We Have a Future Hope (2 Cor. 5:1–8)

On July 12 at 5:21pm Debbie Boyd went home to be with the Lord. These last few years were a struggle for Debbie as she battled cancer. Her illness was tough on her, but in everything that she went through she had her faith in the Lord Jesus that never disappointed. She didn’t blame God for her cancer, and her other difficulties in life. She did just the opposite, she drew closer to Him through her faith. It was Debbie’s faith in the Lord that got her through all of this. She know that her strength had to be in the Lord, and she walked with Him daily trusting in His promises. And now she is home with her Savior Jesus.

Song: Worthy of Worship

This “building from God” is not the believer’s heavenly home, promised in John 14:1–6. It is his glorified body. Paul was a tentmaker (Acts 18:1–3) and here he used a tent as a picture of our present earthly bodies. A tent is a weak, temporary structure, without much beauty; but the glorified body we shall receive will be eternal, beautiful, and never show signs of weakness or decay (see Phil. 3:20–21). Paul saw the human body as an earthen vessel (2 Cor. 4:7) and a temporary tent; but he knew that believers would one day receive a wonderful glorified body, suited to the glorious environment of heaven.

I. We know (v. 1)

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.

A. How do we know?

Because we trust the Word of God. No Christian has to consult a fortune-teller, a Ouija board, a spiritist, or a deck of cards to find out what the future holds or what lies on the other side of death. God has told us all that we need to know in the pages of His Word.

We know that He is alive; therefore, we know that death cannot claim us. “Because I live, you will live also.” (John 14:19).

B. If our tent is “taken down”, we need not fear.

The body is only the house we live in. When a believer dies, the body goes to the grave, but the spirit goes to be with Christ.

When Jesus Christ returns for His own, He will raise the dead bodies in glory, and body and spirit shall be joined together for a glorious eternity in heaven

II. We groan (vv. 2–5)

2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 4 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. 5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

A. This is not a morbid desire for death.

We are eager for Jesus Christ to return so that he would be “clothed” with the glorified body. Paul was hoping that he would be alive and on the earth at the return of Christ, so that he might not have to go through the experience of death.

The glorified body is called “a building from God, a house not made with hands” This is in contrast to our mortal bodies which came from the dust of the earth. It is important to note that Paul was not groaning because he was in a human body, but because he longed to see Jesus Christ and receive a glorified body. He was groaning for glory!

B. Death holds no terrors for the Christian.

One meaning of this Greek word is “to take down one’s tent and move on.” But how can we be sure that we shall one day have new bodies like the glorified body of our Saviour? We can be sure because the Spirit lives within us.

The Holy Spirit dwelling in the believer’s body is the “down payment” that guarantees the future inheritance, including a glorified body. The church is engaged to Jesus Christ and is waiting for the Bridegroom to come to take her to the wedding.

III. We are always confident (vv. 6–8).

6 So we are always confident, 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 confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

A. The people of God can be found in one of two places.

They are either in heaven or on earth. None of them is in the grave, in hell, or in any “intermediate place” between earth and heaven.

Believers on earth are “at home in the body,” while believers who have died are “absent from the body.” Believers on earth are “absent from the Lord,” while believers in heaven are “present with the Lord.”

B. This truth should bring us confidence.

Paul was not afraid of suffering and trials, or even of dangers, and as Christians we shouldn’t be either. This is not to suggest that he tempted the Lord by taking unnecessary risks, but it does mean that he was willing to “lose his life” for the sake of Christ and the ministry of the Gospel.

He walked by faith and not by sight. He looked at the eternal unseen, not the temporal seen (2 Cor. 4:18). Heaven was not simply a destination for Paul: it was a motivation. Like the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11, he looked for the heavenly city and governed his life by eternal values. Like Paul this is how we should live.