December 19, 2021
THE BELIEVER’S HOUSE NOT MADE WITH HANDS
INTRODUCTION:
1. Severe as the trials and afflictions were which Paul had endured for sake of the Gospel, he nevertheless counted them as “light afflictions” compared to the glory that should surely be his. He also looked upon them as only momentary in light of the eternal nature of that glory. (Ch. 4:17; Rom. 8:18)
2. The confidence expressed in the preceding chapter is here justified by showing that the Apostle was assured of a habitation in heaven, even if his earthly house (his physical body) should be destroyed. Jesus acknowledged that the enemy had power to destroy this mortal body, but that his power was limited to the physical body only. (Luke 12:4)
3. The Apostle rightly judged that should the enemies of the Gospel succeed and putting him to death, they would unwittingly be instrumental in bringing about his greatest advancement and blessing. (Phil. 1:21)
I. THE BELIEVER’S EXPECTATION, AND HIS DESIRE, AND HIS ASSURANCE IS THAT DEATH FOR HIM IS GREAT GAIN. (VERSES 1-5)
A. THE BELIEVER’S EXPECTATION OF ETERNAL HAPPINESS AFTER DEATH. (VERSE 1) This is his sure hope. He does not doubt for a moment that there is another and a happy life after the present life is ended. He through grace has solid assurance of his interest in that eternal blessedness. Though hidden from the natural sight, the eye of faith sees it quite clearly. (Heb. 11:1, 13-16) Paul says, “We know that…we have a building of God.”
1. What heaven is in the eyes and hope of the believer is here presented as a “house,” or a habitation, a dwelling place, a resting place.
a) It is our Father’s house, where there are many mansions (John 14:2)
b) It is our everlasting home, a habitation in the heavens, in that high and holy place which as far excels all the palaces of this earth as the heavens are high above the earth.
c) It is a “building of God,” whose builder and maker is God. The happiness of the future state is what God has prepared for those that love Him. (Heb. 11:10; I Cor. 2:9)
d) This glorious eternal building is infinitely superior to the poor cottages of clay in which our souls now dwell.
2. This blissful habitation will be ours to enjoy immediately after death, so soon as “our house of this tabernacle is dissolved.”
a) Our body, this earthly house, is but a tabernacle (a tent), a temporary house, meant to be taken down. Tents are not thought of as permanent dwellings. (See also II Pet. 1:13, 14) The Jewish tabernacle was a temporary and portable house of worship until the permanent house (temple) was built.
b) Soon the pins will be pulled, and the chords will be loosed, and our body will return to the dust. When this happens, then the house not made with hands will become our new and everlasting dwelling place. The spirit returns to God who gave it, so that those who are God’s shall dwell with him forever.
B. THE BELIEVER’S EARNEST DESIRE AFTER THIS FUTURE BLESSEDNESS. (VERSES 2-4)
1. This longing is expressed by the phrase, “we groan.” This groaning (sighing) is for two reasons. (Verses 2-4)
a) First, we groan because we are in this tabernacle. (Verse 4a)
(1) This body of flesh is a heavy load to bear. It is subject to pain and suffering. It suffers many infirmities. It grows weak and feeble as it is headed for the grave.
(2) Believers groan because burdened with a body of sin, and the many corruptions that are still remaining. (Rom. 7:24)
b) Second, we groan with desire after the happiness of our eternal home. “Earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.” (Verse 2)
2. This longing is not for death itself, i.e. the separation of the soul and body. (Verse 3, 4b) Death so considered, is not to be desired, but rather dreaded. However, considered as a passage to glory, the believer is “willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” If this change should occur without dying, it would be most desirable. This will be the happy experience of those believers who are alive at the time of Christ’s second coming. (I Cor. 15:51)
a) Death will strip us of the clothing of flesh. Naked we came into this world, and naked shall we go out of it.
b) The souls of believers, however, are not found naked. They are immediately with the Lord in the other world, and closed upon with garments of praise and robes of righteousness. They are closed upon with their house from heaven.
C. THE BELIEVER’S ASSURANCE OF HIS INTEREST IN THIS FUTURE BLESSEDNESS. (VERSE 5)
1. God, by His grace, has prepared him for this blessedness. “He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God.”
a) All who are designed for heaven hereafter are prepared for heaven while they are here.
b) He who has so fashioned us is God. Nothing less than divine power can make souls ready for heaven.
2. The Holy Spirit is already to every believer the earnest of the everlasting grace and comfort of heaven. (See Eph. 1:13, 14; Rom 8:19-23)
II. THE BELIEVER POSSESSES THE BEST POSSIBLE COMFORT FOR HIS PRESENT STATE AND CONDITION. (VERSES 6-8)
A. CONFIDENCE IS THE BLESSED CONSEQUENCE OF WHAT IMMEDIATELY PRECEDES. (VS. 6a) “Therefore, we are always confident.” Because God has wrought us for our heavenly home, and because we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we are confident.
1. The confidence here intended is the assurance that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. (Verse 8) The sentence begun in Verse 6 is completed in Verse 8.
2. He is confident even while dwelling in this body. “Whilst we are at home in the body.”
3. He is confident even though for the present he is “absent from the Lord.”
4. His confidence is the same confidence of faith that the patriarchs knew. (Verse 7; Heb. 11:13)
B. THE BELIEVER’S CONFIDENCE IS ALSO HIS CHOICE HOPE. (VERSE 8)
1. The sentence begun and left incomplete in Verse 6 is here resumed and carried out.
2. Not only should believers not be desponding, but rather so confident as to prefer to be absent from the body.
3. Death for Paul was not an object of dread, but desire. (Phil. 1:23)
III. THE APOSTLE FOUND THIS BLESSED TRUTH TO BE A REAL ENCOURAGEMENT TO DUTY. (VERSES 9, 10)
A. WHAT IT WAS THAT STIRRED PAUL UP TO DILIGENCE. “Wherefore.”
1. Because of his well-grounded hope of heaven, and of seeing the Lord, he was moved to action.
2. Far from giving the least encouragement to ease and slothful security, just the opposite ought to be the case. Because we hope to be present with the Lord, let us labor; let us be ambitious, as the word means.
(Luke 19:12, 13)
B. WHAT IT WAS THAT PAUL WAS THUS AMBITIONS OF. “that…we may be accepted of Him.” (See Heb. 10:23-25)
1. This was his goal whether present in the body, or absent from the body, i.e. whether living or dying.
(Rom. 14:8; I Thess. 5:10)
2. This was his desire whether present with the Lord, or absent from the Lord. This expresses the same idea in a different form.
3. The thing desired is that we may be pleasing to Christ whether in this world or the next.
C. WHAT FURTHER MOTIVE FOR DILIGENCE COMES FROM THE CONSIDERATION OF THE COMING JUDGMENT. (VERSE 10)
1. “We must all appear.”
a) Paul said that he strived to be acceptable before the Lord, “for we must ALL appear” (all believers, and even all men).
b) All must APPEAR before the Judge. We must all stand revealed in our true character before the judgment seat of Christ. (I Cor. 4:5; Col. 3:4)
c) Since there can be no disguise, no deception before the Omniscient Judge, Paul was assiduous in his efforts to be prepared to stand the scrutiny of the all-seeing eye.
2. “The judgment seat of Christ.” (bema seat) The Roman magistrates sat upon a raised platform or seat
(bema = step) to administer justice. It was an object of reverence and fear to all the people. As Christ is to be the Judge of all men, to judge the secrets of the heart, it is obvious that He must be a divine person.
3. “That every one may receive…” That everyone may receive what is his due. (Col. 3:24, 25; II Pet. 2:13)
4. “The things done in the body, whether good or evil.” All acts are treasures laid up for the future, whether treasures of wrath, or treasures in heaven, and these we receive back.
5. That we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ is a certainty for which we must all prepare while we are in the body, i.e. while we are now alive.
a) The first essential preparation is to repent of our sins and believe on Christ.
b) Following this, the next essential preparation is to do like Paul, and labor for Christ, and strive to be accepted of Him. However, no amount of labor can gain His acceptance, if we have not truly believed on Him. (Eph. 2:8-10)
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