Are We All Going to Look the Same When We Get to Heaven?

ARE WE ALL GOING TO LOOK THE SAME WHEN WE GET TO HEAVEN? by Ray Pritchard Last Thursday night I was the special guest for “Ask the Pastor” night for our Allied Force high school ministry. Before my visit the students turn in questions they want me to answer. That night I answer those questions first, then I take questions from the floor. It’s always exciting and sometimes nerve-wracking because one or two of the students always try to stump me, which isn’t that hard to do. One of the advance questions this year dealt with heaven. Specifically, the question asks, “Are we all going to look the same when we get to heaven?” That’s a very good question. I think the answer is no, we won’t all look alike in heaven. Though there are many mysteries about heaven that we simply cannot know until we get there, this much is clear: In heaven we will be with the Lord, in his presence, and we will be like him because we will see him as he is. That last phrase comes from I John 3:2. I remember over 30 years ago hearing a preacher say that in heaven we’ll all be 33 years old because that’s about how old Jesus was when he was crucified. Of course, that’s just speculation. To be “like” Jesus doesn’t mean looking like him outwardly, but resembling him inwardly, in the heart, in the place were our character is formed. There are three specific lines of evidence that make me think that we won’t all look alike in heaven. First, when Jesus rose from the dead, he was in a glorified body yet that body still bore the marks of the nails in his hands and of the wound in his side. The disciples knew it was Jesus and not someone else. Second, when Jesus was transfigured, Moses and Elijah appeared with him. Somehow James, Peter and John knew who they were even though Moses had been dead for over a thousand years and Elijah had been taken from the earth hundreds of years earlier. And I don’t think Moses and Elijah were wearing name tags either. Finally, when John has the great vision of a vast multitude of believers coming out of the great tribulation (Revelation 7:9-17), he sees some from every nation, tribe, people and language standing before the throne of God. This means that in heaven we will retain many of the marks of our earthly associations. When we finally get to heaven, you will look like you and I will look like me. You will be greatly improved but it will still be you. And I will be greatly improved but it will still be me. The ravages of sin and sickness and old age will be permanently removed. The destructive effects of sin and death and earthly decay will be gone, and the pure “essence” of you, redeemed, resurrected and glorified, will remain. We won’t all look alike but we’ll no doubt look better than we do now.