OUR TRUE HOME
A nine-month-old baby in India never saw the daylight.
A beautiful young woman's Life in Sharon was suddenly taken away. A
ninety-six-year-old woman is Lying-in State in London. Who are they, and what
do all of them have in common? The nine-month-old baby was born still to a
missionary couple in India. The young woman in Sharon is our beloved sister and
friend Katherine Blau, affectionately called KK, who was suddenly taken away
from us.
The ninety-six-year-old woman is the famous Monarch of
England, Queen Elizabeth II. Though the location, vocation, and ages may
differ, they all have one thing in common: Death has taken them away from this
world. Death is the common denominator for all of us, no matter who we are. It
could come anytime to anyone, anywhere unannounced, and we are gone.
Every time we attend a funeral service of a loved one
or a friend, we are gripped with grief momentarily, and then we go on our way
to living life as usual. But those moments are for us to ponder life's complex
questions such as: Who am I? What do I value? What is my purpose in life? What
is my destiny? What happens when I die? Is there a life after death? Etc.
When I was eighteen, I came close to viewing my
grandmother's death for the very first time. As I peered into her coffin,
looking at her wrinkled, peaceful, and motionless body, I realized something.
Will my Life one day end up like that in a casket? Or is there more to life?
My grandmother earnestly prayed for me that I would
surrender my Life to Jesus one day. For one last time, I felt like she was
urging me from that casket to give my life to Jesus. That was the turning point
in my life. As I surrendered my Life to Jesus, newfound Joy flooded my
spirit, and I found my purpose: to live and serve Jesus all the days of my life.
Today we will look into the passage in II Corinthians
5:1-5 and deal with two complex subjects of death and what happens to our
bodies when we die. I pray that God will open your mind and heart so that you
will understand your purpose in life and your final destiny.
I.
Living in our physical body is compared to living in a Tent. (Vs.1-2)
Vs.
1-2, "For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down
(that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in
heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. We
grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies
like new clothing."
Paul compared our living in our
physical bodies to living in a Tent. What a flattering analogy! He did that to
convey our life's temporary existence on this earth. Think of that for a
moment. Our earthly bodies are like a tent. When we go camping, we live in a
tent. It may not have all the luxuries of a home. We groan, complain, and put
up with discomforts, and one day we fold our tent and go home, similarly, with
our bodies on this earth.
As Paul noted, "Our outer self is wasting away."
We can have all the plastic surgery. We insure ourselves from the cradle to the
grave. But this body of ours will wear out and waste away. Some of us feel it
literally in our bones, this wear and tear. We may make it to 70, 80, or even
100, but the time or our living in the tent (body) is limited, and one day it
will end.
We must ask ourselves, where will I spend my eternity? In light of that, how should we live our lives? Here is the advice of King Solomon, "Don't let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor Him in your youth before you grow old and say, "Life is not pleasant anymore." Ecclesiastes 12:1-6. Let us remember our Creator before it is too late.
Also, have the mindset of the Apostle Paul, who chose
Christ above all else. Phil 3:8-9 "Yes, everything else is worthless compared to the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake,
I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could
gain Christ and become one with him." If you don't choose to be with
Christ on this earth, you cannot live with Him through all eternity in heaven.
What are you pursuing?
II.
What happens to our bodies when we die? (Vs. 3-4)
Paul's focus was not on the temporary and destroyable
tent but on the house, the building in heaven which is indestructible and lives
on forever. He was not worried about death because He looked for the
resurrection of the body, a thought unfamiliar to Greeks.
Vs. 3-4, "For we will put on heavenly bodies; we
will not be spirits without bodies. While we live in these earthly bodies, we
groan and sigh, but it's not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies
that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying
bodies will be swallowed up by life."
These verses only apply to those who trust Jesus on
this side of the earth. They are the only ones who will get to live with Him
for eternity. Most people don't want to die and do whatever they can to live.
Only a few who lost all hope in this life try to end their lives, hoping for a
better life to come. What happens to our bodies when we die?
The Pagans of Paul's time viewed matter as evil and
spirit as good. Paul knew that Christian death would not mean being released
into a disembodied spiritual life but an actual, eternal resurrection body.
Unlike the Pagans, Paul believed that when we die accepting Christ, we will
receive a glorified, immortal perfect body, like what Jesus received.
Paul expressed our collective groaning in this earthly
body and our eagerness to die and get rid of these bodies that currently clothe
us and put on our glorified new bodies. In his first letter to the Corinthians,
he said, "For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this
mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the
imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the
saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory death, where is
your victory? O death, where is your sting?" 1 Corinthians 15:53-55. Paul
equates our future glorified new bodies to our true home.
III.
Our True Home (Vs.5-6)
Vs. 5-6, "God himself has
prepared us for this, and as a guarantee, he has given us his Holy Spirit. So,
we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these
bodies, we are not at home with the Lord." Paul explains that we will have
our true home, our new bodies in heaven. He goes further and says we will be at
home with the Lord.
So long we live in our earthly physical bodies, we are
not home with the Lord. But when we die, we get to live in our true home and at
home with the Lord. In other words, we will live in our glorified bodies in the
glorious presence of the Lord forever. That is the hope of Christians.
How could Paul be confident about this glorious
reality of those who die in Christ? Vs. 5, "God himself has prepared us for
this, and as a guarantee, he has given us his Holy Spirit." For what
purpose has God prepared us? That is to live and reign with Him forever. Did
you know no matter who you are, God wanted all human beings to live with Him
forever in heaven?
That was God's intended plan from the beginning. If
you wonder who made you and for what purpose you exist in this world, listen to
these words of Paul to Colossians, "For through him God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the
things we can't see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the
unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him." Colossians
1:16
If Jesus made all people for himself, why do so many
people reject Christ and live as if they don't belong to Him? It is because of
Satan and human sin. Our sins have separated us from God, His Son, and his
purposes in our lives. That is why we feel restless in this world. But thank
God, for He is reconciling us back to Himself through His sons' death and
resurrection.
The
Holy Spirit calls people back home to be with Jesus in eternity. Would you
listen to His voice and secure your true home (glorified new body) when you die
and be with Jesus forever?
