Thursday, December 27
Read Isaiah 35:4-10, 65:21-25. How different will life then be from what we experience now?
Several times in the book of Isaiah we read of something new: “new things” (42:9, 48:6), “a new song” (42:10), “a new thing” (43:19), “a new name” (62:2). What is new in chapter 65 is a new order of things. There is peace and harmony among all God’s creatures. The covenant curses on the land for disobedience and rebellion (see Leviticus 26:14-17, Deuteronomy 28:30) will be canceled forever, because sin is no more. Instead, there will be abundance of blessings, houses to live in, and food to enjoy.
What will life be like in such a beautiful place? Some people wonder if we will be able to recognize our friends and family, after our bodies receive immortality and are fully restored into God’s image. After Christ’s resurrection, His disciples were able to recognize Him. Mary recognized His voice (John 20:11-16). Thomas recognized Jesus’ physical appearance (John 20:27, 28). The two disciples of Emmaus recognized His mannerisms at the dinner table (Luke 24:30, 31, 35). So, if our bodies are to be similar to Jesus’ resurrected body, we certainly will be able to recognize each other, and we can look forward to an eternity of restored relationships. We safely can assume that we will continue our relationships with those we know and love and who are there with us.
“There the redeemed shall know, even as also they are known. The loves and sympathies which God Himself has planted in the soul shall there find truest and sweetest exercise. The pure communion with holy beings, the harmonious social life with the blessed angels and with the faithful ones of all ages who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, the sacred ties that bind together ‘the whole family in heaven and earth’ (Ephesians 3:15) - these help to constitute the happiness of the redeemed.” - Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 677.
“Therefore we do not lose heart. … For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18, NKJV). How can we in a world that’s so temporal, so fleeting, learn to reach out and grasp the unseen and eternal?
