Will We Know One Another?

There are two questions that seem to constantly arise in the minds of those who have lost a loved one to death. The first involves whether or not we will know one another in Heaven, the other is whether or not we will still be married to our spouses in Heaven. The second of these will be addressed soon, but the first question will be explored now and in the next section as well.

One of the clearest indications that we will indeed recognize one another in Heaven comes from the 17th Chapter of Matthew, the account of the Transfiguration of Christ:

“And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.”

The dictionary definition of transfiguration is this: “A complete change of form or appearance into a more beautiful or spiritual state.” At first glance, then, it would appear that perhaps we will not know one another, if it involves a complete change of appearance. However, it is also apparent that Peter, James, and John recognized Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, even though the last three were “transfigured.” This is quite remarkable since obviously Peter, James, and John had never personally met Moses and Elijah, since those men lived on earth many centuries before this incident took place.

While it is not wise to speculate too much on what is not said directly in Scripture, I do believe that this passage suggests that we will know one another in glory. We will not be hindered by the “more beautiful or spiritual state” of one another; in fact, it will be a true delight to see one another “perfected.” 

If the disciples knew people they had never met before when they saw them at the Transfiguration, it would seem very strange for us to be unable to recognize people in Heaven that we have known very well on earth. In fact, this passage seems to imply that we will even be able to recognize many people in eternity that we have never met before, people like Moses and Elijah.

How amazing is that?

His Eye is on the Sparrow

The following passage may at first seem like an odd place to find Heavenly comfort following the death of someone dear to us. But comparing ourselves to birds may be very helpful, as it turns out, if Jesus is the one who is drawing our attention to them!

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10: 29-31)

This passage addresses the greater issue of fear - which is certainly no stranger to those who have lost someone close. We fear the pathway of sorrow, both for ourselves and others who are mourning; we fear that another dear one might be taken from us; we fear for the eternal state of the one we’ve just lost. Widows fear loneliness and lack of protection now that their husbands are gone; grieving parents fear the future without the child who could have cared for them in their old age, and they accuse themselves, wondering if they could have done more to save their children from death. Nearly every death results, at least for a time, in anxious thoughts.

So how do sparrows help? Jesus is pronouncing in these verses that sparrows are watched by God every moment of every day. Given that we, children of the living God, are of “more value than many sparrows,” Jesus is emphatically stating that not even a hair can fall from our heads without His notice. Imagine that!

This passage helps us to understand that the death of our loved one did not surprise God. He more than noticed this tragic event. He sees our tears and comforts us in the way that only He can. He hears our fearful thoughts and encourages us to persevere on our journey of grief. He supplies all the grace and mercy necessary to carry us forward. God even gives us the energy and love to reach out to others who suffer loss.

Let’s fight our fear with these words of Jesus. The next time we see a sparrow let’s give a smile (feeble though it may be) and a prayer of thanksgiving to God for His immeasurable goodness to us in orchestrating all events, even painful ones, for our good and His glory.

Words for the Weekend

"As long as we base our sense of contentment on anything in the world, we will always find some excuse to make ourselves miserable. Our problem is not on the outside–it’s on the inside, and therefore it will never be solved by getting more of what we think we want. If we do not learn to be satisfied right now in our present situation–whatever it is–we will never be satisfied at all. . . .

The truth is that if God wanted us to have more right now, we would have it. . . . If we were supposed to be in a different situation in life, we would be in it. Instead of always saying, “If only this” and “If only that,” God calls us to glorify him to the fullest right now. . . . Contentment means wanting what God wants for us rather than what we want for us. The secret to enjoying this kind of contentment is to be so satisfied with God that we are able to accept whatever he has or has not provided."

Philip Ryken, Exodus, Saved for God's Glory

Heaven Without Jesus

Have you ever read something that just made you groan because it convicted you so much of your ungrateful attitude toward God? The following quote by John Piper (in God is the Gospel: Meditations on God’s Love as the Gift of Himself) surely caused an audible “oh no” from my lips as I read it:

"The critical question for our generation—and for every generation— is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ were not there?”

Does anyone else struggle with the answer to this?  Certainly the unbelieving world would affirm their acceptance of those conditions, but I’m afraid that even many believers might answer in the same way. Could it be possible that those of us who know the incredible price that was paid for our entrance into the Heavenly realm still leave communion with Christ out when we imagine what Heaven is really like? Do we concentrate more on our future experience of “...no more mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore” rather than fellowship with the One who made these promises possible? What is the real longing of our hearts when we contemplate an eternity of joy and bliss?

If we find ourselves content with Heaven without Christ, what should we do? We need to remember our first love. We need to remember the voice of the one who calls us His beloved, the one who rescued us because He delighted in us (Psalm 18).

Let’s look forward to delighting in Him when we reach Heaven.

Blessed?

Undergoing a tragic loss in one’s life certainly changes one’s definition of the phrase “blessing from God.” In the last three years since losing my son, I have found myself very much troubled by those who say (in person or in emails, Christmas cards, Facebook statuses, etc) something like this:

“My life is great. My kids are great. My job is great. My family is great. God is really blessing me!”

Now before I hear protests of “You are just jealous!” let me explain that in no way am I disputing the idea that God blesses us with wonderful gifts of family harmony, job satisfaction, and physical and spiritual growth of children. I truly do rejoice in how God blesses His people.

But at the same time, I also have this nagging question: “Hmmm. If God is blessing this person with all these happy providences, does this mean God is NOT blessing me in my loss? Am I experiencing an anti-blessing? What about me, God??? I want to be blessed, too!!!”

See the dilemma? Thankfully, Jesus Himself answers this question directly in the Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew 5:

“Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.’”

Anyone who has suffered the loss of a precious friend knows the feeling of being ‘poor in spirit.’ Anyone who has cried repeatedly because of missing the love of a relative understands ‘mourning.’ So what does Jesus mean that we are “blessed?”

It doesn’t mean that we should be rejoicing or happy with the event which led to the grieving process, but it does demonstrate that God has a blessing for us in the midst of this difficult period in our lives. Being ‘poor in spirit’ shows a dependence upon God and His mercies which perhaps we hadn’t really felt before; and ‘mourning’ causes us to seek healing, forgiveness, and compassion from the only One who could possibly help us.

With loss can come humility, and God gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). He will not despise a broken and contrite heart (Psalm 51:17). But more than anything else that we have here and now, those who are poor in spirit and who are mourning are taught by suffering and grace to wait for the fullness of comfort that will be ours in the kingdom of heaven.

Words for the Weekend

"There is a warning. The path of God-exalting joy will cost you your life. Jesus said, 'Whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.'  In other words, it is better to lose your life than to waste it. If you live gladly to make others glad in God, your life will be hard, your risks will be high, and your joy will be full...   Some of you will die in the service of Christ. That will not be a tragedy. Treasuring life above Christ is a tragedy."

John Piper

Psalm 44

I have heard it said that the Psalter addresses nearly every human emotion that exists. There are Psalms that describe feelings of joy, pain, confusion, grief, adoration, worship, discouragement, regret, thankfulness, fear, etc. The range of the Psalms is very wide, and we can expect great blessings from reading and meditating daily upon the truths they express.

For instance, have you ever felt confused and pained by God’s providence in your life? My Bible reading plan brought me yesterday to Psalm 44, which begins with a brief history of God’s faithful care for His people. The author then recounts some present affliction - where it seems as though God has rejected, disgraced, and not protected His people. Finally, the writer states the crux of the matter and the reason why God’s people feel perplexed:

“All this has come upon us,
though we have not forgotten you,
and we have not been false to your covenant.
Our heart has not turned back,
nor have our steps departed from your way;
yet you have broken us in the place of jackals
and covered us with the shadow of death.
If we had forgotten the name of our God
or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
would not God discover this?
For he knows the secrets of the heart.
Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

There are times in a believer’s life when afflictions arise, and they can’t be directly connected to sin. No one is sinless; we know that from nearly every page of the Bible. But bad events in our lives are not always tied to discipline. Many times the reason behind a painful providence will remain mysterious until we are in Heaven, at which time we probably won’t care anymore.

This passage from Psalm 44 affirms that tragedies can happen even if we haven’t turned our hearts away from God or forgotten Him or moved toward worshipping other gods. We must seek to trust God, even when it hurts. And we are encouraged to pray for help continually, as the last line of this Psalm demonstrates:

“Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!”

God will not forget or ignore such a prayer.

Bright Lights

I came across a wonderful application of Colossians 3:2, which reads: “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” Here are the insights of George Swinnock:

“Why would men choose the world for their portion instead of God? Because of their ignorance of the great worth of this object. The devil courts man for his soul with the brutish pleasures of sin. The world woos the heart with its profits, treasures and honours, which are vain and perishing. God comes, and he offers for the heart the precious blood of his Son, the curious embroidery of his Spirit, the noble employment of angels, the fullness of joy, and the infinite satisfaction of his blessed self to all eternity. Now why is the devil’s money accepted, the world’s offer embraced, and God’s rejected? Truly, men do not know the worth of what God offers them... The devil seeks to peck out the eyes of men, that they do not see the blessed God and the happiness that is to be enjoyed in him. O how dull is the world’s glass in the presence of true crystal! The magnet of earth will not draw man’s affections while heaven is visible. He that has fed on the heavenly banquet cannot savour anything else.”

What a wonderful reminder of the rewards that would come to us if we would only turn to God’s Word more often looking for the lights of heaven. Wouldn’t our trials seem smaller and our future brighter if we were to consider what awaits those who put their trust in Christ? Let’s put away the treasures of this present world and instead “...lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven.”

Let’s ask the King of Heaven to pour out the “embroidery of his Spirit” upon us as we set our minds on things that are above.

Words for the Weekend

“The cross was an act simultaneously of punishment and amnesty, severity and grace, justice and mercy.”

- John Stott, "The Cross of Christ"

The Case of the Withered Hand

I have to really admire Jesus. He certainly knew how to evoke real hatred from the religious leaders of His day. Take, for example, this passage from Luke 6:

“On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse him. But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” And he rose and stood there. And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?”  And after looking around at them all he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored.  But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.”

As was their custom, the Pharisees followed Christ around in order to find instances in which He disobeyed the “law,” and certainly working on the Sabbath was a big one for them. But as was Jesus’ custom, He knew their hearts and their motives, and acted accordingly.  And so He asks the crowd of leaders, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm.”  This certainly put them in a bind, for the “law” certainly had allowances for acts of mercy.  

But more amazingly, observe how Jesus circumvented the letter of the law that the Pharisees had constructed.  All Jesus did was to say  “Stretch out your hand.”  No work done there.  Likewise, the man with the withered hand did not put in much effort to actually show Jesus his hand.  What an effortless, non-working-on-the-Sabbath miracle was displayed that day.

Of course, the Pharisees understood this craftiness on the part of Jesus, even if I had never noticed it before!  They were indeed filled with anger and plotted how to harm Jesus in the future. And their plots to kill Jesus? That was actually against the law.

Anyway, I admire Him. He did not do anything wrong that day. He did something good. What’s so bad about that?

And The Winner Is...

Yes, I have finally made a decision on a book for the women of EPC to read and study and discuss together! Each year I find it a fun, yet challenging, duty to choose a work that I think will best suit the friends who come together with a common desire for increased godliness. So what better title than this year’s winner: The Practice of Godliness by Jerry Bridges.

Regular readers of CandyceLand will remember that one of last year’s selections was also a book by this same author, Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate. This new one will be a good companion study. While last year we examined sins such as pride, judgmentalism, and envy, this year we will be focusing on the positive traits of humility, peace, gentleness, etc.

I thought this approach would follow the Biblical command stated in Ephesians 4:

“... put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”

Previously we have examined our former manner of life (sins) and now we will work toward the new self (godliness). May the Lord bless us in this endeavor.

Words for the Weekend

"Give me five minutes with a person's checkbook, and I will tell you where their heart is."


"The highest form of worship is the worship of unselfish Christian service. The greatest form of praise is the sound of consecrated feet seeking out the lost and helpless."


"The men who followed Jesus were unique in their generation. They turned the world upside down because their hearts had been turned right side up. The world has never been the same."

Billy Graham

New Clothes

There are many wonderful friendships that are displayed in the pages of the Bible: Ruth and Naomi, Paul and Timothy, Elijah and Elisha. But perhaps the most lovely one of all occurs between Jonathan and David. I was reminded of this once again as I read the opening verses of 1 Samuel 18:

“As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father's house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt. And David went out and was successful wherever Saul sent him, so that Saul set him over the men of war. And this was good in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants.”

This friendship is all the more remarkable given the circumstances and context of this passage. The incident immediately preceding this was David’s defeat of Goliath. Yet David was still, essentially, just a shepherd boy, and Jonathan was heir to the crown of Israel. The description of their friendship, as being knit to each other’s souls, is an incredible work of God.

What Jonathan does to seal this friendship is amazing. After making a covenant with David, Jonathan literally gives him the clothes that he was dressed in. And these were not ordinary items of apparel, but a robe, armor, sword, bow and belt. These items signify the privileges that are given the son of a King. They are the very symbols of authority and power.

Now think about our Lord Jesus. We are knit together with Him as a result of His work on the cross. He stripped Himself of His glory and clothed us with white robes of righteousness. Matthew Henry describes it this way:

“David is seen in Jonathan’s clothes, that all may take notice he is a Jonathan’s second self. Our Lord Jesus has thus shown his love to us, that he stripped himself to clothe us, emptied himself to enrich us; nay, he did more than Jonathan, he clothed himself with our rags, whereas Jonathan did not put on David’s.”

If the friendship between Jonathan and David is so very precious, let us rejoice that we are, to an even greater degree, of one soul with the King of kings and Lord of lords. The covenant that God the Father and God the Son made before the foundation of time has opened the way for this friendship. Jesus has done all the work to make it so. And one day our rags will be traded in for garments befitting the sons and daughters of a King!