Will We Recognize Each Other in Heaven?

Will we be able to recognize each other when we get to heaven? >> The Bible says that when we are raptured or resurrected, we are going to get bodies. The Bible says in Philippians, our lowly bodies will become like the risen body of Christ. So when we get to heaven, we're going to have brand new resurrection heavenly bodies and we will be able to know each other.

We have evidence of that. When Jesus came back from the resurrection, everybody knew him. and uh on the mount of transfiguration when those two guys showed up from the Old Testament they knew him. So there's a lot of testimony in the Bible about that. ((music playing)) Hello, my name is Grace and Jeremiah Baker and I'm sitting here with my grandfather, a man many of you know very well, pastor, author, and Bible teacher Dr.

David Jeremiah. I have a list of questions for you. some light-hearted and a few serious. And I'd love for you to answer them based on your 40 plus years of Bible teaching in your recent indepth study. Are there trick questions? >> A few trick ones. All right. >> Yeah.

But the first one's an easy one. What is the perfect day for you? >> The perfect day. >> The perfect day. >> I live in San Diego, but when I get up in Coronado and and the ocean and get a chance to go to the ocean, that's a perfect day.

Well, then I'm guessing you just answered my second question for you, which is, what is the closest place to heaven on earth for you? >> Well, I I think Coronado is pretty close. I mean, when I drive across the bridge, Graceand to go there, I feel like I leave all my cares behind and I'm going to a special place of unique blessing. >> It's pretty wonderful.

Going over that bridge is unlike anything I've ever seen in my entire life. >> Right. >> My next question for you is, what song do you want to hear in heaven? >> What song do I want to hear in heaven? Well, as you know, I'm a Southern Gospel fan and so a lot of Southern gospel songs have been written about heaven and a lot of oldtime hymns like uh during the hymn series at Shadow Mountain, we've been singing When We All Get to Heaven and we've been singing at the end of every service.

There's another little chorus I like. It's called Soon and Very Soon We're Going to See the King. They're just wonderful hymns and wonderful songs about heaven. >> Do you remember a few years ago there was a song that just came out that you would blast in your car all the time?

I believe it was my God is bigger than this by Jodie Msina. >> Yes, I do. >> Yeah. The end of that song where the choir comes in and the instruments get really big that gives me just a little glimpse of heaven and how wonderful the worship. >> Well, you know, in heaven it actually is true that there are many hymns in heaven.

And in the book of Revelation, we get a picture of seven of them and they're all crescendoed. In other words, one starts with one word and then the two words in the next and three words and it builds up like a song would build up if it's a big song like she sang. >> I cannot wait to hear that when I get to heaven.

My next question for you is besides Jesus, who is the person you'll have the most questions for in heaven? >> Besides Jesus, who will I have the most questions for? Wow. Probably John the Apostle because he was the one who humanly was used by God to write revelation.

And there are a few questions in Revelation I would like to have some help with. >> What surprised you the most during your in-depth study on heaven? >> First of all, that I've been studying it for so long, and there's so so much that I still don't know.

You know, heaven is just an incredible exploration and it shows up everywhere, not just in Revelation, but in the book of Psalms in the Old Testament. It's one of the most popular subjects in the Bible. >> This next question is my favorite question and one that I've wondered for a long time.

Will I still be your granddaughter when we get to heaven? >> Absolutely. You will still be my granddaughter and we will still have family kind of relationships, but there'll be so much beyond anything we can imagine. It's hard even to describe it. >> Will you still be married to my nanny in heaven? >> Well, the Bible says when we get to heaven, we're going to be like the angels, neither marrying nor giving in marriage.

So, marriage won't be quite the same. And there's a whole chapter in my notebook on that. And in that chapter, I point out that our relationship with Jesus is going to be so overwhelming. Even the joys of marriage will pale in significance to it. We won't lose that joy, but we'll have so much more in our relationship with him. >> Now, you have the two sweetest dogs on planet Earth, Benji and Rocky.

Will they be in heaven with us? >> Well, you know what? We did a little study. I think it was on the internet about questions people have about heaven. And it was kind of discouraging to me that the spiritual nature of our people was such they wanted to know more about the dogs than anything else.

So I'm going to answer your question and part of it's good and part of it's not so good. There's no doubt about the fact that there will be animals in heaven. A little girl taught me that. One day I said I didn't know and when I came out of church she came and she says I know the answer to your question.

And I said what's the answer? She said the Bible says Jesus comes riding out of heaven riding a white horse. So if there's horses in heaven, there's got to be other animals, too. And I said, you know what? You're absolutely right. So the answer is yes, there'll be animals in heaven, but the problem is probably your animals won't be in heaven.

My animals won't be there. Just animals. >> Are the streets of heaven really paved with gold? >> Absolutely. The Bible is absolutely certain. It's a certain kind of translucent gold, Grace. And it is so so pure that you can actually see through it. It is unbelievably beautiful. A kind of gold most people have never seen in their life. >> What language will we all speak when we get to heaven? >> Well, I don't know the answer to that question that the Bible doesn't tell us that.

I can make some guesses. I would hope it'd be English because I don't want to go through any more language courses, but it could be something different. Some people say, "Well, it'll be Greek or Hebrew because that's where the Bible was written in those two languages." >> Can those that are in heaven now see us?

You know that's a very important question and it's one that I do have a biblical answer to grace an uh the question is based on a passage of scripture in Hebrews 12 where it says we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses and many people kind of get the idea that up in heaven there's some kind of a grandstand and everybody's sitting up there watching what we're doing and it comes from a lot of times in sports somebody perhaps maybe they lost their father the week before and they hit a home run and they say but daddy's watching in heaven.

Unfortunately, there's no basis for that. The Bible doesn't tell us that we are being watched by heaven. That passage in Hebrews is not about witnesses who are watching us, but witnesses from the 11th chapter of Hebrews that are telling us that we can do it. And Hebrews 12 is about let's go on.

Hebrews 11 says, you know how you can get ready to go on? Listen to the guys who went before you like all the faith people in the chapter. They're the witnesses. Now, the Bible says that we will all get new bodies in heaven. And I know a lot of people are excited about that.

But will we be able to recognize each other when we get to heaven? >> The Bible says that when we are raptured or resurrected, we are going to get bodies. The Bible says in Philippians, our lowly bodies will become like the risen body of Christ. So when we get to heaven, we're going to have brand new resurrection heavenly bodies and we will be able to know each other.

We have evidence of that when Jesus came back from the resurrection. Everybody knew him. And uh on the mount of transfiguration, when those two guys showed up from the Old Testament, they knew him. So, there's a lot of testimony in the Bible about that. >> Will we still work in heaven?

Will you still be a pastor in heaven? >> Well, I think I might be out of a job because when we get to heaven, the Bible says we're going to know even as we are known. In other words, we're going to have the knowledge of God. And while we'll still learn, I don't think that pastors are going to be employed.

I tell our guys, the only person on my staff that's got a job in heaven is the worship leader because we are going to do a lot of worshiping in heaven. To my knowledge, we're not going to have any teaching sessions and I won't be employed that way. >> Since you won't be employed as a pastor in heaven, is there a job that you'd want to have in heaven? >> Well, the Bible says when we get to heaven in great sand, we're going to serve Jesus.

I'm not sure exactly what that means, but I know that it's going to be service without difficulty, service without limitation. Whatever task you start, you will be ultimately able to finish it. It will be a joy every day. It won't be hardship. It will be work that is amazingly wonderful.

Now, I love to work as you know that. But a lot of the work I do is very hard and very difficult. And there are obstacles that I have to when I get to heaven, it's going to be uninhibited work for the Lord Jesus. >> Will we actually get to enter through the pearly gates when we enter into heaven? >> Well, if we don't go through the pearly gates, we won't get in the holy city because the Bible says the gates are all made out of a pearl.

And I can't comprehend that because I know how pearls are made through oysters. And those are some gigantic oysters. >> Big pearls. >> But how many of you know that God doesn't need an oyster to make a pearl? He can make a pearl any way he wants. And the Bible says each of those gigantic gates will be one pearl. >> Will we have to wait in line to get into heaven since so many people will be going at once? >> Uh, that's a question nobody has ever asked me.

I'd have to say that God will probably have a way of processing that. Otherwise, some people would be years delayed getting there. We'll get to heaven on time. >> Do you think babies will go to heaven? >> I absolutely know they're going to go to heaven. One of the things that we learn from studying the Bible is that until a child reaches the age of accountability where he can know between good and evil, understand the gospel, he's protected under the blood of Christ.

You know, I have a child that was almost born, but not. And we often say we have four children, but we really have five. And we know that one day in heaven, we're going to see that baby and spend eternity with them. >> That's so sweet. What age will babies be when they enter into heaven?

Will they stay babies? That is another question that people like to discuss. How old will we be in heaven? Some people think that when we get to heaven, we'll all be 30 years old because that's considered to be the age of of mature adulthood. But the Bible doesn't teach that.

Others say we're going to be 33 cuz that's how old Jesus was when he was here uh when he went to the cross. So the Bible doesn't tell us that. I I have every reason to believe that they're going to be people of all ages because in the millennial story, which is a preview to heaven, the Bible says they're going to be little children playing with the animals, you know, and so if they're little children in the millennium, I think they're going to be little children in heaven. >> Will we be able to take our earthly memories with us into heaven? >> Yes, I believe we will be.

I think that God may edit them for us. I think that would be a good thing, don't you? >> I do. Yes. >> Some of the memories. And if you had memories of things where you failed or where bad things happened, that would interrupt your heavenly experience. But the Bible says we will remember.

And we will remember I think we'll remember the moment we were saved. We'll remember a lot of things from earth that fit in their in sync with heaven. >> Do you need to be baptized in order to get into heaven? >> Absolutely not. I can prove it to you.

When the thief on the cross accepted Jesus Christ, Jesus said to him, "Today you will be in paradise with me." He didn't say, "Today after I get you baptized, we're going to paradise." Baptism is an important act of obedience, but it is not a part of salvation, and it is not a requirement for heaven. >> I know when you were preaching on the millennium, you mentioned that David will be the vice regent.

Will we have a government when we get to heaven? >> Yes, we're going to be involved with the Lord. I don't know exactly how this works. The Bible even says we're going to judge the angels and I I think that's an incredible thought. But there will be a structure in heaven and we'll be a part of that structure with the Lord. >> Does what we do here on earth influence what we do in heaven? >> Well, it certainly does.

The Bible says if we're faithful in a few things, God will make us ruler over many things. He expects us to do everything we know how to do to live a life here that is worthy of the place to which we are headed. And when we do that, uh, we will be rewarded when we get there. >> Why did God create people that won't go to heaven? >> Well, he created all of us.

Gave us all a free will. And I don't think God ever created anybody with the purpose of them not going to heaven. He did not forordain people not to go to heaven. He gave us a free will. He gave us the opportunity to receive his son, Jesus Christ, as our savior.

And when we do that, we go to heaven. If we don't, we don't go to heaven. Speaking of free will, do you believe we'll have free will in heaven? >> It certainly will be within the will of God. It won't be free will to do anything outside of the will of God because we'll all be perfect in the sense that we'll be walking in holiness. >> Will the new heaven and earth be totally new? >> The Bible says that God is going to refurbish the earth.

In Peter, it talks about the earth being burned up. And many people think that means it's going to be destroyed. And I don't believe that's what it means at all. I think God is going to renovate this earth. burn the cross and the ugly things up and recreate it according to his own purpose, but it will still be the same earth and still be the same heaven. >> That's incredible.

Do you believe that Adam and Eve went to heaven? >> I don't have any story about Adam and Eve after they sinned, but I would think they probably did. >> Do people who die immediately go to heaven or hell? >> The Bible teaches that there's an intermediate place where people go.

In the Old Testament, there was a place where people who did not know God went to that was called Hades. And if you knew God, you went to paradise. It was kind of a a place that was divided. And in Luke, it says you couldn't pass from one to the other.

So in the Old Testament, people went if they were unsaved, they went to Hades. But the Bible says he went to Hades and he preached the gospel to the people in the in the other compartment. And he took all of those who were in paradise to heaven with him.

So now when a person dies who's a Christian, they go straight to heaven because that's where paradise is. Paul said in 2 Corinthians, he was caught up into the third heaven. And in that very passage, he talks about that place being paradise. People who are unsaved go to Hades and at the end of the earth as it is today, the Bible says Hades and its inhabitants will be cast into hell where there will be punishment forever and ever. >> Does this mean that there are multiple heavens?

Well, we know there are there's the atmospheric heaven which around us. There is the stellar heaven where the stars and planets are. And then there's the third heaven is that's where God exists. So God doesn't live in the first heaven or the second heaven. God dwells in the third heaven.

That's where we will go when we die because that's where paradise is now. So we go to the third heaven. But there still are two others that are called heaven in the Bible. How can we anticipate heaven when there's so much here on earth that we want to see and do? >> You know, that reminds me of something I heard about a guy who said, "I can't get excited about heaven.

I haven't been to Hawaii yet." You know, so I understand that. But I think one of the things that happens is you begin to read the Bible and understand it, God will begin to give you more insight into it. There will be many beautiful things that we have here.

For instance, people have asked me, "Where's the most beautiful place I've ever been?" And I tell him, Donna and I have been to Santorini twice. It's a beautiful island. And all of the houses on this island are white. So when you come toward the island in a ship, I'm telling you, Grace sign, it looks like you're going to heaven cuz it's up high and it's just beautiful.

And from the top, it's beautiful. You just can't imagine it. >> What's the biggest question that you have about heaven? >> What is the biggest question that I have about heaven? Well, I have a lot of questions. I don't know if I can tell you the biggest one, but the Bible says that the secrets belong to God.

God is not obligated to tell us everything that we want to know. Someday we will know, but we don't know it all now. >> Do you think people on earth can have supernatural glimpses into heaven? >> Well, I'm a little suspicious about that to be honest. I know some guys who have been there supposedly and written bestseller books on it.

I can't say for sure that they weren't there, but it is a very unusual thing if they would be there. Sometimes the things that they say happened in heaven are not in keeping with what the Bible says heaven is all about. That would cause me great concern. >> Will we all get our own mansions in heaven or will we have to share? >> Well, sharing won't be an issue, but the Bible says we'll have our own homes.

In my father's house are many mansions. Many. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you so that when I come again and take you to myself, you'll be where I am. >> Will there still be times and seasons in heaven? >> That's one of the imponderables.

I should have told you that a few minutes ago. That's your big question. That's a big question because time is is something God created for us. God does not live in time. He lives in the eternal present. When we get to heaven, it appears from scripture that we will be living in an eternal environment.

But will there be time in any respect in heaven? There's a lot of debate about that. It's a hard question. >> Will we be angels when we get to heaven? >> Not anymore than you are now, girl. We're not going to be transferred into angels. And we should be glad because you know what the Bible says?

We're one up on the angels because the angels never knew the joy that our salvation brings. They never were lost and became Christians. So, they don't know the joy of being born again. We're better than the angels in that respect. And the angels will be asking us a lot of questions when we get to heaven. >> Wow, that's incredible and something that I never would have thought about.

Will we be able to fly? >> I don't know if fly is the right word. I think maybe a way to say that is this. You remember when Jesus was in his resurrected body on one occasion he showed up in a room that where the doors were locked and he just was in the room and he willed himself his presence into that room.

I think when we get to heaven we'll be able to move around in a way not fly perhaps but just to move as Jesus did into that place. We may be able to think our way to places. The holy city is huge and it's a layered city with many layers in it.

So, if you wanted to see somebody like on the 39th layer, you'd have to be able to will yourself there or you'd spend a lot of time getting there. >> Well, thank you so much for taking the time to answer these questions. I have one more question, and this one might take more than just a quick answer.

How do we get to heaven? >> Well, the Bible is very clear about that, Grace. And I'm glad you asked that because if all we do is learn all the answers to these questions and we become smart about heaven, that doesn't anybody any good. I didn't write this book to make people smart about heaven.

In almost every chapter, I answer your question. How do you get to heaven? Here's what the Bible says. In the same chapter, in the same passage where Jesus promised heaven, this is what he said. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.

In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

And then he was asked some questions by his disciples. And Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. The way you go to heaven is by accepting Jesus Christ as your personal savior. The Bible says when we do that, he gives us the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So when people want to go to heaven, they have to pray and ask Jesus Christ to come and live within their life and forgive their sin and he becomes their savior. And when he becomes their savior, they go to heaven. >> Wow. Incredible. Well, thank you again for sitting down with me and chatting about heaven.

If you have any questions on heaven or how to get to heaven, please contact us today. Poppy, thank you so much for answering these questions and teaching all of us a little bit more about heaven. >> Great interview. Thank you. >> Thank you for sharing these few moments with me as we have talked about heaven.

I hope we've answered some of your questions, but there are so many questions about heaven. We couldn't answer them all in a few moments. So, we have written a book called The Promise of Heaven. It's just come out and it's full of answers to questions you ask about this eternal place.

I would urge you to get your copy. And if you want more information about how to do all of that, go to my website, which is davidjeremiah.org. And before I say my final goodbye, let me remind you that there's something I can do for you about heaven today.

I can tell you how to get there. The Bible says we get to heaven through Jesus Christ. And if you have never received Jesus Christ as your savior, there couldn't be a better time to do it than right now. I hope someday to see you in heaven. But if we're going to be there, you need to make your reservation.

I hope you'll do it. And let's keep studying heaven as we go forward. ((music playing))