No. 31, July 1998

 

WILL WE KNOW EACH OTHER IN HEAVEN?

 

            There was a line in the movie Shadowland, which depicted the life of C. S. Lewis, that especially interested me. One of Lewis’ colleagues at the university asked him how he was coping with the death of his wife Joy. Lewis’ answer, “I am afraid,” surprised his friend, who then asked, “What are you afraid of.” He replied, “I am afraid I will never see her again.”

 

            Lewis did not likely mean that he had no hope of immortality for Joy or for himself, but that his hope may not have included a personal reunion of loved ones in heaven. It is an understandable doubt, for even the most ardent believers some-times question if heaven will be so real that we will recognize and know each other.

 

            I was reminded of this recently while visiting a church in Tennessee where I had given a discourse on the hope of the believer. A middle-aged sister assured me that she was blessed and comforted by what I had to say, but she had a question: “Do you believe we will know each other in heaven?” My brief answer was that while the Scriptures may not say that in so many words, I am confident that they do indeed teach that we will know each other and be reunited with our loved ones in heaven. After all, I added, heaven will be all of the best of what earth is and more. If we know each other here, we will surely not be strangers there.

 

            When I inquired as to why she had asked, she told me that she had recently lost a teenage son in an automobile accident, and it would be precious to her to believe that she would see him and be with him in heaven.

 

            As in the case of Lewis, this dear sister was not questioning the eternal salvation of her son, who died with a vibrant faith, but as to how real heaven is. Will it be so real that we will know each other and be with one another again and forever? Or will it be a shadowy kind of existence where we will be eternally blessed in an indistinguishable kind of way that hardly resembles the joys of togetherness on earth.

 

            It would indeed be odd if Christians who died together arm-in-arm in Nero’s amphitheater would moments later be strangers to each other in heaven. Is it not unlikely that the church militant on earth will have to get reacquainted when it becomes the church triumphant in heaven?

 

            It is of course a matter of what the Scriptures teach, and I am persuaded that the evidence is overwhelming that we will not only “know even as we are known,” as 1 Cor. 13:9 assures us, but that our knowledge of each other and of things in general will far surpass our earthly limitations.

 

            We should need no further testimony than Jesus himself. Jesus and the Thief on the Cross were together on planet earth for a few heartbreaking hours. However brief it was, they knew each other. Shortly before they both died, Jesus had cause to say to the Thief, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” ( Lk. 23:43). It is evident that our Lord meant for the Thief to understand that the two would be together after death in Paradise (heaven) just as they were together on earth, except under far more favorable circumstances. It is a given that they would know and recognize each other, and in a far more glorious way.

 

            Jesus further assures us that in heaven we will be like angels, in some respects at least (Mt. 22:30). Angels appear in Scripture as distinct and recognizable spirits. They are not spiritual blobs or floating entities. They have names and are recognized as distinct from each other. Gabriel is Gabriel and Michael is Michael. When Gabriel took on the assignment of bearing the Good News to Mary, all the other angels knew or could know that it was a particular angel with a particular name and identity that had been given the assignment. If Mary did not know it was Gabriel, it was only because she was still an earthling.

 

            It is as certain that we will know Gabriel when we see him in heaven as it was that Peter, James, and John recognized Moses and Elijah when they saw them on the Mount of Transfiguration. For the moment those apostles were in heaven while still on earth. No introductions necessary! They all knew each other. It was all so real that Peter wanted to build a church for each one. When he saw Moses he knew it was Moses, and you can be sure that Moses knew who Peter was. It was heaven!

 

            In the stories Jesus tells about the departed the “dead” are not really dead, for “all live unto him” (Lk. 20:38). The rich man and Lazarus are alive and aware of each other (Lk. 16:23). Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are still who they were on earth and very much alive (Lk 20:27-28). And the angels in heaven know the faces and names of those they serve (Mt. 18:10).

 

            If we are to know the prophets and patriarchs in heaven, then surely we will know our parents, our spouses, our friends. Surely heaven must be seen as a gain. If we know each other here on earth, it will be a greater knowledge there. What else could Paul mean in saying, “Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known” (1 Cor. 13:12).

 

            Our Lord also assures us that we can use our worldly wealth with such generosity that those we have benefitted will welcome us into heaven (Lk. 16:9) Does this not imply recognition?

 

            And when Paul asks the Thessalonians “What is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of the Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy” (1 Thess. 2:19-20), is he not saying that he expects to recognize them personally at the Lord’s coming? In the same letter the apostle writes with assurance that both the living (at the time Christ comes) and the dead will together “meet the Lord in the air” when he comes. Is not recognition implied?

 

            In Philip. 3:20 the church is described as having its citizenship in heaven. It could be translated, “We are a colony of heaven.” It is saying that heaven is really our home, not the earth. It goes on to say that we await a savior from heaven, who, when he comes will “transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body.”

 

            In heaven we will have spiritual, glorified bodies that will bear resemblance to our “lowly” bodies. Just as the disciples recognized Jesus in his new body, so we will recognize one another.

 

            All these centuries the church has believed in “the resurrection of the body,” and that our loved ones are waiting for us on the other side. Heaven will be home, and at home we will not be strangers to each other.

 

PERSONAL IDENTITY AND HEAVEN

 

            The question our recognition of each other in heaven may be related to the question of our personal identity in general. Are we the same person over a long period of time? Are you the same person as when you were a baby, or even when you were a teenager? Those “then” and “now” pictures of couples celebrating their golden wedding anniversary bear hardly any resemblance. When several couples appear in the same Sunday paper, the pictures could be switched and we would never know the difference

 

            And the changes are not just physical, but psychological, social, and spiritual as well. There is often a radical transformation of character over a half century or less. So, the answer could be both yes and no as to whether one is the same person. The genes are of course the same, as is the DNA, and yet every cell has been replaced. We are the same person and we are not the same person. Surely the spirit/soul is the same, but is not soul growth and soul change often as remarkable as physical change?

 

            Our personal identity (a weighty philosophical issue, by the way) may best be seen in stages. The “I” that is me was once an infant, but there was little of what I associate with my personal identity - consciousness, reasoning, believing, writing, doing. My “I” became more identifiable with age and as I moved through the stages of life -- childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, the maturing years, old age, and at last the sunset years. It seems that it is never quite the same “I” that moves to the next stage. We are constantly changing. So much so that we are reluctant to accept the “I” of a generation ago as the real person. Our personal identity is now, the person we are at the moment. Paul may have had more than one reason for urging that we “forget the things that are behind.”

 

            If we think of heaven as the next stage, the far more glorious one, we can see it as further growth of the soul. We will have our same identity, and yet we will be different. C. S. Lewis, who was very curious about the hereafter, ventured that if we saw ourselves now as we will be in heaven, we would be tempted to fall at our feet and worship ourselves.

 

            If life is an experience in “soul making,” we keep on becoming a different person even while we remain the same person. Might not heaven be like that? It is the next stage. There may well be time in heaven - at least in the sense that we keep learning, keep growing, and keep moving to higher stages of personal identity.

 

            Old Ben Franklin, the patriot, had the right idea when he wrote the words that now grace his tombstone:

 

                        This body of B. Franklin in Christ Church cemetery.

                        Printer, Like the cover of an old Book,

                        Its Contents torn out,

                        And stript of its lettering and Gilding,

                        Lies here, Food for Worms,

                        But the work shall not be lost;

                        For it will, as he believed,

                        Appear once more in a new and more elegant Edition,

                        Corrected and Improved by its Author.

 

            Franklin saw that the “I” is as real in heaven as on earth, but it appears in a new and more elegant Edition. Not bad theology for a revolutionary!

 

            If we have personal identity in heaven, then surely we will both know and be known.

 

WILL HEAVEN BE ON EARTH?

 

            The thought of heaven being on planet Earth adds still another dimension to its reality. Both reason and Scripture indicate that this Earth itself will be at least part of heaven. Reason suggests that God would not create Earth only as a temporary abode, and then obliterate it forever. Science teaches us that matter cannot be destroyed (God’s law); it can only change its form. I’m persuaded that Earth has an eternal destiny, and it is part of God’s tomorrow.

 

            As for Scripture, there is one promise that says it all: “Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth” (Is. 65:17). The New Testament picks up on this ancient promise with these exciting words: “In keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteous-ness” (2 Pet. 3: 13). Is not the apostle telling us by inspiration that a new heaven and earth is to be our eternal home?

 

            At the end of such divine revelation another apostle sees the future as if right before his eyes: “I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away” (Rev. 21 : 1). Then there is the assurance that the meek will inherit the earth (Mt. 5:5).

 

            The new Earth that is to be created, will be, as the Greek term indicates, new in quality, not in time. It will be the old earth made new, renovated, or as Paul puts it in Rom. 8:21, “delivered from the bondage of corruption.” Those verses in Rom. 8 show without doubt that the apostle saw Earth as having a future, not as being obliterated. In fact, Paul says, not only Earth but all creation is waiting for its redemption (from the effects of sin), and it “groans and labors in birth pangs.” Planet Earth is destined for a new birth!

 

            Paul is referring to an Earth destined to burst forth in a glory far beyond our imagination, one with which the sufferings of this world cannot be compared (v. 18). He would surely be offended by the suggestion that planet Earth, always so much a part of God’s eternal plan, would cease to exist. It is only the Earth as we now know it that will end. This is what 2 Pet. 3:10 refers to in reference to Earth being “burned up” and “melting with fervent heat.” It is in that context that Peter renews the promise of a new Earth.

 

            It is clear that heaven is presently in the “third heaven,” far from planet Earth, if indeed we can think in terms of distance. Presently part of the family of God is in heaven (those who have died) and part on earth (those who have not died), as in Eph. 3:15. In Rev. 4:1 John tells us that while on Earth he looked through an open door in heaven. And in Rev. 7:9 he sees a great multitude of saints who were now in heaven. Again and again he refers to God on his glorious throne in heaven.

 

            But in Rev. 21 the apostle sees, as if in the future, a new heaven and a new earth, and the New Jerusalem, our future abode, comes down out of heaven to Earth. John describes the eternal city as a 1500-mile cube, with streets of gold and walls of precious stones. He makes it clear that this is our eternal home. God, whose glory adorns the city, wipes away all tears, and there is no more pain nor heartache nor death. Christ is there as the city’s temple and as its light. Its citizens are only those whose names are written in the book of life.

 

            This is the New Jerusalem and it is at last on a newly-renovated planet Earth. This may mean that while Earth is heaven the New Jerusalem is its capital city. And perhaps Earth is the center from which we will be serving God in all parts of the vast universes. Surely God’s vast creation has some eternal purpose not unrelated to his elect people. We will be like angels in that we can move from one part of the universe to another in the blink of an eye, serving God in an eternity the glory of which we cannot now even begin to contemplate.

 

            Know each other in heaven? Of course, perhaps even in universes now unknown to us! – Leroy 

 

 

BIBLICAL IMAGES OF THE CHURCH

 

            There is considerable talk these days about a crisis of identity. We are not sure who we are as the church. The church as a denominational system has lost any appeal it may have had. Many churches appear eager to become “transdenominational” or “nondenominational,” but this says more about what they don’t want to be than what they are. The “Bible church” movement is a symptom of this malady, but that doesn’t mean these folk have found the answer to what a church is to be.

 

            It may help to notice how the early church perceived itself. It was a faith in search of a name, while today we are often a name in search of a faith. We do indeed have our (denominational, sectarian) names, but where and what is our faith? Is it something we live for and would die for?

 

            Actually, the early church did not have a name. That would have made it a denomination. Since it was one-of-a-kind (the only church there was), it needed no name to distinguish it. But it did draw upon images or metaphors to describe itself. I recently took a class through a study of a number of these. We found it helpful in this crisis of rediscovering who we are supposed to be.

 

            Paul S. Minear in his Images of the Church in the New Testament finds as many as 96 of them. A partial list will reveal the great diversity of imagery involved, as well as showing how pregnant in meaning each metaphor is.

 

            Brethren (the most used, over 200 times)

            Disciples (especially in Acts, not used by Paul)

            Church (not a good translation of ekklesia, which means community)

            Believers (translators often interchange this with brethren)

            Saints (means holy ones)

            Members of the Body (never “members of the church”)

            Family of God/Household of God (basis of being sisters and brothers)

            The Way (only in Acts, one of the most meaningful images) Sojourners/Pilgrims (this world is not our home)

            Elect/Chosen race (believers are especially called of God)

            Royal priesthood (basis of priesthood of all believers)

            Temple of God (the church is Spirit-filled)

            Special people (not “peculiar” as in KJV, “treasured possession” is idea)

            Servants (should be translated slaves)

            Israel of God (only in Gal. 6:16; relates church to promises to Israel)

            Citizenship in heaven (or “Colony of heaven” or “Our home is in heaven:” my favorite image of the church.)

 

            On and on it goes, 96 of them, cameos of what it is to be the church - people of God, flock, a spiritual house, soldiers, beloved, firstborn ones, witnesses (martyrs), bride of Christ.

 

            What is missing is the name Christian, which the biblical writers never used, and which the early church was reluctant to accept, perhaps because they deemed it presumptuous to take the name of Christ itself. Luke tells us that “the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch” (Acts 11:26). This could hardly mean that this was a divine call, as has been held in our heritage, for Luke goes on to call them disciples, his favorite term, and never Christians.

 

            Called Christians by outsiders, perhaps by friends and foes alike, it was a name eventually accepted. The historian Tacitus says it was a name generally used in Rome in the 60s AD., and we know from the Didache that believers had begun to use it by c. 80 AD. There is already a hint in 1 Pet. 4: 17: “If anyone suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter (or in this name).” And by the time of Poly carp’s martyrdom in c. 120 AD. he could adamantly cry out “I am a Christian!,” and die for that name.

 

            Perhaps God named them Christians after all, by having their friends and persecutors to so call them, after his own Son. It is the name that has been ours all these centuries, surely by God’s leading. Our people in the Restoration Movement have always contended that it is the name in which all believers can unite: “We are Christians only, but not the only Christians.”

 

            Perhaps the 96 images and metaphors the early Church used are a summary of what it means to be a Christian. Once they realized who they were – all 96 ways of saying it – they at last could say to their persecutors/executors, who gave them three chances to deny that they were Christians, Yes, I am a Christian! It proved to be a confession more powerful than that of Rome itself.

 

            They knew who they were. There was no identity crisis! – Leroy

 

 

Between Us . . .

 

            Our trip back East in May placed us with old friends and familiar places. I addressed the Fenton Church of Christ in Fenton, Mo. on May 15 on Hope. We enjoyed a love feast with friends from far and near. That weekend we helped the Maple Street Church of Christ in Hart-ford, Ill, across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, celebrate its 75th anniversary. I did a “Raccoon John Smith” on Saturday evening and addressed the Lord’s day assembly on 1 Thess. 2:19-20. We feasted and reminisced with old friends for most of the day. On Monday Berdell McCann and his daughter Carla, our hosts, drove us to Alton, Ill. to see the Douglas-Lincoln Memorial, and on to Brussells Ferry where we crossed the Illinois River, and on to Harper, 11. where we dined at a quaint old restaurant and got to visit with local residents, which I love to do.

 

            We flew on to Philadelphia where we rented a car and drove to Princeton, N.J., which is almost a second home to us. I was there to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Princeton Seminary class of 1948. About 12 of us were there out of a class of 80 to be honored at the Alumni Banquet. They all looked so old. I told them if they kept getting older I was going to quit coming! Ouida, in her youthful beauty, seemed out of place. We all had a good time hearing lectures and recalling old times. Prof. Diogenes Allen is always a treat, and I enjoyed his describing the “Jesus Seminar” fellows (who presume to tell us what Jesus said and didn’t say – they vote on it!) as “the second team” scholars (“You’ll notice no one is there from the major universities and seminaries”). There is always a Service of Remembrance where the names of alumni who died the past year are read. While it is sobering to sit there and realize that your name will one day be read in that solemn assembly, I am much more interested for my name to be called in heaven than at Princeton! Ouida and I slipped away one day and once again drove part of the route between Trenton, where we then lived, and Princeton that we drove so often to the seminary a half-century ago with our now deceased friend Ralph Graham. Now that an Interstate goes that way, our old route is a country road, dotted with the same farm houses and looking much the same. It was nostalgic.

 

            After Princeton we drove to Pemberton, N.J. to visit with dear friend Chaplain Talmadge McNabb and his lovely wife Pirko. They appropriately call their country estate “Birdsong.” On Sunday the chaplain accompanied us to Trenton where I addressed the Liberty St. Church of Christ. We were delightfully surprised to see their sign reading in bold letters WELCOME LEROY AND OUIDA. This is the congregation Ralph Graham and I served 50 years ago while we attended Princeton. They are always so gracious. We were guests in the lovely home of Bill/Jeannie Henry and their grown daughters Sheila and Sherry. They are all so dear to us. We flew home from Philadelphia on May 25 in time to get ready for a summer course at Richland College.

 

            In our next we’ll tell you about our visit to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island in Canada in July. On six Wednesday evenings in July and August I will do a series on “Our Heritage in History and Scripture” at the Buckingham Rd. Church of Christ in Dallas. On July 29 I will speak on “In Hope of God’s Tomorrow” at the First St. Church of Christ in Dumas, Tx.

 

            Edward Fudge’s The Fire That Consumes presents a thesis that is sure to challenge you. We will send you a copy for $17 postpaid.

 

            Our Heritage in Unity and Fellowship is a selection of writings of Carl Ketcherside and Leroy Garrett. Cecil Hook, the editor, selected pieces that speak to those two subjects, unity and fellowship, along with several articles about our history, including Ketcherside on what happened at Sand Creek. Only $9 postpaid.

 

            If you are interested in our history, I recommend my own The Stone-Campbell Movement: The Story of the American Restoration Movement at $25 postpaid. We can also furnish four bound volumes of Restoration Review, covering the years 1985-92, at $15 each or all four for $55.

 

            Their Blood Cries Out by Paul Marshall is a factual, chilling account of the worldwide tragedy of modern Christians who are dying for their faith. Charles Colson said of this book, “We must feel a sense of moral outrage that Christians, in this day and age, are being sold into slavery, and are being tortured for their faith.” We all need to know what this book reveals. $14 postpaid.