus, and a wicked rich man. Lazarus went to a pleasurable reward, while the rich man was in torment. And the rich man looked across a gulf and saw Lazarus at Abraham's side. He recognized Lazarus as being the beggar that sat outside of his house.

We can gain hope from the thought of joyfully standing with our loved ones be-fore the Great Loved One, our Father, Who saves His children.

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