Will we still see people and family on earth who are still alive?

The answer is yes and yes. That used to creep me out as a child, thinking about people in heaven watching me. Let’s be honest: We want to know, “Are they watching us when we go to the bathroom?” We all wonder about that.

The Bible, I think, is very clear that people in heaven are aware of what’s happening on earth. How do I say that with such confidence? In Revelation 6, the martyred saints are pictured in heaven looking down at what’s happening on the earth and saying, in essence, “Lord, how long are You going to let this blasphemy continue? When are You going to bring justice to the world?” So the saints in heaven are aware of what’s happening on earth. People say, “How could they be happy if they see how miserable everything is on earth, or how miserable their loved ones are? How can they be happy and still rejoice?” The fact is they know the whole story; they know how the story ends. So what we do on earth cannot quench the joy of those who are in heaven.

Now, do we know one another in heaven? Absolutely. Do you know how I know that? The Bible says Jesus Christ in His resurrected body was the prototype of the bodies we will all receive. If you want to know what our lives are going to be like in our new bodies, just look at those forty days that Jesus spent on earth in His resurrected body. His disciples recognized him, but not at first. Have you ever seen somebody and they were not where they normally are? Maybe you ran into them in another city, and since you were not expecting to see them there, for a second you didn’t recognize them—but then you realize you know them. It was that way with Jesus and His disciples, and it’s going to be that way with us. He was recognized by His disciples, and we’ll know one another in heaven as well. The Bible says in His resurrected body, Jesus ate; He got hungry. So in our resurrected bodies, we’re going to be eating for sure. We’re not just spirit; God made us body and spirit, and there’s never been a time that our spirits existed without our bodies. So we will have new bodies, we’ll know one another, but we’ll never go to the doctor again.