"Heaven - The Great Reunion"

For the last two lessons, we have looked at what the Bible says concerning the question: "Will we recognize each other in Heaven?" I think we have shown that the Bible does teach that we will recognize each other in heaven.

In the process of answering that question, we took note that a "yes" answer to this question has an impact on other questions about heaven which we are trying to answer. When we say that we will recognize each other in heaven, we are, in fact, saying that one's memory is carried over from earth to heaven. The way you recognize a person is by remembering things we know about them. It could be their looks, their voice, their mannerisms, etc., but each requires a memory in heaven of things we knew about each other on earth.

In our next lesson, we will take this thought to a greater level. We will see what the Bible says about the question: "In heaven, will we remember our lives when we were alive on earth?" But, today, I want to look at one of the greatest benefits of recognizing each other in heaven.

WHAT WOULD YOU DREAM OF DOING IF YOU KNEW YOU COULD NOT FAIL?

WHAT PROJECTS WOULD YOU EMBARK UPON IF YOU KNEW YOU WOULD HAVE FOREVER TO COMPLETE THEM?

WHAT SUBJECTS WOULD YOU STUDY IF ALL THE INFORMATION OF THE UNIVERSE WAS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS?

Can you imagine the wonderful conversations you will have in heaven? You will be able to meet all the godly historical and biblical characters.

WHAT COUNTRIES AND PLACES WOULD YOU VISIT WITH YOUR LOVED ONES IF TIME AND MONEY DID NOT RESTRICT YOU?

Have you ever thought about sitting at the feet of Jesus and asking him about things that puzzled you on earth? Think of the joy of having the Creator take the time, one-on-one, to answer your personal questions.

One of the great joys of eternity will be the great reunion with our long-time friends and family, some of whom have passed on before us to await our arrival to that glorious place. All the trials, persecutions and pains of life will fade away in the light of God's countenance.

For the rest of our time today, I want to take the conclusion, drawn last week, that we will indeed recognize each other in heaven, and discuss what will be the biggest family reunion in human history.

According to the web site www.reuniontips.com, "……the primary driving force behind all reunions is our ability to remember the past. This remembrance is the basis of our stories - personal stories, family stories. Family reunions are a vehicle for telling the family story."

Christians have always believed in family reunion in heaven because the alternative would rob heaven of its joy, and would fail to satisfy the universal longing of the human heart. There would be little comfort in their anticipation if it meant that being together we would not know or recognize our loved ones.

In 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul says that the first day of eternity is going to be a great big reunion. Imagine how great you will feel to see your spouse, child, or parents who have passed away. I think reunions are a wonderful description of heaven. But, for it to be wonderful, we need to be able to recognize each other. Heaven may be more than the ideal that we can imagine here and now, but, for certain, it will not be less.

Will the Rapture rupture or restore families? Just to ask the question is to make it clear, that love in all of its aspects will be upgraded and not downgraded in heaven. One of the great joys of eternity will be the great reunion with our long departed friends and family who have passed on before us to wait for us in the eternal city. The joy of parents at the birth of their firstborn is just a small foretaste of the happiness we shall experience when we begin to discover the things which Christ has prepared for His disciples.

Not only are there going to be many family reunions, but we will also meet people we have never met. Some of them we have heard about - some will be new to us. But, even then, they won't feel like strangers. Our family will now include the redeemed of all ages, from Adam onwards. We will meet Old Testament believers, New Testament saints, and great Christians from church history.

How exciting it will be to ask Adam about the first Paradise, or to discuss the great flood with Noah and how he kept the ark clean. What a pleasure it will be as we listen to David sing his Psalms to their original tunes, or discuss with Job how he could have such a quiet confidence in his God to say: "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him."

WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO ASK A QUESTION, AND WHAT IS THE QUESTION?

o Peter, what did your wife think about your quitting the business to follow Jesus? Peter's mother-in-law is mentioned in Matthew 8:14.

o Moses, what did manna really taste like?

o Abraham, did you see the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah from where you were?

o Noah, were there any animals which God did not bring to the ark, other than sea animals?

o Jeremiah, as a teenage prophet, how hard was it to get people to listen to you?

o James, how difficult was it to grow up as the brother of Jesus?

o Philip, how did it feel to be in one place baptizing a Eunuch, and the next moment in an entirely different place?

o John the Baptist, what does locust taste like?

If merely meeting an earthly author produces excitement down here, try to imagine the joy of talking with one of the inspired writers of Scripture.

But that will not exhaust our source of fellowship, for the saints of all ages will be there. I will have a chance to thank people who kept the church on course holding firm to the faith…..even if it meant their lives.

We will meet people like Martin Luther, Charles Wesley, Justin Martyr, John Knox and hundreds of others whose lives became milestones on the pathway to heaven. We'll have a chance to talk with some of the great preachers and theologians of generations ago, and see how the great variances in their theologies have merged into one complete picture after they now fully understand that which on earth could only be partially seen.

We will again meet those who witnessed to us briefly but never saw us again. We will meet converted spouses, though we weren't married to them any more. We will recognize each other, even in our perfected bodies. We will share happy memories and testimonies of God's grace. And, if we have guardian angels, we will meet them as well. And while we are still here, we can also comfort the families of those who have gone on ahead, with the hope of a great reunion.

Heaven will be a very happy place because we will meet those who, in the past, were part of our Sunday School class or our families. People like, Claude Brown, Bob Emmert, Pearl Gentry, Keenan Pettyjohn. There are many who were such an encouragement to us, who we are looking forward to seeing in heaven.

Many, if not all of us, can remember people who made an impact on our lives, like:

o A grandmother,
o A Sunday School teachers,
o A pastor
o A friend who had the gift of encouragement,
o A school mate who really lived like a Christian,
o A person you did not know, but overheard talking to a friend about Jesus.

I have been very fortunate in my life. I haven't had many from my family who have gone on before me to heaven. All my grandparents, one of whom I have not met, will be there. Only my father from my immediate family.

When I think of friendship where there is no common relationship with Jesus, it saddens me. They are like old clocks, winding down with each tick, destined to ultimately stop. The mainspring is forever broken, never to be wound again. My relationship with my father was not like that. His death was not an end to our friendship. It was only an interruption.

Our time on earth is the preliminaries, not the main event. The short time spent here is but the tune-up, not the concert. The friendships that began on earth will resume and thrive in a far better world, a world for which we were made, a world of wonders beyond our wildest dreams. That's the world where my dad and Paula's grandmother now live.

Every joy on earth - including the joy of reunion - is but an inkling, a whisper of yet greater Joy. Niagara Falls, Lake Victoria, the Grand Canyon, the world's great mountains and coastlines, all these will prove to be but rough sketches of the beauty of heaven. The best parts of the old world were sneak previews of our home above. It is like licking the beaters from mom's mixer after she prepares the frosting for the cake she has baked.

Won't it be wonderful to be in Heaven, and have a chance to be reunited with friends? Just over in the Glory Land, there will be a reunion of:

o mothers and babies,
o fathers and sons,
o husbands and wives,
o brothers and sisters.

Pastor Richard Baxter, back in the 1600's wrote,

"I must confess, as the experience of my soul, that the expectation of loving my friends in heaven kindles my love to them on earth. If I thought that I should never know them, and, consequently, never love them, after this life is ended, I should in reason number them as temporal things here and love them as such."

Dr. William Graham Scroggie said,

"We cannot possibly exaggerate the blessedness of heaven, nor can our imagination stretch to the full measure of its wonder."

The world often has a negative view of heaven. They see it as a perpetual prayer meeting, or a playing of a harp on a cloud, and they conclude it is perpetual boredom. Christians need to convey that heaven is really the fulfillment of all the joys we only taste here. Recognition and reunion are aspects of heaven that even the world can appreciate.

When D. L. Moody (1837 - 1899) was dying, it appeared that his spirit had departed, and so everyone left the room. When they heard a noise, they returned and found him with his eye open. One of them began to pray for him, but Moody asked him to refrain and said;

..."do not pray that I may live. I have seen Dwight and Irene (2 of his grandchildren who had died); I have seen the face of Jesus, and I am satisfied. Earth is receding; heaven is opening; God is calling me; this is my coronation day."

If something like this (seeing into heaven) happened only once, we could dismiss it, but it has happened to numerous saints of God on their death beds.

John R. Rice tells of standing around the bed of his mother as she was dying. He states she said, "I can see Jesus and my baby now."

Yes, Heaven will be a place of reunion.

Martin Luther lost his girl, Magdalena, and he wrote:

"As Adam, when he awoke from sleep, recognized the newly created Eve at once as flesh of his flesh….even so and far better shall we, who have been renewed in Christ, recognize one another there."

Raymond Shaffer, in his book After the Rapture, asks:

"Will there will be families in heaven or will the Rapture be the great divorce, alienating life-long marriage partners and splitting happy families."

For me, there is absolutely no doubt. We will all recognize our families and loved ones in heaven. I believe we will also know those we have not known in this life.

One thing that is true of earthly family reunion is also true of our heavenly reunion. At family reunions, we like to eat. Of all things to which Jesus could have compared heaven to, He chose to compare it with a great feast. The image of the kingdom is that of a vast hall for feasting and joy, all blazing with light. Far from being cold, antiseptic or the silence of a monastery or library, heaven is pictured as a wonderful banquet, filled with happy laughter. It is a time filled with the warmth of friendship.

Matthew 22:1-4 (NIV)

1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying:
2 "The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.
3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.
4 "Then he sent some more servants and said, 'Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.'

Most of us have never been to an earthly feast of this magnitude. The common Jewish wedding was celebrated over a period of seven days. A royal wedding would go far beyond that.

Jesus is trying to describe to us the wonder, magnificence, joy, splendor and abundance of heaven. This will be a feast in which no corners will be cut and no expense spared. Fellowship in churches on earth, around Christ, is but a foretaste of fellowship in heaven.

God doesn't view Christianity or eternal life as an invitation to miss out on the fun things of life. Rather, what God offers is an invitation to joy, warmth, happiness, and more blessings than you can imagine. Heaven is revealed as a social place, where enjoyment and fellowship will occur.

Yes, one of the benefits of heaven will be to meet many long-time friends and family members. We will sit and reminisce common memories.

We also, however, need to keep in mind the words of William Barclay (1907 - 1978) who produced a popular New Testament commentary set. He expressed the conviction that reunion and recognition would happen in heaven. But he adds a curious twist to the heavenly meeting. He wrote in his spiritual autobiography:

"I have never been able to see in this only the joy of meeting again those whom we have loved and lost awhile. We shall have to meet again those whom we have wronged; those to whom we have been disloyal; those whom we have hurt; those whom we have deceived. There will be no doubt the reuniting of love, but there will also be confrontation with truth. The one thing that haunted Paul long after he had become an apostle was that he had been a persecutor (Gal. 1:13); 1 Cor. 5:9; 1 Tim. 1:13). When they were put to death, he said of the Christians, "I cast my vote against them" (Acts 26:10).

F. W. B. Meyer makes Paul think of this in his poem "Saint Paul," as he remembers the death of the saints for which he was responsible:

Saints, did I say? With your remembered faces,
Dear men and women whom I sought and slew
Ah, when we mingle in the heavenly places,
How will I weep to Stephen and to you."

Yes, we will see and recognize our friends and family members. I don't think there is any doubt of that. But we will also encounter those whom we may not have liked so well. We may again meet some of those we have wronged, or have wronged us.

We have said a lot concerning the great reunion that will occur in heaven. And yet, personally, neither my father, or Bible character, or the great saints of the ages, hold top priority in my desire for fellowship in the New Jerusalem.

I long to see Jesus! It is He who took my place on the cross. He died the death which I deserved. He alone delivered me from sin - and purchased my salvation. And now, He has chosen to live with me forever. He is the One who made Heaven possible.

D. L. Moody penned these words:

The light of heaven is the face of Jesus
The joy of heaven is the presence of Jesus
The melody of heaven is the name of Jesus
The harmony of heaven is the praise of Jesus
The theme of heaven is the work of Jesus
The employment of heaven is the service of Jesus
The duration of heaven is the eternity of Jesus
The fullness of heaven is Jesus Himself!

Although I have not seen Him, I love Him. He has become the theme of my song, the expression of my confession, the joy of my life, the basis of my blessings, and the foundation of my hope of heaven.

Most importantly, Christ is going to be there with us in heaven, in the holy city. He is now in heaven with the Father, but one day He will come and get us and take us away to those heavenly mansions.

Revelation 21:3-4 NKJV

3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.
4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."

What is going to make heaven so delightful? It won't be the pearly gates. It won't be the jasper walls. It won't be the golden streets. It will be that we shall behold the King in all His beauty and see His face. Our relationship with Christ will be an intimate one. God's house will be a happy home because Christ is there. He will be the center of attention in heaven.

Revelation 7:17 (NIV)

17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water.

There will be no temple in the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:22). Ancient cities were filled with temples, where men attempted to reach out to God. In heaven there will be no need for a temple, for God's people will live in His presence and praise Him continually. There will be no "dry periods" in our spiritual existence, for we will live in unbroken communion with our Lord.

The era of God and man walking and talking together in Paradise's garden, which was lost through Adam's fall, will be restored again, and God's original purpose of creation will be realized and much more. Fellowship between Creator and creature with complete understanding.

Now we only sing about it: "Face to face I shall behold Him," "And He walks with me, and He talks with me," "And I shall see him face to face." But, in heaven we will experience it, and much more.

Conclusion

The real issue is not will there be recognition in heaven, but, rather, will I see you in heaven? This is the most important question of all. Here is a wonderful truth: God has made it easy for you to go to heaven. He did the hard part when he sent His Son to die on the Cross for you and me. You can only be assured of this by trusting in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. This, and this alone, can guarantee that you will be involved in the joys of recognition in heaven.

Jesus said, in John 10:6, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Jesus also said, in John 10:9, "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved."

Jesus is not only the only way to heaven. He is also the door through which you can enter that glorious place. One of our most beloved hymns puts it this way:

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
but wholly lean on Jesus' name.
On Christ the solid rock I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

That really says it all. If you want to go to heaven, you must base your hope on the solid rock, Jesus Christ. Are you standing on the Rock this morning.

Last Updated: Wednesday September 07 2011
©2001 John's Notes