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Question: Will We Know One Another in Heaven?

1. Death is not the cessation of existence; it is not annihilation.
It is the spearation of the body and the spirit.
     a. The spirit survives apart from the body as a conscious
entity (2 Cor. 5:6-8).
     b. Mt. 17: Moses and Elijah retained their identity after
death.
     c. Lk.16:19ff Rich man and Lazarus.
     d. No indication that at the resurrection, that our identity
will be changed, or unrecognizable; no indication that the memory
we now possess will be obliterated, and that everyone in heaven
will be a stranger.
     e. The hope of a glad and happy reunion is not a cruel
delusion, a vain and empty fantasy (Woods.11), where songs will be
infinitely sweeter than any we have rendered here, where handclasps
will be warmer than any we have ever experienced in this life, and
where tears, heartaches, and sorrows are unknown (8b8d)
     f. cf. 1 Cor. 15. The fact that the saved will be given a new
body, one that is incorruptible, a glorious body, does not mean
that the saved will be given new identities.
     g. Consider also Lk. 13:23-30: The unbelieving Jews would see
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom, while the unbelievers
themselves would be cast out.

2. Scriptural evidence:
     a. Phil.4:1: his joy and crown. The Corinthians, the occasion
for "rejoicing...in the day of the Lord Jesus" (2 Cor.1:14).
     b. 1 Thess. 2:19
     c. 2 Cor. 4:14
     d. 1 Thes. 4:13-18




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