Will we recognise each other in eternity?
This question has been raised and I found myself giving the answer that I was not certain of the answer: yes or no. My own, indeed human, emotional response would be - yes. Of course, it would be a delight to recognise those we love in eternity. However. I am ever cautious of emotional response?before a Scriptural understanding. This comes from years of ministry were experientialism ruled people?s lives and led them to error. Experientialism at its core, is an understanding which is inherently tied to human perception and thought rather than a God view of things.
I am therefore encouraged to go to Scripture and see if there is a definitive portion of Scripture that is clear one way or another. Unfortunately, there is none. However, there are portions which may suggest the answer to the question is indeed: yes. I will therefore set these out and allow the Holy Spirit to guide the reader into His truth on the matter.
Let us start with the Tanach ? the Old Testament.
2 Samuel 12:22-23??He replied, ?While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept, for I thought, ?Who knows? Adonai might be gracious to me and let the child live. But now that he has died, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? It is I who will be going to him, but he will never return to me.??
The son of Bathsheba and David has died. David accepts the will of God to take the child. David here as a man of God has a confidence that one day he will be reunited with his son. David appears to believe he would know his son in eternity.
Then we have this:
1 Samuel 28:12??But when the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud shriek. Then the woman spoke to Saul saying, ?Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!??
?The context of this verse is Saul doing an evil thing in consulting a necromancer. That is a woman with an evil familiar spirit. As a side note here, God intervenes before she practices her evil art. He gives a vision to her that causes her to be terrified. When this happens, it says see ?saw? Samuel. Again, another suggestion that Samuel was recognised. My use of ?suggests? rather than a definitive word, is because I am not clear if what is seen is that which exists in eternity, or a gracious God allowing the form of Samuel to appear to human eyes.
Is this the case in the following account?
Matthew 17:3 ?And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.?
In the New Testament we do have other portions that may offer insight. Firstly this:
1 Corinthians 15:40??There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. But the glory of the heavenly is truly different, and that of the earthly different;?
1 Corinthians 15:44??it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.?
In these Scriptures, Paul writes that the heavenly body is different from the earthly body. The natural body dies and the spiritual body remans. The important point here is that man became a living soul (Genesis 2:7). There is no confirmation here as to the form of that living soul in the spiritual body.
When we turn to this Scripture from John, we read:
1 John 3:2??Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when He shall be revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.?
Here we see that however Jesus appears in eternity we will see Him and we will be like Him. This again is a tantalising glimpse that raises the question will He look like the man who walked the earth? Following on from that is will we look like what we are now as we walk the earth?
Paul adds this:
1 Corinthians 15:47-49 ?The first man was from earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. Like the man made of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And just as we have borne the image of the man made of dust, let us also bear the image of the heavenly Man.?
These verses tell us that in the human body we are like Adam. We have the same skin, eyes, nose etc. as he had. However, when we were born again a new man was created, and was stamped with the image of the Lord Jesus. In this life we are to allow this holy and perfect image of God to be shown to the world. In death then, it is the new creation, the spiritual soul, that will be in eternity.
Paul again writes our bodies, when resurrected, will conform to His glorious body:
Philippians 3:21 ?.. who will transform our lowly body, that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subject all things to Himself.?
1 Corinthians 15:52 ?..in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.?
Does this then help us to understand what John wrote? We are changed. We shall be like Him in His form after the resurrection, when He was seen and recognisable?
In terms of this recognition after the resurrection, we have the encounter with Mary Magdalene:
John 20:14 ?And having said these things, she turned back and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus.?
She did not recognise Him until He spoke. It was the sound of that familiar voice that brought recognition. Is this a pointer to the eternal nature of our bodies? Our character ? our born-again soul stamped with the image of Jesus?
That Jesus was in a different form is confirmed by Mark:
Mark 16:12 ?After that, He appeared in a different form to two of them as they were going into the country.?
What is being referred to here is the encounter with Jesus on the Emmaus Road. The two people, whom I believe were Cleopas and his wife Mary (John 19:25), met Jesus. These were His aunt and uncle in the human sense. They knew Jesus well before His death, they had seen Him grow up. Yet they did not recognise Him until He broke bread with them.
Then we have the encounter on the beach:
John 21:12 ?Jesus said to them, "Come, eat breakfast." Yet none of the disciples dared to question Him, "Who are You?"--knowing that it was the Lord.?
This verse suggests there was something different about Jesus that they did not recognise. However, they knew it was the Lord, because of the miracle of the fishes.
Finally, let us consider a parable of Jesus in Luke 16:19-31. There are three characters: Abraham, Lazurus and Dives. Lazurus, the beggar, dies and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom. Dives the rich man dies ?And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham from afar, and Lazarus in his bosom.? v23
In the parable Dives saw and recognised Abrahm and Lazurus. Abraham in turn recognises Dives and addresses him. If we can draw any conclusions about eternity from parables, then there appears to be the ability to recognise others.
In laying out these Scriptures, I can only offer them with a view that may aid a Scriptural understanding, that might answer the question. This is very Rabbinical to leave it here without my own view. There is a mixture of suggestions that we are changed and will only be recognised by our character and others that suggest we will be physically recognisable. I will leave the reader and the Holy Spirit for you to arrive at your own answer.