INTERSECT | Assurance in Life and Death | 2 Corinthians 5:1-10
What “sounds” do we expect from a church? Have you ever thought about it? If someone eavesdropped on your next worship service, what would he or she hear? No doubt the happy conversations before the service starts, music and singing, prayer and preaching, and — depending on the day — maybe even some amens. But would he ever hear the congregation groaning?
Sounds odd, doesn’t it? But here’s the point. In this passage, Paul observed that in this world, in these human bodies, we groan. This word can also be translated sigh. You know it as that deep, slow, exasperated exhale when completely frustrated by something you cannot figure out, or maybe when you discover your child or pet made a mess. But what are we groaning or sighing about? The great Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon once remarked, “You can judge a man by what he groans after.”
Our world is full of groaning these days, about the economy, about politics, about inflation, about the moral state of our nation. And while these might be worthy of our sighs, the text indicates Christians really groan for Heaven, for eternity.
Present Assurance (verses 1-5). Paul said our bodies themselves are groaning…and all readers over a certain age said, “Amen!” Aging constantly reminds us our bodies are, as Paul said in the previous chapter, “wasting away.” He contrasted our current condition with our eternal condition in Heaven by comparing our earthly bodies to tabernacles or tents, temporary dwellings. In contrast, our heavenly home is eternal and not made with hands.
We long for this permanent dwelling, clothed with immortality. The Spirit of God prepares us for this and is our pledge or down payment for the redemption of God’s possession. While living in this temporary human “tent,” we find assurance in knowing this house, this eternal dwelling, is already ours. We have the deed already, as it were, guaranteed through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and pledged to us by the Holy Spirit.
In eternity, we will not exist as disembodied spirits or float around on clouds playing harps. We will have glorified bodies. “The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:52b). This is how God made us, in His image, and in bodies. Paul described our groaning as a longing to be clothed with immortality.
In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis described it this way: “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”
Paul described the eternal bodies or dwellings we will experience “someday,” and then he pointed to the Spirit as our guarantee.
Present Experience (verses 6-8). While Christians remain in this earthly body, we are away or absent from the Lord. We walk by faith and not by sight. This is what Paul meant by being “absent from the Lord” (verse 6). It isn’t that God is not with us now. Quite the contrary! He has promised to be with us, and His Holy Spirit dwells within us. We simply aren’t in His presence fully, but we have assurance, one day, we will see Him face to face.
Until that glorious day, we walk by faith. Verse 8 has become one of the most common and beloved verses at Christian funerals. Why? For the Christian, to be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord. Death is the doorway to our eternal home.
In his letter to the Philippians, Paul shared his internal conflict, desiring to be at home with the Lord, yet knowing it was also crucial for him to remain with young believers and develop their faith: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better” (Philippians 1:21-23).
Back in the “dark ages” before the invention of apps like FaceTime and Zoom, if we wanted to hear someone’s voice in his or her absence, we relied on the telephone. Your excitement about hearing that person’s voice might have been expressed by, “It is so good to hear you!” These days, the experience is even better, because you can both see and hear the person in real time. But as great as these new apps might be, they are far inferior to having the person with you, right next to you, speaking face-to-face.
For now, believers live with eyes of faith, looking toward eternity with the Lord with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Future Appearance (verse 10). We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Let me be clear: this judgment does not determine whether we are saved; that is determined in this life. Many commentators down through the years have distinguished between this judgment and the Great White Throne judgment described in the book of Revelation. I am not entirely sure the two are different, but it doesn’t matter because Revelation makes it clear all whose names are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life will be thrown into the lake of fire.
How do you get your name into the Lamb’s Book? By trusting in the Lamb, Jesus, to save you. Believers in Jesus will not be condemned at the judgment seat of Christ. However, according to this verse, we will stand before Him in judgment, and we will be rewarded according to what we have done in our earthly bodies.
This should serve as a motivation for the Christian life. Of course, the judgment shouldn’t be our only motivation. We live our Christian lives with motives of love, gratitude, respect, and duty, but here, Paul used the judgment as motivation.
Paul’s instructions were clear and simple: whether in our present body or present with the Lord, we must make it our aim to please Him. That’s it! Our aim for time and eternity is simply to please Him. One day, we will stand before the righteous Judge, and this life is our only chance to please Him. Our entire motivation in life is to please the Lord.
This is also why we cannot walk with the world as a church congregation. If we seek to please men with our doctrine or lifestyle, we are no longer living to please God but appeasing the crowd. Sadly, many churches and even entire denominations have compromised in crucial and fundamental areas. No matter what others do, our task is to remain faithful to what the Bible teaches and to please the Lord.
I have faced more medical tests in the last year than in my entire life previously as doctors sought to identify the cause of some troubling symptoms. Because I dread going to the doctor to be poked, prodded, and examined, at times, I have been tempted to delay, or even to cancel the appointment.
But the appointment Paul described cannot be rescheduled or ignored. The Bible says it starkly: "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). Soon, you and I must put off our “tent.” In comparison to eternity — considering how short life is — I wonder if you are prepared. Are you ready?
If your faith rests in Christ, you have assurance in life…and in death.
About the Columnist: Dr. Barry Raper pastors Bethel FWB Church near Ashland City, Tennessee, and teaches ministry at Welch College.
