Q. According to the book of Revelation, when we’re in heaven in the presence of our Heavenly Father, there will be no more sorrow, tears, or pain. But I think of some of my loved ones I will not see there. Will I not be sorrowful in some way?
I think that when we are in heaven in the presence of our Heavenly Father, two things will be true.
First, we will be able to see how God is completely just and fair. We will recognize that the only ones who are not in his presence are people who made an informed, definitive choice not to acknowledge him and not to worship and obey him. We will see that God did not condemn anyone because they didn’t understand or because they never had the opportunity to hear. We will realize the truth of the biblical statement that God “does not want any to perish, but all to come to repentance.” We will see how God worked in ways we could not have imagined to draw people to himself. Only God knows a person’s heart, so we should not make assumptions now about who we will and won’t see in heaven. That is one thing that should make us expect less sorrow in heaven than we otherwise might anticipate.
Second, we will recognize, at least better than we are able to do now, how there were really only two possibilities for our world: love that was made possible by a freedom that necessarily allowed for the possibility of both good and bad choices, or a world without freedom and the possibility of bad choices but without love either. We will be able to understand what that second kind of world would have been like; we will be horrified by how cold and mechanical all relationships within it would have been. By contrast, we will appreciate much more fully the power and grandeur and beauty of love, how it enables relationships to thrive and grow as people seek the best for each other and how it enables relationships to take on new life even after hurts and misunderstandings through the power of forgiveness and reconciliation. We will recognize how that kind of world was the right kind of world for us. In light of this, if we recognize that people we knew did make informed, definitive choices not to acknowledge and worship God, while we will regret those choices, we will accept them as something that had to be possible.
But the freedom that characterizes our world also enables us now to encourage and influence others to make good choices, especially the choice to receive the salvation that God is offering. If we are followers of Jesus, our lives, words, and examples can offer that kind of encouragement. In other words, there is something we can do now about the sorrow, or at least the regret, that we think we may feel in heaven. While we must always be respectful of where a person is in their spiritual journey and not pressure them in inappropriate ways, we can positively commend faith in Jesus through words and actions that demonstrate loving concern for them and point the way to the Heavenly Father who is eager to welcome them home.
Good Question 