For many Christians this is a very emotional and important question. Most believe that heaven will be a place where we are reunited with obedient parents, spouses, siblings and children. Included are children who have died before the age of accountability because they did not recognize intellectually what sin is against God and His word. What does Scripture say about this important question?

There are three ways mankind can understand God’s authority in His word: direct command, approved examples, and necessary inference. In this article examples of necessary inference will help us answer the question “will we know each other in heaven”? Necessary inference is defined as “the act or process of reaching a conclusion from statements made by Scripture itself”. The inferences we make from Scripture must be “necessary”. The inference needs to be part of Scripture and the conclusion drawn from it must be logically unavoidable from facts and evidence that are found in His word.

When we recognize family and friends, we rely on their physical appearance such as hair color, the shape of their body, and their tone of voice. While physical characteristics may be helpful in recognizing others in the mortal realm, they may be of no use in heaven. God’s word tells us we will be resurrected from the dead with a spiritual body. Paul writes that our mortal body “is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body” ( 1 Corinthians 15:44). Our earthly body will be buried and suffer decay (Eccl. 3:20). When Jesus returns the perishable body will be raised an imperishable body or a spiritual body. The question is, what will our spiritual body look like? If a person passes away advanced in years, will their spiritual body retain the same appearance as when they departed this life? Will one who sadly perished as a child, or infant, be destined to spend eternity with the body of a child or infant? There is a difference in the glory of our heavenly bodies and our earthly bodies. The earthly body “is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power…”(1 Corinthians 15:43). We need a spiritual body to exist in eternity, one that would be incorruptible, glorious, and powerful adapted to the high state of existence in heaven. Does scripture tell us what the spiritual body may look like? The apostle John writes “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is” (1 John 3:2). “Like Him” includes both physical changes in the resurrected body and spiritual changes of purity, no sin, and full of righteousness. The apostle Paul wrote “the Lord Jesus Christ will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself” (Philippians 3:21).

Though our physical body is changed into a spiritual body, according to scripture we still retain our individual identity. When David was fasting and weeping while waiting to see if his child by Bathsheba would live, the child died and David said “But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me” (2 Samuel 12:23). The significance of the statement “I shall go to him” in this passage can only be understood if David meant that he would know and recognize the child when he saw him in heaven.
When Peter, James, and John witnessed Jesus being transfigured on the high mountain, “Elijah appeared to them along with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus; let us make three tabernacles, one for You and one for Moses, and one for Elijah” (Mark 9:4-5). The disciples no doubt recognized Elijah and Moses because Peter offered to build tabernacles for each one of them. Peter could identify Elijiah and Moses. What makes this interesting is Peter had never seen them in person. If their spiritual bodies were identifiable on earth, they surely will be in heaven as well.

Jesus described the eternal heavenly kingdom and the fact that we will know the identity of others in our heavenly home when He said, “I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 8:11). Likewise, Jesus’ teaching about the resurrection involved the survival of personal identity and recognition. Jesus said regarding the resurrection of the dead, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, I am not the God of the dead but of the living” (Matthew 22: 31-32). This provides a very strong basis for believing that we shall know each other in heaven.
As the hope of an eternal home in heaven springs forth from our soul, we consider the promises of God’s word that we will have joy when we are reunited with our loved ones and fellow brethren in the glorious presence of God.