Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 | Date: November 4, 2018 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

I understand that when you’re singing, it is not proper to take a breath in the middle of a word. Can anyone sing eight beats of “thank” without stopping to take a breath? You can? Good man. I don’t know why I’ve gotten a kick out of it. I can’t. But I was paying attention this evening and it’s always “thank you.”

Down to more serious things. It is good to be back this evening. I understand I missed a wonderful service this morning, a message, and fellowship. It’s good to be back. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. We are continuing our series of studies on death and the afterlife. You’ll remember that we have looked at some preliminary matters of the makeup of what we are as men and women. We are created body and soul, and that there is, in the biblical understanding, the possibility—primarily because of sin and judgment—for the soul to exist apart from the body. We saw that that is the case with the redeemed, that we live in the presence of Christ. We’re going to look at that again this evening.

Then next time, Lord willing, we’ll look at the intermediate state of the lost as well to see what the condition of their soul is like in the intermediate state. You might remember that we have distinguished between the intermediate state and the final state, or the intermediate state and the eternal state. The intermediate state is that period of time between death and resurrection when the body exists without the soul. And then the final state, or the eternal state, is the state after the resurrection. And that comes into play here in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 as well.

Seems like I’m missing light up here this evening. I guess it’s okay. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Well, I tell you what, let’s back up to chapter 4, verses 7 and following, and I’ll read:

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of the Lord Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. Since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what has been written, “I believed and so I spoke,” we also believe and so we speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake so that as grace extends to more and more people, it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer man is wasting away, our inner man is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. As we look not to the things that are seen, but to things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

And now the passage that we will focus on this evening:

For we know that if the tent, which is our earthly home, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened, not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

Let’s bow together for prayer. Our Father, we are thankful for this passage of your word that speaks so directly to the subject that we are studying of death and life after death. We pray that you will give us a clear understanding of it. We ask that by it you will encourage our hearts and strengthen our faith. We pray that we would be among those who are able, by the grace of God, to die with confidence in hope of the great resurrection. We pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

This passage speaks so directly to the subject of death and life after that very often, chapter 5, verses 1 to 8 and 1 to 10, are treated in isolation on their own, apart from the context. But really, to get the force of it, it is helpful to look back to the context to see what brought this up.

And you’ll see that in, as we’ve read in chapter four, verses seven and following, Paul is talking about the distresses of his life as an ambassador for Christ. He is serving the Lord Jesus and that has brought him to considerable affliction—some outright persecution, some of it just the kind of wearing out that happens with so much work. And so in verses 7 and following: we’re afflicted in every way, we’re perplexed, we’re persecuted, we’re struck down, always carrying in the body the death of Jesus. That kind of language.

Now he couples those with what’s on the other hand. We’re afflicted in every way, but not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down, but not destroyed. And all of that comes to a climax in verse 16 where he says, “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer man is wasting away, our inner man is being renewed day by day.”

So he’s saying, “I’m wearing out in service for Christ. Not just my body, but all that is me—the energy level, everything about it—it takes a toll, and I’m wearing out and wasting away.” Well, that’s with regard to the outer man. The inner man is being renewed day by day, and so on the one hand I’m being beaten down, but I’m not crushed. And he gives these back and forth. And then in verse 16, he tells us in this large statement with regard to all of it, “I’m wasting away, but yet I’m being renewed day by day.”

Then verses 16 through 18, he continues to talk about this renewal that he experiences, and he tells us that it’s a renewal that is born and borne up by his hope. So notice the connection between verse 16 and 17. Verse 16: “Though our outward man is wasting away, our inward man is being renewed day by day,” for—that is, I’m going to explain how that works now—”For this slight, momentary affliction is working for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison as we look to things, not things that are seen, but things that are unseen, the things that are eternal.”

So Paul says, “I’m being renewed day by day, and at least in large measure, this daily renewal alongside of this daily being beaten down and carrying about in my body the death of the Lord Jesus and all of that, alongside of it is this renewal, and that renewal comes by this hope.” And that is a hope of what lies beyond, which he calls an “eternal weight of glory, beyond all comparison.” And with a view to that eternal weight of glory—the glory that will come in the afterlife, and we’ll talk about that in a minute—that perspective of the glory that is to come enables Paul to look back now at the sufferings that he’s been enduring and call it, verse 17, “slight momentary affliction.”

I’d love at this point, we don’t have time, but I would love at this point to go back and track out the Apostle Paul’s suffering that he calls here “slight momentary affliction.” I suspect if any of us had to endure a fraction of what the Apostle Paul endured in his service for Christ, well, few of us would call it slight and momentary. And yet that is his perspective here, and the reason he says, “I can have that perspective on the sufferings here,” is because “I’m looking not at these things, but I’m looking to the glory that awaits me beyond. And in comparison, well, he says it’s not even worth comparing.”

Well, that’s the backdrop with chapter 5 and verse 1 now. It starts again with this explanatory conjunction “for,” that is, “I’m going to expand on that further now. I want to unpack that a little further, this glory that is beyond all comparison that awaits us, this glory that I’m looking to, the things that are unseen, the things that are eternal. Let’s talk about that.” And that’s chapter 5, verses 1 to 8. And that’s what we’ll focus on this evening.

The Tent And The Building

Now in verse one, the first half of the verse, he speaks of this dwelling, which is our earthly home, and he calls it a tent. Pretty clearly, that’s a reference to the human body. This word that he uses for tent here is not the word that is normally used. In fact, in the New Testament it is used only here and in verse 4. It is used in other Greek literature, and each time that we have it, it’s consistently used with reference as a metaphor to the human body. This tent that we have, this body that we live in.

So, we know that if the tent, which is our earthly home—that is this body—is destroyed, we have (and here’s the last half of the verse), we have a building from God. So the tent, which is temporary and that is wasting away and wearing out, will give way to a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. The tent gives way to a house. The tent, which is temporary, gives way to a house, which is eternal. The tent, which is man-made, gives way to a house, a building, a new body that is not made by man, but is made by God himself.

In fact, in verse two, he changes the metaphor a little bit further. “For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed upon with our heavenly dwelling.” So we get rid of the tent, and we put on a new pair of clothes. It’s a mixed metaphor. But we get rid of the tent, and now we’re clothed upon with a new building, a new set of clothing, which it turns out is this eternal house, this building that God has made—the new body.

So this situation of suffering, he is saying, causes me not to dwell and look upon the sufferings themselves and say, “What a poor boy am I.” Rather, this suffering causes me to look ahead to a better day, a better life, a better body. Thank the Lord for that, huh?

I remember some years ago when a pastor friend of mine—he was older than me at the time, he’s about my age, what I am now, but it was a number of years ago—I remember he died and I was talking on the phone to his wife, his widow, afterwards. And the conversation worked its way to—or I could say this, I don’t like to say this kind of thing too soon and try to sound too happy when people are grieving, but it worked up in the conversation—I was able to say, “Well, a better day is coming.” And she responded, “Yes, and a longer day.” And I thought, “What a wonderful perspective.”

And it’s exactly what Paul is saying here. A better day, a longer day, an eternal day is coming. I’ve told you before about that Old Testament scholar that I don’t know personally, but a friend of mine, actually a New Testament scholar who knows him, was talking to him. The older man, the Old Testament scholar, he’s still living. Last I heard, he’s well into his 90s now. He’s been suffering for a number of years. A friend of mine asked him, “How are you doing? You remember that?” And he responded, “Oh, it’s nothing a good resurrection can’t fix.”

And this is exactly Paul’s perspective here. Whatever this is, it’s nothing a good resurrection won’t fix. And that’s what I’m looking toward. His anticipation of what lies ahead shapes his perspective on the sufferings now. When we can view this life as temporary and fleeting, passing in just a brief time compared to what is then, and we can view this body as a tent that we’ll throw off when it wears out in exchange for a building, a house that’s eternal, made by God—well, then our perspective on the sufferings themselves can be shaped accordingly, and we can say with Paul in verse 16, “It’s just a slight momentary affliction.” We’re looking for something better and something longer.

Now, I want you to notice here that so far, and most of this passage will see it as well, Paul is taking the long look forward. He’s looking at the eternal state, not the intermediate state. He’s looking to the day of resurrection. The resurrection hope is what makes him take this perspective on suffering and call it a little thing.

And in fact, verse 17 of chapter 4 reads a lot like—and I’m sure some of you have thought of it already—reads a lot like Romans chapter 8 and verse 18. Paul says, “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that shall be revealed in us.” And there in Romans 8, as here in 2 Corinthians 4 and 5, the focus is on the resurrection and the resurrection with Christ, joint heirs with him, sharing in his glory, in the glory of resurrection.

Everywhere in the New Testament, that is always associated with the second coming of Jesus Christ. When he comes, He’ll come with a shout, the trumpet, the shout of the angel, and the dead in Christ shall be raised first. Those who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall ever be with the Lord. That’s 1 Thessalonians 4. 1 Corinthians 15 has much of the same: when this mortal puts on immortality and this perishable is swallowed up by imperishable, and we are caught up in resurrection in that day of the return of Christ. Even those who are living at that day—the dead will be raised, the living will be transformed at that moment.

The Intermediate State

So Paul’s taking a long look forward and he’s looking at the eternal state. That raises the question then, doesn’t it? What about the intermediate state? What if he doesn’t live until the coming of Jesus Christ? Is Paul looking forward to the intermediate state also? And the answer there is a little bit mixed. The answer is yes, but not really. Now, if that sounds like something that surprises you, if that sounds like heresy, hang on. I think you’ll see Paul’s thinking here, what’s going on.

Notice how Paul describes the intermediate state in verse three. “If indeed by putting…” Well, let’s back up to verse two. “For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling,” that is the resurrection body as per verse 14 of the previous chapter. “While we’re still in this tent we groan, being burdened, not that we would be unclothed, but that we would…” I’m sorry, I jumped ahead to verse four. “In this tent we groan, longing to be put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked.”

Now where did that come from? Who in the world’s talking about being naked? Well, this is another metaphor now for Paul. In death—follow the metaphor—we become naked. That is, we lose our body, and it becomes a bodiless soul. The soul exists on without the body, and that’s what Paul calls being naked.

Now, notice in verse 4 then, what Paul thinks about that situation. “For while we are still in this tent, we groan being burdened, not that we would be unclothed.” Who wants that? That—who wants that? That was a Zaspel addition. That’s not in the inspired text, but I think it’s getting the sense of it. “For while we are still in this tent, we groan being burdened, not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.”

Now that phrase there, “swallowed up by life,” that might ring a bell. You might remember that from 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Paul uses that exact phrase there, and Paul gets that from Isaiah chapter 25, another passage speaking of the resurrection. So Paul says, “What I’m looking forward to is not being naked, that is the intermediate state when my soul exists without the body. What I’m looking forward to is the day of resurrection. That is my goal.”

And then he grounds that hope in verse 5 in the power and the promise of God. “He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.” God has promised a resurrection body, and the presence of his Spirit is the guarantee, the down payment of the fullness of redemptive blessings that will be achieved and realized only in resurrection.

Paul speaks of that in Romans chapter 8, you remember. We are suffering, we are caught up in this groaning creation, living under a curse and in a fallen world. The Spirit of God has been given to us. He’s the down payment of our hope. And we groan with the rest of creation. Even redeemed though we are, we groan with the rest of creation in a fallen world waiting for the full manifestation of the sons of God. That is, Paul says, the adoption, which is the redemption of the body. Resurrection is what we are looking for. That, Paul says, is our goal. That’s what I’m looking forward to.

But, lest you misunderstand, notice how in verses six to eight, Paul backs up just a bit. And he tells us here that there’s yet an advantage to the intermediate state also. Verse six: “For we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.”

Now Paul uses another metaphor here, and it’s the metaphor of being at home or being away from home. At home in this body or away from home outside of the body. And he gives a contrast here, and there’s only two alternatives. We can be at home in the body, but in that case, we are absent from the Lord. Now, of course, he believes in God’s presence and the presence of Christ manifested through his spirit and all of that, but not in the immediate presence of Christ.

So we have this contrast. Number one: we can be at home in the body, in which case we are away from the Lord. And that’s why at the end of the verse, or verse 7, we have to walk by faith and not by sight because we don’t see him. We can be at home in the body, in which case we’re away from the Lord; or we can be absent from the body, in which case we’re at home with the Lord.

Life now, he says, is followed by life in the immediate presence of Christ—absent from the body, present with the Lord. Life now will end, and when it ends, for the believer, there’s a transition into, immediately into, the very presence of Christ. And so Paul says, even though that is an unnatural kind of a thing—you know, soulless body and naked and all of that, and that doesn’t sound really inviting, it’s not what we’re created to be—but still there’s a real advantage to it. And the advantage is, I’ll be at home with Christ in his very presence.

And that sounds a whole lot like Philippians chapter 1, doesn’t it? “To die is gain. To be with Christ, which is far better.” And Paul says that here in verse 8. “I’d rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” So in other words then, the Apostle Paul is not looking forward to death; he doesn’t have a death wish as such. He longs for relief from his sufferings, but the relief that he’s looking for is the relief of the new body, the resurrection, the eternal state. Being just naked—that is, separated from the body—that’s ultimately not what I want. What I really want, he says, is to be alive at the return of Jesus so that, verse two, this tent will give way to a heavenly dwelling; or verse four, this mortal will be swallowed up by life—the glorified body of the eternal state.

And yet, even if I don’t live in this body until that great day, I’m still at a real advantage. Verse 6: I’ll be absent from the body, but I’ll be present with the Lord. And so while the Apostle Paul seems to shrink from death itself considered, as we all do, there’s no fear of death as such. If death becomes the direct path into the presence of Christ, then however painful it may be and however unnatural that condition may be, it is worth it. What has Paul’s heart is to be in the presence of Christ.

Now, before I move on here, I should, I think, back up just a little and maybe help clarify something. Very often, I think, in Christian lingo and normal conversation, we speak of, after death, going to heaven. That is our hope, to be in heaven. And there’s great truth in that, and don’t let anyone ever diminish it, except in this sense: that that is not our final hope. Christ has not come and given himself for us in order to rescue our souls away from our body and from this creation and take it up to heaven with him. Christ has come to redeem us body and soul. And in the end, in the new creation, that will be our experience and that is God’s promise.

Four Summary Observations

All right, let me summarize all of this with four observations, four lessons, four summary observations. Basically what I’ve said so far, but let’s try to crystallize it again.

1. For The Christian, This Life Can Never Be Entirely Satisfying

That’s verse two: “In this tent we groan, longing to put on the heavenly dwelling.” That’s verse four: “We’re still in this tent, we groan, being burdened.” That’s chapter 4, verses 7 and following, with all of this beaten down and wasting away and wearing out. For the Christian, this life can never be entirely satisfying. We’re content with God’s providence. We don’t chafe against it. And in fact, there are many joys that mark this life. But there’s one thing that marks every joy in this life: it’s just temporary. Relationships, enjoyments, amusements—it’s all just temporary. And so we’re content with God’s providence, but this life, marked by a curse and a fallen world, this life is not entirely satisfying. It’s not what we’re looking for. That’s number one.

2. Even For The Christian, Death Is Not Ultimately Desirable

And this is what I’ve just been emphasizing. The intermediate state was made necessary only because of sin and divine judgment against sin. And so that in death now there’s this awful dissolution of the body and separation of body and soul. In this unnatural condition, strange condition, it’s not what we’re created to be. It’s not the way we were created. And so death is not what is ultimately desirable for the Christian either. It’s an unnatural condition. It’s imperfect. It’s not the fullness of what we’ve been promised. And Paul’s goal is not the intermediate state. Paul’s goal is the eternal state. I think the Apostle Paul would sing joyfully with us: “Oh joy, oh delight, should we go without dying.” That’s what he’s looking for here.

Now, because the Lord Jesus stands on the other side of death and because of all that he’s done and what he’s provided and what we’ve seen here in this passage as well, we can tolerate it. Death is okay, and in fact, there’s a sense in which it’s better. But the Bible never endorses a merely romantic view of death as though it were something wonderful in itself considered.

3. Even Though The Intermediate State Is Imperfect And Unnatural And Incomplete, It Is Better

Even though the intermediate state is imperfect and incomplete and unnatural, it is even better than this state. Why? Verse 6, because there I will be away from the body, away from home of the body, but at home in the presence of Christ. The soul will be at home with the Lord. So far as our soul is concerned in that intermediate state, salvation will have been perfected. Perfect sanctification, sin is gone, in the glorious presence of Christ—and so it is better than this life.

And I have to point this out. Notice here, there is no room for purgatory. There’s no transition period. There’s no calling of the believer to go endure suffering so that he can be purged from his sin further. There was one purgatory and that was the cross where Christ purged our sins for us. But immediately upon death, we are ushered into the very presence of Christ. And so Paul says that is better.

And so he says our outlook, even in death, even in death, our outlook is one of hope. There’s a sense in which we all fear death, but on another level, the believer doesn’t have to fear death at all. In death we’ll enjoy the immediate presence of Christ while we wait for the day of his return when our souls will be reunited with our bodies in resurrection. And so what awaits us in heaven, even in the intermediate state, is so glorious that even if it must be gained through that unnatural and awful experience of the dissolution of this body and dying, and even if it’s in that unnatural condition of separation of body and soul, it’s still an advantage.

Oh, there are other considerations, of course. It’s not like he’s wanting to die and “let’s all go commit suicide because it’s better.” It’s not at all what he’s after here. There are other considerations: the will of Christ, service for Christ. All of that has to be brought in here. But Paul says, all things considered, still, for me, I’d rather be at home with the Lord Jesus. That will be so unimaginably glorious that it makes the sufferings of this life pale in comparison.

And that’s the biblical idea of hope. Ultimately, it’s looking to the eternal state, the day of resurrection. But even with regard to the intermediate state, we’re not asked to somehow imagine that death will be a wonderful experience and that we’re supposed to put on our happy face when we’re dying and all of that. But we are given every ground of hope that even in death we are safe and that passing through death, it will be better—something to be preferred, because there we will be in the presence of Christ.

I titled this message, “The Christian Attitude Toward Death.” That’s actually the title of a sermon that Benjamin Breckenridge Warfield preached from this passage in 1892. One of his colleagues at Princeton Seminary at Old Princeton died—Charles Augustus Aiken died in 1892—and Warfield preached the memorial service. That was the title he gave to this passage. I think it captures it very well.

Let me read you the final paragraph of that message that he gave. Here he’s making reference to Dr. Aiken who had gone ahead and others who had gone like him. And he says:

While yet our farewell to them on this side of the separating gulf was sounding in their ears, the glad hail of their Lord was welcoming them there. May God grant to each of us to follow them. May he give us his Holy Spirit to sanctify us wholly and enable us when we close our eyes in our long sleep to open them at once, not in terrified pain and torment, but in the soft, sweet light of paradise, safe in the arms of Jesus.

4. Even Though The Intermediate State Is Marked By The Glorious Presence Of Christ, A Greater Glory Will Be Ours In The Resurrection

And that, I think, summarizes the passage well. Glorious as that intermediate state will be, because we are in the immediate presence of Christ, it is to be far surpassed by the day of resurrection. One day, Jesus will return and call up all who are his. And those who are his will be joined to their bodies, raised immortal. And in resurrection, finally we will know what it is to be redeemed, body and soul, and be all that we were created to be, and to enjoy all that God promised for us.

That’s verse 2: “In this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling.” Verse 4: “While we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened, not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.”

And we may be sure, brothers and sisters, that this will happen because our Lord Jesus has traveled this way ahead of us. He went through death himself. And when he went through death himself, he was in a sense not alone at all, but he carried all of his people with him. And he bore the curse of sin and took the judgment of God against all of our sin and exhausted God’s wrath against us as our substitute.

And because he had successfully accomplished his work—and this is the New Testament teaching of the resurrection—because he has successfully accomplished his work, God raised him from the dead. And when he was raised from the dead, he was raised as the representative head of all of his people. And all of us, all of us who are joined to him, just as we were joined to him in his death, we are joined to him in his resurrection. And just as certainly as he rose from the dead, he takes all of us with him in resurrection as well, and so will ever be with the Lord.

It is simply what we sing every Easter, the words of Charles Wesley, wonderful words: “So are we now where Christ has led, following our exalted head.” That’s the New Testament teaching of resurrection exactly, that Christ has gone ahead of us, and he takes us with him in his resurrection, and in his time we will follow him there.

Well, this is the Christian attitude toward death. I think this is why John Wesley could say, rather boastfully, “Our people die well.” This, of course, points out the value of Jesus Christ and the urgency of the gospel. Without him, none of this hope belongs to you at all. But with him, we can face even death and all of eternity with the greatest confidence. Amen.

Let’s pray. Our Father, what great things you have accomplished for us, what great things in store for us. We thank you for your word that has told us all about it, that we may glory in it even ahead of time. Give us clear understanding, give us confidence in your words, so that when each of us takes our turn, as we all will, if the coming of Christ is delayed, that we may face that day with great confidence that there we will be in the presence of Christ. Thank you for Jesus. In his name we pray. Amen.