"We Will Be Like Angels in Heaven"
The Rev. Susumu Ando—November 7, 2010
Have you ever thought about what you would look like in heaven? In this world, we cannot stop aging. In heaven, there is no time—eternity. Therefore, there is no aging. That is good news, isn't it? But, what would our outward appearance be there? We may imagine the appearance of our deceased loved ones in heaven, based on our memories of the end of their lives in this world. If so, we would have a problem finding our loved ones in heaven in some cases. For example, if your parent died at the age of 70 and you die at 100 years old, you would look like your parent in heaven.
Here is another problem. If your husband dies at a young age and you remarry someone else, what kind of relationship would you have with two husbands in heaven? Your first husband would say that you are his wife because your earthly body was buried next to his tomb. Your second husband would say that you are his wife because you were his wife at the end of your life on earth. These problems that we may imagine are a little silly.
Similarly some Sadducees asked Jesus a silly question according to this morning's Gospel Lesson from Luke. Their question came from Deuteronomy, "Two brothers might be living together. One of them might die without having a son. His widow must not marry someone outside her husband's family. Her husband's brother must marry her. This is his duty for her as a brother-in-law." (25:5 ICB) In Jesus' time, it was far from likely that they practiced that law, but it was included in the Mosaic regulations and therefore the Sadducees regarded it as binding.
So, the Sadducees asked Jesus this question after they told Him about the hypothetical example of the woman who married seven brothers without bearing a child, "So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For all seven were married to her!" (Luke 20:33 NLT) They did not believe in the resurrection from the dead. Nor did they believe in angels and spirits. Their motive for this question was to defeat the absurdity of the resurrection with an argument. They were unable to look beyond this present world and time into the possibility of a new dynamic future.
Jesus answered, "But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God's children, since they are children of the resurrection." (Luke 20:34–36 NIV) Jesus does not say we will become angels. We will be like angels. Like angels, we won't die any more because we are in the presence of God forever. We will all be children of God forever regardless of our different genealogy in this world. What a wonderful dwelling place heaven is!
Can you imagine we will be like angels? Sometimes I explain it to people, using the life cycle of a butterfly: egg, caterpillar, pupa and butterfly. We are like caterpillars in this world. But we will be transformed, like butterflies, in heaven. Isn't that wonderful? The Apostle Paul says, "For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies." (1 Corinthians 15:52 NLT)
We will be transformed from our mortal bodies into immortal bodies like from a caterpillar into a butterfly. Thus, we must not think of heaven in terms of this earth. We won't go to heaven like caterpillars. It doesn't matter that you are married or single or male or female. We will all be like angels in heaven as Jesus tells us. We will receive beautiful immortal bodies from God. In fact, our deceased loved ones are already like angels in heaven. We cannot recognize them now because our eye is like a caterpillar's. But, when we will go to heaven and be like angels, we can easily recognize them. Our relationships with God and them will be perfect in heaven.
Last week when I was contemplating about today's message, Eric Clapton's song, "Tears in Heaven" came to my mind several times. Then on Thursday, I met Sister Hongo and the director of the Society of Haiti at JFK. On the way back home, I was listening to a radio station. Yes, they played "Tears in Heaven". So, I felt God wanted me to say something about it.
As you may know, the lyrics of this song were written by Clapton's personal tragic experience. His four and a half year old son, Connor, had just accidentally fallen to his death after crawling out of an open window of the 53rd floor Manhattan apartment of his mother's friend in 1991. What a painful tragedy he had to experience! As the song says, "Time can bring you down. Time can bend your knee. Time can break your heart. Have you begging please. Begging please." But, the song continues, "Beyond the door, there's peace I'm sure. And I know there'll be no more...tears in heaven." Yes, it is true, The Bible says, "God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and the death shall not be any more, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor shall there be any more pain, because the first things did go away." (Revelations 21:4 NRSV)
Today is All Saints Sunday. We will remember our deceased loved ones during communion. We have still missed them a lot. We have mourned over the losses of them. But we have hope to be able to see them because our Lord is God not of the dead, but of the living. He suffered death for our sin on the Cross, and was buried, and rose again. The Lord tells us that we will be like angels in heaven. What grace we have received through Jesus Christ! Praise the Lord!!
Let us pray.
O gracious God, thank You for telling us what we will look like in heaven through today's Scripture. We are so thankful that You gave us life in this world to prepare for the transformation of our mortal bodies into eternal bodies. Until that time, we work hard for Your kingdom like caterpillars. We do justice, love, kindness, and walk humbly with You. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.