We Are Only Renting These Bodies of Ours
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 Corinthians 5:1
Have you ever rented a house or an apartment?
Renting has its advantages but it also has its disadvantages. Those who rent generally don't have the responsibilities of ownership. Since they don't own the building they don't have to worry about insurance and major maintenance items. Renters don't have to worry about paying property taxes and are usually not concerned about the cost of elections that mean higher property taxes, since they don't pay property taxes.
In some areas, renters don't even have to worry about mowing the grass or clipping the hedges because that all comes with the rent. A renter, by nature, is expected to be a transient. He or she is a person just passing through. They pay the cost of their month's stay in advance and are under no obligation to stay more than one month at a time.
On this earth every Christian is a renter, but in the world to come each of us looks forward to being a homeowner. Since this life is just a meager sojourn for us, our hope is anchored on heavenly horizons.
Our hope lies in getting the final deed to our heavenly home.
In John 14:1-3 Jesus said," Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."
In our text in 2 Corinthians 5:1 Paul is saying here that after this life is over that our spirit which is the real you won’t be found in a physical body. The body which is represented by the Greek word skenon "tent" which refers to the physical body. Paul say’s that though this earthly body (house) will be "dissolved", God has promised that there will be a "building of God."This is a description of death of the mortal body,yet it is intended to be encouragement for the believer as he/she looks at death. The word that is translated "building," is the Greek word oikodomen which means "the process of building something." The basic idea in this verse is that God is building a new house for the believer’s spirit which will be disembodied at the point of death ,leaving the body to remain on the earth. This indicates that God will create something completely new. Then Paul uses Greek word oikian which means "dwelling place", which refers to the completion of the "eternal body." Now there is 1 peculiar feature about this new body that I want to focus on, first of all it will be similar to the present one and identifiable, yet not identical because it is not going to be made by human hands, but it will be produced by God. The literal translation for the phrase "not made with hands"in the Greek is the same word that Jesus used in Mark 14:58 when He spoke of destroying the temple,which was made by the hands of men, and in three days,building another,not made by man. Jesus was speaking of His body following his resurrection.Although His own body" was made of a woman"(Galatians 4:4) at His birth,yet no human being was involved at the time of His resurrection.The believer’s human body will have the same outcome.When we are first born into this world,our body is physically produced. However,at the resurrection of the righteous dead the Apostle Paul proclaimed in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 v.15 "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. v.16 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: v.17 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.
God will change this body to a glorified body for in 1 Corinthians 15:50- 57 Paul say’s ,"Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. v.51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, v.52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.v.53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. v.54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. v.55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? v.56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. v.57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
II.The Second Promise Jesus made Is that He is Preparing a Place for Believer’s in Heaven, however John the Revelator got a glimpse into the Heavenly city the new Jerusalem and said it was a place where there will be no more death , no more crying and no more pain because in Rev 21:4 John said , "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."
Heaven doesn’t have any hospitals, or nursing homes, or rehabilitation centers and it definatley doesn’t have a ghetto.
The days of aches and pains will be over, the trips to the doctors will have ceased, and all pain will end.
John the Revelator described this Heavenly City to us.
Rev 21:18-22:5 18 The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. 19 The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones. 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. 22 But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. 25 Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). 27 But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. 22:1 And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. 4 They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. 5 There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.
III. The Third Promise found in the Gospel of John Chapter 14 is that He will personally receive Us.
Now I want you to imagine this, the moment that you take your last breath it will be your first breath in Heaven and the Lord and His angels will be right there to welcome you.
One of the first faces you will see is Jesus!
He will be there with His arms wide open to receive you in to that great mansion that He has prepared for all His children.
You will experience a love that you cant even understand.
A love that forgives every failure that you ever had in her life.
A love that mends the hurts only you know.
A love that understands every feeling that you ever had.
It is an unconditional love that completely satisfies the longing of the soul.
VI. The Last Promise is that there is only One-way to Enter
Heaven.
1) Jesus said to Thomas "Thomas you say you don’t know the way to heaven but you do, I am the way, the truth, and the life."
a) Without a relationship with the Savior there is no hope of heaven.
b) Christ came to take away the sins of the world and that included yours.
c) The greatest promise given to all is found in three simple verses:
John 3:16-18 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
As Christians, let us continue to look forward to our home beyond this life. The song writer's words should continue to inspire us: "I've got a new home over in glory and its mine, mine, mine!"
The Bishop
