Question
My wife passed away two weeks ago.my children asked if their mother can look down from heaven and see us.
Answer
From reading Luke 16:19-31 we can know:
1. After death we are conscious.
2. We have feelings.
3. We have our minds and can remember.
4. The rich man remember he had five brothers.
Whether this mean he remembered that before he died he had five brothers or that he could at that time seen events happening on earth and see that his five brothers were still unfaithful.
The martyrs in Revelation 6:9-10 asked how long it would be before the Lord would “avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?”. So evidently they knew that it had not yet happened. But whether or not they could see what was happening as time went along, they had no control over the events. They knew that GOD WAS IN CONTROL and it is to God we must look for guidance and blessings.
I am sorry for the passing of your wife and I know your children miss her dearly. The Bible really doesn’t say specifically if the dead can see events as time goes along, until the resurrection, of the events that happen on earth. Perhaps it is up to the individual to read these two scriptures and others like them and decide for himself. I can see that to believe the person can look down from heaven and see us would be a great comfort and encouragement to be faithful that we might one day be with them again. There are some things in the Bible that are a “matter of faith” which we must believe in order to be saved, such as the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. But there are also some things that a “matter of opinion” which we might believe but would not effect our salvation, such as the question being discussed.
If your wife and your children’s mother could look down from heaven and see you:
1. She would be watching you as God is watching you. But it to God to whom we must seek our help, comfort, etc. He and He alone can help us. Whatever good our spouses might have done for us while living, or whatever advice they might have given us while living we can remember and cherish, but it is God to whom we must look for help and to whom we must ultimately answer.
2. She would want you to obey the gospel and be faithful until death. The same as God want you to do. Acts 2: (inserted by glh)
By Danny Stanford
