Heaven # 3

Heaven (continued)

Question: Will we recognize our loved ones in heaven?

Most assuredly, we will. The apostle Paul, in writing to the believers of Thessalonica, told  them not to sorrow over their loved ones, from whom they would be separated for a time, as those who have no hope sorrow over the loss of their loved ones (1 Thessalonians 4:13). He went on to say that Jesus Himself is coming back again and that our loved ones who have fallen asleep in Jesus will be raised first. Then we who are alive will be transformed and caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air (vv. 14-18). The whole reason for this exhortation was to let the believers know that when we are caught up together with our loved ones, we will be with them again. Furthermore, Moses and Elijah appeared to the three disciples who were with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration, and were recognized by them (Matthew 17:1-4). If we will recognize those whom we have never known in the flesh, how much more will we recognize our loved ones!

Question: Can a person be happy in heaven if he knows his loved ones are in hell?

Yes. A real Christian's supreme joy is in Jesus Christ (Matthew 10:37). The love that he has for even the dearest of his earthly loved ones is nothing compared with the love that he has for Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is in heaven. Jesus will satisfy every longing of the heart that really knows Him.

Furthermore, if any of our loved ones end up in hell, they will be there simply because they persistently rejected and trampled underfoot that  One who is the supreme object of our love (Hebrews 10:29). They will be with the devil and his angels because they chose to cast in their lot with them, and we will recognize the justice of it and the necessity of it. Many people will not allow themselves to believe in eternal punishment because they have unrepentant friends and loved ones. However, it is far better to recognize the facts, no matter how unwelcome they may be, and to try to save our loved ones from the doom to which they are certainly hurrying, than it is to quarrel with facts and seek to remove them by shutting our eyes to them. If we love Jesus Christ supremely, if we love Him as we should love Him, and if we realize His glory and His claims upon men as we should realize them, we will say, if the dearest friend we have on earth persists in trampling Christ underfoot, that he ought to be tormented forever. If, after men have sinned and merited God's terrible wrath, God still offers them mercy and makes the tremendous sacrifice of His Son to save them, and if, after all of this, they still despise that mercy, trample God's Son underfoot, and are consigned to everlasting torment, anyone who sees as he ought to see will say, "Amen. True and righteous are Your judgments, O Lord!" (Revelation 16:7).

~R. A. Torrey~