What will our relationships be like?
February 6, 2008
Prayer
Joke: Husband/wife died, wife first, man to heaven later, no, the contract said till death do us part.
Relationship with God, as mentioned before.
What will our relationships be like in heaven?
Who are you looking forward to seeing?
What will we remember?
A. Some believe we won’t remember any of this life, or anyone
1. To support this some cite Is. 65:17. But this can be understood to mean that we will choose not to remember what is bad from this life, but rather focus on the good. Jer. 31:34, Rom. 8:18
2. Christoplatonism says we’ll be disembodied spirits and lose our identities and memories.
3. Some think we’ll be sad over those we love who are not in heaven, and because that might cause sadness. Since there’s no sadness in heaven, then they assume we won’t know about anyone, or those that we love that aren’t there.
4. Alcorn suggests that we will probably know of their fate, but the justice and holiness of God will be clear to us, and we will acknowledge it. Rev. 6:9-11, 18:20, 2 Pet. 3:9
5. Perhaps the contrast between past sins and struggles will remind us of God’s goodness and grace, and produce joy and gratitude.
6. “Heaven’s happiness will be dependent not on our ignorance [forgetting] but on our perspective.” P. 345
B. There are examples of remembering, and recognizing, at least in the intermediate heaven.
1. Rev. 6:9-11 shows the martyrs do remember and are aware of earth.
2. Rich man and Lazarus Luke 16
3. Principle of redemptive continuity requires that we remember past lives, p. 344
4. Jesus’ resurrection body has nail-scarred hands and feet, and side. Reminders of past, for eternity?
5. There are memorials of the twelve tribes and the apostles. Rev. 21:12-14
6. But the apostles, and many others, recognized Christ after his resurrection, in his body. John 20:24-29, ch. 21, I Cor. 15:6), Even Mary and the two disciples on the road to Emmaus recognized Jesus after he said her name, or broke bread.
7. Peter, James, and John even recognized Moses and Elijah, whom they hadn’t met. (no name tags!) How? Could it be we’ll even recognize people we don’t know?! So certainly we would our family and friends.
Relationships with others.
Some people say Ps. 73:25 means that we will neither need nor have other relationships. Yet this seems to mean that our primary pleasure will be God, not that it excludes others.
- God was with Adam in Eden, and yet he still designed Eve for Adam. God can have close relationships with people and they with each other.
2. Paul looks forward to being with the Thessalonians as part of the heavenly reward and experience I Th. 2:19-20
3. We will be with the Lord forever—all of the ones he comes to get. I Th. 4:13-14, 17-18
4. The greatest command is to love God, and the second to love your neighbor—the two are not incompatible. Matt. 22:37-39, I John 4:20-21
5. It pleases God when the people he created enjoy each other and get along. Ps. 133:1
6. Certain relationships will carry over also—children, grandchildren. We’ll be part of our own families but also part of one big family. Luke 8:19-21
7. All relationships will be harmonious. Think about that! No conflicts, bickering, nagging, worry, hurt, abuse, or any other negative aspect of family will be present. There will be no insensitivity, rejection, lying, insincerity, hypocrisy, cruelty, resentment, anger, betrayal, lust, gossip, inappropriate words or behaviors.
8. If you’ve not had some family relationships, or been hurt by them, or had them cut off, you will have relationships with your larger family which will supply those needs. Some of those relationships can start here. Luke 8:19-21, Mark 10:29-30
9. There may be disagreements or diversity, but no sin in them. P. 363 We’ll be equal but diverse. They are not the same.
Marriage and giving in marriage. The Sadducee’s question Matt. 22:23-33
A. Whose wife will she be? (I’d want to know what that woman was doing to her husbands! After two or three, I’d be leery of her if I were another brother!)
B. Christ, “At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage.” No marrying (may refer to the action of the groom) or giving in marriage (may refer to the giving away of the bride)
1. Earthly marriage mirrors in part this relationship Eph. 5:31-32
a. In loving each other
b. Caring for each other
c. Growing with and challenging each other.
d. Learning about the nature of God and Christ in each other.
2. Alcorn calls earthly marriage a signpost point to the relationship with Christ as our bridegroom. P. 350. Once you reach the destination, the signpost is not necessary.
3. Difference between being married already and getting married?
4. Institution of human marriage will end (Matt. 22:30), but not the deep relationships between married people.
5. God usually doesn’t replace his original creation, but in this case he seems to, with something better. Relationships between husbands and wives will be closer in terms of knowing and experiencing things—principle of redemptive continuity means those good things will continue.
C. There will not be NO marriage, just the marriage between Christ and his bride, the church.
D. That new relationship with Christ in marriage will be different in kind and quality than what we know, because we are all involved.
E. This would explain how those who have married more than once, for whatever reason, could still have meaningful relationships with those spouses.
Will there be sex?
1. Principle of redemptive continuity would imply that genders would continue. Gender is part of who you are, which does continue.
2. There will be male and female (no male or female in Gal. 3:28 refers to no distinction regarding their salvation in Christ.) Male or female doesn’t matter in salvation, but you don’t lose your gender at conversion.
3. Jesus is male after resurrection—referred to as he, no one confused him with a female.
4. Normally, then, if human marriage continued into heaven, sex would too, as a God-given part of marriage.
5. But if human marriage doesn’t continue, then sex wouldn’t either.
6. No need for sex to procreate.
7. There may be some way in which the intimacy and pleasure we now know as sex will also be fulfilled in some higher form. Sex is from God, and good, and usually God doesn’t discard something without replacing it with something better.
8. The relationship intimacy provided by sex will likely be present (I Cor. 6:15-16)
9. This may be one of the differences of our resurrection bodies.
10. Our reactions to this may also reflect slightly unbiblical views about sex—it’s too dirty or unworthy somehow of heaven.
What age will we be?
A. Some say perfect age of bodies at perfect stage—20-30.
B. Others say the age we died at, but with a perfectly functioning body and no ill effects.
C. We’ll probably have all ages. Is. 11 is a Messianic passage, part of which seems to apply to Jesus’ earthly ministry, and part to a future Messianic kingdom, perhaps the new earth. Is Isaiah 65:17ff also a Messianic kingdom prediction of the new heavens and earth?
D. Infants and children who come into the kingdom at that age may be allowed to grow up on the New Earth—great childhood!—and perhaps their parents would have a large role in their growth.
E. Perhaps even parents tragically separated from their children in some way (sickness, miscarriage, abortion) would get a chance to recover those lost years in a new way. (Joel 2:25?)
What will our friends be like?
A. We’ll have friends we’re closer to than others, but not in a cliquish way.
B. We’ll probably make new best friends, and deepen many other friendships.
C. We’ll even be with people we didn’t get along well with at church! Other Christians. Example of Pablo in Argentina.