2 Corinthians 5:1-3; Looking Forward to Christ’s Coming

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2 Corinthians 5:1-3 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: 3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.

There are two “Enoch”s in the book of Genesis. The first man Enoch was recorded in Genesis 4, the second Enoch in Genesis 5. The first man Enoch was recorded in Genesis 4, the second Enoch in Genesis 5. Genesis 5 is a description of the godly line through Seth whereas Genesis 4 is a description of the ungodly line through Cain. One a believer and the second an unbeliever. This was the description of the godly Enoch:

Genesis 5:21-24 And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

Hebrew 11:5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

This Enoch lived a godly life. Notice that the word God “Elohim” has a definite article attached to the original Hebrew Scriptures. Enoch walked with “the God”. Why did the inspired writer put the definite article? And if you make a search, this is the first time that “ha-Elohim” is used in the Old Testament, to distinguish the living and true God from the gods of world worshipped at that time. He was living proof of being taken to heaven without seeing death. The translation of Enoch was in anticipation in the fullness of time the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, a cardinal to the present hope of our future resurrection the darkness of disease and death.

The Apostle Paul explains it well in 1 Corinthians 15:17-24 “And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.“

The world today with all the emergencies of physical casualties, the patient waiting for a loved one awaiting urgent medical care in the emergency ward will one day give way to a life without such emergencies, hospitals, polyclinics, and self-medication at home. Christ will return and we will be clothed with immortality – a new body that can enter heaven, free from the pollution of disease, sin and pain.

Whether we are living in the generation where we will be translated to heaven by the rapture of the church as Enoch did or we will be resurrected from the dead, the victory is ours to claim in Jesus Christ. Thank God we are spared from nakedness that comes as a result of sin by the righteousness of Jesus Christ through faith that we may be partakers of Christ’s glory at His Coming. Amen.