A couple of commentaries ago, I announced my great friend Bob Rogers going to our Heavenly home and how he is now enjoying things beyond which we can imagine. Today we share with you through tears comforted by joyful knowledge that he is alive forever, that his dear wife, Vicki Rogers, a wonderful Christian, wife, mother, grandmother, and friend, has joined him after a lengthy bout with illness.
However, both were infinitely more than my friends. We are all part of a family the Lord put together many years ago. It is a spiritual family relationship rather than biological, and that, to me at least, has always meant it was even more meaningful than if we could have been relatives in the earthly, biological sense.
Their daughter, Angie, is my honorary daughter in every sense. She is also my editor (the best in the world of editing) of many, many years. The children of Angie and husband Kurt (also close to my fatherly heart) – Nick, Lindsey and Erin – are my honorary grandchildren, whom I love as if they were my biological family.
Because of her belief in Jesus Christ and being in God’s family, Angie’s mom is now together again with her beloved husband Bob and is exulting in a magnificent joy that’s beyond comprehension. We can know this because of the following familiar promise from God’s Holy Word.
“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Cor. 2:9).
We have read in that Holy Word that Jesus said that in Heaven we are neither married nor given in marriage. Some might find that to be something that is discouraging. I do not. That’s because of the above promise. We are promised more wonderful things when we reach that eternal state of joy than we are capable of imagining. This means, to me, and should to you also, that the relationships, whether they be earthly friendships and family relationships – or marriage partnerships – the intimacy will be millions of times more wonderful than any relationship we’ve had while in this earth-bound body.
Like in the earlier case of Bob’s making that trip to his eternal home, Vicki’s going to be with her Lord tripped things within my spiritually-motivated cognitive processes. It immediately brought up the scriptural promise that I have always found profound almost beyond ability to express. Here is that promise. It is more than a promise.
It is a fact right at this moment, not just when we reach that heavenly home that Bob and Vicki now are enjoying. It is profound because it is so hard for us who are now in God’s eternal family to get our earthly minds around while still in these mortal bodies.
“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together” (Romans 8: 16-17).
Do you grasp what this is truly saying? All that God has He has given to His Blessed Son, Jesus. God is telling us here through the Apostle Paul that we – already, in this life – are possessors of all of God’s riches, in exact measure as is His Son! Now that is something that I can certainly not truly get this feeble, full-of-much-age grey matter around!
God is telling us that we are joint heirs with the Creator of all that is! Jesus was given the power and authority from the Father to make all there is!
“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist” (Col. 1:16-17).
The phrase “by him all things consist” has always given me a sense of the awesome power of our Lord. We are told that He created the very substance of all matter. He holds together the atoms and even the elements that make up the atom! If He didn’t hold the elements of Creation together, all that is in existence would fly apart instantaneously.
That is how we can begin to somewhat understand why when Jesus rode the little donkey into Jerusalem to present Himself as Israel’s Messiah, he said that if the people didn’t praise Him at that time, the very stones would cry out. All of nature – the very elements – obeys our Lord and recognizes Him for Who He is!
When we are in Heaven with Bob and Vicki, with each other, and with our wonderful Savior and Lord –our Brother Jesus – we won’t just be tiny unrecognized figures in a Heaven full of billions of souls. We will be people in flesh-and-bone bodies – immortal bodies – like Jesus’ Body. We will know each other individually and intimately, as God, our omniscient Father, knows each of us and every hair on our heads (which all men among us will have again in abundance)!
As Dr. David Jeremiah might say while preaching fervently, “Can I get a praise?
Terry James Prophecy Line 
Terry, sorry for your loss. But thanks for the heartfelt post. The topic of God’s coming Kingdom so impacted me several years ago that I devoted my blog to attempting to convey what the bible tells us about the richness of our inheritance. I found there was a lot more information than I thought. Its glorious. Blessings from above to you and your family.
Terry now that puts a smile on my face and hope in my heart. 🙂
“. . . if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together” . . .” – This is the bit of the verse which is so often ignored and truly hinges on which ‘if’ is meant here as there are several meanings for this word in Koine Greek.
We have evidence that in heaven, there will be no strangers. We will all recognize each other, including all of those we never met across the ages, right up until the last person saved arrives. Here it is:
Matthew {17:1} And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, {17:2} And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. {17:3} And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. {17:4} Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
See how Peter recognized Moses and Elijah (Elias) even though he certainly never met them? (Forget about him ever seeing a likeness of them recorded somewhere because of the “no graven images” prohibition [Exodus 20:4].)
doy might have a problem with in the past, either.
At long last, we’ll finally be home in a way we never could be on Earth.
The best is yet to come!
Electronic hiccup!
After the Exodus 20:4 reference above, there should have been this before the closing sentences:
“The marriage supper of Jesus (Revelation 19) will be a family reunion better than anything we can imagine down here – and there won’t be any family members angry or upset with any of the others as can be the case at an earthly reunion.”
This was very uplifting Terry. God bless you. I look forward to seeing you there one day.
I have a question: we use 1 Cor 2:9 to say that we cannot imagine what God has prepared for us, and I fully agree that we cannot, but as we continue our reading it says, “but God has revealed it unto us by his Spirit….” Can you explain this to me? It would seem to me this is referring to things we cannot understand without the Spirit rather than future glories in Heaven. It’s not a big deal as it is a true statement that we can’t comprehend the future but it seems we might use that scripture incorrectly?
The scripture, I believe, tells us that God has prepared for believers things we can’t imagine. However the Holy Spirit Imparts within our spirits that this Promise is true and we can believe, through our spiritual understanding, that we, upon the veracity of God’s Holy Word, have a Glorious Future.
Thank you for a beautiful commentary!
Awesome teaching and great reminder of our final destination. Thank you!
Maybe the answer is here:
1 Corinthians {13:11} When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. {13:12} For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face:
now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
I think that this means that those without the Spirit can’t understand anything regarding God at all, while those with the Spirit are capable of understanding, but only at a level that our human limitations permit. Paul indicates above that these present limitations will no longer inhibit us in the life to come.
For instance, just about everyone can grasp that the sun warms up Earth’s surface, but a solar physicist would understand more thoroughly how the fusion process works for the sun to produce its energy in the first place and how this electromagnetic radiation travels through space to reach us here.
At least, that’s my take on your interesting question
I love the old song Goldmine In The Sky sung by Pat Boone. My voice always catches when I sing the line ‘And we’ll say Hello to folks who’ve said good-bye’ and I start to think who they’ll be. We’ll be surprised, but not disappointed , I hope.!
I have always had a God consciousness, but I have not always known Him. It was not until I was about 40 that I was’ born again’ as the Bible says we must be.. We can be believers but still change our minds. I vacillated at times before that, , but never again afterwards. God had dealt with me on many occasions, I realise, as I look back, but it is easy to forget or dismiss earlier experiences, but not so once we are truly born again. I know!
I am mindful of the believers now who have not been born again and I urge them to make up their minds finally, irrevocably and tell God so. I believe we are approaching the time when God is going to pour out the Holy Spirit so that those who are sitting on the fence and some who have never perhaps shown the inclination will come into the Kingdom. They will be caught up in the Rapture finally, just as those who have truly believed all their lives. We who are already saved will be further empowered by the Spirit to help with the final harvest. I received a reminder the other day , a word from Isaiah 59: 19, “When the enemy comes in like a flood ,the Holy Spirit will lift up a standard against him”. I believe that ties in with the expected outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Here in New Zealand the enemy truly has come in like a flood and we seem powerless to change things. Every good standard has been swept away. I received a vision long ago where I saw New Zealand represented as an ocean liner. Beneath the ship there was a lifeboat with oarsmen and activity. There were people in the water. The Lord seemed to say “The ship is mine. Your job is to man the life boat”. The vison was so long ago that I had forgotten it but it has just come back to me .I no longer feel helpless. and you will not be either.
Can I just encourage you, once you have put your faith/belief/trust in Jesus Christ of Nazareth you can never lose your salvation, you cannot be ‘unborn’, you cannot be ‘unsealed’ by the Holy Spirit and you cannot pluck yourself from the Father’s hand. I believed this lie for years that I could lose my salvation and, as I was at the time, a sufferer of chronic clinical depression this did not help. Now I know the Word of God – all of it (!) – so much better, I encourage you to do the same. If a person is a believer in Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whether they realise it or not, they are ‘born-again’ – see Romans 3:23; Acts 16:31 and Romans 10:9. Of course if they are just a churchgoer that is a different matter entirely.
Whilst writing I note you say: ” I believe we are approaching the time when God is going to pour out the Holy Spirit so that those who are sitting on the fence and some who have never perhaps shown the inclination will come into the Kingdom” – as this goes against all that I know about the Word of God would you be so kind as to direct me to those scriptures which you believe say this. This is not a pejorative question, like many disciple of Jesus Christ I have a deep thirst to know as much as I can but I do need to check it against the Word of God like a good ‘Berean’!
The final harvest will occur during the Tribulation sometime and I doubt ‘we’ will be here.
Your interpretation of Isaiah 59:19b has been the subject of much debate for centuries because there are those who say that “the enemy” is translated incorrectly and it should be “God” Himself Who comes in like a flood. I do not know enough Aramaic and Hebrew to be able to categorically comment one way or the other.
It would seem your vision was God calling you to be a watchman, which all Christians should be – Ezekiel 33.
Amen.
I don’t quite understand “we will be people with flesh and bone bodies”.
Just wondering!
When we gave our lives to Jesus Christ of Nazareth, our spirits were brought to life, (our spirits were saved) but we are triune beings and so there is still the problem of our souls and our bodies. The next thing we do, in cooperation with the Holy Spirit is work out our salvation with fear and trembling, in other words we seek to become more and more like Jesus with each passing days as the Holy Spirit guides us, which means our souls (which many bible scholars believe are our will, mind and emotions) are gradually saved.
You may recall reading that Jesus met up with His disciples several times after he rose again from the dead, in fact He encouraged Thomas, who would not believe He had bodily risen from the dead, to touch his wounds to see He was genuine and you may also recall when meeting up with His disciples by the Dead Sea He ate with them. This tells us that His resurrected body was exactly like His old body in that they knew it was Him therefore it had to be of flesh and bones!
The last thing that needs to be saved is our bodies and this happens at the Rapture even if, when it happens you have been dead for ages, Jesus will firstly resurrect the bodies of the dead and then He will resurrect those of us still alive and transform our bodies into new ones which will never be sick and never die, they will be immortal and incorruptible. However they will still be of flesh and bone. For we do not know how we will be but we do know we will be like Him! 1 John 3:2 Hallelujah
The Bible tells us our bodies will be like the body of Jesus after His Resurrection. That Body is flesh and bone. (Luke 24:36-40) No more blood, which Jesus poured out on the cross for the sins of all mankind.
It will be a supernatural body that can pass through solid objects, and have other qualities that we can’t even imagine.