Will we be able to see and know our friends and family members in heaven?

When He descends from heaven with the shout and the dead in Christ are raised and we are changed, then "we shall be caught up together with them in clouds to meet the Lord in the air." It will be the blessed time of reunion with the loved ones who have gone before. What joy and comfort it must have brought to the sorrowing Thessalonians when they read these blessed words for the first time! And they are still the words of comfort and hope to all His people, when they stand at the open graves of loved ones who fell asleep as believers.

Often the question is asked, "Shall we not alone meet our loved ones but also recognize them?" Here is the answer: "Together with them" implies both reunion and recognition. These words would indeed mean nothing did they not mean recognition. We shall surely see the faces of our loved ones again and all the saints of God on that blessed day when this great event takes place. The clouds will be heaven's chariots to take the heirs of God and the joint-heirs of the Lord Jesus Christ into His own presence. As He ascended so His redeemed ones will be taken up. Caught up in clouds to meet the Lord in the air; all laws Of gravitation are set aside, for it is the power of God, the same power which raised up the Lord Jesus from the dead and seated Him in glory, which will be displayed in behalf of His saints (Eph. 1:19-23). Surely this is a divine revelation.

And of course Moses and Elias were known. Their individuality was not swallowed up by death or removal from the earth without death. This should answer definitely the oft made inquiry, shall we know each other in resurrection glory? Of course we will. As Moses and Elias were easily recognized by the disciples, so shall every saint be recognized. What joy it will be then to see him first of all and to be with Him, whom we have never seen and whom we shall see as he is, the Man in Glory. What joy to look upon a Paul, John, Peter and all the beloved of God! Yes we shall know each other, though all human, earthly relationship ceases forever in resurrection.

But, if you love a saint that has just gone on high, like Stephen, let the thought of the joy of the one you love who did appreciate the Lord's presence and the taste of it, have some small place in your heart and mind. Happy now is that one in the realised presence of the Lord. If you loved, let the present blessedness of that one you loved, now in the presence of the Lord, counterbalance your sense of your own loss, your own bereavement. It is a little while, it may be a very, very little while, ere the Lord shall rise up. If He did so now, that body would not be interred, but rise to life and glory, and you should be changed and mount up together in the air, and so be for ever with the Lord. When we meet the Lord, we shall know Him, though we never saw Him before. No mistake. In God's presence no second person can ever be mistaken for Him. He will know all His around Him in that day, and they will know one another.

There is a monstrous abortion of unbelief in many minds now, that because earthly ties and relationships cease in heaven, persons will not be known, or our mutual interest not sustained. The stupid folly of the thought is superficial. I know and love and am known and loved by many who were once either my masters or my servants upon earth; the relationship has passed, but thank God not the mutual love and esteem which our hearts formed in it. A child, when married, ceases to be a child in the parent's house; he or she is, according to God, absolved from the tie, but the love and interest go on. Or does a married daughter cease to be loved because she has taken headship under another, and has not the tie and responsibility of a child in the house? In divorce, would the pain and agony of the past relationship cease to a loving heart because God had pronounced the tie of man and wife to have been broken? Paul's former tie with the Thessalonians may cease; but not his love of them, or theirs of him, as formed when both were on earth. They will be round him in the glory, his joy, a crown of rejoicing. "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?" (1 Thess. 2:19.) See also the expression: "Sorrow not, even as others which have no hope." (1 Thess. 4:13.) The condition of those who cannot see this is carnal; occupied with themselves and circumstances, they cannot see afar off, they cannot enter into the Lord's joys and grace.

And now, the saints are gone — all gone — gone to glory — gone to be with the Lord for ever! What a thought — what an event, O my soul! Not a particle of the redeemed dust of God's children left in the grave; and not a believer left on the face of the whole earth! All caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. But who can think — who can speak of the happy reunions on that morning of cloudless joy? Doubtless the person of the Lord will fix every eye and ravish every heart; still, there will be the distinct recognition of those who, though long parted from us here, have never lost their place in our hearts. And as all will perfectly bear the image of the Lord, we can never lose sight of Him. Though every one will have his own identity, and his own special joy, yet all will be like the Lord, and the joy of each will be the common joy of all. "O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together," will be a note of praise often sung, as we meet to part no more for ever.

Notice also how happily Paul looked forward to reunion with his beloved Thessalonian converts in heaven. His words would have been meaningless had he not expected to know them each and all in that day. The saints of God will know one another when they meet at the coming of Christ and in His presence.

Who else will you see? You will see all the ransomed of the Lord. What a thought. You will see His blood bought ones of every age, of every tongue, of every country. Ah yes and what will that be to see that myriad host who have been made perfect through His one sacrifice; and everyone reflecting His bright image; everyone radiant in His glory; everyone shining in His excellence; and yet, each one retaining their perfect identity. Sometimes it grieves me that I forget your names. Sometimes it grieves me that I forget where I last saw you. Many know me more distinctly than I know them. This is natural enough, but I sometimes say I shall make no mistakes in Heaven. I shall be at no loss to identify you. My dearly beloved, I shall be at no loss to remember you. All will be perfect; nothing imperfect in any shape or way but all absolute perfection and perfection for ever and ever.

But that perfection will tend, you see, to the purest happiness of that happy land. You would like to go to that happy land, would you not? You would like to pass through those golden gates, would you not? Once pass through the golden gates, once enter the fields of glory, and there will be no more going out. Then it will be farewell to pain, and farewell to all that is now so inconvenient. It will all have passed away in the full revelation of God in Christ. Ah yes, the morning cometh, the bright morning of cloudless joy. Yes, you will see Jesus and you will see all the ransomed of the Lord. You will see those too, beloved friends, that you knew here and many that you loved here. Yes, and many with whom you had to part here. But there will be no more parting for ever. Beloved friends, when hand once clasps hand there it is joined for ever and ever. When friend embraces friend there, it is an embrace for ever. The thought of separation will never disturb one single bosom in that place of unmingled blessedness, but hand will join hand, every eye being fixed on Jesus. But that, beloved friends, will not hinder us from seeing, and delighting too in seeing, those we once loved here and whose place in the heart never was and never could be filled. But it is filled now, it is quieted now. Then, beloved, the praise will only be linked. The note of praise and thanksgiving will only swell louder and louder as we meet those whose identity we have no difficulty in recognising. But there is such a change. Not the pallid cheek now; no, all is changed. They are in the very image of Christ, and yet, beloved friends, though radiant in His glory they are perfectly themselves. You will not be me and I will not be you. Each one will be identical in their own special identity, and in their own measure of glory. Ah beloved, we will be all alike, with the exception that there will be just the difference that there is now, though under another form. We have borne the image of the earthly and we are all like the first Adam. So the redeemed will be like the second Adam. Dearly beloved, who can tell how near that morning of joy may be.

There is only one other passage I would refer to on this point. It has always been a favourite with the weary pilgrim. I mean the Lord's own words to the penitent thief, "Today shalt thou be WITH ME in paradise." The sweetness, the comfort, the rest of heart which this assurance gives is beyond all expression. There "with the Lord" and with loved ones who have gone before, the soul rests, clothed in light, and breathing the air of heaven. The mother has found her firstborn, long, long gone before her, 'but never forgotten. And oh! what a fresh spring to her worship! "O, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together," will now be their joyous song. And there, too, the husband meets the wife of his youth, who was early called, but whose hearts were formed to love, not only for time, but for eternity. True, human relationships will be unknown there, but hearts and loves remain for ever.

The position of the waiting Christian in this world may be one of great interest and usefulness, and the ties that bind him to it may be many and tender; still, when the eye of faith looks across the boundary line, and sees who are there and what is there, the heart instinctively longs to join the happy throng. The loved one or the many loved ones who have gone before are especially thought of, though there the joy of each will be the joy of all. True there will be individuality - perfect identity, but a perfect blessedness common to all.

And now at this moment we are told that Peter, James, and John wake up, for "they were heavy with sleep, and when they were awake they saw his glory, and the two men that stood with him." It is all perfectly plain that there will be recognition in eternity. There will be recognition in the Father's house. They knew Moses, and they knew Elias. They confounded neither of them. They were confident about each. I do not think when, by-and-by, we pass into eternity, that we shall fail to recognise each other, for recognition after resurrection is clearly seen here. The relationships of life are for time, but individuality is clearly maintained into eternity, and a very blessed thing for us that it is so. Peter, ever impetuous, and stirred by this marvellous vision, yet not knowing what He said, exclaims, "Master, it is good for us to be here." That was quite true. It was a very nice thing for him to see the glory of the Lord. And you, Christian friend, will say similarly some day, "It is good for us to be here," when you see His glory.

But in our happy home above, not only shall we be known personally to the blessed Lord, but to each other. Peter seems to have had no difficulty in recognising, on the mount of transfiguration, which was Moses and which was Elias. So must it be in the resurrection state, where all is perfection. A thorough distinction of persons will he manifest there. Paul will never be taken for Peter, nor Peter for Paul; and each will have his own crown and glory. Blessed, yet solemn thought! each saint will have his own crown. All will be known there for what they are in the estimation of the Lord. Yet all will be perfect, all happy, all in the full joy of the Lord, and all shining brightly in His glorious image, which all shall then perfectly bear.