2 Corinthians 5:1-5 says,...
Today's verses are 2 Corinthians 5:1-5, which read,
v.1 - For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in heaven.
Paul is becoming the master of word pictures. We have went from the earthen vessel picture to now an earthly tent picture. Our physical bodies are like an earthly tent that has been set up for awhile. It is serving as a house even though it is just a tent. For those who tent camp, you know this all so well. You set up your tent on your site to be your home for the week or weekend but at the end of the time you have to tear it all down. God has given us this physical body for awhile and it is serving as our home but it will be torn down at some point.
Paul is in the situation that the tearing down of the earthly tent could be more violent because of persecution rather than the tearing down of the tent because of old age. In either event, what comes next for the Christian is the experience of the building, not a tent, from God that is in heaven for us that becomes our house that will never be torn down. Paul gives the Christians in the Corinthian church a view of what is to come for those who believe.
v.2, 3 - For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked.
The physical life, the earthly tent that is our house for a time, is one that has frustrations and weaknesses. The Christian has the hope and longing for the heavenly house, our glorified life, that is free from all those things that we might groan about. Back in Genesis, Adam and Eve are first described as naked but not ashamed. After the fall, the eating of the fruit that God had commanded them not to eat of, sin entered the world through their disobedience and now they sought to be covered with fig leaves. Those coverings were not sufficient and so God killed one of His creations, shed its blood, to provide sufficient coverings for them. God would later provide sufficient covering for us with the giving of His Son on the cross, shed His blood, to clothe us with a righteousness from Him.
v.4, 5 - For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.
All this that Paul is speaking about has been prepared by God and God has given the Holy Spirit within us as a guarantee that it will happen. We groan at this point in our earthly tent but there will be a day when all that is swallowed up with the experience of our heavenly house prepared by God. The life we now have is so small in comparison to the life we will have with God in the presence of God that the comparison of the two is like we are naked now, even though we have clothes on, to the spiritual clothes we will wear in heaven. This is the true rages to riches story in the Bible.
The Christian has the God given perspective that beyond what we see now is another part of God's story for our lives. He didn't just give us a purpose and a plan for this life but for the life to come. The world looks to physical death as the end but the Christian looks to physical death as just the beginning of something even greater than anything we have experienced so far. Paul will continue in our next study of developing more of this picture of physical bodies as now and our heavenly bodies as then. How do we function in this time of groaning in our earthly tents that are our temporary homes while we wait for the building prepared by God to be our permanent homes in heaven?
"Lord, O the hope that You give to us as Your children. We can get so tied up in the details of this earthly tent that will be torn down someday and we know that fact. Help us to keep our activities of the earthly tent in sight of the heavenly home to come. We may groan today but may that groaning remind us of Your purpose and plan for us pledged by the Holy Spirit. Amen."
Pastor Adam
v.1 - For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in heaven.
Paul is becoming the master of word pictures. We have went from the earthen vessel picture to now an earthly tent picture. Our physical bodies are like an earthly tent that has been set up for awhile. It is serving as a house even though it is just a tent. For those who tent camp, you know this all so well. You set up your tent on your site to be your home for the week or weekend but at the end of the time you have to tear it all down. God has given us this physical body for awhile and it is serving as our home but it will be torn down at some point.
Paul is in the situation that the tearing down of the earthly tent could be more violent because of persecution rather than the tearing down of the tent because of old age. In either event, what comes next for the Christian is the experience of the building, not a tent, from God that is in heaven for us that becomes our house that will never be torn down. Paul gives the Christians in the Corinthian church a view of what is to come for those who believe.
v.2, 3 - For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked.
The physical life, the earthly tent that is our house for a time, is one that has frustrations and weaknesses. The Christian has the hope and longing for the heavenly house, our glorified life, that is free from all those things that we might groan about. Back in Genesis, Adam and Eve are first described as naked but not ashamed. After the fall, the eating of the fruit that God had commanded them not to eat of, sin entered the world through their disobedience and now they sought to be covered with fig leaves. Those coverings were not sufficient and so God killed one of His creations, shed its blood, to provide sufficient coverings for them. God would later provide sufficient covering for us with the giving of His Son on the cross, shed His blood, to clothe us with a righteousness from Him.
v.4, 5 - For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.
All this that Paul is speaking about has been prepared by God and God has given the Holy Spirit within us as a guarantee that it will happen. We groan at this point in our earthly tent but there will be a day when all that is swallowed up with the experience of our heavenly house prepared by God. The life we now have is so small in comparison to the life we will have with God in the presence of God that the comparison of the two is like we are naked now, even though we have clothes on, to the spiritual clothes we will wear in heaven. This is the true rages to riches story in the Bible.
The Christian has the God given perspective that beyond what we see now is another part of God's story for our lives. He didn't just give us a purpose and a plan for this life but for the life to come. The world looks to physical death as the end but the Christian looks to physical death as just the beginning of something even greater than anything we have experienced so far. Paul will continue in our next study of developing more of this picture of physical bodies as now and our heavenly bodies as then. How do we function in this time of groaning in our earthly tents that are our temporary homes while we wait for the building prepared by God to be our permanent homes in heaven?
"Lord, O the hope that You give to us as Your children. We can get so tied up in the details of this earthly tent that will be torn down someday and we know that fact. Help us to keep our activities of the earthly tent in sight of the heavenly home to come. We may groan today but may that groaning remind us of Your purpose and plan for us pledged by the Holy Spirit. Amen."
Pastor Adam
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