2 Corinthians 5:1 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… I. WE HAVE THE VIEWS WHICH CHRISTIANITY TEACHES US TO TAKE OF LIFE. 1. The first view which it gives us, suggested by the text, is that life is a pilgrimage. The text speaks of "tabernacles," tents; we are dwelling in tents. 2. A second view of life, in the text, is, that it is uncertain. 3. The third view which the apostle takes of life is that, even as to believers, it is a life of trouble and affliction. "We in this tabernacle do groan." 4. But there is a fourth view of life of which the apostle takes, at least in the verses which immediately succeed the text. He teaches us that life is to be subordinated to one great end, so to please God as to have the testimony that we are accepted of Him. The highest heaven of a good man is to be accepted of God. Such are the views which Christianity teaches us to take of life. II. WE HAVE THE VIEWS WHICH CHRISTIANITY TEACHES US TO FORM OF DEATH. Meditate on that word, "unclothed!" Death, then, is not the termination of our being. "Unclothed!" Then there is no cessation of consciousness. "Unclothed!" Then, of course, everything in the body which obstructs the operation of the mind must necessarily be removed. "Unclothed!" Then there is a change of place as well as condition. The connection of our spirits with the body renders us inhabitants of the earth. "Unclothed!" Then must we become conscious, by virtue of this unclothing, of the presence of those spirits who have undergone the same process before us, and have been unclothed like ourselves. We are not now at all conscious of the presence of disembodied spirits; they are, for the while, lost to us. "Unclothed!" but the import of this word is not yet exhausted; then must we become conscious at once, in a manner we cannot be on earth, of the presence of God. The body hides God from us, and prevents the immediate recognition of God by the spirit. III. WE HAVE HERE THE VIEWS WHICH CHRISTIANITY TEACHES US TO FORM OF THE FUTURE PERMANENT STATE OF BELIEVERS. (J. Walker, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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