Will We Recognize Our Loved Ones in Heaven?

Will we recognize our loved ones in heaven? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Hi, this is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. You can call us right now with your question at 833-THE-CORE. You can also post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts.

You can watch us on YouTube, and you can email us with your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. Well, our nation is in mourning again today after that tragic shooting a couple of weeks ago in Atlanta, now another tragic shooting in Boulder, Colorado. Ten people, including a police officer, have lost their lives. Adriel, I'm wondering if we could just start off this morning by praying for the families of those victims.

Yeah, absolutely. And so often, Bill, there just are no words. And typically, in situations like this, I think that the Psalms are a good place for us to turn as the people of God, in particular the Psalms of lament, to make those our prayers. And I'm thinking right now of Psalm 13, where the psalmist, David, said, How long, O Lord, will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

Consider and answer me, O Lord my God. Light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death. Lest my enemies say, I have prevailed over him. Lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

But I have trusted in Your steadfast love. My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord because He has dealt bountifully with me. And I think that prayer of David, How long, O Lord, is one that we can all identify with when we experience and hear about the terrible suffering that exists in the world. So let's pray, Lord, we do ask that You would be with those families of the victims who have been so devastated by these acts of violence and hatred. We cry out, Lord, How long. We pray, Lord, that You would bring about justice and that You would bring about healing and peace for those who are hurting. Give Your Church wisdom, Lord, in these times, and help us to be faithful to You, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. Thank you so much for that, Adriel. Well, if you have a question for Pastor Adriel about the Bible or the Christian life, now you can call for the next 25 minutes or so.

We'd love to talk to you. John from St. Louis is on the phone. Hi, John, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Hey, John, are you there?

Yes, go ahead. John, what's your question, brother? There's these two people, 164 and 165, and they got married, but they didn't have no paperwork, but they had a preacher as a witness, and they had a witness, the preacher and the witness, and they said their vows together, and they got married, and now they read Romans 12 or 13, and they don't think they're married with no paperwork, no certificate. Are they or are they not? Is there any reason specifically why they didn't want to get the paperwork done and do it through the state, John?

Yes. One of them's husband died five years ago, and the railroad, if they got married, they'd lose their pension that they got from their husband that passed away. Well, look, ordinarily, I actually just performed a wedding this last weekend on Saturday, and ordinarily, it's something that is done through the state, and having the church involved is really important as well. So I would say in ordinary circumstances, it's important that we approach it that way. One concern that I have is when people just sort of do the, hey, we're going to be married in the eyes of God kind of a thing. We'll have a friend perform the wedding or something like that. There's something deeper to marriage than just a personal decision that we make on a whim. This is a contract, if you will.

We might even say a covenant before God that is legally binding. Having the involvement of the paperwork, I think that is important. Now, ordinarily, that's how it should be. There are some circumstances where that's just not possible.

Are there extraordinary circumstances? Sure, maybe. But I would encourage them to basically cover all the bases and to approach it in that way. Usually, a lot of times, there's fear involved, or I talk to a lot of young people who say, why can't we just go off and be married, that kind of a thing. Why do we have to get other people involved? Part of it is really valuing and seeing that marriage is more than just a decision that we make on a whim. That's, frankly, something that I think is key, really important for us to understand today. A lot of people, when they think about love and they think about marriage, it's just something we enter into because we really like each other a lot.

They don't view it as having this binding contractual component to it, and yet in Scripture, it always does. That would be my counsel to you. I don't know their situation specifically, John, and frankly, I would want to trust the pastor if they're a part of a local church and he's the one who's overseeing them and has walked them through this, but I would say, ordinarily, they ought to do it through the state as well. Thank you very much for your question, brother. Thank you so much, John, for your call and for listening to CORE Christianity.

Let's go to Leroy calling in from Victorville, California. Leroy, what's your question for Pastor Adrian? Yeah, my question is, how do I know if a son is from God? Because the other day I had seen some stuff, like I was praying to God or I was talking to him, and on my bed, I had seen Jesus holding a lamb, not like an actual picture of him, but it was like within my blankets. I can't really explain it, but I took pictures and I was looking at it, and I just want to know if that was from God or from not God.

Yeah. Hey, Leroy, well, sometimes I think it could be. There are providential instances in our lives where God really does do something to get our attention, and I don't know if that's what you are experiencing or if what you thought you saw in your blankets was a sign from God. I can point you to the ultimate sign from God, which is Jesus as he's revealed to us in his word. The fact of the matter is, Leroy, God is speaking to us more than we think. A lot of people, I think, are looking for God to speak to them through these sort of signs, like what you just mentioned, but the reality is, day by day, God is speaking to us. He's speaking to you, Leroy, through the world around you, the created order. The Bible tells us that the very world around us testifies to the fact that God is real, that he made all things, that he's all powerful. God also speaks to you through his word. If you want a clear picture of Jesus and of the will of God for you and for your salvation, you look to the word.

Now, sometimes, as I mentioned, there are things that happen in our lives, these sort of providential occurrences that do grab our attention, and maybe that's what this was so that you'd call in, and so that I could point you, Leroy, to the Scriptures, because it's there that God is speaking to us, speaking to you most clearly. Leroy, would you call yourself a Christian? I mean, are you part of a church? Yeah, I am a Christian because I believe in Christ, and I just recently gave myself to him. Like, I've always believed in God, but I never really followed him, and I just haven't started to go to church.

I don't know, I feel like there's certain things holding me back, but I do plan on starting to go to church and just continue to follow in God, so I do consider myself Christian. Yeah, well, and faith is the key component. We are saved by faith. We have a relationship with Jesus by faith, and maybe one of the reasons, again, thinking about God's providence, that you're even calling in right now, so that I can encourage you to get plugged into a local fellowship where you're going to continue to grow and have Jesus placarded before you through sound Bible teaching, where you can be a part of a community of Christians, where you can be served and you can use your gifts to serve the body. God intends for each and every one of us, Leroy, to be a part of a church. When we're united to Jesus by faith, when you have faith in Jesus, you're also united to the rest of his body. The apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 12, he talks about this. He says each one of us are members of the body of Christ. We all play different roles, and so it's really important, it's vitally important that you get plugged into a good Bible-believing church.

We have actually a couple of resources over at corechristianity.com that really outline what kind of a church you ought to look for in terms of a place where you're going to be able to grow in your faith. But going back to your initial question, I just want you to know God is speaking to you. I don't know whether that experience you had was a sign from God per se, but I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is speaking to you where? In his word. And so open up the scriptures and continue to grow in your knowledge of God and what he calls you to, and ultimately in your knowledge of Jesus and who he is and what he's done for you. Thank you so much for calling us, brother. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. So glad you mentioned that resource we have about finding a good church, so critical for every one of us to get plugged into a fellowship with other believers. And so you can find that at our show notes page at corechristianity.com.

Let's go to Callie from New Jersey. Callie, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Hi, I was wondering if hanging out with unbelievers is good, like a lot of time together, because I'm sort of a new believer, and I have a lot of unbeliever friends and I hang out with them a lot. And I feel like I could reflect Christ to them and bring them to Christ whenever I hang out with them, but I often always end up acting like them because of fear, so I was wondering if I should spend a lot of time with them or spend more time with believers. Yeah.

Callie, thank you so much for that question. I remember when I was a newer Christian and I started walking with Jesus when I was in high school, and all of my friends basically at that time were not Christians. And actually what I did, and I'm not saying that this was the right thing, I thought essentially that what I needed to do was cut off all of those relationships and only have Christian friends, that kind of a thing. And in hindsight I look back at that and I just think, oh man, I don't know that that was the right approach, but at the same time we also know, according to the teaching of scripture, that the company that we keep does have a powerful influence in our lives. The apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, quoting from the Old Testament, bad company, evil company can corrupt good habits. And so I think that this is a real question of wisdom here. The Lord can and will use you to shine the light of Jesus to the people around you.

And the reality is, we can't just totally cut ourselves off from the outside world, and I don't think that we should. And Paul makes this point in 1 Corinthians 5, when he's writing to the Corinthians, he said, I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people, not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. In other words, as followers of Christ, we're not called to just sort of go be hermits on our own, or just identify and associate with Christians. Just think about Jesus himself, and the way in which he engaged with the people around him. Now here's the important thing that you need to know about Jesus though, is when he was around quote-unquote non-believers, those who rejected the truth of God's word, he wasn't changed by them, instead he always changed the atmosphere. They were drawn into the presence of God just by being with him.

And he would challenge them, but he also extended a great deal of grace and mercy and compassion to them. And I think ultimately that model, the model of Christ himself is what we should strive for, but as I said, there's wisdom here that you have to consider in thinking about, okay, when I'm around these friends, am I helping impact them for Jesus, or are they pulling me down? And maybe right now I'm in a place in my life as a newer believer where I really need to grow in my own faith, in relationships with other believers that are going to build me up in my understanding of God's word, in my confidence in what the Lord has said. And so I think, one, you have to have that.

If you don't have that kind of Christian fellowship, you need to have that, but we have that kind of fellowship with the body of Christ so that we can love our neighbors, whether they believe in Jesus or not. And so I think this is something, Callie, that you're going to need to pray about. You're going to need to say, Lord, give me wisdom. Maybe there are friendships, relationships that I ought to pull back from because they're temptations for me. But also praying, Lord, help me to be compassionate and loving and to extend your grace and your light to people who don't know you, people who maybe disagree with me and my newfound faith. And so I'm not giving you a yes, sort of separate yourself answer all the way, or the opposite. I'm saying, look, exercise wisdom. Strive to be like Christ in loving the people who are different than you and even believe differently than you.

But make sure that you're plugged into solid Christian community where you can have the support that you need in order to love your neighbors like you should. Thanks for your question, Callie. Some great advice for Callie, Adriel. I'm reminded of that Proverb, Proverbs 13 20, which says, whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm. So we do have to be careful who we're hanging out with, especially right when you were teenagers and were impressionable. And she even talked about, you know, sometimes going along with the crowd because of fear and anxiety.

So a tough place to be, but great advice. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. And if you're a regular listener of this program and you believe in what we do, we'd like to invite you to join what we call our inner core. Yes, the inner core is really part of our support base.

It's how we keep this broadcast going. And for a monthly donation of $25 or more, you can join the inner core, be a part of our team. Really, if you've been blessed by Core Christianity, if you've been encouraged by the answers that you hear Monday through Friday, real practical questions about the Christian faith, about what it means to walk with Jesus, would you consider joining the inner core? And all our inner core members get a copy of Core Christianity, Finding Yourself in God's Story. Again, just an excellent resource digging into the core doctrines of the Christian faith. And we have other exclusive content for inner core members. And so consider joining the inner core and thank you so much for your support. Here's how you do it.

Just go to corechristianity.com forward slash inner core to find out more about joining, getting a copy of Dr. Michael Horton's book, Core Christianity. Right now, let's go to a voicemail that came in. And by the way, here's the number you can call 24 hours a day if you want to leave a voicemail.

It's 833-THE-CORE. God bless you, and thank you so much for the great work you're doing. I learned so much from you. My question is, why do people say they're going to see their loved ones again? I'm confused because Jesus said at the resurrection, we're going to be like angels.

There will be no given in marriage. So how are we going to see our loved ones again? Could you explain that to me? God bless you. Yeah.

Thank you so much for your encouragement and for that question. You know, we've gotten this question before. Are we going to recognize our loved ones in heaven or in the new creation? And I think that the answer is yes.

Actually, I think that that's something that we can be certain of. Jesus in Matthew 8, verses 11 and 12, he talks about the kingdom of heaven. It's sort of in the context of a centurion who trusted in Christ.

And Jesus is praising, essentially, this centurion. And he talks about those who are going to come and experience the kingdom of heaven. And in that context, Jesus said, truly, I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into outer darkness. There he was talking about the religious leaders who essentially rejected the gospel. So the first part of that passage says, you know, people are going to come and they're going to be sitting down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And you just think about that, right?

Like feasting with the patriarchs, if you will. If we can recognize them, then surely we'll be able to recognize our loved ones, those who have died in Christ. And the reality is you can't love someone without truly knowing them, without truly seeing them as it were. And in heaven, in the new creation, we're going to have perfect love for each other.

And also, I would say, in one sense, a perfect knowledge of each other. Paul said, 1 Corinthians chapter 13, beginning in verse 9, for we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.

When I became a man, I gave up childish things. Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then, that is when we're in the presence of the Lord, then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide these three, but the greatest of these is love in heaven. In the new creation, ultimately, we're going to have perfect love. Not just perfect love for God, but perfect love for each other and perfect knowledge. And so I think we are going to be able to recognize each other and enjoy one another's company in the presence of the Lord, worshiping God for all eternity.

Thank you so much for that question. And of course, one of the hopes we have being glorified is we'll be sinless at that point, so we'll probably get along a lot better. Yeah, amen. And that's absolutely right, something that we all can look forward to.

I mean, the author of the Hebrews says that the souls of believers in the presence of the Lord are made perfect in holiness, that the souls of the righteous are made perfect there in the presence of the Lord. And boy, I mean, we're talking about the sin and the evil that we see in the world today, how we long for that. Amen. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and let's go to Isaac calling in from Pilot Mountain, North Carolina. Isaac, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Hey, guys, first of all, thank you so much for taking my call. I really enjoyed the podcast.

Thank you so much for what you do. My question is about 2 Timothy 2.15, where Paul talks about rightly dividing the word of truth. I was just looking for a way to better understand that idea of rightly dividing the word of truth and dispensations. He talks about dispensation of grace and everything.

Yeah, that's great. So here the Apostle Paul, these are the pastoral epistles, and he's writing to his son in the faith, Timothy, this young elder preacher in the church, and he's encouraging him, and he's encouraging him. I'm going to begin in verse 14. Remember, remind them of these things and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers.

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth, but avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness. And so here the Apostle Paul is calling Timothy to handle the scriptures rightly, to rightly divide the word of truth. And over and over again, one of the things that we see in the pastoral epistles is this charge to hold fast, to guard the deposit of the gospel that was handed down from Jesus to the apostles and from the apostles to the churches that they planted.

It's so important for us, Isaac, to hold fast to what we might call core Christianity, to the essence of the gospel, and that's what Paul wants Timothy to hold fast to, and that's what Paul's encouraging Timothy to hand on to the people that he's training and encouraging in the faith as well. And so part of this has to do, you mentioned that word dispensation, which is just this idea that God has governed his people in different ways over long periods of time or over different sort of stages of redemptive history. You see that at various places in the scriptures, but what we need to understand if we're thinking about the sort of big picture of the Bible is that the entire story of God, Isaac, points us to one grand reality, and that reality centers on Jesus, on his redemptive work for us. From the very beginning of the Bible, Isaac, in Genesis chapter 3 verse 15, you have this promise that the seed of the woman is going to crush the head of the serpent, and that promise is traced throughout the entire Bible as God is calling people to himself and giving them these pictures, essentially, of his plan of salvation, even in the Old Testament with the sort of shadowy types of the tabernacle and the temple and the sacrifices, all of those things, everything is pointing us to Jesus. And this is why Jesus could say in John chapter 5 to the religious leaders, you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, but these are the very scriptures that testify of me. If you believed Moses, you would believe me because Moses wrote about me. How do we rightly divide the word of truth?

We realize who's at the center. Jesus is at the center, and when we understand God's word, we see all of scripture leading us to Jesus by the hand so that we might know him and experience eternal life. So what an encouragement for each of us, not just to study the Bible, but to really understand what it is that we're reading, what it is that we're studying. This is why we think core Christianity is so important, because we need to know God's word so that we can understand it in its context so that we might be led to Jesus and experience his grace. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program, and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.