Will We Remember Our Past In Eternity?
Question : One thing that keeps coming to my mind is whether we will all be able to remember all our past memories of both good and bad that happened to us on earth once we reach heaven forever. Or will a new mind be given along with the glorious body we will receive when Jesus will raise us all up on the day of rapture?
Answer : Greetings! Just because the Bible says that all the believers have the "mind of Christ", doesn't mean that we have lost the ability to think individually and that what ever thoughts Jesus thinks are the only thoughts we get now after we are born again (1 Cor 2:16). It does mean that we as believers now have a supernatural source of divine mind of God released within our mind constantly through the power of the Holy Spirit, to make us take a choice to accept the will of God consciously and voluntarily each moment by moment.
In the same way in eternity, just because God says, "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind." (Isa 65:17), doesn't mean that we will lose our earthly memory of the journey we did on the earth. It means we will not feel guilty or remorseful anymore conciously for all the things we have done whether good or bad because by that time in eternity we will have already understood how God has worked all things [which includes good things and bad alike], only for our spiritual good and growth of us believers who will have been made to inherit God's spirtual inheritance through His Son, which will have made us to be who we will be for eternity ahead (Rom 8:28).
We see in the classical story of Joseph in the Book of Genesis, how God turned all his miseries to become a blessing because he trusted in the word of God which tested him again and again until all that God had spoken came to pass (Psa 105:17-22). Joseph was pruned through the trials of God very well as he co-operated with God whole heartedly, then he came to a God given mature understanding that he was no more angry against his brothers who sold him in to Egypt, but told his brothers who were afraid that Joseph as the lord of Egypt could kill them for what they have done to him before (Psa 105:21), that it was not them but it was God who had sent him before them by making them sell him in to hands of the Ismaelites who later sold him through Midianites to the Egyptians to be a slave (Gen 45:5; 27:25-28, 36). What a wonderful and a beautiful mind with eternal understanding Joseph had by the blessing of God over his life. This is why we should not judge others by what bad things they have done to us, instead we should look upon them with the love of God and consider our experiences whether good or bad as something allowed by God for our good. Maturely with eternal perspective and understanding, we should look forward with gratitude towards God for how He has worked through all our circumstances whether good or bad to make us get blessed for eternity. We also ought to look towards God eagerly of how God is going to change the mistakes we have commmited ignorantly to become a eternal blessing ahead (1 Cor 4:3; Deut 23:5; Neh 13:2; Num 23:11; 2 Cor 2:14). Any mistakes we do, we confess to the Lord now and get forgiven and cleansed from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). God has guranteed to cleanse us in such a way through the precious blood of Jesus that we will feel on the inside of us like as we have never commited at all the mistakes which we have done and confessed to God (Heb 9:14). The only thing we should strive is to keep our conscience always clean before men and God (Acts 24:16; 1 Tim 1:19). This mature understanding God gives without fail to all believers once we die and go on to be with our Lord for eterntiy (Php 1:20-26; 2 Cor 5:1-2, 6, 8), but those believers who are thankful for everthing towards God will get this understanding in this earthly life itself and therefore will be joyful in this earth itself (1 Cor 13:12; 1 Peter 1:6, 8-9; James 1:2-5).
What makes a person to be him at the end of his life than at his birth? It is the memory of our lifetime lived on earth which makes us who we are. If as like some people imagine, if God erases our memory of our earthly pilgrimage (1 Peter 2:11; Psa 84:5), we will certainly cease to exist as the original person of who we were on earth. We are what our thoughts and experiences make us to be. So through this we know that when God says, "And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind." (Isa 65:17), it does not mean that God will erase our earthly experience of our lifetime during eterntiy, but will only remove any guilt or remorse we felt on earth because of lack of understanding the workings of God maturely to see all our experiences through the eyes of God in the eternal prespective. This is what is said in the previous verse which says, "Because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hidden from My eyes." (Isa 65:16, c). When a believer forgets the troubles of his earthly journey, it means that no more trouble will ever visit him and try to destory him during the time when he will live with God in the new heaven and earth, which they all actually look forward to experience eagerly (Rev 21:3-4; 2 Peter 3:13). When the Scripture says that troubles will be hidden from God's eyes, it implies that by the time believers live in the new heaven and earth in eternity with God forever, God would have already rewarded all the believers of all the inhertiance that belonged to them, and because of settling the record straight God does not keep track of troubles inflicted upon believers anymore to take vengeance on the wicked as there will be no one to afflict them anymore (Col 3:24; Gal 6:9-10; 2 Thess 1:7-8; Rom 12:19). Hence only the troubles are forgotten and not the memories.
In the eternal state, all people will know all the things they have done on earth as we see in the story of poor beggar Lazarus and the rich man. Lazarus was sitting in Abraham's bosom because he understood that God was comforting him for all the miseries he had gone through on earth (Luke 16:25). Another important thing to note is that the rich man recognized Father Abraham whom he had never seen him when he was alive. How could this be? This happens because our spiritual understanding of our spirit-man will be enhanced to understand all things once we die (1 Cor 13:12). The rich man knew in himself why he ended up in Hades which is full of torments (Luke 16:24), but then because of his fleshly love towards his brethren on earth he was pleading to Father Abraham to send someone to warn them lest they too come to that tormenting Hades also (Luke 16:27-31). What ever veil of limited understanding that limits us will suddenly be pulled out of our way once we die physically.
Gratitude and thankfulness can remain in us only as long as we have the memory of our earthly events (Psa 106:13). Then once we by our own choice give thanks to God (Php 4:6; 1 Thess 5:18; Rom 1:21), then we understand our earthly experiences maturely with the eternal mind set that understands that all our trials makes us mature spiritually and that it will last for eternity ahead (Jam 1:2-4; Rev 22:12). And actually now, God is working through all the good and the bad things of our life equally and is turning it in to only good things for our eternal good. All we need to do now is to believe it, as we believe it now and walk by faith, very soon God will restore the same image of Him in to us once and for all after our death to understand all things personally and privately of how God has worked together all things for our good (2 Cor 3:18; 1 Cor 2:14-16). Then for eternity we will be ever grateful to the Lord, praising and thanking him for allowing all things good and bad to happen in our lives so that we could glorify Him through it for eterntiy ahead. God does all things for the glory of His name and we become a part of it when we live with gratitude and thankfulness.
So the bottom line is, our earthly memory will not be erased completely but will be spiritually positioned in such a way that we will have no regret for having gone through all the troubles we had gone through on earth, but will instead thank God for allowing it all and thus making us inheritors of eternal glory of God.
Much Blessings.....
Answer : Greetings! Just because the Bible says that all the believers have the "mind of Christ", doesn't mean that we have lost the ability to think individually and that what ever thoughts Jesus thinks are the only thoughts we get now after we are born again (1 Cor 2:16). It does mean that we as believers now have a supernatural source of divine mind of God released within our mind constantly through the power of the Holy Spirit, to make us take a choice to accept the will of God consciously and voluntarily each moment by moment.
In the same way in eternity, just because God says, "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind." (Isa 65:17), doesn't mean that we will lose our earthly memory of the journey we did on the earth. It means we will not feel guilty or remorseful anymore conciously for all the things we have done whether good or bad because by that time in eternity we will have already understood how God has worked all things [which includes good things and bad alike], only for our spiritual good and growth of us believers who will have been made to inherit God's spirtual inheritance through His Son, which will have made us to be who we will be for eternity ahead (Rom 8:28).
We see in the classical story of Joseph in the Book of Genesis, how God turned all his miseries to become a blessing because he trusted in the word of God which tested him again and again until all that God had spoken came to pass (Psa 105:17-22). Joseph was pruned through the trials of God very well as he co-operated with God whole heartedly, then he came to a God given mature understanding that he was no more angry against his brothers who sold him in to Egypt, but told his brothers who were afraid that Joseph as the lord of Egypt could kill them for what they have done to him before (Psa 105:21), that it was not them but it was God who had sent him before them by making them sell him in to hands of the Ismaelites who later sold him through Midianites to the Egyptians to be a slave (Gen 45:5; 27:25-28, 36). What a wonderful and a beautiful mind with eternal understanding Joseph had by the blessing of God over his life. This is why we should not judge others by what bad things they have done to us, instead we should look upon them with the love of God and consider our experiences whether good or bad as something allowed by God for our good. Maturely with eternal perspective and understanding, we should look forward with gratitude towards God for how He has worked through all our circumstances whether good or bad to make us get blessed for eternity. We also ought to look towards God eagerly of how God is going to change the mistakes we have commmited ignorantly to become a eternal blessing ahead (1 Cor 4:3; Deut 23:5; Neh 13:2; Num 23:11; 2 Cor 2:14). Any mistakes we do, we confess to the Lord now and get forgiven and cleansed from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). God has guranteed to cleanse us in such a way through the precious blood of Jesus that we will feel on the inside of us like as we have never commited at all the mistakes which we have done and confessed to God (Heb 9:14). The only thing we should strive is to keep our conscience always clean before men and God (Acts 24:16; 1 Tim 1:19). This mature understanding God gives without fail to all believers once we die and go on to be with our Lord for eterntiy (Php 1:20-26; 2 Cor 5:1-2, 6, 8), but those believers who are thankful for everthing towards God will get this understanding in this earthly life itself and therefore will be joyful in this earth itself (1 Cor 13:12; 1 Peter 1:6, 8-9; James 1:2-5).
What makes a person to be him at the end of his life than at his birth? It is the memory of our lifetime lived on earth which makes us who we are. If as like some people imagine, if God erases our memory of our earthly pilgrimage (1 Peter 2:11; Psa 84:5), we will certainly cease to exist as the original person of who we were on earth. We are what our thoughts and experiences make us to be. So through this we know that when God says, "And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind." (Isa 65:17), it does not mean that God will erase our earthly experience of our lifetime during eterntiy, but will only remove any guilt or remorse we felt on earth because of lack of understanding the workings of God maturely to see all our experiences through the eyes of God in the eternal prespective. This is what is said in the previous verse which says, "Because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hidden from My eyes." (Isa 65:16, c). When a believer forgets the troubles of his earthly journey, it means that no more trouble will ever visit him and try to destory him during the time when he will live with God in the new heaven and earth, which they all actually look forward to experience eagerly (Rev 21:3-4; 2 Peter 3:13). When the Scripture says that troubles will be hidden from God's eyes, it implies that by the time believers live in the new heaven and earth in eternity with God forever, God would have already rewarded all the believers of all the inhertiance that belonged to them, and because of settling the record straight God does not keep track of troubles inflicted upon believers anymore to take vengeance on the wicked as there will be no one to afflict them anymore (Col 3:24; Gal 6:9-10; 2 Thess 1:7-8; Rom 12:19). Hence only the troubles are forgotten and not the memories.
In the eternal state, all people will know all the things they have done on earth as we see in the story of poor beggar Lazarus and the rich man. Lazarus was sitting in Abraham's bosom because he understood that God was comforting him for all the miseries he had gone through on earth (Luke 16:25). Another important thing to note is that the rich man recognized Father Abraham whom he had never seen him when he was alive. How could this be? This happens because our spiritual understanding of our spirit-man will be enhanced to understand all things once we die (1 Cor 13:12). The rich man knew in himself why he ended up in Hades which is full of torments (Luke 16:24), but then because of his fleshly love towards his brethren on earth he was pleading to Father Abraham to send someone to warn them lest they too come to that tormenting Hades also (Luke 16:27-31). What ever veil of limited understanding that limits us will suddenly be pulled out of our way once we die physically.
Gratitude and thankfulness can remain in us only as long as we have the memory of our earthly events (Psa 106:13). Then once we by our own choice give thanks to God (Php 4:6; 1 Thess 5:18; Rom 1:21), then we understand our earthly experiences maturely with the eternal mind set that understands that all our trials makes us mature spiritually and that it will last for eternity ahead (Jam 1:2-4; Rev 22:12). And actually now, God is working through all the good and the bad things of our life equally and is turning it in to only good things for our eternal good. All we need to do now is to believe it, as we believe it now and walk by faith, very soon God will restore the same image of Him in to us once and for all after our death to understand all things personally and privately of how God has worked together all things for our good (2 Cor 3:18; 1 Cor 2:14-16). Then for eternity we will be ever grateful to the Lord, praising and thanking him for allowing all things good and bad to happen in our lives so that we could glorify Him through it for eterntiy ahead. God does all things for the glory of His name and we become a part of it when we live with gratitude and thankfulness.
So the bottom line is, our earthly memory will not be erased completely but will be spiritually positioned in such a way that we will have no regret for having gone through all the troubles we had gone through on earth, but will instead thank God for allowing it all and thus making us inheritors of eternal glory of God.
Much Blessings.....
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