In heaven, will I be me? That is, will I be the same person I am now? I have a personal identity now and when I get to heaven am I still going to be the same person? Of course I will be the same person. I will move out of a physical body into a spiritual body, but it will be “me” who gets to “move.” I’m not going to turn into someone else. I am not going to turn into something else. I am going to be me in a different body. I now have a “natural body,” but in heaven I will have a “spiritual body” (ICorinthians_15:44). It will be a body that will not wear out or decay. It will be a body that will last forever. But it will be “me, myself and I” dwelling in a new spiritual body. We do not lose our identity by being in heaven. We simply move from one state to another. We will move from our temporary “earthly house, this tent” to our “habitation which is from heaven” (2Corinthians_5:1-2). The New Living Translation has it: “For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. ² We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing.” Time was when Christians had “Sunday clothes” that they wore to church on Sunday, and “work clothes” that they wore to work during the week. They were the same individuals on Sunday as they were during the week—just dressed differently. In heaven, we will be the same individuals as we are now, except clothed in spiritual bodies.

 In Matthew_8:13 Jesus said, “Many will come and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.”  With whom will we sit down?  According to Jesus Himself they will still be Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in heaven.  We will sit down with them. But someone might wonder, “Will we recognize them?” Of course we will recognize them and remember who they are. Abraham was still “father Abraham” after he died (Luke_16:30). Lazarus was still Lazarus after he died (Luke_16:25). Death changes one’s destination, but not one’s identification. You simply move from one state to another. Being in heaven will change where you are, but not who you are.

 In Matthew_17, when Peter, James, and John went with Jesus upon the mountain, the Bible says that there appeared before them three individuals. Moses and Elijah along with Jesus.  At the time they were there, Elijah had been translated to heaven for hundreds of years and Moses had been dead for longer than that. And yet they were still Moses and Elijah. He was still the same Moses after death that he was on earth. And even though Elijah had been “carried up by a whirlwind into heaven” (2Kings_2:11), he was still Elijah. Being in Heaven did not change him, he was still the same “Elijah” after he was translated into heaven as he was when he was on earth.

There will be changes, but not in your personal identity. You will be in a different place, but you will not be a different person. You will be the same being in another body.

We all understand that we want to go to Heaven to be with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is the most important thing for us all. Being with God is what makes heaven…heaven. But another reason we want to go to Heaven is because we have people there. We have family and friends over there. This is one of the reasons we want to go!

 When Abraham died, he was “gathered to his people” (Genesis_25:8).  What did that mean? God told him in Genesis_15:15, “As for you, you will go to your fathers in peace.” Abraham had family there and that he would go to be with them. Before Jesus ascended to heaven, He said to Mary, “I go to my Father” (John_20:17). What did that mean, “I go to be with my Father”. And that is exactly what God was saying to Abraham. He would go to be with “his fathers” or “his people” (family). God did not say that Abraham would simply go to where his “people” were, but that he would go to “his people”. We need to understand and rejoice in the fact that when we die we go to be with our “people.”

 When David’s child died, he said, “I shall go to him but he will not return to me” (2Samuel_12:23). He knew that he was going “to him” at some point and, therefore, he would be with him at a future time. 

By: Wayne Dunnaway - Edited by: Bill Watkins