Heaven

In 2 Corinthians 5:1-2 Paul says, “Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling.”

Our earthly tent will be destroyed. But we have a building from God.

In the earlier chapter of 2 Corinthians Paul says, “Our treasure is in earthly vessels.” (4:7) and “Our outer man is decaying” (4:16). We see Paul rephrasing that idea in Chapter 5.

Paul, a tent maker, describes our body as an earthly tent. Why a tent? Maybe because a tent is temporary and a tent is transportable.  What do I think about my earthly tent wasting away and being destroyed? Well I feel it every time I have a new ache or pain or pulled muscle. If that is all I have to live for then it is a scary and depressing thought. Why do we want to hang onto this tent and try to keep it strong and vibrant – remembering the “good ol’ days”?

Because we don’t have a clear vision of our building from God. A building from God is far superior to the earthly tent we have now. Paul groans looking forward to the time when he will be with the Lord, clothed in his new body – his heavenly body.

Paul had a positive view of heaven. As we get ready to begin our Heaven Bible study I am finding that many people have a poor view of Heaven. They may even dread going there.

Paul goes on to talk more about this when he says – when we are at home in this body we are away from the Lord. Paul knew his time in this world was temporary, and he wanted to be with Jesus. He couldn’t wait. Just because you look forward to a time or event in your future, it does not mean that you don’t like your current situation. Paul said “To live is Christ and to die is gain.” Both are good. He wanted to be with the Lord but he had more to do for the Lord on this earth.

My question is – Do you long to be with the Lord? Do you long to have your new dwelling place? A Heavenly thought indeed!

zài jiàn

0 Comments | Post a Comment

Comments

Post a Comment

All comments are reviewed before going live.

*Name:
*Email:
*Comment:
	Please enter the verification code in the image below:
*Verification:
	* denotes required field