2 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 5:1-10,
“When Our Earthly Tent Is Torn Down We Have A House Built In The Heavens”
By
1.
INTRO
1.1.
In our last study, we looked
at Paul defending himself again, this time again for the trials and sufferings that
he experienced. We saw that as he was
defending Himself in this way that he revealed to us the eternal perspective
that all of us as Christians should have towards the sufferings and
difficulties that we go through in this life
1.1.1. Paul showed us how that even
though he had humongous trials and sufferings that because of his faith and the
mercy and grace of God he received that in reality he was an overwhelming
conqueror in each of them
1.1.2. Paul revealed how that
constantly living the crucified life caused him to be able to impart life to
the Corinthians
1.1.3. Paul began to share about
the eternal perspectives that he had of the trials and sufferings in his
life. He considered them to be
‘momentary’ and ‘light affliction’
1.2.
In our study today, we are going to look at the assurance that we as
Christians have that when Christ returns for the church or we pass on from this
life, that we will be resurrected from the dead in a glorified body and spend
eternity with the Lord
1.2.1. It is such an important
thing for each of us as Christians to have the confident assurance in our lives
that when we die or the Lord returns that we will go directly to be with
Him. Without this confidence, we as
Christians will always hold back from living life in the full vigor that God
intended for us as well as fulfilling our calling from the Lord.
1.2.2. Paul tells each and every
one of us in these verses that if we have come to faith in Christ that we are
guaranteed that we will spend eternity in heaven, and that we will be
gloriously resurrected in a body.
Assurance of our salvation must in fact be life changing for us John the
apostle wrote in 1 John 3:2-3, “2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and
it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we
shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.3 And everyone who
has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”
2.
VS 5:1 - “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 the heavens.” - Paul tells the Corinthians that if our
‘earthly tent’ is torn down that we have ‘a building from God’
2.1.
In the previous study, the apostle Paul was showing to us the eternal
perspectives that he had upon life, and especially upon the suffering and
difficulties that we go through in this life.
He called His trials:
2.1.1. ‘momentary’
2.1.1.1.This was because in the
light of eternity they will last only a short while.
2.1.2. ‘light affliction’
2.1.2.1.If anyone could have called
their sufferings and trials ‘heavy and burdensome,’ it would have been
Paul. However, Paul did not think that
way.
2.1.2.1.1.Paul saw the light at the
end of the tunnel when Christ would come for him and take him to spend eternity
with Him and thus he could endure so much more suffering and difficulty as a
result.
2.1.2.1.2.Paul also saw that in
comparison to the weight of glory that was coming about because of those trials
that they had be just ‘light affliction.’
2.1.2.1.2.1.Paul knew that eternal
rewards and consequences come about in our lives as a result of how we handle
each and every one of the situations that come up in our life.
2.2.
In the previous chapter, Paul’s theme of the eternal perspective that
we as Christians ought to have is continued here by his writing about how that
we as Christians have assurance that when we die or Christ returns for His
church that we will be gloriously resurrected.
2.3.
I notice from reading this verse that Paul did not at all consider his
earthly life as anything but temporary.
It was not his final abode.
Rather, Paul the tent-maker, whose profession was the making of
temporary shelters for people, considered himself in this life to be merely
“tent camping,” for his true home was in heaven.
2.3.1. Paul knew that the glorious
resurrected body he would receive one day from Christ was so far superior to
his present body, that he considered his present body to be a mere tent in
comparison.
2.3.2. Sometimes over the past few
years I will tease my wife when we drive by a burned out barn or one falling
down, or even a tent, saying, “We ought to buy that house! It would make the perfect fixer-upper.”
2.3.3. Surely, with all that Paul
had suffered in his persecutions he must also have had a sense of the fragility
of his earthly tent, or body, and how that he could so easily pass away from
the next stone blow, whipping, shipwreck, or disease outbreak. Paul has written specifically of the things
that he had suffered because of his pursuing the ministry that God had called
him to, “Thrice was I beaten
with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I
have been in the deep; in journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of
robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils
in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among
false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and
thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.”
2.4.
I found this
unknown quote about D.L. Moody which illustrates the hope beyond the grave that
Christ as given to us as Christians, “As a young man, D. L. Moody was
called upon suddenly to preach a funeral sermon. He hunted all through the Four
Gospels trying to find one of Christ’s funeral sermons, but searched in vain.
He found that Christ broke up every funeral He ever attended. Death could not
exist where He was. When the dead heard His voice they sprang to life. Jesus
said, I am the resurrection, and the life (John 11:25).”
2.5.
I also once heard
the story of a man who had been blind all of his life and had come to Christ as
an adult. One day one of his Christian
friends said to him, “Wouldn’t you like to be able to pray and have the Lord
heal you of your blindness?” The man
answered him, “Actually, I’d rather not pray and have the Lord heal me of my
blindness because this way the very first face that I will ever see will be the
face of my Lord!”
2.6.
In John 14:1-3, just before going to the cross Jesus encouraged
His disciples that He was going away to prepare a dwelling place for them so
that one day He would return and bring them to Himself, “1 ”Let not your
heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.2 “In My Father’s house
are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to
prepare a place for you.3 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come
again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”
2.6.1. This dwelling place that
Christ is building for each one of us as believers is in the holy city
2.7.
In 1 Peter 1:3-5, Peter wrote about how that having been born
again that we are assured of going to heaven, and that hope can never be taken
away from us, “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living
hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,4 to obtain an
inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away,
reserved in heaven for you,5 who are protected by the power of God through
faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
2.8.
In our study of 1 Corinthians chapter 15, the previous letter we
studied, we saw that Paul went to great length to tell us about the fact of the
impending glorious resurrection of all believers in Christ, and in that chapter
he talked about being raised to an imperishable
immortal state. In 1 Cor.
15:41-44 Paul discussed further the nature of this glorious resurrected
body which is our hope as Christians, “41 There is one glory of the sun,
and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs
from star in glory.42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a
perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body;43 it is sown in dishonor,
it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;44 it is
sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body,
there is also a spiritual body.”
2.9.
I suppose we could say that Paul was establishing with the Corinthians
another “connecting point” in reaffirming for them the fact of their assurance
of being gloriously resurrected by Christ at death or when He returns for the
church. The ‘super-apostles’ who were
Judaisers and were troubling the church in Corinth were teaching that a person
had to believe in Christ plus have works, namely the keeping of the Law of
Moses, in order to be saved. However,
because none of us are perfect law-keepers, which is what they would have to be
in order to be righteous before God based upon law-keeping, their assurance of
salvation which Paul had taught the church would have been eroded because of
these false teachings.
2.9.1. Paul is telling them then to
remember the fact that they are already guaranteed assurance of their salvation
by coming to Christ through faith.
2.10.
We saw in our last study that God has designed things such that
‘heaven’ is meant to be a motivation for Christians. We have a very hard time enduring sufferings
and difficulties if we do not perceive any light at the end of the tunnel,
however for us as Christians the light at the end of the tunnel shines as
bright as is possible, for when we leave this life we are promised that we will
be face to face with Christ!
2.11.
In John 5:25-29, Jesus taught His disciples that there would be
two resurrections, one for the righteous (God’s people) and one for the
unrighteous (those who are not God’s people), “25 “Truly, truly, I say to
you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the
Son of God; and those who hear shall live.26 “For just as the Father has life
in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself;27 and He
gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.28 “Do not
marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs shall
hear His voice,29 and shall come forth; those who did the good deeds to a
resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of
judgment.”
2.12.
In John 11:21-26, Jesus comforted the sisters of Lazarus, who
had died, by telling them that when a believer dies he passes from death to
life, “21 Martha therefore said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my
brother would not have died.22 “Even now I know that whatever You ask of God,
God will give You.”23 Jesus *said to her, “Your brother shall rise again.”24
Martha *said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the
last day.”25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who
believes in Me shall live even if he dies,26 and everyone who lives and
believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?””
2.13.
The language in these first 10 verses of chapter 5 of 2 Corinthians
employs symbols and not concrete realities or statements, therefore for the
last 2,000 years since Paul wrote these words there has been much debate about
what in fact he is actually referring to.
This is not an easy question, and every possibly answer to the question
has its own problems. The big question
about these verses has to do with what Paul is truly describing, is it that:
2.13.1. When a believer dies he
immediately receives a glorious resurrected body:
2.13.1.1.PRO Arguments:
2.13.1.1.1.In 1 John 3:2, the
apostle John wrote about how that when we see the Lord that we will be like
Him, “2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as
yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him,
because we shall see Him just as He is.”
2.13.1.1.2.These verses can be
interpreted as meaning that people are afraid of being disembodied spirits and
that Paul is promising them that they will be raised up to glorified
resurrected bodies as soon as they die or Christ returns for the church.
2.13.1.2.CON Arguments:
2.13.1.2.1.If this is the case, why
then did Paul teach that when Christ returns for the church that all of the
believers alive on earth at that time will be resurrected to glory?
2.13.1.2.2.1 Thess. 4:16-17 teaches us about the
rapture of the church, and there Paul writes that when church is raptured up
into the sky to be with the Lord, that at that very time believers who have
lived before will be ‘raised up’ and made to join those believers who are
alive, “16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in
Christ shall rise first.17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up
together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall
always be with the Lord.”
2.13.1.2.2.1.So, there will be a
resurrection of believers in Christ who have died (the dead in Christ) when
Christ returns for His church, which will occur sometime before the 7 Year
Tribulation of the book of Revelation.
2.13.2. When a believer dies that he
immediately receives a ‘temporary’ body, and then when Christ comes for the
church he will at that time be resurrected with a glorious resurrected body:
2.13.2.1.PRO Arguments:
2.13.2.1.1.This would solve the dilemma
that in 1 Thess. 4:16-17 (quoted above) it is written that when Christ returns
for the church that the dead in Christ will be raised up first.
2.13.2.1.2.After Christ was raised from
the dead, prior to His ascension to heaven 40 days later, He appears to have
been in a temporary body until His that was similar to His earthly body in many
ways. He could go through walls, but He
could also eat fish. He was not
glorified at this point though because people were not falling prostrate before
Him because of His glory, and after telling them who He was they then
recognized His appearance.
2.13.2.1.3.In Rev. 6:9-11 there
is a description of a group of martyrs in heaven waiting for the Lord to return
to the earth to avenge them and this group do not appear to be in glorious
resurrected bodies, however they put on robes indicating perhaps that they have
temporary bodies at that time, “9 And when He broke the fifth seal, I saw
underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word
of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained;10 and they
cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, wilt
Thou refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the
earth?”11 And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told
that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their
fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been,
should be completed also.”
2.13.2.2.CON Arguments:
2.13.2.2.1.There doesn’t seem to be a
precedence for a regular man of flesh and blood to have a temporary body in
order to exist in heaven or on earth, that is, if Rev. 6:9-11 doesn’t show this
to be the case.
2.13.3. When a believer dies only
his spirit will go to be with the Lord, and then after going to heaven he will
have to wait there bodiless for that day when Christ comes for the church when
he will be resurrected with a glorious resurrected body:
2.13.3.1.PRO Arguments:
2.13.3.1.1.This would be supported by
the fact that 1 Thess. 4:16-17 speaks of the dead in Christ being resurrected
when the rapture of the church occurs.
2.13.3.2.CON Arguments:
2.13.3.2.1.Paul seems in the first 10 verses
of this chapter to be giving hope to those who fear the idea of being
disembodied (naked as he calls it), and thus what hope would he be giving them
to reduce their fears?
2.13.4. Paul was encouraging them
that when a believer dies that he will immediately go to heaven, and the hope
that he is speaking of is heaven and a mansion in heaven not the resurrection
of our body:
2.13.4.1.PRO Arguments:
2.13.4.1.1.Charles Hodge endorsed this
view and taught that the believer in Christ would go to heaven as a disembodied
spirit until the general resurrection of Christ. There are several arguments in the favor of
this view, including:
2.13.4.1.1.1.The fact that Paul describes
this future habitation as a house would coincide with the fact that the Lord
told His disciples that He was going away and building a dwelling for them.
2.13.4.1.1.2.The fact that the future
habitation is described as being in the heavens and our dwelling from heaven,
as if it were already there.
2.13.4.2.CON Arguments:
2.13.4.2.1.Paul seems in the first 10
verses of this chapter to be expressing anxiety over being disembodied, saying
even in verse 3 that to be disembodied would be to be found naked.
2.13.4.2.2.The fact that even evil
spirits appear to hate the thought of not having a body to dwell in, as is seen
when a group of them begged Jesus to send them into a herd of swine (Matt.
8:31).
2.13.4.2.3.Paul would be comparing two
different types of things by speaking of the body as being a tent and heaven as
being the house we will be going to dwell in.
2.13.5. When a believer dies he will
meet Christ at the same point in time as those who are resurrected when Christ
comes to rapture His church:
2.13.5.1.This is yet another option
here for what Paul is describing, and I have only heard it spoken of in the
last few years. It is the most
creative. Some suggest that perhaps due
to the fact that when a believer dies that he enters a different time and space
dimension which is outside of what we know of in this dimension, that when he
goes to be with the Lord at death the next thing he will know is that he will
be meeting Christ at that identical moment in time when He is rapturing the
church and the dead in Christ are being raised up.
2.13.5.1.1.This view answers all of the
problems with the various scriptures, however we simply have no proof that it
is true.
2.14.
I personally hold to the view that when we pass out of this life at
death that we will most likely either be gloriously resurrected at that very
moment or that we will receive a temporary body until the general resurrection
which will occur at the rapture of the church by Christ.
3.
VS 5:2-4 - “2 For
indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from
heaven;3 inasmuch as we, having put it on, shall not be found naked.4 For
indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not
want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that what is mortal may be
swallowed up by life.” - Paul tells the Corinthians
that while we are in this present body that we are groaning with expectation
and desire to be in our new heavenly dwelling
3.1.
It is only natural for us as Christians to groan for the promise of a
glorified resurrected body while we live in this body of flesh that has
suffered so many of the consequences of sin, and in which our old sinful nature
is always ready to pop up and show its ugly head.
3.2.
In Romans 8:22-25, Paul tells us that not only do the believers
in Christ long and groan for heaven and glorified bodies at that time, the
whole creation also groans with us, “22 For we know that the whole
creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.23 And
not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit,
even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as
sons, the redemption of our body.24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope
that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees?25 But if
we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”
3.3.
Paul says here that the prospect of being ‘unclothed’ scares us as
Christians, and by this I believe that using this word he is referring to being
a disembodied spirit. We as Christians
do not particularly like living in this sinful fallen body in which we
presently live, however to consider of the prospect of being bodiless and
existing only as spirit is even more disconcerting. Therefore, Paul in this chapter I believe is
giving us hope that when we pass from this life that we will have a body in
which we will live. The question about
this body though as we saw is whether or not it is a temporary body initially,
to be replaced by a glorious resurrected body later in time, or a fully
glorified body right away?
4.
VS 5:5 - “5 Now He who
prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.” - Paul tells the Corinthians that it is God who
has prepared them for being resurrected, and He gave them His Spirit as a
pledge that He will fulfill His promise
4.1.
The Holy Spirit is given as a “down payment” or a “pledge” to the
believer by God, and it guarantees that the Lord is going to gloriously resurrect
the believer and bring him to heaven.
5.
VS 5:6-8 - “6 Therefore,
being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body
we are absent from the Lord—7 for we walk by faith, not by sight—8 we are of
good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at
home with the Lord.” - Paul tells the Corinthians
that the hope that he had of being gloriously resurrected gave him good courage
for he was walking by faith in Christ
5.1.
In these verses, Paul promises us as Christians that when we leave this
body that we will be present with the Lord.
Now while living here in this life, we are absent from the Lord.
5.2.
Paul knew that he was guaranteed to be gloriously resurrected by Christ
only because of his faith. He chose to believe
that the word of the Lord about this delivered by the Old Testament prophets,
Jesus Himself, and the apostles, is in fact true.
5.2.1. We as Christians must not
live by ‘sight,’ or what our senses living in this sinful and fallen world are
telling us. In this life and world, the
Lord is invisible, and the realities that we face and see do not testify to the
things that the Lord has promised in His word.
In fact, in most cases the what we see and experience in this life seems
to indicate to us that the Lord is never going to return for His church and
never resurrect us as believers, since life for the past 2,000 years after
Jesus came on the scene has just gone on pretty much as it was.
6.
VS 5:9 - “9 Therefore also
we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.” - Paul tells the Corinthians that as a result
of his hope of being gloriously resurrected by Christ one day that he was
always trying to walk in such a way as to be pleasing to God
6.1.
We all have ambitions in life.
These are the driving forces in our lives. Money, power, and sex are the major
motivators in the lives of the people of this fallen world. However, for Paul as well as all of those who
walk with the Lord, our ambition should be to walk in such a way as to ‘be
pleasing’ to the Lord.
7.
VS 5:10 - “10 For we
must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be
recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether
good or bad.”
- Paul tells the Corinthians that each
one of us as people will appear before the judgment seat of Christ to be
recompensed for our deeds done in our bodies, whether good or bad
7.1.
Here in this verse, Paul takes a new turn in his writing to the church
in
7.2.
The ‘we’ mentioned in this verse indicates I believe that Paul is
speaking to the church, however there is another judgment that will be awaiting
non-believers. The judgment for
non-believers is the Great White Throne Judgment which will occur after the 7
Year Tribulation of the book of Revelation, after the end of the Millennial
Reign of Christ upon the earth. At that
judgment, each person will be judged for their sins and it will be a judgment
of condemnation which will send every one being judged to the very
7.2.1. Rev. 20:11-15 tells us that everyone
whose name was not found in the Lamb’s Book of Life will be throne into the
Lake of Fire at this judgment, “11 And I saw a great white throne and Him
who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place
was found for them.12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing
before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is
the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written
in the books, according to their deeds.13 And the sea gave up the dead which
were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they
were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.14 And death and Hades
were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of
fire.15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was
thrown into the lake of fire.”
7.3.
The judgment for believers in Christ will probably occur during the 7
Year Tribulation after the church has been raptured by Christ, and it is called
the “Bema” judgment. This judgment will
be a judgment of rewards, but it will be based upon our works as believers.
7.3.1. You may ask the question, “Wait
a minute how can we be judged by our works, I thought we were saved by faith
plus nothing, by faith apart from the works of the law?” The answer is, “Yes, we are saved by faith
apart from the works of the law.
However, we will be judged and rewarded based upon our works, and there
is no contradiction in this”
7.3.2. Faith produces works in the
believer’s life, as James chapter two tells us.
Therefore, the Lord can judge us based upon our works because our works
are a reflection of our faith, for they are an accurate reflection of the faith
that we have.
7.3.3. However, we cannot base our
being accepted by Christ based upon our works.
Each of us as believers must trust that Christ and His sacrifice for our
sins alone is what makes us righteous in God’s eyes, provides for our
forgiveness of sins, and will make so that we can go to heaven.
7.3.3.1.Many in the Christian cults
today do not understand this distinction.
This week I witnessed to and debated with a Jehovah Witness woman who
has been in that church for 29 years when she came to my door. When I told her that her and I believe the
means of salvation to be different, that for her she was trying to work her way
into heaven, but for me I am trusting by faith in Christ to get to heaven, she
disagreed with me. In fact, she went
back to this very same chapter of James and asked if I didn’t understand that
faith produces works and that therefore that she was doing her works for the
Lord by faith. The motive for why many
people in the various churches do the things that they do is not really clear
to them. No one who would be going to
heaven must trust that any work which they might do would be done so that they
might be justified or accepted by God.
Yet, I know that it is true that there are many people even within the
evangelical churches who having initially come to Christ by faith are now
living their Christian lives on a works basis, trying to earn God’s favor when
they already have it.
7.4.
In 2 Peter 3:10-15, Peter wrote about how knowing the fact that
one day God is going to destroy this present earth and existence and that all
of us are going to stand before the Lord ought to motivate us to live our lives
for Christ, “10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which
the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with
intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.11 Since all these
things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in
holy conduct and godliness,12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day
of God, on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the
elements will melt with intense heat!13 But according to His promise we are
looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. 14 Therefore, beloved, since you look for
these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and
blameless,15 and regard the patience of our Lord to be salvation; just as also
our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you.”
8.
CONCLUSION:
8.1.
My Christian friends just go ahead on yearning and groaning for the
Lord’s appearing and the day when you shall be in glory, for Paul says that he
did it and this is normal for us as Christians.
8.2.
Rest in the hope that you have that when Christ appears that He will
take you to that heavenly mansion that He has been building for you, and that
glorious resurrected body you will receive.
8.3.
Don’t fear the day that death arrives upon your footstool, however it
may come whether slow and gradual or sudden, for Jesus said that if you truly
know Him as your Lord and Savior that you have already passed from death to
life, thus on that day when you pass on from this life you will go straight
into the arms of your Lord Jesus!