Making Saved Departed Loved Ones Happy

The question is often asked - how much do our saved departed loved ones, who in the intermediate state are in Heaven with the Lord, know about 1) their past lives on earth, 2) what is happening on earth, and 3) what is yet to come to pass.

Some people cannot come to grip with how a saint in Heaven can be happy knowing 1) that certain loved ones are absent, 2) what evils are befalling their loved ones on earth, 3) etc. It seems that the only way for them to be happy is for them to have knowledge of their past erased, and for them to have no knowledge of present life.

I cannot answer all the difficulties involved in such questions, but I do want to offer the following thoughts.

I suppose the first question concerns what the bible teaches about saints knowing and recognizing each other in heaven, knowing them as we have known them on earth. What does it teach? It clearly teaches that saints know each other in Heaven and of the relationship they had to each other while they lived on earth.

I understand that even this truth fact is not without difficulty in comprehending. For it implies that knowledge of former relationships brings sadness for it 1) reminds us of events that evoke feelings of sadness, and 2) reminds us that certain of our loved ones are lost forever in torment.

But the answer perhaps lies in these facts:

1) In our glorified state in Heaven we will be in every respect mature sons of God, having been made like the Son of God, and will therefore see things as he sees them. Thus, as the absence of certain of his natural children does not make God lose his peace and joy, so too with those who have the mind of Christ, or the mind of God

2) We are fully "reconciled" to God in all our thinking and have the attitude "whatever pleases the Lord pleases me" (but, saying this, leads us to say that we will be happy about the condemnation of our loved ones because we will see it as just and right, does it not?)

3) God will "wipe away all tears" and causes of sorrows to the heart and mind, which says that God somehow, in his infinite wisdom, will so comfort us in regard to the thought of lost loved ones that it is nonexistent

So, just how much do the righteous dead know about life on earth? Let me offer a few thoughts on this particular point.

First, consider Revelation 6: 10-11

"And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled." (KJV)

Here the departed saints know about their former lives on earth, and something about those "who dwell on the earth."

Next let us consider Luke 9: 30-31

"And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias: Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem." (KJV)

Here again is evidence that departed loved ones know quite a bit about what is occurring, or will occur, on earth.

Next let us consider Luke 15: 7, 10

"I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance...Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." (KJV)

Here it is said that the inhabitants of heaven, which would include departed Christian love ones, know when a sinner on earth repents.

Said the great Charles Spurgeon in his sermon "A High Day in Heaven" (see here - emphasis mine):

"I have only one more remark to make under this first head, and it is this—our Lord does not say that the angels rejoice over one sinner who repents, but that "there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Who, then, has the joy? The angels, of course, first. They must be included because the previous parable says that when the Shepherd comes home, "He calls together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost." The redeemed from among men and the holy angels are the friends and neighbors of Christ—and they all rejoice over every sinner who repents. But, first of all, this joy is the joy of God, Himself. The angels and the redeemed stand in His Presence—they are His courtiers—but He Himself is the center, and Glory, and Lord of All—it is God Himself who rejoices "over one sinner who repents." God the Father rejoices, for has He not found His child whom He had lost, the child whom He loved, before the foundation of the world, with all the love of His infinite heart?"

It thrills me to know that my beloved father, who is now in heaven, rejoices when I repent!

Said Spurgeon:

"One thought I cannot help interjecting just here. I am sure that these holy angels all believe in the Doctrine of the Final Perseverance of the Saints. If they did not, they would be very foolish in rejoicing over repenting sinners. The old proverb bids us not to count our chickens before they are hatched—and if I were an Arminian, I would recommend the angels to not rejoice over a sinner who repents, for he might fall from Grace and perish—and then they would have to ring the bells of Heaven backwards, or to toll them, and to recall their songs, and say, "We rejoiced too soon." But it is not so, for they know that repentance has in it the germ of perfection! Sincere repentance is the commencement of perfect sanctification and God will make it grow to full fruition!"

Well, amen to that!

(Reprint from The Baptist Gadfly for May 22, 2018 - see here)