No Strangers in Heaven

 

And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.”

(Matthew 8:11)

 

I have often been asked, “Will we know one another in heaven?” Unless I am terribly mistaken in my understanding of Holy Scripture, the answer is obvious. God’s saints in heaven are engaged in constant, uninterrupted fellowship with their Triune God, with one another and with the holy angels. A casual reading of the book of Revelation conveys the idea that God’s saints will forever discuss with one another and with the heavenly angels the wonders of covenant mercy, the ministry of the angelic hosts, redeeming love, saving grace, and divine providence. Yes, all God’s saints will see and know one another in that glorious world of bliss.

 

      Just before he died, someone asked Martin Luther, “Sir, will we know one another in the other world?” Luther answered, “As Adam knew Eve to be bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh by the revelation of God, though he had never seen her before, so shall the saints of God know one another in heaven.” As the apostles knew Moses and Elijah on the mount with Christ, though they had never seen them, or even a picture or description of them before, so shall we know the saints of God in heaven. In heaven we will know parents, wives, husbands, children, and friends far more perfectly than ever we knew them on the earth.

 

      There will be no strangers in heaven. If there were a stranger in the heavenly company, freedom and joy would be greatly hindered. Who is free around a stranger? In heaven’s glory when the bodies of God’s saints are raised up to glory we shall see and know one another and all God’s saints. When we sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, we shall all see Christ in all his glory and the Bride, the Lamb’s wife, in all the beauty which he has given her. We shall see and know every believer. And we shall love and esteem them all perfectly.

 

 

 

Don Fortner

 

 

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