Bible Question: "Does Isaiah 65:17-24 mean we will not know our loved ones in heaven, or remember them? And will there be any dying in the new heaven and earth?"

Bible Answer: Isaiah 65:17 says, "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind."

At first blush, this may appear to say we will not remember the current earth, which could also be extended to say we won't remember our loved ones, but I don't believe it means that at all.

I believe things will be so wonderful in the new heaven and new earth that the things which came before will not be remembered in the sense that our minds won't even go there.

This is one of the cases in the Bible when we must look at other Scriptures to get a sense of what the prophet Isaiah means.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:12, "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known."

Paul is comparing this life to the next life. Here we don't see eternity clearly, but we have a vision of what it will be like, as if we were looking at it backwards through a dim mirror.

But in eternity, we will see things clearly, with all the questions we had in this life answered with perfect knowledge.

And this also clearly refers to knowing our loved ones who will be there, as well as being known and recognized by them also.

There are many other Scriptures which speak of the glad reunion day, when believers who are alive at the return of Christ will be caught up together to meet our loved ones in the air, which the Lord will bring with Him on that day of reunion. If we won't know our loved ones, how would there be a reunion?

And to answer the latter part of the question about dying in the new heaven and earth, the answer for this is clearly not.

Paul says in 1 Cor. 15:26, "The last enemy that will be destroyed is death." So a day will come when death is ended.

John in Revelation 20 and 21 gives the sequence of events that will lead up to the final destruction of our last enemy, death.

Rev. 20 covers the final 1,000 years of Christ's reign on earth, which begins with the devil being bound up and cast into a pit.

At the end of the 1,000-year reign on Christ on this earth, Satan is loosed, leads a last rebellion of human followers against the heavenly city of God and is destroyed with fire from heaven.

Then comes the Great White Throne Judgment for all the souls of those who have died without Christ, plus the final destruction of Satan and all his followers who are cast into the lake of fire.

"Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death," Rev. 20:14 says. Here is where death ends.

"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea," John continues in Rev. 21:1.

So the new heaven and earth are created at the end of the 1,000-year reign, after death has already been destroyed. Therefore, there can be no death in the new heaven and earth.

Submit Bible questions by email to writeme@johnwmyers.com

(John Myers has been a Christian lay speaker, Sunday School adult teacher and newspaper Bible study columnist for more than 20 years.)