The Next Dwelling Is with the Lord

The Next Dwelling Is with the Lord

Confidence in Our Eternal Home

Bible Passage: 2 Corinthians 5:5–9

Summary: In this passage, Paul expresses the hope and assurance of believers regarding their eternal dwelling in heaven, contrasting our earthly bodies with the promise of a heavenly home. He emphasizes the importance of living by faith, not by sight, while we await this transformation.

Application: This message can help Christians find hope and strength during struggles with mortality and the pains of this life by focusing on the eternal promises of God. It encourages believers to live purposefully and faithfully in light of the hope of their eternal home.

Teaching: The sermon teaches that the assurance of salvation and the hope of a heavenly home provide believers with confidence in their current lives on earth. It encourages living by faith and prioritizing a life that pleases God, knowing that our earthly experiences are temporary.

How this passage could point to Christ: This passage points to Christ as the ultimate guarantee of our future resurrection and eternal life. He has secured for us a place in heaven, making our temporary existence a transformative journey towards our everlasting hope in Him.

Big Idea: Believers can live confidently, knowing that their true home is in heaven, which motivates them to walk by faith and live a life pleasing to God during their earthly experience.

Bible Study:

Therefore, being always of good courage, and 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 of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:6–8)

· In verses 6–8Paul reached the pinnacle of heavenly anticipation. He looked forward to his new, glorified body, the perfection of heaven, and the eternal fulfillment of God’s plan. But beyond all of that was the wonderful reality that death would usher him into the presence of the Lord. Thereforepoints back to the foundational truths Paul expressed in verses 1–5. On the basis of those truths, Paul was always of good courage in the face of death. His courage was not a temporary feeling or a passing emotion; it was a constant state of mind. He faced death cheerfully, with complete confidence. It was not that he did not love the people in his life, but he loved the Lord more. Life for Paul was a race to finish, a battle to win, a stewardship to discharge. Once the race was over, the battle won, and the stewardship discharged, Paul saw no reason to cling to this life. The only reason for him to remain on earth was to serve God, and he stated his readiness to leave when that service was complete:

o For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing. (2 Tim. 4:6–8)

· The reality of life in this world for believers, however, is that while we are at home in the body(living in the flesh) we are absent from the Lord. Believers communicate with the Lord through prayer and study of the Word and have communion with Him through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Yet there is still a sense in which they are separated from God and long for that separation to end. Psalm 42:1–2 expresses that desire: “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God?” “Whom have I in heaven but You?” the psalmist asked rhetorically. “And besides You, I desire nothing on earth” (Ps. 73:25). Paul longed for the day when he would “always be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:17). That sense of separation caused Abraham to look for “the city … whose architect and builder is God” (Heb. 11:10) and the Old Testament saints to acknowledge “that they were strangers and exiles on the earth” (Heb. 11:13). It is only in heaven that believers will have intimate, unbroken fellowship with God (cf. Rev. 21:3–4, 22–23; 22:3–4).

· The parenthetical statement in verse 7 that we walk by faith, not by sight explains how believers can have fellowship with and serve the invisible God in this life. Such faith is not a wishful fantasy or a vague superstition, but a strong confidence grounded in the truth of Scripture. It is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1).

· Then Paul concludes the passage with the triumphant declaration, we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. He repeats the truth from verse 6 that he was always positive toward the future despite the constantly looming reality of death. To prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord is to understand the brief, temporary time on earth only as an alien’s and stranger’s experience and heaven as our true and permanent home.

· The reality of death faces every believer who dies before the Lord raptures the church. Those who look forward to receiving their glorified bodies, to the perfections of life in heaven, to the fulfillment of God’s purpose for them, and to living forever in His presence will be able to say triumphantly with Paul, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor. 15:55).[1]

Thought to soak on:

· But no matter what they face, the Holy Spirit stirs the courage to face it all. How? Again, note the word “knowing.” The Holy Spirit enhances our knowledge …

o that our present home is the body, but it is temporary and passing. Therefore all trials and problems will quickly pass away.

o that we are now absent from the Lord. The idea is that we are to be with Him. The Holy Spirit stirs a longing within us to be with Him. And that longing gives us courage to march on through this life.

· The Holy Spirit stirs faith within us. Knowing that our present home (body) is only temporary—that we are soon to move to our heavenly home—stirs great faith in us.

o True, we do not yet see our heavenly home, but the Holy Spirit stirs faith within us—faith to walk through all the trials and problems of this life.

· The Holy Spirit stirs great courage, even a preference to be with the Lord. This is a crucial point, extremely important for day-to-day living. The Holy Spirit not only gives courage to live day by day; He gives the courage to die. He even stirs within the faithful believer a preference to be “present with the Lord.” Some people may question this fact, and some may even scoff at the idea. It is certainly true that many do not understand it. Nevertheless, it is a fact that many believers often experience. They long to be with the Lord; to be clothed with immortality and perfection and enabled to worship and serve Him without infirmity and failure.

· It must be stressed that this desire and longing is not born of the believer himself:

o It is not a creation of his own ideas and thoughts.

o It is not worked up by his own desires and man-made hopes. → It is a conviction—the sure knowledge, a state of mind—that is created by the Holy Spirit who is within the believer.[2]

Luke 23:42–43 (NASB95)

42     And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!”

43     And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

· Vs. 42: It seems surprising that the thief had the eyes of faith to see the true identity of Jesus. He knew that, even though Jesus looked helpless, he was a king. His lifestyle had been unlike that of any royal person that has ever lived. The thief could see no fine clothing (the Lord would have been naked); he could see no visible following—his friends had long since fled for their lives. His only crown, such as it was, was made of thorns. Yet the thief recognized his true identity.

· He asked to be remembered by the Lord when he entered his kingdom and Jesus’ reply was that even that very day he would be with him in ‘paradise’. What a contrast! From excruciating pain to the refreshment of the garden of God! Such was the blessing the thief would receive that day.[3]

· Vs. 43:  Jesus’ answer is significant, ‘I tell you the truth, todayyou will be with me in paradise’. This passage has been the cause of much controversy as there are many different theories about what happens when we die.

o Some believe we go into a state of suspended animation; this is called the doctrine of soul sleep, where we stay unconscious until the end of the age.

o Others, however, believe our souls go immediately and consciously to the presence of Christ.

o One of the most important texts in support of this second theory is this verse, ‘Today you will be with me in paradise.’

o There is a further consideration also. When Jesus begins a saying with the word ‘I tell you the truth’, what follows immediately is a matter of emphasis, so really Jesus is saying to this thief, ‘I tell you the truth, today you shall be with me in paradise.’

§ ‘As soon as we pass through this pain into death,’ Jesus was saying, ‘we’re going together to paradise.’

§ And so this text, along with others in the New Testament, teaches that when we die, immediately our souls go to be with the Lord, to know his presence, and to wait for the resurrection of the body. We cross the valley of death into something far more wonderful than anything we can possibly enjoy here. In Paul’s words: ‘For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain’ (Phil. 1:21). Our Lord, in speaking to this thief, speaks also to all who put their trust in him, and promises his presence with them in paradise the moment that they die.[4]

Special Note:

· Then the repentant thief asked the Lord to remember him when Jesus entered His kingdom. He was putting his faith in Christ. Jesus, assured this believing thief, that on that day, the thief would be with the Lord in paradise which was the abode of the righteous dead.

· Christ is no longer in Paradise because He arose from the dead. Paradise was emptied by the Lord and all those folks are in Heaven now with the Lord. Jesus sits at the right hand of God the Father.

o Ephesians 4:8—Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Jesus led a host of captives from Paradise and gave gifts to men.

o Hebrews 12:2—Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.[5]

More thoughts to give you hope:

· Finally, he believed that Jesus was Israel’s Messiah. He acknowledged that the Lord would one day establish His kingdom, which was promised in the covenants God made with Abraham and David, and reiterated repeatedly to the prophets. Since no one survived crucifixion, he understood that Jesus would have to rise from the dead to do that. He probably knew that Jesus had power over death, since the news of His raising of Lazarus had spread throughout Jerusalem. He no doubt was aware that Daniel 12:2 promised that the saints would be raised and given a place of glory in the kingdom. His request was that Jesus would raise him and grant him entrance to that kingdom.

· The Lord’s reply was astonishing. He prefaced it with the word truly, because what He was about to say was hard to believe. That a cursed criminal, whom the Jews would view as unredeemable, would be promised entrance to God’s kingdom was an outrageous affront to their sensibilities.

· The promise that this redeemed sinner would be with Jesus in heaven that very day invalidates the Roman Catholic teaching regarding purgatory.

o It also eliminates any system of works-righteousness, since the penitent thief had neither the time nor the opportunity to perform enough good deeds to merit salvation.

· The wonderful promise that he would be with Jesus in Paradise (heaven; 2 Cor. 12:2; cf. Rev. 2:7 with 22:2, 14) speaks of his full reconciliation to God.

o He would not merely see Jesus from afar, he would be with Him. His restoration would be full and complete.[6]

Romans 8:38–39 (NASB95)

38     For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,

39     nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

· No age in time can separate us from Christ. Paul speaks of things present and things to come. We know that the Jews divided all time into this present age and the age to come. Paul is saying: “In this present world nothing can separate us from God in Christ; the day will come when this world will be shattered and the new age will dawn. It does not matter; eve then, when this world has passed and the new world come, the bond is still the same.”

· No other world can separate us from God. The word that Paul uses for other (heteros) has really the meaning of different. He is saying: “Suppose that by some wild flight of imagination there emerged another and a different world, you would still be safe; you would still be enwrapped in the love of God.”

· Here is a vision to take away all loneliness and all fear. Paul is saying: “You can think of every terrifying thing that this or any other world can produce. Not one of them is able to separate the Christian from the love of God which is in Jesus Christ, Lord of every terror and Master of every world.” Of what then shall we be afraid?[7]

· Somehow, as in Colossians 1:24, the sufferings of God’s people are taken up into God’s purposes, not in order to add to the unique achievement of the Messiah (verse 34) but in order to live it out in the world so that his love might extend yet further. Those who believe this can be sure that ‘in all these things we are completely victorious through the one who loved us.’

· It is that love, finally, that comes back again and again, not as an afterthought but as the underlying theme of the entire section. We cast our minds back to 5:1–11, where the love of God was demonstrated in the death of Jesus, and we realize that we have come full circle. John Donne, indeed, likened the love of God to a circle, seeing that it is endless. It rules victoriously over death and life alike, over powers in heavenand on earth. And since it is love’s nature to bind the beloved to itself, Paul is convinced, and after eight chapters of Romans he might expect that we would be as well, that ‘nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God in King Jesus our Lord.’[8]

Glorified Body

· 1 Cor 15:42–44So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

· Phil 3:20–21For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.

· 1 Cor 15:51–53Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.

· 1 Cor 15:35–38But someone will say, “How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?” You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies; and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own.

· 1 John 3:2Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.

· John 20:19–23So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”

· John 20:26–29After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.” Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”

· Luke 24:36–43While they were telling these things, He Himself stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be to you.” But they were startled and frightened and thought that they were seeing a spirit. And He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? “See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. While they still could not believe it because of their joy and amazement, He said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave Him a piece of a broiled fish; and He took it and ate it before them.

· Mark 16:14Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen.

· 1 Cor 15:5–7and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles;

· 1 Thess 4:13–18But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 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 will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Good Morning John,

The enclosure Kathy showed him, 2 Cor 5:8 is very succinct, accurate, and true in  response to his questions.  I’ll provide a few thoughts which may give a little help in discussions with him and others.

You are correct that as we exhale our last breath, our next (immediate) breath will be in the presence of Jesus. We will see our loved ones again who are in Heaven or will follow us to Heaven. 

In regards to dying before the Second Coming and where we are going we know that Scripture speaks of three heavens. 1. The first is the atmosphere above us. 2. The second heaven is the stellar heaven, the sun, moon, and stars. 3. The third heaven is where God resides, above the other two regions—“the Heavenlies.” Several scriptures speak of the immediacy of being in Jesus’ presence at the moment of our death. Perhaps the one you cited when Jesus said to the thief, “Today you will be with me in Paradise….” is the most quoted illustration.  

And so this text, along with others in the New Testament, teaches that when we die, immediately our souls go to be with the Lord, to know His presence, and to wait for the resurrection of the body.

In terms of “dying before the Second Coming and where we are going, Randy Alcorn in “Heaven” says it this way.

“When a Christian dies, he or she enters into what theologians call the intermediate state, a transitional period between our past lives on Earth and our future resurrection to life on the New Earth. Usually when we refer to “Heaven,” we mean the place that Christians go when they die. When we tell our children “Grandma’s now in Heaven,” we’re referring to the intermediate Heaven.

Thus our intermediate state or location is temporary. Life in the Heaven we go to at death, is where we will dwell prior to our bodily resurrection at His Second Coming. It’s worth pointing out (as you know) that it is commonly misunderstood that when we say at a funeral or from pulpit in church, that “When we die, believers in Christ will not go to Heaven,” is not the Heaven where we’ll live forever. Instead, we go to intermediate Heaven.

Our body in the intermediate heaven has physical properties just as Christ’s body in the intermediate Heaven possessed. Obviously, we will be “bodyless” (my word) because our spirit went to be with the Lord while our body remains in the grave. But we will have physical, able to see, properties which will make us recognizable to others. In Phil 3:20-21, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”

Paul says our glorified body will be like the glorified body Jesus. Jesus ate, spoke and allowed disciples to touch Him—so, too, we’ll have real glorified bodies, again that will be recognizable when combined with our other earth features. God’s ultimate purpose in salvation is our glorification—"conforming to the image of His Son.”

In II Cor 5:8, Paul knew exactly what happens after a Christian dies. It was simply moving form one place to another, one body to another. In II Cor 5:1, Paul was confident  when he said “we know…… when the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed we have a building from God, ….eternal in the heavens.” Verse 1, “Know” is not, “hope” or “wish” but “I know for certain.” 

I hope some of this may help! 

One final thought, NOT CRTICISM!  Sometimes people who are so educated, brilliant perhaps, are the hardest to relate to, the “simplicity” of the Word of God. I remember when the Lord called me into the ministry, I told Him. “Lord, I remember reading that Billy Graham when he was called, that he went out into the night and said ‘Lord, I’ll accept every word as true until you show me it’s not…” (Paraphrase) and so Lord, I will do the same (because I’m not educated enough to do otherwise.) AND He’s never told me otherwise.  And so, for others you will teach, you give them God’s inerrant Word and let the Holy Spirit do the rest----and He will.

Dr. Ted Duck 7-22-2025

2 Corinthians 5:1–8 (NASB95)

The Temporal and Eternal

   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.

   2     For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven,

   3     since we, having put it on, will 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, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.

   5     Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.

   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.

[1]John F. MacArthur Jr., 2 Corinthians, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2003), 169–170.

[2]Leadership Ministries Worldwide, The First & Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians, The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible (Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 1996), 271–272.

[3]Gavin Childress, Opening up Luke’s Gospel, Opening Up Commentary (Leominster: Day One Publications, 2006), 207.

[4]R. C. Sproul, A Walk with God: An Exposition of Luke(Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications, 1999), 412–413.

[5]Rod Mattoon, Treasures from Luke, vol. 6, Treasures from Scripture Series (Springfield, IL: Rod Mattoon, 2011), 197.

[6]John MacArthur, Luke 18–24, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2014), 387–388.

[7]William Barclay, ed., The Letter to the Romans, The Daily Study Bible Series (Philadelphia: The Westminster John Knox Press, 1975), 118–119.

[8]Tom Wright, Paul for Everyone: Romans Part 1: Chapters 1-8 (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2004), 161.