~ You Should Be Rejoicing! ~
The Passage
~ “For
we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building
from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to
be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been
clothed, we shall not be found naked.
For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to
be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by
life. Now He who has prepared us for
this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident, knowing that
while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to
be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord” (2
Corinthians 5:1-8).
The Christian’s Reality Today (our
present—physical condition) ~ “For we know that
if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (verse 1).
“For
instance, we know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and
folded away, they will be replaced by resurrection bodies in heaven” (The
Message).
The Christian’s Guarantee (our
vision—mental condition) ~ “For we who are in
this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but
further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life” (verse 4).
“Compared
to what’s coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an
unfurnished shack, and we're tired of it!
We’ve been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our resurrection
bodies! (verses 3-4, The Message).
The Christian’s Future Reality (our
future—eternal condition) ~ “For in this we
groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from
heaven” (verse 2).
“Will
be replaced by resurrection bodies in heaven—God-made… We’ve been given a glimpse of the real thing,
our true home, our resurrection bodies! (The Message).
~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW
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