Heavenly Realities for Saints

What will the saints be like in Heaven?

??? QUESTIONS OFTEN ASKED ??? ??? QUESTIONS OFTEN ASKED ??? What will our mindset be like in heaven? What kind of bodies will we have? Will we know our Christian spouses? Will we recognize saved family & friends? Will we only stick with those we know? What will our lifestyle look like? What kind of activities will we engage in? Where will we live & who will we live with? Will we speak only one language or many?

What will our mindset be like in Heaven?

Isa. 35:10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Rev. 7:17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Rev. 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

WHAT WILL OUR MINDSET BE LIKE IN HEAVEN? Our minds, emotions, mentality & thought patterns will be renewed and eternally holy & pure in every aspect. We will not be missing those who are not there. We will not be pondering & pining over anyone. We will not question God's motives, nor His actions & allowances in the past. There will be no sadness, no sickness & no regrets. We might not even speak of & think of certain subject matters that we planned to raise while we were on earth. We will have a heavenly mindset that is renewed in Christ.

Will we speak one language or many?

Rev. 5:9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou was slain, and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation Rev. 7:9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; 10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.

Rev. 21:23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. 24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.

Will we speak only one language or many? It is possible that EVERY language will be in heaven, from earth, and other heavenly languages as well. It is also plausible to think that heaven will only have one universal language which could be endowed upon us. We will certainly have one voice. We will be united and we will understand the language spoken to each other and to God. Whether it is one language or many languages; we will certainly understand & communicate with each other, because God is not the author of confusion!

Will we know our Christian spouses?

Matt. 22:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. (Matthew 22: 23 30) Mark 12:25 For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven. (Mark 12: 18 25)

Will we know our Christian spouses? All earthly marriages will be dissolved in heaven, but we are not sure what that will look like when the believing spouses meet in heaven. We are not sure how God is going to do it so that there is no rekindling of flames. Somehow God will renew the minds so that there is either no memory of the earthly marriage, hence no familiarity of the spouse in heaven (maybe they will be strangers). Or perhaps some familiarity might exist, where one looks at their spouse as someone they use to love; but with no intimate attachments.

Will we know our Christian spouses? No one really knows for sure how God does this as God did not explain in Scriptures. God only states the fact that there will be no marriages in heaven. We will be married to Jesus Christ as one bride, hence the reason for one marriage in heaven.

Will we recognize family & friends?

Will we recognize family & friends? Up until this present dispensation the believers who died, have left their bodies on the earth and their spiritual soul is in heaven with the Lord. The body is their identity which bears their physical likeness to identify who they are; but the issue is that the body is not with them right now. So in what form or what likeness are they in heaven right now? What do they look like in the spiritual heavenly places?

Will we recognize family & friends? THE TWO (2) MAJOR VIEWPOINTS: EITHER they are in heaven in an unknown spiritual (immaterial) form, with no resemblance of who they were on earth. OR they are in heaven with the spiritual form bearing their physical likeness. Meaning, they still resemble who they were on earth, while remaining immaterial (like the ghostly manifestation of the physical person).

Will we recognize family & friends? Scriptural evidence does seem to support the latter belief that our spiritual soul does bear a resemblance of our physical likeness. King Saul was able to recognize Samuel by unlawfully consulting the witch at Endor (1 Sam. 28:7-25) Remember Samuel died leaving his body behind!

Will we recognize family & friends? In the story of the rich man and Lazarus we find the rich man recognizing both Abraham and Lazarus; likewise Abraham recognized the rich man. (Luke 16:19-31) Remember they died leaving their bodies behind!

Will we recognize family & friends? Elijah and Moses were recognized at the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:1-5; Mark 9:1-5). They appeared with Christ on the Mount. Even though it had been centuries since Moses died and Elijah was taken to heaven, they still maintained a clear identity. Peter, James and John evidently recognized & acknowledged the presence of Moses & Elijah. How did the three disciples even know it was Moses & Elijah; when they never met them before?

Will we recognize family & friends? The dispensation following the Rapture & resurrection of the believers has a more conclusive view regarding how the saints will look in heaven; because the rapture & resurrections involve the re-uniting of the spiritual soul with the physical body. The idea is that; if the spirit re-unites with your body then the most logical assumption is that you will bare the same physical likeness of who you were when you were alive on earth.

1 Cor. 15:51 Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

Job 19:26-27 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another (stranger, foreigner); though my reins be consumed within me.

Will we recognize family & friends? The pinnacle of examples would be that Jesus Himself was recognizable after His resurrection. Since His resurrection form was recognizable, it is reasonable to believe that our bodies will be recognizable too. The Bible says that we shall be like Jesus in our resurrected body.

1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. Phil. 3:21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body .

Many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 8:11) There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. (Luke 13:28-29)

The passages demonstrate that each person will keep their individual identity as persons are named to be present in heaven. They would have to bear some physical likeness of who they were, in order to be identified as Abraham, Isaac & Jacob.

Luke 10:20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. Phil. 4:3 And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life.

Heb. 12:23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.

CONCLUSION The Bible indicates that our identities will remain unchanged. From these passages it seems that in heaven, we will recognize those whom we know (spouses being the possible exception). We will also keep our unique identities. The Bible provides examples of those who had previously died, yet were recognizable in the next world. It would seem that the redeemed will maintain their identity, but in a perfected form.

CONCLUSION Paul wrote: "Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord" (1 Thess. 4:17). Paul's purpose in writing was to comfort some of the Thessalonians who evidently thought their dying loved ones would miss the return of Christ. He says in verse 18, "Comfort one another with these words."

CONCLUSION The comfort comes from the prospect of reunion. What little comfort this would be if in the reunion we could not even recognize one another. But Paul's promise that we will all be "together" forever implies that we shall renew fellowship with all whom we have known. We will be reunited not only with our own families and loved ones, but also with the people of God from all ages. In heaven we will all be one loving family!!!

Are the saints in heaven watching over us?

Heb. 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.

Rev. 6:9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

Rev.18:1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory 20 Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.

Rev. 19:1 And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: 2 For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.

The story of Lazarus & the Richman (Luke 16:22-26) points to some kind of awareness that the rich man had of Paradise. It is therefore argued that If those who suffer in hell can look upward, is it not also possible for the reverse direction?... For those who enjoy heaven to look downward!

What will the glorified body be like?

The chief passage about The Glorified Body IS 1 Corinthians 15:35-53

The Resurrection Body 1 Corinthians 15:35-53 (NLT) 35But someone may ask, How will the dead be raised? What kind of bodies will they have? 36What a foolish question! When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn t grow into a plant unless it dies first.37And what you put in the ground is not the plant that will grow, but only a bare seed of wheat or whatever you are planting.

38Then God gives it the new body he wants it to have. A different plant grows from each kind of seed.39Similarly there are different kinds of flesh one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.40There are also bodies in the heavens and bodies on the earth. The glory of the heavenly bodies is different from the glory of the earthly bodies.

41The sun has one kind of glory, while the moon and stars each have another kind. And even the stars differ from each other in their glory. 42It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever.43Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength.

44They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies. 45The Scriptures tell us, The first man, Adam, became a living person. But the last Adam (that is Christ) is a life-giving Spirit.46What comes first is the natural body, then the spiritual body comes later.47Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven.

48Earthly people are like the earthly man, and heavenly people are like the heavenly man.49Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like the heavenly man. 50What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever.

51But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed!52It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed.53For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.

Contrasts with the Earthly & Heavenly body (1 Cor. 15:42-44) EARTHLY BODY HEAVENLY BODY Sown a perishable body Sown in dishonor Sown in weakness Sown a natural body Raised an imperishable body Raised in glory Raised in power Raised a spiritual body

We will have a glorified body like Christ s body Our glorified bodies will be imperishable, honorable, and powerful. Our new bodies will no longer be natural bodies, subject to decay and death; we will live in victory over sin and death. (1 John 3:2, Phil 3:21; 1 Cor. 15:35-50)

The resurrection body of Christ had certain characteristics that we should note. The body was real, visible, capable of being handled & it was recognizable. Yet at the same time it was able to pass through solid objects and disappear. The new bodies of believers will have new capacities. Jesus' body was able to suddenly appear in a locked room. Believers will have similar capabilities in their new body. (John 20:19, 26)

We will have an unlimited, eternal body As imperishable bodies, they will no longer suffer from sickness and death, nor will they ever be subject to heat and cold or hunger and thirst. Our new bodies will be honorable in that they will not be shamed or shameful because of sin. (Luke 24:31; 2 Cor. 5:1)