How We Will Relate to Others in Heaven

When we get to heaven, we're going to be made like Jesus Christ.

It doesn't say the angels sit on a throne and it's fair to conclude that as the angels have been servants of God on behalf of those who have salvation in this life, they will throughout eternal glory serve us in some glorious way when we have been lifted to take our place on the throne of God with Christ. Thanks for being here for the Thursday edition of Grace to You with John MacArthur as he continues his study called, When We All Get to Heaven. You know, just mentioning that title brings to mind Eliza Hewitt's famous hymn by that same name. You know the chorus, When We All Get to Heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory. The tragic thing is, many people aren't living their lives focused on that great moment of victory.

Maybe that's even you. Perhaps you rarely think about the glorious future that awaits you. So what can you do to increase your desire for your eternal home? How can you make sure your hope is in heaven and not on the things of this earth? John MacArthur tackles those issues today as he looks specifically at how believers will relate to each other in heaven.

And with that, here's John. There seems to be a significant amount of indifference toward the glory of our future. There is minimal interest in what God has prepared for them that love Him and a whole lot of preoccupation with how Jesus is supposed to fix life here and make it idyllic. That is really not what the Bible promises us at all. Our great hope is ahead of us in the glory of heaven. And we've been talking about the doctrine of glorification.

We've been talking about the future for believers. Science comes out of the dissecting room, scalpel in hand, to report its failure to find anything in the human organism that bears the mark of immortality. No surgeon has sliced anybody open and found the immortal soul, the eternal spirit. That immortal spirit, that true person, no scalpel has ever laid bare, nor will it, no microscope has ever seen. It has no material components, yet it exists and it is sovereign and it conducts itself sovereignly over all matter. That spirit thinks, that spirit reasons, that spirit plans, it wills, it loves, it hates, it hears, it sees, it enjoys, it feels, it suffers.

And it has the ability to reach into the realm of matter and subdue it to all of those purposes. It is the spirit that uses the mechanism of the body to think and to feel and to speak and to act. It is the spirit of the man that uses the brain and uses the senses and uses the muscles and uses the limbs and uses the faculty. It is that spirit in which the brain has no real part, for it will die, in which the senses have no real part, for they will disappear, in which the muscles and the limbs and the faculties of the body have no part, it is that living spirit that is forever, immaterial , undiscernible, invisible and real, part of what it means to be created in the image of God who is that eternal spirit.

It would be as ridiculous to say that God does not exist because He cannot be seen as it is to say that you do not exist because that which is your true self is invisible. Every living person is an eternal soul, every living person is an eternal spirit. The operative word there is eternal. Every one who has ever lived will always live. No one goes out of existence. Everyone whom God has created is eternal.

We are all designed to live forever and will indeed. It is God, Zacharias said, chapter 12 verse 1, who forms the spirit of man within him. And that spirit of man is an everlasting spirit, everlastingly self-conscious, everlastingly able to reason and think and feel and understand, everlastingly alive. It is the spirit of a man, Job 32, 8 says, it is in the spirit of the man that the breath of the Almighty has given understanding. This is self-consciousness.

This is understanding. To be a human being is to have self-consciousness. It is to exist and know you exist. It is to think and know you think. It is to reason and know you reason and why you reason and to what you reason. It is to feel and know you feel. It is to love and know you love.

It is to hate and know you hate. That's what self-consciousness means. And that will never change. None of us will ever go into an unconscious state. None of us will ever go into some kind of condition of soul sleep in which we feel nothing, think nothing, reason nothing, have no idea about what is reality around us. In 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 11, Paul says, who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? We are self-conscious. It is the spirit of a man that knows what's in the man.

It is that immaterial part of you that is not matter, that is not visible, that cannot be seen, that is conscious of its very existence and conscious as well of its opportunity to use the physical faculty to express itself. We are eternal spirits. Every one of us will live consciously forever. When Job asked the question in Job 14, 14, if a man dies, shall he live again?

The answer is, of course, yes...a resounding yes. You will live forever. One will live forever.

There have been through the years philosophers who spoke and wrote on this, I remember reading one of the earlier presidents of Yale University who had the idea that there had to be an afterlife because there was the tug of the afterlife in the human spirit. And he described it as if it were a blind boy flying a kite and though the blind boy couldn't see the kite, he could feel the tug of the string in his hand as the wind pulled against the kite. And he said, every mortal being feels the tug of immortality. How can you explain why the Egyptians made solar boats so people could float across the mystic river into the next life?

Or why Indians buried their braves with their ponies so they could ride through the happy hunting ground? Or why the Greeks put a silver coin in the mouth of someone who died so they could pay their fare across the river of death into the land of life? There is the sense of immortality that tugs at the soul. But there's more than that, there's the testimony of the Word of the living God. And this is absolute, this is not something that is some kind of indefinable tug, this is fact as articulated by God Himself. In John chapter 5 is a good place to look at this, very familiar verse, do not marvel at this, an hour is coming in which all who are in the tomb shall hear His voice and shall come forth. Everybody who's ever died and whose body has now disintegrated into whatever location, be it earth or sea, everybody will hear the voice of the Son of God, the Son of Man in this text, and come forth, some to a resurrection of life, others to a resurrection of judgment, but in both cases it is a resurrection so that, we've already spoken of this, not only is the soul eternal, but that soul will be accommodated in its eternal existence by a resurrection body. There will be in the future at the return of Christ at the time of resurrection a body joining the soul of all the redeemed, the spirits of just men made perfect, as Hebrews 12 says now in heaven, will receive at that time a body to go with that already perfected spirit in which they will then serve the Lord forever in the eternal state. Same with the unredeemed, they will receive a body fitted for the eternal lake of fire which is the final form of hell into which they will be cast at that time in the future.

We will live forever, we will all live forever, we will all live forever consciously, self-consciously, aware of our surroundings and aware of our response to those surroundings and we will all live forever with a body suited for our surroundings. In the case of those who were raised to life, there will be a body like the resurrection body of Jesus Christ that can absorb all the glories of eternity and manifest our eternal spirit through that glorified body in praise and in service and in communion with God and all the redeemed. To those who are given a body fit for hell, it will be a body suited to feel the agonies of that eternal judgment. Here we are in earth and Randy Alcorn said this, Earth is an in-between world touched by both heaven and hell. Earth leads directly into heaven or directly into hell, affording a choice between the two. The best of life on earth is a glimpse of heaven, the worst of life is a glimpse of hell. For Christians, this present life is the closest they will come to hell. For unbelievers, it is the closest they will come to heaven.

And so we will live forever. We will also talk about reprobation, we will talk about what awaits those who do not know God, what awaits those who will be punished for their own sins forever. But we're talking in this study about glorification, we're talking about the future for those who are saved, who have been justified, are being sanctified and will be glorified. And the last couple of discussions about our future salvation, we have been kind of launched from 1 Peter chapter 1, this little phrase, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Live your life fixed on the future. Another way of saying that is Colossians 3, set your affections on things above and not on things on the earth. Another way of saying that, the words of the Apostle Paul, very wonderful words which really summed up his whole approach to life. This one thing I do.

I love it when people can reduce it to one. Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. I live with a view to being called up face to face with the Lord Jesus.

I live with a heavenly perspective. That's what we're to do. We're to live with a fixed hope. We're to live in the light of hope, let the things that happen in this world fall where they will. They are not worthy to be compared with that glory which awaits us.

The sufferings of this life are trivial, they are meager, they are insignificant compared to the weight of glory. And we've talked about all that which God has for us in His presence. Now that brings us to the remaining issue of what's it going to be like? What will heaven be like?

And I don't have any inside scoop on this, folks. All I know is what the Bible says, but there's a lot more there than maybe you thought on the surface. Let's ask what will be our relation to other occupants of heaven? What will be our relation to other occupants of heaven? What about angels? That's going to be our relationship to angels when we get there.

Look at Hebrews chapter 12 and we're going to do a little bit of a Bible study here, not going to linger long on any text because I have about a hundred of them here and that would be too long. But if you will remember Hebrews chapter 12 which we read in our Scripture reading this morning, you will remember that when we come to the city of the living God, verse 22, when we come to the heavenly Jerusalem, we come to myriads of angels as well as the general assembly and church of the firstborn who enrolled in heaven, the spirits of just men made perfect. When we come to heaven, we come to the dwelling place of the holy angels, the elect angels as Scripture calls them.

We will then, first of all, fellowship with angels. They are eternal spirits. They do not have bodies in heaven, they are given bodies on occasion on earth for certain functions of interfacing with people.

When God needed to give angels bodies, He gave them bodies so that they could be seen or could carry out their responsibilities in some fashion in a body so that there are times when angels have appeared and men have not known it, Hebrews 13 says, they appear unawares. But in heaven they will be what they originally were created to be, they will be spirits. And yet there will be fellowship that we enjoy with them. We will come to myriads of angels, that's simply saying multiple thousands of angels, the whole of the heavenly host will be there joining with us in the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, the New Jerusalem, the capital city of the eternal state. We will also...go back to Luke 15 for just a moment...we will also find there that we will participate with them in shared joy. This fellowship is defined at this point, it is defined as joy. You remember verse 7 after Jesus told the story about the shepherd who went and found the lost sheep. He says in verse 7, I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance. The joy of heaven is related to the salvation of sinners. The one in heaven who launches that joy is none other than God Himself. But notice in verse 10, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. And so, we're going to be in heaven joining with the angels in a celebration of joy over our own salvation.

The angels are already celebrating it, the angels are already rejoicing in the presence of God along with God. God is the source of this joy. It is the joy, as we learn in the story of the tale of two sons, it is the joy of the Father in the recovery of the sinner. It is the Father's joy that sets the party in motion.

It is a celebration to join with the Father in His joy. And in heaven, the angels will join in the joy of the Father as they do now and we will also join in the joy of the Father and our own joy over the grace that has brought us there. And remember what we said in 1 Peter 1, 13, fix your hope on the grace to be revealed. Heaven is an eternal grace, we will never be worthy of it, not then, not now, not ever. It will be then a grace and we will celebrate with joy this eternal grace and the angels will celebrate with us sharing the very joy of a loving Father in rescuing sinners. Turn to Revelation chapter 4 and you'll see something more of the communion which we will enjoy with angels. It will be a fellowship, it will be a fellowship of joy and it will be a fellowship of praise.

Very magnificent language here that is familiar to us. Chapter 4 is a scene of the throne of God in heaven, a magnificent scene, twenty-four elders are there, representatives of the redeemed sitting in their white garments, having been crowned. I see this, as you know, as the redeemed church. And then you see the throne of God and the glory coming from it. But there are four living creatures who appear, these are obviously angelic creatures.

They are magnificent creatures. They in verse 9 give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever. They surround the throne of God with mighty praise. The twenty-four elders also fall down before Him who sits on the throne and will worship Him who lives forever and ever and cast their crowns before the throne and say, worthy art Thou our Lord and our God to receive glory and honor and power.

They're doing the same thing the angels are doing, for that is create all things and because of Thy will they exist and were created. So here we will join with the angels in this great paean of praise. Drop down into chapter 5 and again you see a picture of praise. Verse 8, the four living creatures who represent the angels, the twenty-four elders representing the redeemed, they all fall down before the Lamb. The new song is sung by the redeemed, worthy art Thou, speaking of Christ, to take the book and break its seals for Thou has slain and purchased for God with Thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation and Thou has made them to be a kingdom and priest to our God and reign upon the earth. This is the saints celebrating the glory of God for their salvation and then in verse 11, John in his vision says, I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands, innumerable angels, all of them along with the redeemed saying with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing and every created thing which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea and all things in them, I heard saying to Him who sits on the throne and the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever and the four living creatures kept saying, Amen, and the elders fell down and worshiped." This composite, glorious, eternal praise, shared fellowship, shared joy, shared praise.

Everything seems to be a shared joy in heaven between the redeemed and the angels. However, it is interesting for us to take a look at one passage of Scripture, 1 Corinthians chapter 6, 1 Corinthians chapter 6 which says in verse 3 that we shall judge angels...we shall judge angels. Paul is wondering why it is that believers would take their disputes to unregenerate law courts when the saints someday will judge the world. That's talking about the Millennial Kingdom. And if the world is one day to be judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law court? Can't you take care of your own deal? If you're going to be the ones who judge the world and you're going to judge angels?

He doesn't describe what exactly that means. There's certainly not going to be any rendering of negative judgment on holy angels, but in some way, perhaps in the Millennial glory to come, we're going to render divine verdicts on behalf of the judge of all the earth and the one to whom judgment has been committed, Jesus Christ, on those angels who have fallen and corrupted the heavens and the earth. But that's the fallen angels. What about the holy angels? Well in Hebrews chapter 1, the last verse says that the angels are ministering spirits set out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation. We are...we are even now being served by angels. You say, but will we be served by angels when we get to heaven? Well when we get to heaven, we're going to be made like Jesus Christ.

Is that not true? We're going to sit on the throne with Christ. It doesn't say the angels sit on a throne, it never says the angels are crowned with anything. And it's fair to conclude that as the angels have been servants of God on behalf of those who have salvation in this life, they will throughout eternal glory serve us in some glorious way. And we have been, as it were, lifted to take our place on the throne of God with Christ. He was during His incarnation for a little time made lower than the angels. But now He is exalted far above them and we have been exalted to sit in His throne with Him.

You say, well what does that exactly mean? What are we going to be telling Him to do? Well what we will be telling them to do is that which they are created to do, which they long to do, which they love to do, which they rejoice to do and which will perfectly serve the divine purposes of God through us. This is Grace to You with John MacArthur.

Thanks for being with us. Along with teaching each day on radio, John also serves as pastor of Grace Community Church and he's chancellor of the Master's University and Seminary. He's titled our current study, When We All Get to Heaven. Well today John talked about the relationship believers will have with each other in heaven.

But John, here's a question that comes up all the time. What sort of relationship do believers in heaven have with people on earth right now? I mean, how much do people in heaven know about what's going on on earth?

Nothing. They don't know anything about what's going on on earth. That's actually a comfort.

Well of course it is. Heaven wouldn't be heaven if you knew what was going on down here. Heaven is heaven in part because you don't know what's going on down here because what's going on down here is completely engulfed with sin.

There's not going to be any recollection of that. How much recollection of persons, people, family you're going to have in heaven, the Bible wouldn't give us any indication of that. The Bible does indicate that we will know each other in heaven, but it doesn't talk about relationships on earth except to say there's no marriage in heaven, so that whatever your human relationships were on earth, they don't get carried into heaven.

So it's a completely different set of relationships that transcends any earthly relationships, good, bad, or indifferent. That is a joyful thing to think about. The people that you love who know Christ, you will fellowship with forever in the perfection of the presence of Christ himself. But you will not carry to heaven with you the disappointments that you experienced on earth, and if you carry into heaven people on earth who aren't there, that in itself would be an ongoing disappointment. So I think you're freed from all the bondage of a fallen world to fully embrace in joy the world of glory, which is the saints and the angels and the Lord himself. Now I want to tell you about the book, just mention it again, The Glory of Heaven. It's a book about heaven. I've included in the book everything the Bible says about heaven. If you're headed there, you ought to read this book so you'll know what is waiting for you. It's a hardcover book available today from Grace to You.

We hope you'll order one. What will heaven be like? What will you be like in heaven? For clear biblical answers and to find out how the truth about heaven should transform your life today, pick up John's book called The Glory of Heaven When You Contact Us. Call toll-free 800-55-GRACE or visit our website, GTY.org. The Glory of Heaven is available in hardcover for $12.50 and shipping is free.

Again, to order, call 800-55-GRACE or shop online at GTY.org. And when you visit GTY.org, that's our website, take advantage of how easy it is to listen to verse-by-verse teaching. You can download more than 3500 sermons, all free of charge in MP3 or transcript format. You can search by topic, date, or book of the Bible. And if you're not sure where to start, log on to Grace Stream.

That's a continual broadcast of John's teaching. We begin it in Matthew and go straight through the book of Revelation, and then we start all over again. So whether you have a few minutes or a couple of hours, you'll find encouragement from God's Word. The sermons and Grace Stream and much, much more are available at GTY.org. Now on behalf of John MacArthur and the entire Grace To You staff, I'm Phil Johnson with a question you may have thought about before. How will you relate to your Christian family members in heaven? John MacArthur examines that issue tomorrow as he continues his series, When We All Get to Heaven. Another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace To You.