Will There Be Memory in Heaven?

Today, Dr. j discusses whether or not there will be memory in Heaven.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Welcome to Dr. J in the Bible. It's great to have you today. Quick shout out to Lynchburg, Virginia. Welcome, Lynchburg. Glad to talk to you about the Word today. Today we're going to get into a fantastic topic, very intriguing topic. In heaven, will we remember that we were sinners on earth? I think this is going to be quite interesting. Will we remember anything for that matter? So let's just jump right into it. You know, in the Bible, it says that God forgives and forgives in a judicial sense. It says in Hebrews 8:12, for I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. This doesn't mean God literally forgets, or in the sense of amnesia, but that he no longer holds those sins against us. They're removed from judgment forever. He says in the psalmist, uh, psalmist writes in 103.12, as far as the east is from the west, so far as he removed our transgressions from us. You know, if God would have said that he forgives our sin as far as the north is from the south, or the south is from the north, that would not have necessarily been true. Sooner or later, going north would no longer be going north, be going south, and vice versa. But east is from the west, you know, in a very logical and real sense, uh, we can we go east, we keep going east. Same thing with west. We go west, we literally keep going west. And so God forgives and forgets our transgressions, he removes them. Um, we will not feel shame or guilt in heaven. We know in Revelation 21:4 very clearly, he will wipe away every tear from our eyes. There will be no more death, sorrow, tears. There is no room in heaven for guilt, regret, torment over our own or forgiven sin, or for anything for that matter. Jesus bore all that on the cross. We may remember our redemption in order to glorify God. It is likely, and I believe in a very real sense, that we will remember that we were once sinners, not to grieve us, but to magnify God's grace for eternity. It says in Revelation 5, 9, that you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe. I believe the saints in heaven will praise the Lamb who redeemed them forever, eternally. And that in that very real sense, we will remember that we were once lost and now found forever. What kind of memory will we have in regards to when we're in heaven? This is very interesting. We'll be transformed, but not erased. We might remember our sins in the way of a healed person remembers an old scar, not with pain, but with gratitude. In heaven, sin has no power, no shame, no sting, only the memory of God's mercy. Kind of like a burning building. You were trapped, Jesus pulled you out, you remember the fire, but not the fear, but you do not feel the fear because you remember it. You remembered it enough to say that He saved me. Will we remember our sins? Possibly. Not in the way that causes grief or shame today. Um we will remember in the sense of redemption and for God's glory. Will we remember regret? Will we feel regret or sorrow? No. I believe clearly and from the biblical standpoint, God will literally wipe away every tear, no more mourning or pain. You know, what will we feel about our past? I think no matter where we are, when we're in heaven or where we were on earth, we will hold gratitude for God's mercy, not a guilt, not shame for our failure in the past. I believe that's very clear. The Bible talks about rewards for God's elect. And, you know, those rewards will not be, or that judgment at the Bima seat would not be for punishment eternally, but for recognition or maybe uh we know from Luke 19, uh stewardship of our talents, our gifts. So I do believe that there will be greater, greater gifts that will be given to some, but it won't be because you know saying that I failed, or that um it won't be saying that you failed for this and this, or there won't be shame lifted over your head. It will be all for the glory of God, and it will be for Jesus' exaltation. Why remember anything at all? Well, I believe that in order to really appreciate God's grace, we have to remember and God's mercy what he saved us from. It is very clear that in Scripture there will be praise to God for eternity. We know in Romans 8:1, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. That word now means now. No condemnation for those that are in Christ. We will not live in heaven haunted by our past. We will live free, fully known, fully redeemed, forever rejoicing in the one that saved us. Memory and personal identity in heaven, will we will we know that? I believe very clearly memory and personal identity will be preserved in heaven. We do not become uh blank slates in heaven. Our very personality, identity, relationships, memory are transformed, not erased, like a robot or like the computer or like your tele cell phone. First Corinthians 13 12 states, then I shall know fully, even as I am known. This suggests that knowledge, including interpersonal, relational knowledge, is expanded in eternity, not reduced. Our intimacy with Jesus, for that matter, is not going to be any less. It's going to be the greatest intimacy we could ever know. And I believe it's going to be the same way for loved ones that were saved or in heaven, and for brothers and sisters that are in heaven in Christ spiritually. We will be connecting in a very real sense, literally, for eternity. Matthew 8, 11 says Jesus speaks of people reclining at a table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. And so this shows that we retain a recognition of people by their very name. We know in the Mount of Transfiguration that Peter and James and John never met Elijah and Moses personally, but when they appeared with Jesus in the Mount of Transfiguration, they recognized him and knew their names. I think this is a very awesome thing. I'm looking forward to it indeed. Luke chapter 16 talks about the rich and the rich man and Lazarus, and I think this supports personal recognition. In Jesus' story, Luke 16, 19-31, the rich man recognizes Lazarus and Abraham by name. Abraham remembers the man's life and addresses him as son. There's this cognizance, uh, consciousness and awareness on both sides of the chasm of who is where and why. And this is this parable isn't just symbolic. I believe it wasn't just a parable. I don't believe it was a parable. Parables did not use uh names. Jesus never used names in parables. And so it's but it's used to show us this very eternal reality that Jesus gives people in the afterlife names, memory, and more awareness. If the lost, because we know that the rich man was lost, if he could remember and name the saved person, and if Abraham can remember the earthly life of the damned, it's reasonable that the redeemed may also remember those in hell, including names. Oh no, and then a lot of people are probably like, oh no, uh, that would be horrible. We have to understand something. We if we knowing this, we are looking through eyes of carnal flesh, and we do not see as we will be seen face to face with Jesus. And so we still do not understand fully what that full righteousness we will be looking at things through the eyes of God. If your grandma or little grandma rejected Jesus, we won't see little grandma and think, oh, poor grandma. We will look at it through our righteous eyes, and it will not affect us as we think it would affect us on earth. I hope that makes sense. Because in heaven, God's justice is celebrated by the saints. In heaven, we fully trust, we fully understand and worship God's justice, including the righteous judgment of sin and unbelief. Revelation 19, 1 through 3. And these people, this is the church in heaven. He has judged the great prostitute, his judgments are true and just. Hallelujah. The smoke from her goes up forever. The saints in heaven are not grieving, they're praising God for the judgment of the wicked. And this implies an awareness of who has been judged, a lack of sorrow due to perfect alignment with God's justice. To celebrate justice, there must be some knowledge of what or who was judged, including names or identities of the unrepentant. We will not see it in the same way as we think of it today. God's glory includes judgment, not just mercy. We often focus on God's mercy and salvation, and rightly so. But in eternity we will also glorify him, Jesus, for his holiness and judgment. Says in Philippians 2, 10 through 11, every knee will bow, every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And for those who condemn will recognize Christ's lordship, which believers will witness. So, what do we get? Memory is retained. The lost are named and remembered. Heaven celebrates judgment and God glorified in judgment. It's going to be good. Uh, if you heard the one on the Millennium Kingdom, I encourage you to listen to it. Um, and even if we remember, and I believe we will remember names of people in hell, I do. Not that I'm excited in that sense. Actually, I am, because we're not gonna be tormented with sorrow. We're not gonna grieve. We're gonna be looking through God's eyes. Our emotions will be perfect in sync with God's will. We will no longer experience guilt, despair, or emotional distress over the lost anymore. Only peace and awe and worship of the King of Kings. Hope this helps. Um, it's an encouragement, I think, and we're not going to be just some blank slate, uh, but we'll be very personal, more personal with Jesus than we ever have been. And I want you to remember that God can take your mess, turn to a message for his glory for your good.