Tag: Book of 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 5:1-2 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:

Our present body is weak and vulnerable, susceptible to harm and pain. One family member remarked of his elderly father that he has an abrasion on the skin by a slight brush with the bed frame that is not healing well. The skin peels easily in the weakness of the body that comes with passing time. But he is trusting in Jesus Christ daily awaiting his transformation when our Lord will re-make for each one of His children a new body.

2 Corinthians 5:1 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.

Our eternal inheritance consists not only of an incorruptible and glorious body that God will bestow but also a glorious mansion that Christ will give to each one of us. This body that we have though plagued often with weakness and sickness will give way to an eternal, healthful and strong body like the resurrection body of Christ. This is the believer’s lively hope.

The prospect of the dissolving of our earthly house, this body, must not cause fear, but with faith, we take hold of our eternal heritage. What assurance! What comfort!

2 Corinthians 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Our value system needs to be renewed so that it will reflect the will of God as God’s children. True reality is in the eternal but the illusion of trusting the things temporal is very real. We need to renew our minds so that our affections are set on the eternal rather than the temporal.

The Indian preacher of the last century Sadhu Sundar Singh explains well when he says “In the human heart there is a deep and natural craving which can be satisfied nowhere except in God and which can be consummated only in heaven after a period of probation and preparation in this world. But man, disdaining God and the judgment day, seeks satisfaction in this world and its things, and this effort on his part ends in sheer hopelessness and destruction.”

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

The Christian is taught to endure the affliction of this life. The grace of God will see them through. There is a far greater reward awaiting us in eternity. This world that we sojourn is but temporal. There is an eternal home that we will be going. This is the permanent, lasting and glorious home. We will be given a glorified body, not more pain and aches, and a glorious mansion. Our Lord Jesus promised that He has gone ahead to prepare for us. As such, we are exhorted to trust in the Lord and keep faith in God.

2 Corinthians 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

Will you consider the trials that God allows you to go through in this earthly life as a bearable yoke? This is how the Apostle Paul looks at afflictions that come in his life. The word “light” means “easy to bear” to describe his earthly sufferings. He articulated these tribulations in his life in 2 Corinthians 11:23-30 Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not? If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.

2 Corinthians 4:15-16 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. 16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

A life lived in the blessed will of God, centred upon Christ, is abundant life. When we tap upon the strength of God, our lives find vibrancy, purpose and meaning, renewable strength. This is the testimony of the prophet Isaiah for our encouragement:

Isaiah 40:28-31 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. 29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: 31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.