. ____________________________________________________ THE GOSPEL OBSERVER ____________________________________________________ "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19,20). ____________________________________________________ June 21, 2009 ____________________________________________________ Contents: 1) Shall We Know One Another in Heaven? (Hoyt Houchen) 2) The Power of God's Word (Steve Klein) 3) News & Notes ____________________________________________________ -1- Shall We Know One Another in Heaven? by Hoyt Houchen Man is confronted with many mysteries, thus causing him to ponder on many questions. He is made to wonder about death, immortality, what is beyond and shall we know each other in heaven. The subject of future recognition in heaven that is discussed in this article pertains to saints. As we give attention to this question, we are aware that our soul's salvation does not depend upon the answer; nevertheless, it is thought provoking and motivates us to delve into the Scriptures to determine if they provide the answer. Some questions which concern us are not answered in the Scriptures, thus they remain mysteries and must be classified in the file of curiosity. We do not believe, however, that the question under consideration is in that category. Every devoted Christian has probably given thought to this question. When one of our loved ones (a saint) departs from this life, we are sustained by the hope that we shall be united with him in heaven. Shall we recognize each other? We address ourselves to this question. While the Bible does give some teaching about future recognition, nevertheless, there are questions which remain unanswered, especially those involving details or specifics. The Bible teaches that heaven is real, but shall we as saints know each other in heaven? A significant phrase is found in Genesis 25:8 where we are told, "And Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years, and was gathered to his people." "He was gathered to his people." This phrase, or a slight variation of it, is used with reference to Ishmael's death (Gen. 25:17), the death of Isaac (Gen. 35:29), the death of Jacob (Gen. 49:29,33) and to Moses and Aaron (Deut. 32:50). Moses was not buried in the sepulchers of his fathers, but in an unknown place "in the valley of Moab" (Deut. 34:6). So, the phrase "gathered unto his people" would not refer to the burial of the body, but to the reunion of the spirit with those who had died before. On the occasion of David's child who had died, he said: "Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me" (2 Sam. 12:23). David realized that someday he would go to be with the child. Paul wrote to the Corinthians: "...we are your glorying, even as ye also are ours, in the day of our Lord Jesus" (2 Cor. 1:14). Paul also wrote to these brethren: "knowing that he that raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also with Jesus, and shall present us with you" (2 Cor. 4:14). And, he wrote to the Thessalonians: "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of glorying? Are not even ye, before our Lord Jesus at his coming?" These are times of future rejoicing and glorying, thus it seems reasonable that Paul in these verses is referring to the "day" when the Lord Jesus will come to judge the world. Paul and his readers will be in one another's presence at that time. The passage in 1 Thessalonians 4:13,14 is one of hope and comfort for Christians whose loved ones had died. Paul admonished his readers that they "sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no hope" (v. 13). Their hope was not only that of the loved being at home with God, but it is also reasonable that there was the hope of someday seeing that beloved saint and being with him forever. This Scripture affords us the same hope today. The foregoing Scriptures are some which convey the idea that the faithful who die will be united with the other faithful who have already departed from this life. There will be a meeting together. Will there be future recognition? There are two passages in particular which lend evidence to this. (1) The transfiguration (Matt. 17:18; Mk. 9:2-8; Lk. 9:28-36). Christ was transfigured on the mountain and there appeared with him Moses and Elijah. Moses had been dead for nearly fifteen hundred years, and his body lay in an unknown grave. Elijah did not die, for he was taken up into heaven by a whirlwind (2 Kgs. 2:11). The body of Moses turned to dust and Elijah had been changed. These men were clothed with different bodies from what they had here upon earth, but they appeared to the disciples and were talking with Jesus. They were both recognized. (2) The rich man and Lazarus (Lk. 16:19-31). Although some classify this account as a parable, a parable represents something that actually occurs. The rich man recognized Lazarus and Abraham in the unseen world. He still possessed memory, for he was told to remember that in this world he had good things and Lazarus evil things. He also remembered that he had five brothers still living. He requested that they be warned, lest they too, should come to torment. A great gulf in Hades separated the righteous from the wicked, and although it was too late for the rich man to be changed, there was recognition. The Scriptures teach that at the resurrection of the dead, it is our physical bodies that will be changed, not our spirits. This is made clear in 1 Corinthians 15 (see vv. 35-38). This body will be changed from a mortal body to an immortal one. "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality" (v. 53). There can be no doubt that the mortal and the corruptible refer to the physical body. Certainly, the spirit is neither corruptible nor mortal. When we are raised from the dead, we shall have a body which pleases God to give us. It will be a changed body (vv. 51,52). "It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body" (v. 44). This being true, we shall not be known in heaven by our natural (physical) bodies as we are known here upon the earth, but this is not to suppose that our spiritual bodies will be without form and features. Jesus, Moses and Elijah were transfigured. Webster defines "transfiguration" as "a change in form or appearance" (Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, 1252). They were transfigured, but they were recognized. The Lord will clothe us with bodies which he has prepared; they will be fashioned anew to be "conformed to the body of his glory" (Phil. 3:21). Our bodies will be transformed into the likeness of his body in the glorified state. John wrote, "Beloved, now are we children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know that, if he shall be manifested, we shall be like him; for we shall see him even as he is" (1 Jn. 3:2). If we shall recognize God in his manifested form, then, does it not stand to reason that we shall recognize one another in whatever likeness he shall prepare for us? There will be recognition in heaven. How the resurrection and transformation will take place, our finite minds cannot comprehend it, much less can we explain it. By the same faith that we accept all the miracles in the Bible, let us anticipate this great miracle which is yet to occur, and believe it with all our hearts. The very thought of knowing one another in "the land that is fairer than day" is a great hope for Christians and should motivate us to endeavor even more to please God, and be assured that someday we can live forever in that most wonderful and indescribable place known as heaven. -- Via Guardian of Truth XXXV: 20, pp. 623-624 October 17, 1991 ____________________________________________________ -2- The Power of God's Word by Steve Klein The very first sentence of the Bible makes the following claim: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." How did He do it? What unfathomable power does God possess that would enable Him to create this world and all that is in it? The Bible answer is that the power is in His word. God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God merely spoke everything into existence (cf. John 1:1-3). "By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible" (Hebrews 11:3). Not only did God create everything by His word, but it is also His word that sustains the creation. Hebrews 1:3 states that He is "upholding all things by the word of His power." God's word is so powerful that it will accomplish whatever He pleases. In Isaiah 55:11 God says, "So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." Just think about that. The word of God can and will accomplish whatever He wants it to accomplish! Among the many amazing facts about God's powerful word, consider the following: * It is eternal. Every material thing in existence will one day be destroyed, but God's word will endure eternally. "All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever" (1 Peter 1:24-25). Jesus said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away" (Mark 13:31). * It can give you a new and everlasting life. Christians have "been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever" (1 Peter 1:23). * It cannot be destroyed, and yet it will destroy the heavens and the earth. In 2 Peter 3:5-7, Peter is writing about those who mock the promises of God's word concerning the second coming and the destruction of the world. He says, "For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." The word that caused the earth to be destroyed by water in the days of Noah is the same powerful word that will destroy the earth in fire at the end of time! * It can tell what is inside you. Like a spiritual x-ray, MRI or CAT scan, God's word can see deep inside of us. "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12). * It can save your soul. It does not matter how filled your life is with filth and wickedness, God's word has the power to save you. "Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls" (James 1:21). There are many things that we as mere men do not have the power to do. We are limited not only by time and space, by our humanity and mortality, but also by the restraints that others sometimes place on us. But friend listen to the apostle Paul; we may be limited and restricted "even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained" (2 Timothy 2:9). God's word is powerful and it is not chained! It can change your life! It can save your soul! It can enable you to live forever! Receive it with meekness. -- Via The Bulletin of the Church of Christ at New Georgia, January 25, 2009 ____________________________________________________ -3- News & Notes Let those of us who are Christians be praying for the family and friends of Maxine Pine, who had been a former member of the Myrtle Street church of Christ, and passed away June 18, 2009. We were glad to have had her with us for the many years that she was. She had been an encouraging member at church and a friendly and pleasant person to be around. In February of 2007, she was preceded in death by her husband Joe with whom she had been married for 64 years. Their bodies now rest side by side in Canton, Texas, where she was originally from. And what really eases the sorrow of death is knowing that sister Pine, just as her husband also was, had been a Christian; so we, as the apostle Paul shows in 1 Thess. 4:13, do not have to grieve as those who have no hope. For "the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words" (vv. 16-18). We extend our condolences to all her family and friends; and may we be thankful for the blessings she brought to this world in the lives she touched; for the precious memories she left behind in those who knew her; and for the continual encouragement and good incentives that those memories can bring. Let us also be praying for Luther Shuff, another of the members at Myrtle Street, who has remained bedridden and under Hospice Care for the last few weeks. ____________________________________________________ CHURCH OF CHRIST 201 Rushing Road (at the Hampton Inn) Denham Springs, LA 70726 Sunday: 9:15 AM, 10:00 AM, 4:00 PM evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (225) 667-4520 tedwards@onemain.com http://home.onemain.com/~tedwards/go DIRECTIONS: Take the Denham Springs exit (exit 10) off of I-12. At the end of the exit ramp, turn north. Go about a stone's throw to Rushing Road. (You'll see a Starbucks, Circle K, and two other gas stations; with each on each corner.) Turn left on Rushing Road, and go less then 0.3 of a mile. Hampton Inn will be on the right. We assemble in its meeting room, which is very close to the reception counter. ____________________________________________________