There is a more substantial link between heaven and earth than we Christians can perceive. There is much of heaven’s activity on earth of which we are not aware. The Bible clearly indicates that. For instance, the Saviour said on one occasion: “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven,” Matthew 18:10. Again, we are told by Paul of the angels, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” Hebrews 1:14.
I have been made to wonder, as a result of personal experiences in recent times, just what the redeemed in glory know of events that are taking place here on earth. As I pondered this matter, the first thing that occurred to me was:
I. WHATEVER THEY KNOW CANNOT IN ANY WAY DEPRIVE THEM OF THE JOY AND PEACE OF THE HEAVEN WHICH THEY HAVE ENTERED!
1. Heaven is a place of perfect, uninterrupted peace and happiness for the redeemed. It is spoken of as a place of rest. “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God,” Hebrews 4:9. The word ‘rest’ carries the meaning of ‘a keeping of the Sabbath’. As the Lord rested after He had created the universe, so the believer enters a similar rest when they die and go to heaven. This is emphasised in that heavenly announcement in Revelation 14:13. “And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.” Blessed rest is the portion of the redeemed throughout eternity when they depart this world!
That being so, if they know anything of this world’s activities, it is a knowledge ‘sanctified’, or ‘filtered’, if I may use that term, so that nothing of the wickedness of this world is conveyed to them that would disturb their peace. I cannot really understand how this may be but I feel it is a logical conclusion we must draw if we do understand that the saints of God in heaven know something of events taking place in the world.
2. Perhaps I can draw a parallel with the knowledge the Lord has of events on earth but which do not defile Him or deprive Him of the perfect peace that is the eternal disposition of the eternal God. Here on earth, the saved sinner knows something of the ‘peace of God’. “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus,” Philippians 4:7. “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful,” Colossians 3:15. The peace spoken of here is that peace which comes from the knowledge that “being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” Romans 5:1.
The Lord Jesus said to His disciples: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid,” John 14:27. How much the saints of God here need such peace of mind and soul, given us of the Lord, for we live in a troubled, antagonistic world that ever seeks to trouble and vex us. As Lot was “vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked,” 2 Peter 2:7, so are all of God’s people to varying degrees by events around us, and that increasingly as this world descends deeper into the latter-day apostasy.
But in a manner really unknown to us, the eternal tranquility of the Godhead is unperturbed by that which troubles us here. God sees the final triumph of holiness over sin and the devil which He will assuredly bring about in accordance to His perfect and imperative will. Thus we, because of a lack of knowledge and a lack of believing what is revealed to us in the Bible, cannot share in this perfect peace until we get to heaven.
I was made to think of my sins – were they known to loved ones in heaven? Then, to my comfort, I thought of that wonderful verse, Hebrews 10:17. “And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” This is part of the benefits of the wonderful ‘Covenant of Grace’. Other verses say the same for the Lord would emphasise this great truth.
“I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins,” Isaiah 43:25.
“I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee,” Isaiah 44:22.
David obviously thought on this truth to the comforting of his soul in the day of his folly. “Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities,” Psalm 51:9.
Now, this truth being so, I then had another verse come to my mind.
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is,” 1 John 3:2. That is, we shall bear a likeness to His glorious appearance.
“And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly,” 1 Corinthians 15:49.
“Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself,” Philippians 3:21.
But more than that, we shall be like Him in ‘nature’.
“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust,” 2 Peter 1:4.
Of course, that does not mean that we are partakers of His ‘divinity’, but it does mean that we shall ‘share’, for that is the meaning of ‘partakers’, in the characteristics of His holy character and we shall have escaped “the corruption that is in the world”.
I believe that this indicates that we shall share in that wonderful ‘forgetfulness of sin’ that the verses above set forth.
I can recall the late Pastor Willie Mullan, speaking in the old Ravenhill Free Presbyterian Church, say most enlighteningly, that when we try to forget something we find it impossible for it returns to our mind when we would desire it not to! But the Lord, by an act of His divine will, banishes all remembrance of the pardoned sins of His redeemed and they are NEVER recalled by Him!
So, may I suggest that in a manner beyond our comprehension while still in the body, the redeemed in glory likewise have banished from their memories both their sins and those of all of the redeemed!
I find great comfort in that thought!
God is vexed by sin
Yes, we read of the Lord being ‘vexed’ by man’s sin. Isaiah speak of this. “In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them,” Isaiah 63:9-10.
The word ‘vexed’ here refers to the Lord being displeased and angered by a holy anger against the sin of His people. In the case of us, our vexation, as was the case with Lot (2 Peter 2:7), is a state of fear, helpless and distress caused by the spirit of wickedness and rebellion all around us and also the inclination of the flesh to desire the very things that vexes our holy nature.
Remember what Paul said:
“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”
Romans 7:18-24. All we can do, as Paul says in his final statement, is cry unto the Lord for help and support and comfort in the face of this vexation.
On the other hand the Lord responds by His almighty power in judgment and wrath. His vexation arouses His sovereign retaliation and His all-conquering power! He is not distressed as we are in our weakness and helplessness.
This I say that we might be aware of the difference in the vexation that sin causes us here and that vexation which is the Lord’s response to sin. Our vexation brings home to us our own defilement but that is not the case with the Lord.
This I believe underscores the nature of any awareness of the sins of earth that are known to the redeemed in glory.
3. So it is with the saints of God in glory, whatever they know of events here does not distress them as they do us. This is how I reasoned out the matter for I believe that Holy Scripture gives us evidence of the saints in heaven being aware of events on earth. The angels certainly do and I am sure that there is a wonderful communion between them and the glorified saints since they are “as the angels of God in heaven,” Matthew 22:30.
II. THERE ARE SCRIPTURAL REFERENCES TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE SAINTS IN HEAVEN REGARDING PRESENT EVENTS ON THE EARTH.
There were a number of references which indicate the wonderful links and connection between this world and that world unseen by us. I would not be able to explain all that these references indicate but I do think that they show the intercommunication between haven and earth.
1. There was that wonderful event at the death of the Saviour on the cross. “Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many,” Matthew 27:50-53. Yes, this was a most unique event but it does show that there is a wonderful link between the world ‘above’ and the one ‘below’!
I believe that this was a foreshadowing of that event which is the fruit of the Saviour’s atonement – the resurrection of the saints at His second advent. The main difference is that I believe that this resurrection did not result in the ‘sleeping’ saints appearing in their glorified bodies but in the bodies in which they died, though I believe the marks of death and decay would have been removed.
I can only imagine what the reaction of those to whom these risen saints appeared would have been. Such is the lack of knowledge of things eternal amongst men, consternation, fear and amazement would have abounded. Remember, just the healing of the man of Gadara, a restoring of him to his right mind, caused consternation amongst his neighbours. “And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine. And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts,” Mark 5:15-17.
I am sure there was something of that reaction amongst those who witnessed this wonderful event but I am also sure that the more knowledgeable and spiritual would have rejoiced and been comforted at this display of God’s power. They would have seen that the ‘two worlds’ are not that far apart after all!
What happened to those who were thus raised from the dead? We cannot be sure but I would cautiously suggest that it is likely that their bodies did return to the graves, so that like Jairus’s daughter, the widow’s son and Lazarus, they would experience two resurrections from death. It could be they remained amongst their friends until the Saviour’s ascension after forty days and then their spirits accompanied Him to heaven.
2. Another passage that suggests a knowledge of events on earth amongst the saints in heaven is found in the Book of the Revelation. “And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” Revelation 6:9-10.
It will be seen in these words that those who had been martyred by the enemies of the gospel were aware that the Lord had not judged their persecutors or avenged their blood. This surely indicates a knowledge amongst the saints in heaven, to some degree at least, of what was taking place on the earth!
Might we not say that the saints in glory are watching and waiting for the day when the Lord will deal in judgment upon His enemies. I think we can also say that those of His saints still in the body here on earth should be exercising the same watchfulness! As we see the world sinking ever deeper into the most abject depravity, ought we too not the asking the Lord “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge . . .”
If they in heaven, void as they are of sin, can look for the Lord to judge the wickedness of men, how much more ought we to engage in the same longing and pleading in prayer? This activity is further justified by the words of the Saviour in Luke 18:7. “And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?” We ought to be ceaseless in our prayers that the day of the Lord’s intervention in the affairs of this world would soon come. After all, that is how the Bible ends. “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus,” Revelation 22:20.
3. Another heavenly scene is presented to our view in Revelation chapter 11. “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned,” verses 15-17.
The seventh trumpet, the last trump has sounded and the glorious declaration of the Saviour taking to Himself the governance of the world has been made. There is a scene of the court of heaven where the “four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats” are seen falling on their faces in adoration and worship and declaring: “thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.”
Does this not indicate that there is an awareness of the Lord’s intervention in the affairs of men. I think it does. There is thankfulness amongst the heavenly courtiers for this is an event that they were longing to see happen.
That same spirit of thanksgiving and joy at the Lord’s intervention is seen again in Revelation 19:1-6.
“And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia. And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.”
Without doubt, the redeemed in glory are watching for the second advent of the Saviour with an eagerness that we should seek to emulate here on earth!
4. Then again the saints in glory are spoken of as ‘witnesses’ to our pilgrimage. “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God,” Hebrews 12:1-2.
The ‘watching’ of the witnesses in heaven is an aid and an incentive to us running well “the race that is set before us.” I think I can say they are cheered by our progress but ‘unseeing’ of our failures! Might I liken it to the spectators watching athletes compete. They see their prowess and effort but they are unaware of the physical stresses and pain that is being endured!
I think that such helps us to understand something of the wonder of the knowledge granted to the redeemed in glory.
III. SINCE IT IS OUT DUTY TO WATCH THE UNFOLDING OF EVENTS HERE ON EARTH AS PROPHETICALLY REVEALED FOR US IN SCRIPTURE, HOW MUCH MORE LIKELY IS IT THAT THOSE IN HEAVEN, WITH A MUCH GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF THE MIND AND PURPOSE OF GOD, WILL BE NOTING EVENTS HERE ON EARTH?
The Lord Jesus urged us to: “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man,” Luke 21:34-36. We are given a knowledge by the Lord in order that we should “escape all these things that shall come to pass” and that being so, surely those in glory who are free of the limitations of the flesh and the earth, have the desire and the ability to observe the unfolding of events that mark the approach of the end.
I cannot but think that the desire placed within the Christian’s heart, by the grace of God, “to wait for his Son from heaven,” (1 Thessalonians 1:10), must surely be even stronger amongst the redeemed in glory. If they do have a more magnified, eager yearning, how frustrating it would be were they not to have a knowledge of how things on earth are moving toward that glorious event?
No, I believe that in the ‘mystery of godliness’, the saints in glory have an awareness of events on earth, yet it is not an awareness that mars or disturbs the joy and bliss of being in the presence of God.
As I said at the beginning of this article, ‘There is a more substantial link between heaven and earth than we Christians can perceive.’
May we find encouragement to do well knowing that the Lord and His redeemed in heaven watch us daily!
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
27th December 2024