2 Corinthians 5:1-8
Assurance of the Resurrection
5 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven,
3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked.
4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.
5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
6 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.
7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.
8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
Context
- Why does Paul liken our ‘outward man’, ‘earthen vessel’ to a ‘tent’? (Acts 18:3, 2 Corinthians 5:15, 2 Peter 1:13, 14)
Reflection
- How is our new body & new home described? (John 14:1-6, 1 Corinthians 15:35-49, Philippians 3:20, 1 Peter 1:4)
- What guarantee do believers have? (Romans 8:17-25, Ephesians 1:13, 14, 4:30, Philippians 1:6)
- What does it mean to ‘walk by faith, not by sight’? (Proverbs 3:5, Romans 1:17, 5:1, 10:17, Galatians 2:20, Hebrews 11:1, 6)
- Why is absence from the body to be present with the Lord? (Psalm 84:1, 1 Corinthians 13:12, 15:51-54, titus 2:13, 1 John 3:2)
Testimony Time
- How much are you longing to see Jesus? (Psalm 116:15, 1 Corinthians 2:9, Philippians 1:21-23, 3:20, 21, 2 Timothy 4:8)