Tag: Devotion

2 Corinthians 5:5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.

The greatest event that is coming is the rapture of the church. Christ will receive His church into glory. Most significantly, it will be the day of the redemption of the body.

The Apostle Paul tells us concerning eternal blessings in Christ in Ephesians 1:11-14 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

The event of the rapture itself is well described by the Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

2 Corinthians 5:4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.

When a believer dies, his soul returns to heaven with God and his body is buried and consigned to the ground. This is called the Intermediate State. When Jesus returns, He will fashion a new body for that soul.

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.

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.