Turning the page…
Turning the page…
Glory · Our Hope
The Bible never answers this question with a single proof-text, and honest study starts there. But it gives strong grounds to answer yes: resurrection is renewal, not replacement; the risen Jesus was recognized by His friends; Moses and Elijah appeared known on the mountain; and Scripture's picture of the new creation is people gathered, not souls dissolved. Our knowing deepens in glory, it does not dissolve.
https://glorystudy.com/questions/will-we-recognize-each-other-in-the-resurrection · Scripture quoted from the World English Bible
1 Corinthians 15:35-49
As you read: Paul's farming picture: what is sown becomes a new plant, changed and glorified, yet continuous with what was sown. This is the grammar for every question about our future bodies.
35But someone will say, “How are the dead raised?” and, “With what kind of body do they come?”
36You foolish one, that which you yourself sow is not made alive unless it dies.
37That which you sow, you don’t sow the body that will be, but a bare grain, maybe of wheat, or of some other kind.
38But God gives it a body even as it pleased him, and to each seed a body of its own.
39All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds.
40There are also celestial bodies, and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial differs from that of the terrestrial.
41There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.
42So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown perishable; it is raised imperishable.
43It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.
44It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is also a spiritual body.
45So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
46However that which is spiritual isn’t first, but that which is natural, then that which is spiritual.
47The first man is of the earth, made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven.
48As is the one made of dust, such are those who are also made of dust; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
49As we have borne the image of those made of dust, let’s also bear the image of the heavenly.
Matthew 17:1-8
As you read: The disciples see Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus and know exactly who they are. Glory does not erase identity: it reveals it.
1After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John his brother, and brought them up into a high mountain by themselves.
2He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his garments became as white as the light.
3Behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them talking with him.
4Peter answered, and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you want, let’s make three tents here: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
5While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. Behold, a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.”
6When the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces, and were very afraid.
7Jesus came and touched them and said, “Get up, and don’t be afraid.”
8Lifting up their eyes, they saw no one, except Jesus alone.
Luke 24:13-35
As you read: On the road to Emmaus the risen Jesus is first hidden from their eyes, then their eyes are opened and they know Him in the breaking of the bread.
13Behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was sixty stadia from Jerusalem.
14They talked with each other about all of these things which had happened.
15While they talked and questioned together, Jesus himself came near, and went with them.
16But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
17He said to them, “What are you talking about as you walk, and are sad?”
18One of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things which have happened there in these days?”
19He said to them, “What things?” They said to him, “The things concerning Jesus, the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people;
20and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him.
21But we were hoping that it was he who would redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.
22Also, certain women of our company amazed us, having arrived early at the tomb;
23and when they didn’t find his body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive.
24Some of us went to the tomb, and found it just like the women had said, but they didn’t see him.”
25He said to them, “Foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!
26Didn’t the Christ have to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?”
27Beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
28They drew near to the village, where they were going, and he acted like he would go further.
29They urged him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is almost evening, and the day is almost over.” He went in to stay with them.
30When he had sat down at the table with them, he took the bread and gave thanks. Breaking it, he gave to them.
31Their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he vanished out of their sight.
32They said one to another, “Weren’t our hearts burning within us, while he spoke to us along the way, and while he opened the Scriptures to us?”
33They rose up that very hour, returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and those who were with them,
34saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”
35They related the things that happened along the way, and how he was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
As you read: Paul writes so that the grieving will not sorrow without hope: those who sleep in Jesus God will bring with Him, and we will be with the Lord forever, together.
13But we don’t want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you don’t grieve like the rest, who have no hope.
14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.
15For this we tell you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left to the coming of the Lord, will in no way precede those who have fallen asleep.
16For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first,
17then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever.
18Therefore comfort one another with these words.
The Scriptures do not give us a verse that says 'yes, you will know everyone in heaven.' What they give us is something better: a God who makes all things new rather than throwing them away, and a hope that turns our knowledge toward fullness. We should not manufacture confidence the text does not give, but neither should we quietly drop what it does give.
“Beloved, now we are children of God, and it is not yet revealed what we will be. But we know that, when he is revealed, we will be like him; for we will see him just as he is.”1 John 3:2
“For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known.”1 Corinthians 13:12
“being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”Philippians 1:6
“Behold, I will do a new thing. It springs out now. Don’t you know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.”Isaiah 43:19
Paul answers how the dead are raised with a seed: what you sow is not the body that will be, but God gives it a body as He pleases. The plant is not a different thing from the seed; it is the seed fulfilled. Our bodies are sown perishable and raised imperishable, and our lowly body is changed to be like His glorious body. If our bodies are continuous with what we were, our persons surely are too.
“You foolish one, that which you yourself sow is not made alive unless it dies. That which you sow, you don’t sow the body that will be, but a bare grain, maybe of wheat, or of some other kind. But God gives it a body even as it pleased him, and to each seed a body of its own.”1 Corinthians 15:36-38
“So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown perishable; it is raised imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is also a spiritual body.”1 Corinthians 15:42-44
“For our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will change the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working by which he is able even to subject all things to himself.”Philippians 3:20-21
“As we have borne the image of those made of dust, let’s also bear the image of the heavenly.”1 Corinthians 15:49
The risen Christ was not a stranger: Mary knew His voice when He called her name, the disciples on the road knew Him in the breaking of bread, and John knew Him on the shore before anyone else spoke. He showed them His hands and His feet and ate with them. Resurrection did not erase friendship or memory; it restored them and filled them with joy.
“Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him, “Rabboni!” which is to say, “Teacher!””John 20:16
“Their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he vanished out of their sight.”Luke 24:31
“That disciple therefore whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” So when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he wrapped his coat around him (for he was naked), and threw himself into the sea.”John 21:7
“See my hands and my feet, that it is truly me. Touch me and see, for a spirit doesn’t have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While they still didn’t believe for joy, and wondered, he said to them, “Do you have anything here to eat?””Luke 24:39-41
On the mount of transfiguration, Peter instantly knew the two men with Jesus and called them Moses and Elijah, though they appeared in glory. Names were not lost in the brightness; they were confirmed in it. If the disciples could know two saints who had been dead for centuries, the family and friends we have known in the flesh will hardly be unknowable to us in the kingdom where every name is written in the Lamb's book of life.
“Behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them talking with him. Peter answered, and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you want, let’s make three tents here: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.””Matthew 17:3-4
“Behold, two men were talking with him, who were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory, and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they were fully awake, they saw his glory, and the two men who stood with him. As they were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let’s make three tents: one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah,” not knowing what he said.”Luke 9:30-33
“I tell you that many will come from the east and the west, and will sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven,”Matthew 8:11
“There will in no way enter into it anything profane, or one who causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”Revelation 21:27
Jesus says that in the resurrection people neither marry nor are given in marriage: the old form of union passes, and in its place Scripture sets the marriage supper of the Lamb, where the whole church is the bride. We will not need marriage to hold love together, because love itself will be perfect and unbreakable. The people we loved will still be the people we loved, now fully themselves, and we will be with them and with the Lord forever.
“For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like God’s angels in heaven.”Matthew 22:30
“Let us rejoice and be exceedingly glad, and let us give the glory to him. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready.” It was given to her that she would array herself in bright, pure, fine linen: for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. He said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” He said to me, “These are true words of God.””Revelation 19:7-9
“For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever.”1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
“He will wipe away from them every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. The first things have passed away.””Revelation 21:4
“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies. Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?””John 11:25-26