From the Pulpit: A mountaintop experience!
Many are not aware that the Apostle Paul made tents for a living. It’s how he paid his bills. For most of my life I’ve always owned at least one tent.
One memorable trip was when I was camping near Mt. Rainier in the Pacific Northwest, when a heavy rainstorm started pelting us. There were three of us and we each had a tent. We packed up all but one tent and the three of us climbed in. We tried to sit it out, but after six hours, we realized that it wasn’t going to stop. We were 10 miles from our cars. So, we packed up and hiked out – a true ‘north-wet’ experience!
In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul uses the analogy of a TENT as an illustration to talk about our physical bodies. Some people think that when we die, we will just be spirits – without bodies. Paul writes:
2 Corinthians 5:1-3(NLT) For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself… We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. 3 For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies.
As we age, we’ll begin to experience our earthly bodies breaking down. As Christians, we can get excited about the “heavenly, glorified bodies” we’ll be given. No more aches and pains, no more getting old!
Paul’s point is is that someday we will have brand new heavenly bodies. Now that’s exciting!
2 Corinthians 5:4(NLT) While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life.
We will suddenly be enjoying life in the fullest sense! The best is yet to be!
2 Corinthians 5:5,7-8(NLT) God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit. 7 For we live by believing and not by seeing. 8 Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.
