Well, my dear friend, I join you in your heart-felt concern for family members and friends who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. It is a most serious matter indeed, and this is precisely why it is so important that we be about our Father’s business, sharing the Gospel with all who will listen as long as we have breath (Luke 2:49; Matthew 28:19). But now, how will we feel if our loved ones are not there when we get to heaven? The Bible describes heaven as a place of joy and comfort, without sin or sorrow.  To my knowledge, the Bible does not speak of sorrow or tears in heaven. Revelation 21:4 says: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” Revelation 21 and 22 describe the eternal state, which occurs after the Great White Throne judgment of the ungodly in Revelation 20. The eternal state, at least to my thinking, is what we can know for sure about heaven (see Revelation 21 and 22). I believe that heaven will be our (true believers) permanent home, where we will be forever with the Lord (John 14:3; 1 Thessalonians 4:18).

However, I can only speculate on our heavenly reaction to not finding our loved ones in the glory. Remember, though, when we see Jesus, we will be changed to be like Him, and I believe that in heaven, with the flesh gone from us, we will see things as Christ sees them. In Romans 8:29 we read: “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son…”

In the glory, we will also have a much fuller knowledge of God and His love (1 John 3:2; 1 Corinthians 13:12). What do we read about individual emotions after death? The account of Lazarus and the rich man might give us some insights (see Luke 16:20-31). In this portion, we do read of a great weeping and despair, and of a certain consciousness of things on the earth for those in torment as we see in verses 27-30. But for Lazarus, we simply read that in Abraham’s bosom he was being comforted (verse 25). We do read in the Gospels of Matthew and of Luke that Hell is a place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, but we do not read of any weeping in heaven. Also, in the portion of Lazarus and the rich man, we read that after his death, the rich man was clearly concerned about his family members who were sinners and yet still alive, and so he asked if Lazarus might go back from the dead to testify to them. Thus, we see that those in Hell do experience not only grief and despair, but remorse and the desire to somehow warn their living family members. We do not read that Lazarus himself, there in Abraham’s bosom, was experiencing any sorrow at all for those on the earth, but indeed only that he was there being comforted. The term “Abraham’s bosom” is used in this verse to be synonymous with what we know as Heaven, and it would appear to me that Heaven is ever a place of security and comfort. I further believe it is a place of supreme joy. In Luke 15:10 we read: “Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” There is joy in Heaven, but we never hear about sadness or grief or tears there in the heavenly realm. Moreover, in Psalms 16:11 we read: “…In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

My dear friend, I cannot speak with authority about the saved in heaven having any sadness at not finding our loved ones there. I pray that it affords you comfort to know that God loves our loved ones even more than we ever could, and God went to great lengths to make it possible for any who will come to Him to be saved (John 3:16; 1 John 4:10; Romans 5:8). It always comforts me to realize that God is love (1 John 4:7, 8) and that all His judgments are righteous (Psalms 19:9 and Psalms 119:137). God is a loving and merciful God and He will not make any mistakes in His judgments. I believe that we can rely upon Him doing the right thing by our loved ones, and when we get to heaven, I believe that we will truly know this and will be occupied with praising Him forever more.  (SF)  (740.6)