By Peter Kaye |

Can People Look Down on Us from Heaven?

Dawn Wilson, writes...

It’s speculation whether people in heaven see us or know much, if anything, about what’s happening on earth. There’s no explicit biblical statement. But we can consider things we might never have thought about before.

 The question might be asked, “Wouldn’t seeing us from heaven bring people pain and suffering?” Possibly. But it’s also true that God's children will be transformed in heaven. 

They would not view pain and misery with imperfect eyes and minds, but rather from their new, perfected state (Hebrews 12:23). 

Billy Graham once said that the saints in heaven “know that even in the midst of life’s heartaches and trials, God is still working behind the scenes.” They also know “Satan is a defeated foe,” Graham said.

God could choose to keep His children in heaven ignorant of earth’s suffering; but again, if He allows them to see and understand, it would be from His perspective, and they would not doubt God’s sovereignty, goodness, love, or wisdom in His dealings with those who remain on earth....

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Randy Alcorn, in his book Heaven, wrote that if the martyrs in heaven know God hasn’t yet brought judgment on their persecutors (Revelation 6:9-10), “it seems evident that the inhabitants of the present heaven can see what’s happening on earth, at least to some extent.”

Further, regarding Revelation 18, Alcorn wrote, “When Babylon is brought down, an angel in Heaven refers to events happening on Earth and speaks of them to people living in Heaven. Clearly these inhabitants of Heaven are aware of what’s happening on Earth.” 

And then in Revelation 19:1-2, heaven’s inhabitants praise God for specific events of judgment taking place on earth. “Those on Earth may be ignorant of events in Heaven,” Alcorn said, “but those in Heaven are not ignorant of events on Earth, at least some of these events.”

In another instance, in Luke 9:30-31, Moses and Elijah appeared from heaven and began talking with Jesus. They seemed “fully aware of the drama they’d stepped into, of what was currently transpiring on Earth…,” Alcorn wrote. 

Alcorn concludes: “In Heaven, Christ watches closely what transpires on Earth, especially in the lives of God’s people. If the sovereign God’s attention is on Earth, why wouldn’t the attention of His heavenly subjects be focused here as well?”

Read all of Dawn's post here.