WWUTT 1668 This House in Which We Groan (2 Corinthians 5:1-4)

The Earthly Tent and the Permanent Dwelling in Heaven

We have these earthly tents in which we dwell. It's a tent that can easily be torn down. We long instead for a more permanent dwelling, promised us in heaven, when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily study of God's Word, that we may be filled with the knowledge of His will. For questions and comments, send us an email to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of 2 Corinthians. Today we're up to chapter 5, and I'm going to begin by reading through the first 8 verses out of the Legacy Standard Bible.

This is the Word of the Lord through the Apostle Paul, writing to the church in Corinth. 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.

For indeed in this we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. 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.

Now he who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. 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 and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

Therefore, we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. I went through verse 9 there, got caught up in the moment and I just kept on reading. Now, there's such rich doctrine here in chapter 5 that we're going to go through this a little more slowly.

I've been burning through 2 Corinthians a lot faster than I went through 1 Corinthians, but we get here to chapter 5 and we'll slow it down, especially when we get to the latter half of the chapter, because each one of those verses is just so doctrinally rich.

I'll read through all of chapter 5 together, all 21 verses in one reading, but I'll wait to do that next week. In the meantime, we're going to keep in context of the stuff that we've considered this week.

The Treasure of the Gospel in Earthen Vessels

Having finished up chapter 4 and now getting into chapter 5, Paul begins this chapter by saying, for we know that if the earthly tent, which is our house, now remember, he referred to this in chapter 4 as our earthly vessel, the body in which we inhabit, our mortality, this is our earthly vessel, and we have a great treasure in this vessel.

Doesn't look like much from the outside. I don't know about you, but I'm not much to look at from the outside. You are all much more attractive than I am. I have a face for radio, which is why I do this podcast on this side.

So you can all be lovely people, and I'll be the ugly one over here. So we have these earthen vessels that are not much to look at. On the outside, not that great, but there is a beautiful treasure on the inside, and that treasure is the knowledge of the glory of God.

Again, talked about that earlier this week as we were going through chapter 4. So now Paul refers to this earthly tent, still in reference to our mortality, these earthen vessels, not much on the outside, but richly full on the inside, because what we have, this treasure, the knowledge of the glory of God that has been given to us in the face of Jesus Christ, this is a treasure that lasts forever.

Remember the words of Christ in Matthew chapter 6, store up your treasures where? Store up your treasure in heaven. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Our longing, our desire is for the stuff of heaven.

So we have these earthen vessels, but on the inside, something that lasts forever, and we will be present with God through this treasure that he has given to us. That was the point that Paul made back in chapter 4.

This is not our doing. It is by the grace of God that we have come to faith in Jesus Christ. So we know that if the earthly tent, if the earthen vessel is broken, if the earthly tent, which is our house, is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands.

It's a house that is eternal in the heavens. Jesus said to his disciples in the upper room, we read about this discourse in the gospel of John, he said to them, I go prepare a place for you, and where I'm going, I'm going to come back again.

If it were not so, I would have told you. This is wedding language that Jesus uses with his disciples, just like a groom would have his betrothed, and he would say to this woman who has promised to him in marriage, I'm going to go prepare a place for us, for our family.

And in the meantime, the woman is preparing herself for marriage. This is according to Hebrew custom, but she's preparing herself for marriage to this man, and will be learning the ways of a wife, how to take care of her husband, how to take care of her children when they arrive.

And so then the groom comes when he's got this place set up, he takes his bride to himself, they go to their house, this place that the groom has prepared, and there they live together forever. Well, till death do us part.

But as we apply this to heavenly language, when Jesus comes back to receive us, when he receives his bride, the church adorned in splendor, united with Christ forever, we will be taken to the place that he has prepared for us, and there we will dwell with him forever.

So we have these houses that we are in now temporarily. It's a tent. It's an earthly tent. And it's easily torn down. How is a tent torn down? You know, you undo the stakes, you bring the tent down, you fold it up, you pack it up, you move to the next place.

Or it could be that the language that's used here is a little more aggressive than that. It's not packing up the tent. It's that forces beyond our control have blown the tent down, whatever it might happen to be.

But the earthly tent is temporary, one way or the other. Either you can pack it up, you move to the next place, or it's easily susceptible to the elements, and it can be torn down. If the earthly tent, which is our house, is torn down, we have a building from God, a house that is not made with hands.

It is eternal in the heavens. It is this place that has been prepared for us by our Savior, who is coming back again to receive us to himself. All these promises that we have in Scripture give us hope.

They strengthen us. They help us to endure. We persevere through these things that we are going through. Of course the tent that we're in feels worn out. Of course it feels like it's easy to tear down, because we're not meant to dwell in it forever.

The house that God is dwelling, that's permanent. So you see the difference between Paul using the illustration of the tent and the illustration of a building. A building is permanent, more permanent, right?

You build it, you can't tear it down and move it to another place. It stays where it has been built, right on that foundation. The tent is something that you tear down and move to another place. So this house that we have from God, this is a permanent dwelling place, one that cannot be torn down.

It cannot be moved. We are sealed by the Holy Spirit for this day. For this reward, no one can take it from us. Paul in Romans 8, if God is for us, what can man do to us? And not even death itself can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So in God we have this house, eternal in the heavens, that Christ is preparing for us. Verse 2, Paul says, Indeed in this we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven. Indeed in this we groan.

Meaning what? In this tent in which we dwell. In these bodies that we are in. We groan in these bodies. We long to have the permanent dwelling place. In the Psalms, there is a section of Psalms that we refer to as the Songs of Ascent.

And it goes from Psalm 120 to I think 133 or 134, somewhere in there. But these were called Songs of Ascent because they were the songs that the Hebrews would sing as they went up to worship at the temple which was on top of Mount Moriah.

So as you're going up to worship, you're ascending, right? You're ascending the mountain. Therefore, they are the Songs of Ascent. Or I think the proper English would be Song of Ascent. The plural is actually on ascent.

Maybe that's the way I'm supposed to say it. I don't know. But anyway, you have famous verses that come from these songs like, I will lift up my eyes to the mountains. From where shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord.

That's Psalm 121. And then 122, verse 1. I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of Yahweh or to the house of the Lord. Listen to Psalm 120 here, okay? And I'm going to tie this back into what we're reading in 2 Corinthians 5.

Psalm 120. In my distress, I called to Yahweh, and he answered me. O Yahweh, deliver my soul from a lying lip, from a deceitful tongue. What shall he give to you? And what shall he add to you, O deceitful tongue?

Sharp arrows of the warrior, with the burning coals of the broom tree. Woe is me, for I sojourn in Meshech. For I dwell among the tents of Keter. Too long has my soul had its dwelling with those who hate peace.

I am for peace. But when I speak, they are for war. That's it. It's just those seven verses there. So what's being said in that particular psalm? Where is the psalmist in this psalm? They are in Meshech.

They dwell among the what? The tents of Keter. Longing for where? Where do they want to go? They want to go where Yahweh is. In my distress, I called to Yahweh. Yahweh, deliver my soul from a lying lip.

Where does this person dwell? He dwells among people who have deceitful tongues. And what will happen to the person who tells lies and deceit? Verse 4, they'll receive the sharp arrows of the warrior.

They'll receive the burning coals of the broom tree. This is the wrath of God depicted here upon those who love lies and deceit. They don't love the truth. They don't love God. They are dwellers of the earth.

And this psalmist dwells among those people but longs to be in the place of God. Longs for God and his holiness. So God, deliver me from this into the place where you are. I want peace. But when I speak, when I speak words of peace, they want war.

They want the conflict. They are constantly fighting against God. I desire the peace that surpasses all understanding, which guards our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus, as Paul talks about in Philippians chapter 4.

So this is a person who dwells among tents, and they want to dwell in the permanent place of God, the temple. So you have the contrast there between the temple and the tents among which this person dwells.

Our desire and our longing should be the same. We dwell among a people of lying lips. Think of Isaiah. In Isaiah chapter 6, when he saw the glory of God in his temple, he said, Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips dwelling amidst a people of unclean lips.

That's where we are. Now, we who are in Christ Jesus, we've been clothed in righteousness. Paul is going to talk about that here in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 toward the end of the chapter. This is a verse I've quoted to you already.

2 Corinthians 5, 21. He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. We are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We have received like Isaiah received, that burning coal from the altar when the angel came down and touched Isaiah's lips with it, and he was purified, so that he may speak to God and not be obliterated, because he was a man of unclean lips dwelling in the presence of a holy God.

We dwell among a people of unclean lips. We desire the holiness of God, and so we are longing for that place where God dwells, Mount Zion. God's throne in heaven is referred to as that. That's Mount Zion now.

It's not the temple mount in Jerusalem. It is the place where Christ dwells, and we long for that. So we dwell in these tents for now here on earth. We're in these temporary dwellings, and we are longing for and yearning for that place of permanence that we may dwell with God there.

We groan in these tents, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 3 now. Inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. So when we die and our soul goes to be with God, we're not yet complete.

I know we all long for that. We who are in Christ, we long for that. We long to go home and be with the Lord, as Paul talks about here in the first part of chapter 5. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

So we desire to leave this body and go be present with God. We want that. We long for that. We yearn for that. But we won't be complete there because our bodies will not have been resurrected and be made to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself.

Paul says that's what God is going to do. That's what Jesus will do at his return, which he refers to in Philippians chapter 3. Our lowly bodies will be transformed to be made like his glorious body. When our soul that is present with God is reunited with our resurrected body, then we'll be complete.

But not until then. Hebrews chapter 11 also makes a reference to this, that those who are in heaven are still waiting for this final sanctification that will happen when all of the saints of God will be together at once.

But those who are dwelling in heaven with God have not yet reached this final eternal state, which won't happen until Christ returns. And the dead bodies will rise and be transformed to become immortal and reunited with our souls.

So while the soul is in heaven with God, when we die, our soul goes to be with God in heaven, but it's naked. It hasn't been clothed with the transformed body that will be made immortal. Jesus has that body.

When he rose from the dead, he had the eternal resurrected body, which we're all promised, we who are in Christ Jesus. So Jesus is the first one whose body conquers death, and he has this glorious body.

We likewise will receive a glorious body like his. We will receive a resurrection like his, as the scripture says. But until that day comes, our soul in heaven with God is naked. It hasn't yet been given its body.

So indeed, in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven in as much as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed, while we are in this tent, Paul goes on in verse four.

Indeed, while we're in this tent, we groan being burdened because we do not want to be unclothed. We want to be clothed so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. So notice here that the longing from Paul is not just, hey, help me put off this mortal body so I can go live in my immortal soul with God.

That is not what Paul is saying here. He wants the mortal even to be swallowed up by life. Even my body in which I live in now, this body is going to be transformed. It's not going to be the same body that we're in.

I remember one time speaking on, I was preaching on the resurrection of the dead, and I had an elderly woman come up to me after the sermon and say, you mean that I have to live forever in this body? And I told her, it won't be the same body.

That's the good news. Don't be in despair because I said you'll be in this body forever. It will be transformed. 1 Corinthians 15, Philippians chapter 3. We will be transformed. We will be made to be like him because we will see him as he is.

That's 1 John 3 too. So these bodies that we live in won't be in the same sort of a state when we live with God forever in glory, when the dead in Christ will rise. All those bodies will be transformed and will be clothed like him, like Christ is clothed.

So what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. We will have bodies that will live forever, not bodies that will die, which are the bodies that we live in now. These tents that are falling apart. But I want to go back to chapter 4 here as we wrap this up, as we bring this to a conclusion.

Let me go back to something that I read in chapter 4, verses 16 to 18, which we finished with last week. Paul says, therefore, we do not lose heart. But though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

For our momentary light affliction is working out for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things that are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

So let us set our eyes on those things, those eternal things. As it says in Hebrews 12, 1, we put off every sin and every weight that entangles us. And we set our eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith.

Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God. That's where our eyes are. On Christ, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

And we long for those heavenly, earthly things. We long for holiness even in the present. Because we long to be in God's presence. If as I talk about these things, if I talk about the heavenly things and that doesn't excite you, then might I suggest to you that maybe in your flesh you still long for the things of this world.

Are you in sin right now? Is there some kind of a sin that you enjoy? And that makes you cling to the world a little bit more. And it doesn't make heaven look as beautiful to you. And I urge you, believer, that you examine yourself in those things.

That you purge every evil desire from yourself. That you may long for heaven and the things of God so that you may be in that place there with God. Turn your eyes on Jesus. Look full on his wonderful face.

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. Amen? Heavenly Father, we thank you for this goodness. These good promises that you have given to us. We're in these temporary earthly tents.

We long for the permanent heavenly dwelling. And may that desire be in our hearts so strong that we live for that kingdom even now. Putting off sin and everything that entangles. And fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith.

As it says in Hebrews 12, 1. Deliver us from this present age into your heavenly kingdom. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

The Hope of Resurrection and Being Clothed with Immortality

You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study. Then on Thursday we look at an Old Testament book.

On Friday we take questions from the listeners and viewers. Tomorrow we'll pick up on an Old Testament study, When We Understand the Text.