Do our beloved relatives who have passed away see us who are living?

In the last few months for some strange reason, this topic has been coming up more and more. I am wondering if this community here could elaborate. Do you all believe that those believers in Christ who have passed away to Heaven or as we say; graduated to Heaven, do you all believe they see and hear us from the great BEYOND? I think one saying that seems to be the most popular is; "They have joined our cloud of witnesses." I personally love that one, however, is there a biblical basis for those beliefs even though they are VERY comforting? What do you think?

There is nothing in scriptures that indicate to me that they see us.. Unless someone can bring forth scripture stating they do??

That's one passage that seems to indicate that possibility.
At the same time we have a lot of doctrinal reason to believe that God is the only One Who can observed us anytime and anywhere.
The angels are able to see us too, but in a limited manner .
The one exception is the Devil showed Jesus all of the kingdoms of the earth. I'm not sure how that works since it doesn't go into details. Today we can do that in a limited sense through technology of the internet. We can.only observe under that circumstance more than one place.

You have a good question that I wish I had a better answer to.

When the Bible speaks of "so great a cloud of witnesses" (Hebrews 12:1), it is referring to the saints who lived by faith before we did. In other words, we can look to them and witness their faith in Christ. In context, they are not witnessing what we are doing here on earth.

Do our beloved relatives who have passed away see us who are living?

For starters, we should probably distinguish between those who are in heaven and those who are in hell. Sure, every "minister" at a wake or funeral will tell everyone that the deceased "has gone to a better place," but, more often than not, such is simply not the case.

The Bible does say, in more places than one, that angels are watching us, but I cannot think of any scripture at the moment which suggests that the dead in Christ are somehow watching us from heaven. The closest thing to that which comes to my mind is this:

Rev 6:9
And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
Rev 6:10
And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

These martyred saints were cognizant of the fact that God had not yet exacted vengeance upon their murderers, but this does not mean that they necessarily had the ability to see such people.

I would say yes.
Not 100% sure but definitely a yes.

The biggest Biblical support for this question is when Jesus met Moses and Elijah at the mountain.
Since their bodies were long gone, we can then say that their spiritual presence in our world is “proof” that they are “seeing” us.

Other then the Bible, the well is literally flooded with miraculous accounts in my church with stories that I can’t even remember over the years when I got the first teachings of the life of the early apostles, their followers who then became saints and the miracles that they’ve encountered where they saw their “souls” just like Moses and Elijah in the mountain appeared.

Personally I have heard many testimonies of people seeing departed relatives; the most recent one was 6 years ago when a 7 year old girl was telling the giving family whose father passed from cancer that : “why are you all crying? I saw my dad last night and he told me he’s okay”

Luke 9 talks about Moses and Elijah meeting with Jesus. So, being they were dead already it would seem they knew where to find our Lord despite that.

I do not believe those who have passed away have any contact with this world. What would be the point? They can do nothing. In some cases, they would se much heartache and tragedy. Hardly a cause for rejoicing. As far as I know, there is no basis for believing they can see what is going on here. The "witness" is to God's faithfulness to the people on earth prior to leaving here, not during someone else's experience.

Thank you. This was a great response.

Ya know what, I see 2 sides to this. On the one hand, we have the counterfeit of this. The weird and bizarre encounters where demons get to play tricks on us posing as our deceased loved ones through "New Age" or spiritualism. Of course, we've all probably seen a Hollywood movie or 2 about this type. Leave it to the enemy to exploit something so deeply personal. FIGURES!

Then there is the real. Now, I can not refute what I myself have encountered and this was REAL. For me that happened in 2019.
2019 for my family, or what's left of us, was a VERY rough and tough year. I grew up in a family of 4. My parents and my younger sister and myself. My father passed from Emphazeema in 2014. My Mother passed in June of 2019. Then, in October my sister passed due to a medical mishap. "Spare you the details."
Ok so both of my folks as far as their being saved or unsaved is a mystery to me as I truly do not know. I have NO clue wether they are in Heaven or not.

My sister on the other hand was a believer. Now she was saved and born again. I led her to rededicate her life to the Lord,

So that sets the stage.
The day I found out that she had passed away, I was in another state other than where she had passed.

That night at midnight I could not sleep. I sat on my couch in my living room and I started praying and I asked the Lord, "What about my sister Lord?". In that moment He gave me so much peace inside. Then while I was praying I had what I can only call a daydream or vision.

In this vision I was standing in a grass field and in front of me was what seemed like a very wide river. I could not cross this river it was so deep and wide. Then I sense something and as I look ahead of me I spot a solid cement wall much like a castle wall of ancient times. Then I see them. A light shines from atop the wall and I spot my sister waving to me and she's standing there with Jesus and both of them are smiling at me. Then I see her tugging on Jesus's robe and He motions towards me and nods "Yes.". Suddenly she sort of floats across the river and stands right in front of me. As I look at her she was unrecognizable. Her hair shimmered as if glowing. Her face was radiant instead of sad and lonely. She lost a lot of weight. She had on a royal garment and her crown was like something from a royal family of some Camelot story. I mean wow! She looked so HEALTHY and vibrant it was amazing! Then, unexpectedly she hugged me and I hugged her back. No words were exchanged nor were allowed. Then, just like that, she floated back to Jesus and stood by His side. I remember instinctively knowing it was time for me to return and the dream ended.
That vision brought so much peace and comfort to me. That to me was VERY real!

You remind me in what you said that we need to be careful about this very issue because our enemy loves to play tricks on us and deceive us. We've all probably seen a movie or two about someone's dead relatives communicating with them. I think this to be very dangerous as it opens doors we should NEVER open such as was what King Saul did when he had a sorcerous contact the spirit of a late Old Testament prophet. Such practices are unlawful for the believer and should NEVER be attempted under any circumstances.

I appreciate your understanding about that sin. It's a very serious one, but I'm having trouble remembering any preaching I've heard on what I would call necromancy or communication with the dead. You explained it very well. It's mentioned a few times in the OT and that major example you gave.

I've preached funerals and have tried to be careful not to speak to the deceased which is often a custom I've noticed some others doing as they conclude the service. It's popular among Catholics because they are taught to pray to saints.

The way I heard it put best is that those in heaven are living in perfection, joy, etc.. if they were able to see their loved ones still alive, watching the trials and bad things they go through would break their hearts.
Also it implies we are constantly being watched, or at least randomly. Neither of which sits well with me.
Think about a married couple being intimate, and your parents, grandparents, siblings can all see you.
I don't know about you but I do not find that a comforting notion.

https://www.gocomics.com/pickles/2025/02/21

Sometimes I wonder if my mother is looking down on us from heaven.

I'm sure she is.

Really?!

Absolutely. You know how nosy she always was.

Biblical Basis for the "Cloud of Witnesses"
The phrase “cloud of witnesses” comes from Hebrews 12:1, which says:
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us."

Many interpret this verse as referring to the faithful believers mentioned in Hebrews 11, often called the Hall of Faith—people like Abraham, Moses, and others who lived by faith. The imagery suggests they are "witnesses" in the sense that their lives testify to God's faithfulness, not necessarily that they are watching us from Heaven.

Do Believers in Heaven See and Hear Us?
The Bible does not explicitly state that believers in Heaven can watch over us in real-time, but there are a few passages that give insight:

1. Luke 16:19-31 – The story of the rich man and Lazarus suggests that those who have passed on have some awareness of earthly matters. The rich man remembers his brothers and wants Lazarus to warn them.
2. Revelation 6:9-11 – The souls of the martyrs in Heaven cry out to God, asking how long before He judges the earth. This suggests that they are aware of ongoing events in some way.
3. Luke 9:28-36 (The Transfiguration) – Moses and Elijah appeared and spoke with Jesus about His upcoming crucifixion. This indicates that saints in Heaven have knowledge of earthly events, at least to some extent.

A Comforting Thought
While we may not have a definitive answer on whether our loved ones can see or hear us, we do know they are fully alive in the presence of God. Some believers hold that God might allow them to be aware of important events in our lives, but their focus is likely on Christ rather than watching our daily struggles.

This also brings me to an awkward question I am sure many have probably asked a few times in their lives.
That question is; "Ya know that one guy in the family that didn't truly live for God but you wondered about him? You know, the one who wasn't sober at funerals and escaped hard conversations or even lived a rather "checkered life". When he dies and the officiating minister states "He is now in the loving arms of Jesus.", Well, I have got to ask, is that statement merely for the comfort of those who hear it and thus a lie or is it true? I had to ask because coming from a 100% military VETERAN family where we had soldiers, sailors, and airmen in our family some of which were SPEC OPS folks, what are we to think when a minister says that KNOWING the kind of lives they all lived and some times it wasn't nice either.

There was a decent, short (only 42 minutes) Christian movie made on this topic years ago called "Final Exit."

You can watch it for free here if you are interested in doing so.

That's called "preaching him into heaven."

A real minister can be nice without lying.

For the record, saying the deceased is going to hell is also lying. The preacher doesn't know. Nobody knows.

I sure hope they ain't looking. I don't know who will be more embarrassed, me or them? 🤷

I know that God in and through us is powerful and we have power in Him, however, there ARE limits to this and speaking with the dead is WAY "Off-limits". As King Saul found out. The bible even tells us, "To be out of the body is to be present with the Lord.". OK so, that voice some might encounter is not their loved ones. I'll just leave it at that. The door you do not want to open for sure!

I would not entirely rule out it being a way that God comforts us, though that is not to say
it is the person per se. In fact in the transfiguration- which has been mentioned a couple
of times- Moses and Elijah were not actually there. Jesus called it a vision = horama