What happens when a believer dies? The early Christians knew without a doubt that when they died they would be with Jesus and in the fellowship of other believers who went before them. The reality of our sustained memories throughout all eternity is a fundamental truth of our union with Jesus Christ. Without our memories, we would lose our identity and sense of existence. People that suffer from amnesia are an example of people living but without the reference to past memories.
Our resurrected bodies will enable us to have hypersensitivity recall, even much more than when we were in our 20’s and 30’s. We will have the ability to remember more accurately events, even be able to focus on the specific details. We will be able to have a much clearer understanding of what we choose to recall. All this is because we will not be constrained to the mere biological capacity of our brain. While it can be thought of as a great blessing to recall past events with complete clarity, it also infers that we will be able to relive past experiences that could bring back floods of hurtful emotions.
It is thought that all of our memories, both long and short term are contained exclusively within our brain. If our brain is damaged because of a blunt force or an internal destructive process like Alzheimer’s we are at risk of losing not only our memories but also our cognitive skills. If our memories were only contained within our brain it would mean that someone who died having issues with memory loss would start their new life with Christ having to relearn everything in their life again. It would seem more reasonable to assume that all of our memories, both those that we can remember and those that we can’t are in some way imprinted in our very soul and spirit that remains alive and active after we die.
Is this just a guess or is there biblical evidence that supports this idea? Let’s take a look at some biblical examples that support the memory imprinting idea.
Luke 16 is an example of Jesus talking about 2 people that died both being conscience of their situation.
In this passage, we read that about the rich man
Some saints might argue that this is only a parable spoken by Jesus as a fictional story of what the after like might be like. I would encourage those that might be inclined to think that to answer these two questions:
Let’s look at another example that illustrates the fact that our memories do stay with us in our resurrected bodies. This passage relates the visit of the resurrected Jesus Christ to the 11 disciples in the upper room. Let’s take a look at Luke 24 starting at v. 36.
This is hardly the conversations someone would have with a dead man, one who was brain dead for 3+days. Since Jesus has set the pattern for our resurrection, everything thing Jesus did as part of his resurrected body is also what we will share in our resurrected body.
Does Jesus even after 2000 years still remember his existence here on earth. Can He recall the exact conversations and events that happen when He was on this earth in a human body? Absolutely. Can we expect the same think in our resurrected bodies? Absolutely!
Let’s take a look at one more example of persisted memories after our death. Lets look at 2 Cor 5:10. Here the Apostle Paul is talking about the judgment of the believers and mentioned that we will have to give an account of the things done in this body whether good or bad. How could we give an account of our past doing if we were unable to remember them entirely?
So when we die and our brain goes back to the elements of this earth, our thoughts and memories will continue for eternity. Will there be those things that God will graciously remove or suppress from our memories? Yes, (Rev 21:4).
But our memories are in some way imprinted into our souls and spirits that survive throughout eternity. We will continue to be who we are in this life, but thankfully without a sin nature. This is one of the motivations to live a life worthy of Jesus Christ. So we will not be ashamed at His coming! Press on my brothers and sisters as we see the day of His return coming closer and closer.
Daniel
June 23, 2015
Millennium Kingdom