“We know that if the tent that 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.” [1]
“To infinity and beyond!” For you who have watched the Pixar movie “Toy Story,” you will recognise this expression as that used by Buzz Lightyear as he launched himself into the air. Cute stories aside, we who follow Christ the Lord are destined to soar to infinity and well beyond. We are destined to spend eternity in the presence of the Living God, enjoying Him forever. And our destiny is not restricted to some indefinite time in the future, it has begun in this present time as His Spirit takes up residence in our lives—God now lives in us, if we are saved.
My dad was fond of saying to his sons, “Only two things are certain—death and taxes.” So long as politicians act as politicians, rather than acting as statesmen, the taxes part of his assessment is assured. Similarly, despite advances in medical science and despite our best efforts to put off the inevitable, death is certain. We exercise, consume copious quantities of dietary supplements, visit the various health professionals regularly, and we just keep on dying as people have died since the death of Abel, the first person to die. Death is more real for me now than at any time heretofore in the brief days of my earthly pilgrimage.
I am moving inexorably toward a day when this mortal flesh shall fail. Then, life as I’ve known it will cease and real life will begin. One day, if we live long enough, you’ll read that Michael Stark has died. I’m telling you now, that will be a lie. I won’t be dead! I’ll be alive for the first time. As the Apostle has written, so I have learned, “Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” [1 CORINTHIANS 13:12].
NOW—knowledge is restricted.
THEN—knowledge is full.
NOW—truth is only vaguely understood.
THEN—truth will be fully understood.
The Apostolic testimony, which we followers of Christ accept as true, testifies, “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed” [1 CORINTHIANS 15:51b-52]. What is now shall not prevail; our present condition is not permanent. The Word testifies to each Christian, “Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself” [PHILIPPIANS 3:20-21]. What comfort for God’s child.
Peter has written, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” [1 PETER 1:3-5].
The Christian does not fear death, though we are not eager to experience the process. Death does not frighten us—we will not cease to be. According to Christ’s promise, we shall be changed into His image. That prospect does not intimidate the child of God. Spurgeon said that he wanted to taste death, so that he could experience something of what his Saviour had experienced on his behalf. I suppose there is wisdom in that view. However, I cannot read the words of the Apostle to the Gentiles without concluding that Paul anticipated transformation without seeing death. And though I am growing older, moving inexorably toward the fate that all people have faced since the fall of our first parents, I confess that I live in the hope of the return of our Master.
Because we live in the hope of Christ’s return doesn’t mean that we’re whistling past the graveyard. This is not a groundless wish, it is rather confidence in the promises that the Lord has given to all who look to Him in faith. He promised He would return, and we are able to live in confidence, for God Who never lies has promised.
THE TRANSIENCE OF THE PHYSICAL — “We know that if the tent that 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” [2 CORINTHIANS 5:1-4].
This passage begins with the preposition, “For.” The word used in my English text is a translation of the Greek conjunction, “gár.” This literary device of a preposition serving as a conjunction is pointing the reader back to what has preceded. Thus, to understand what the Apostle is saying, it is necessary to review the preceding paragraphs. Let’s read those immediately preceding paragraphs so that we can understand what is communicated. In 2 CORINTHIANS 4:7-18, the Apostle has written, “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 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 also 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 self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light 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 the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
The Apostle describes our body as “jars of clay.” This description hearkens back to God’s sentence pronounced when our first father had sinned against the Lord GOD. To Adam, the Lord GOD said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
[GENESIS 3:17-19]
There is nothing particularly noteworthy about this body; it is composed of ordinary dirt. When the body is no longer animated, and this body is placed in the tomb or when it is burned to ash, nothing of consequence will remain. The earth will reclaim what was donated to permit me to exist in this form for the years of my existence. A southern Gospel song speaks of this, saying.
This house of flesh is but a prison
Bars of bone are holding my soul
But the doors of clay are gonna’ burst wide open
When the angel sets my spirit free
I'll take my flight like a mighty eagle
When the hills of home start calling me [2]
All I have ever known lies within the sphere of the physical. I understand through the revelation of the Word that I am a tripartite being. I am a living soul, I am an intellectual being that experiences and feels, but my soul is bounded by a physical body. My intellect is confined by the boundaries of what my body can experience. Nevertheless, I have a spirit that has been given by God. According to the Word of God, I am defined as body, soul, and spirit [see 1 THESSALONIANS 5:23].
Though the Spirit of God lives in me as a divine presence because of my salvation in Christ, and though I have had experiences that went beyond this moment called “now,” I have never experienced anything beyond this physical existence. I have had momentary flashes of insight reminding me that something glorious and wonderful lies beyond the present, but I cannot say that I’ve ever had any experience of a lasting nature concerning what lies beyond this moment in which I now exist.
Nevertheless, I have been given the testimony of the Spirit of God as recorded in the words of the Apostle. God’s Word assures me that life is not extinguished because the physical ceases to carry out the functions associated with this life. All that I know concerning what lies beyond this moment is known by faith. As Paul has testified, “Death is at work in us.” Again, Paul’s words agree with what we accept as true, “Our outward self is wasting away.” This is true for each one who has faith in the Son of God.
This life is moving rapidly toward a conclusion when the physical must be set aside and the true me, the soul which defines me, must move to another realm. Peter saw what was coming, as it must come for each of us, and he wrote in his final missive, “I know that I will soon lay aside my tent, as our Lord Jesus Christ has indeed made clear to me” [2 PETER 1:14 CSB]. He visualised this body as a tent, a temporary habitation that is erected and taken down with some ease. It is not meant to be a permanent dwelling place.
Paul emphasises this truth when he writes, “We know that if the earthly tent we live in is torn down, we have a building in heaven that comes from God, an eternal house not built by human hands. For in this one we sigh, since we long to put on our heavenly dwelling. Of course, if we do put it on, we will not be found without a body. So while we are still in this tent, we sigh under our burdens, because we do not want to put it off but to put it on, so that our dying bodies may be swallowed up by life. God has prepared us for this and has given us his Spirit as a guarantee” [2 CORINTHIANS 5:1-5 CSB].
The hard reality is that I recognise the impermanence of this life. Nothing lasts forever, and all that we know is breaking down. Steel rusts, copper tarnishes, plastic disintegrates, and the body weakens. The hymn writer has spoken compelling truth that each of us realise is our own experience when he wrote, “Change and decay in all around I see.” [3] Nothing identified with this physical world is permanent. All that we can experience is under the bondage to sin. This is apparent when Paul writes, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” [ROMANS 8:18-23].
Time marches on, and that which was so cutting edge only a few years back is suddenly passé, suddenly of scant value. It was about 1983 when a group of elderly women who were participants in a Bible study I was then leading decided to show their appreciation and do something nice for me! They pooled their money and purchased a Walkman. Within a few years, cassettes were not commonly available, and Walkman cassette players were antiques from another era. Similarly, the iPod Shuffle that was just the thing in 2011 is unavailable today. Do you know anyone who types letters on an IBM Selectric? I wrote my dissertation on one of these machines, which was the epitome of professional writing in the late 60s and early 70s. They are antiques today. I cannot begin to tell you how many sermons I wrote on an Olivetti Praxis typewriter, something that would be unthinkable today. No one writes on such antiques today.
My point is simply that time marches on, and what is the finest now will shortly be of no particular value tomorrow. What is true in the world of “things,” is equally true in the flesh that cloaks our soul. Though somewhat clouded by age, I remember so very well events from the past when I wore a younger man’s clothes. I can still recall the treks into the mountains where I witnessed up close the marvellous animals God has placed in our beautiful province. I remember fishing trips to explore almost every river in British Columbia, dipping my feet into the frigid waters because I only had blue denim waders. I recall the wonderful friends, many of whom are no longer in this life, and all the warm times we spent relaxing around a fire or swapping stories as we drove throughout the night to spend a day fishing or hunting. I remember the glib tongue and the power of my sermons that moved great congregations to service for Christ. Things change, time marches on, and the legs that were once so strong seem strangely weak today. The mind that was able to reply to slurs against the Saviour in such a facile manner sometimes struggles to recall the precise word, or it now takes longer than should be necessary to respond to the insults. I realise that it is time for others to take up the battle, even as I am growing less able to fight the battles I once fought.
I enjoy the preaching of many of our black brothers. For years I read the biographies of those men whom James Weldon Johnson called “God’s Trombones.” One of the biographies that I insisted I must always have is an old contemporary account of John Jasper. One of the sad portions of that biography is also one of the most encouraging affirmations of what was written. The portion is written in dialect, but I’ll transliterate so that there is no detraction.
William Hatcher took down what was related to him. “It was an awful time to us when we begun to see that our ol’ pastor was near to the end of his race. We had been a-dreadin’ it by degrees and it broke on us more and more. I think the dear man tried to get us ready for it. He kept sayin’ to us: ‘My children, my work on the earth is done. I don’t ask death no more odds than a horse-fly.’ But then he’d preach so powerful that we'd hope that he'd hold out a good deal longer. He said to me one day: ‘Comparatively speaking, my time in this world is skin deep, and I look at my hand and think how thin the skin is, and I feel that sho’ ‘nuff he must soon be going.
“‘One night at the church he turned himself loose. He said that as for himself it mattered nothing. He had paid all his debts, that he did not care where or when he dropped; but he wanted everybody to know that he would be with Jesus. That was one of the things that he loved to say. Then he told the church that there was nothing left of—that he wanted them to get together and pay off the church debt and live together like little children. He was mighty great that night, an’ it looked like the powers of the world to come was there.
“The people went out silent like an’ they said that the good ol’ pastor preached his own funeral that night. He always thought of himself as the servant of King Jesus. That was a slavery that he liked and never wished to get free from it. Towards the last he was all the time saying: ‘I am now at the river’s brink and waiting for further orders. It’s the same to me to go or stay, just as God commands.’” [4] Soon after this, the old warrior went home to his eternal reward.
Time moves forward, and each of God’s servants must one day face the last enemy. Some of us have seen that dread spectre closer than we wished at times in the past, but there is coming a day when we shall be in the last struggle with that frightful shadow. There is a reason for John’s admonition to follower of Christ as recorded in his first missive. John writes,
“I am writing to you, little children,
because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake.
I am writing to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men,
because you have overcome the evil one.
I write to you, children,
because you know the Father.
I write to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you are strong,
and the word of God abides in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.”
[1 JOHN 2:12-14]
It is the young men and women, those with that newfound zeal burning in the heart, that are expected to fight the battles. We who have borne the heat of the day pass off the scene, leaving the battlefield to others. Who do you suppose God is raising up among us to pursue the fight? Have you prayed for God to be raising up that one who will lead this assembly into the fray? We who have stood for long years with the Saviour have resisted the evil one, encouraged the younger believers in the Faith, and sought the lost throughout the long years of our service. Because we have witnessed Christ’s power and might, we must encourage those who follow in our footsteps. Are you praying for yourself to stand firm, you who have been longer in the way?
THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE SPIRIT — “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” [2 CORINTHIANS 5:6-7]. We age, and the body grows weary. I’ve stood at the side of a number of the Lord’s precious saints as they made the transition from this moment we call “now,” to that eternal home. I recall a man named Courtney. Courtney received that name because his mother had been rescued from the rubble of her home following the Halifax explosion in December of 1917. A large, black man named Courtney had pulled his mother out of the debris and she said she would name her unborn child Courtney in honour of this kind, courageous man who had rescued her. When he was born a couple of months later, his mother kept her vow.
I was privileged to be permitted to tell Courtney the message of Christ. Later, I was God’s instrument of grace chosen to administer baptism when Courtney openly confessed Christ and followed Him in baptism as a twice-born saint of God. Courtney became a surrogate grandfather to our children, lovingly adopted into our family. Our children knew him as Grandpa James. For many years, Courtney never missed a family gathering in our home, though in later years it was necessary that I should carry him up the stairs so he could join us around the table or be seated in the living room.
Years had passed since we first met, and during a final visit Courtney spoke with me about his approaching death. I had travelled down to Coquitlam from Jasper to visit family. Of course, Courtney was included in my visits. As we visited that final time, the beloved saint made one final request of me. “Mike, in the past I’ve asked you to pray for me to live,” he began tentatively before speaking with conviction, “but now I’m asking you to pray that God would let me go home.” There were tears in his eyes as he spoke that day. He was concerned that even speaking of seeking a respite might be wrong, but he knew that his strength was rapidly waning. He realised that his allotted days were passing rapidly. We talked about his inevitable homegoing that was looming ahead of him. He assured me of his confidence in the promise of God that Jesus would meet him and he would be forever with the Lord. That is the courage of the faithful.
God’s Spirit is given to encourage the people of God. He always works in our lives, and the Spirit of God especially works in the life of each assembly to encourage the people of God as they are compelled to stand firm in the face of opposition. Saul of Tarsus was a fierce persecutor of the first congregation—the New Beginnings Baptist Church of Jerusalem. That fierce opponent of Christ wreaked havoc on those who were then known as Followers of The Way. Some of the saints he had thrown into prison, many were driven from their homes, and some had even been murdered with his approval during his mad rampage. Then, one day, the Risen Lord accosted this maddened rabbi, challenging him to look to the Crucified Saviour for new life.
Saved, Saul immediately began to declare that Jesus was the Messiah whom the Jewish people had long anticipated. His mere presence among the Christians created new stress on that early church, until Saul was forced to flee under threat of death. It is what is written after he fled that we need to see now. Doctor Luke writes, “Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria experienced peace and thus was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and in the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, the church increased in numbers” [ACTS 9:31 NET BIBLE].
Saul would in time become known by a new name—Paul. This is the Apostle to the Gentiles who penetrated the darkened world of Rome, the land that had co-opted every god and goddess of all the peoples they had conquered, placing these so-called gods in their Pantheon, that great building that housed all the gods. But the Living God whom Paul declared could not be contained in a building. He was greater than the imagination of the Romans, and so they saw the followers of this One whom they had crucified as atheists. After all, these Christ followers had no image to place beside all the other gods. Who could worship a god that could not be seen? Therefore, they concluded that these Christians must be atheists.
Gripped with the knowledge that the True and Living God is not restricted to what man does for Him, Paul would declare the message of life, just as he did when he first arrived in Athens. Paul was brought before the Areopagus to explain what he was preaching, because those brilliant Athenians thought he was preaching two new gods—“Jesus” and “Anastasis,” the Greek term for Resurrection.
Therefore, the Apostle’s message to these brilliant thinkers declared, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us” [ACTS 17:22b-27].
Most of those rejected Paul’s message that day. Yet, some believed what he preached. Having believed, these few were born into God’s Kingdom and the Holy Spirit took up residence in the life of each one. Never forget that the Spirit of Christ lives within each person who has placed her or his faith in the Risen Son of God. This is the foundation for the teaching that Paul delivered, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” [1 CORINTHIANS 6:19-20]. God’s Holy Spirit lives in you as one who follows the Risen Saviour!
All who follow the Lord are taught, “If there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” [PHILIPPIANS 2:1-11].
In Pauline theology—the theology that defines the New Testament assemblies, encouragement in Christ is strongly associated with participation in the Spirit. The Spirit of God always points to Christ as Lord of Life. Since the Spirit of God has taken residence in the life of the follower of Christ, we are always encouraged to continue serving Jesus our Master. We are confident of His ultimate victory over sin and over the evil of this fallen world. Christ will be victor over all, just as we are taught in the Word.
Looking forward to our transformation, together with the Apostle we confess, “This perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’
‘O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?’
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” [1 CORINTHIANS 15:53-38]. Amen.
Stand fast, always confident that Christ is victor, and that in Him we assuredly share in the victory. Know that in Him we shall at last say with all the redeemed of God, “Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” [1 JOHN 5:4-5]? I’m looking forward to a day when I shall hear with my own ears that loud voice crying out in Heaven,
“The salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God,
and the ruling authority of his Christ, have now come,
because the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
the one who accuses them day and night before our God,
has been thrown down.
But they overcame him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony,
and they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die.
Therefore you heavens rejoice, and all who reside in them
[REVELATION 12:10b-12a NET BIBLE]
We who believe are victors. We shall see a glorious victory given to us in Christ our Lord. We have no strength of our own, but we stand firm in the Risen Saviour. All the wicked of this earth, and the evil one who motivates the wickedness that now appears to succeed in all the world, are overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony. This is our assurance given by the Spirit of Christ who lives in us. Christ the Lord has conquered, and He invites us to share in His victory.
CONFIDENCE IN WHAT CHRIST HAS PLANNED FOR HIS OWN — “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” [2 CORINTHIANS 5:8-10]. I know that I am responsible to please God. This becomes obvious to anyone who gives even a casual perusal of the Word of God. I will be equipped to honour Him perfectly after my transition into His likeness. Nevertheless, at this time I struggle to honour Him in my choices and in my words and in the manner in which I conduct myself. To my shame, I confess that I fail more often than I care to admit. Christ does not condemn me when I confess my sin and seek His forgiveness. He promises, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” [1 JOHN 1:9]. The issue has nothing to do with Christ’s promise to forgive as I confess my sin, the knowledge that I’ve failed Him causes me to long for perfection that is coming at my transition.
I am not excused from the sinful acts which I perform nor for the sinful thoughts I harbour. Nevertheless, as one in whom God’s Spirit resides, I am not permitted to enjoy such wickedness. One colleague used to say, “A sheep may fall into a mud puddle; but a sheep will never lie down in the mud.” That folksy statement in true; God is always at work in your life because you are His child. He will never abandon you to the torment of your own fallen nature. By the Spirit of Christ living in you as a twice-born saint of God, the Lord is always urging you toward perfection, and that perfection shall come in His own time according to His Word. We Christians are promised, “When what is complete comes, then what is incomplete will be done away with” [1 CORINTHIANS 13:10 ISV]. This body is not the final version that God has planned for me; there is coming something far better, that which is complete. Infinity and beyond await me because I belong to Christ.
Near the middle of his first letter included in the canon of Scripture, the Apostle John has written concerning who we are and what is coming. In [1 JOHN 2:28-3:3], we read, “Little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” Imagine, the final version of we who believe in Christ the Lord, is to be like Him. What is coming is unlike what we are now.
Do you remember these words which were given from the pen of the Apostle to the Gentiles in his letter to the Christians in Rome? The passage of which I want to remind us is found in ROMANS 7:15-25. “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
“So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”
That I can now be counted as a child of God despite my brokenness is powerful evidence of the great love our God has for each of us. That all who belong to Him as those who are twice-born should share in this glorious designation is beyond comprehension; nevertheless, that is the situation for us as followers of the Risen Son of God. It is a glorious expression of what is written when another writer looks to Christ and exclaims, “It was fitting that He, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering” [HEBREWS 2:10]. Think of that! Through His sacrifice and resurrection from the dead, Christ has brought and is yet bringing many sons to glory. And that surely includes each one who having believed Him has been born from above. Does this include you?
I can never adequately describe all that is coming for the follower of Christ. Nevertheless, I know that our God has prepared something far better for each of us who are born from above and into His great family. Knowing Christ, knowing the promises He has given, knowing something of what He has planned, I’m able to face the unknown. I know that He shall soon snatch us away to infinity and beyond. I have no right to attempt to lay claim to God’s mercy, nevertheless, He has extended grace and mercy despite my fallen condition. And He has extended that same mercy and grace to each individual who will receive it. May it be that some will receive the love of God in Christ, believing His Word and receiving Him as Lord of life.
Jesus, the Son of God, gave His life as a sacrifice in the place of fallen mankind. Since He is very God in human flesh, He offered up once for all an infinite sacrifice that is sufficient for everyone. He verified Who He is and what He has done by rising from the dead and ascending into Heaven itself where He now appears in the presence of the Father. He calls each person to look to Him for freedom from condemnation and acceptance into the Family of God. Receive this offer today. Amen.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2] Dottie Rambo, “The Holy Hills Of Heaven Call Me,’ https://www.songlyrics.com/dottie-rambo/the-holy-hills-of-heaven-call-me-lyrics/#:~:text=The%20holy%20hills%20of%20Heaven%20call%20me.%20To,I%27ll%20take%20my%20flight%20like%20a%20mighty%20eagle., accessed 6 January 2022
[3] Henry Francis Lyte, “Abide with Me,” 1847
[4] William Hatcher, John Jasper: The Unmatched Negro Philosopher and Preacher (Fleming H. Revell Company, New York, Chicago, Toronto, 1908) 85-86
