Question: Our small group is just finishing your book, Revelation 101. Thank you! It’s been great, and we all appreciated not focusing on the non essentials. My question is this: What is the Biblical support for knowing people in heaven? We found the verses in Matthew where we fellowship with Jesus, but not that we will know people who died on earth. Any thoughts?

Answer: Honestly, there is no definitive “proof” in the Bible that we will recognize one another in heaven. However, the most compelling argument in favor of that view is Jesus himself. In his great chapter on the resurrection, Paul writes that by rising from the dead, Jesus became “the first of a great harvest of those who will be raised to life again” (1 Cor. 15:20). The message here is that because Jesus was raised from the dead, all who are “related to Christ” (v. 22) will also be raised.

As for what our resurrected bodies will look like, our best clue is the resurrected body of Jesus. After he was raised from the dead and spent 40 days on earth before ascending to heaven, Jesus appeared to hundreds of people. Even though his body was of a different substance than before (he could suddenly appear in rooms with locked doors), evidently people recognized him. That implies that his physical appearance was much the same.

So, if we are to follow Christ in his resurrection, the implication for us is that our own resurrected bodies will have a similar appearance, or that at least we will recognize those who have died and then been raised.

Now, there are all kinds of other interesting questions raised by this notion. Are we going to look like we did when we died? If someone died as a baby, will that person be a baby in heaven? If someone died of a terrible disease or accident, how would that person look? Again, the Bible just doesn’t tell us. Theologians have wrestled with this issue, and some speculate that we will have resurrected bodies that are the same age that Jesus was when he died and was raised. Interesting theory.

Truth is, we just don’t know, but we can trust God that whatever heaven is like, it will be so much more than we could ever imagine. We know heaven will be glorious and wonderful beyond description, because God has told us so. And we can trust God to exactly as he has said.

Hope this helps! May the Lord bless you with thoughts of heaven!