In the story of the rich man who went to hell and the poor man,
Lazarus, who went to heaven, the rich man makes a comment about his family. He
wanted God to reach them to warn them against hell.
Is his comment made because he knows the current state of their
belief or is he speculating based on his prior knowledge of their spiritual
state before death?
I would say the latter. He speculated on the prior knowledge of
his family and their need for salvation.
It’s not clear from the Bible whether we can see our family from
heaven or not. Probably the other question to ask is “Why do we need to see
them?”
What good would it do we saw them or watched over them? And if we’re with God, wouldn’t our attention
be fixed on him? He’s all that matters
now.
It’s not up to us to take care of our family and watch over them
when we die. God is perfectly willing and capable of doing that. We must trust
Him with that responsibility.
And what a burden it would be on us, also, to watch family and
friends make mistakes and get hurt. Heaven would be hell if we had a window
that witnessed our loved ones in turmoil, peeking in on their secret sins and
seeing them fail.
Our family and friends may cross our minds, but we’ll be gazing at
the power and beauty of God and realize he’s truly in charge and will take of
everyone we loved on earth.