COMPELLED TO POSITIVE THINKING
2 Corinthians 5:1-7 (NIV 1984) 1 Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven…. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling… so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now it is God who… has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come…. 7 We live by faith, not by sight.
Life as we know it is about to get a whole lot better, and the bodies we have now are about to get an enormous upgrade from God. A wise guy once said, “The death rate among humans still holds steady at 100%,” and we know this to be true, though there are at least two exceptions; some say the statement that Enoch “was no more” means he did not die (Gen 5:23); the author of Hebrews concurs (Heb 11:5). There is also Elijah (2 Ki 2:11), swooped up by a heavenly chariot and whirlwind; but, of the billions to have walked the planet, only two avoiding death still leaves us at 99.999999...%. Even Jesus died, oh, but there’s the caveat: the stone was rolled away. When the trumpets sound and our very alive Jewish Messiah parts the clouds on His white horse (Rev 19:11-16), cemeteries are going to be hot spots, the sound of tombstones cracking, dirt and dust filling the air at the violent shaking and disastrous disturbance of tended lawn and fake flowers; bodies will suddenly burst out of old coffins, parting six feet of dirt, animated with new life and power. It happened before (Matt 27:51-53), but only to a few. There will be more, many more, all Jesus followers with obituaries. Those alive at the time miss the dying thing altogether, caught up in the clouds, transformed in a moment, new bodies of life and power replacing the old (1 Cor 15:51-54; 1 Thess 4:13-17). The 99.999999...% death rate drops a few points, oh what glory! Thus begins the beginning of the world as we have never known it. The procession of the dead fully alive and the alive fully transformed finishes as the majestic man who leads them splits the Mount of Olives and enters the holy city, and in Jerusalem emerges a new world leader. Heaven has invaded earth and a Jewish man rules the planet in righteousness and justice, at least for a thousand years, and then we’ll see (Rev 20:1-6). Oh, what hope!
But for now, we groan. Paul says our bodies are like earthly tents, referring to the OT tabernacle which was temporary, as compared to the actual temple which was a more permanent structure. The furnishings were the same, and the presence of God was the same. One was made with tent poles, and fabric, and was movable, while the other was made with stones and set permanently on the temple mount in Jerusalem. The bodies we have now are temporary tents, destined to become permanent dwellings. We will not be floating around as an eternal spiritual mist. For now, in this tent we call a body, we have trouble. Jesus even promises as much (Jn 16:33), and we groan, but we do not groan without hope. We have the Holy Spirit who dwells in our mortal tent as a down payment, promising more to come. Paul even says the indwelling Spirit is a first fruit, meaning there is more to come, and we “groan” because we look to our adoption as sons and the redemption of our bodies at the resurrection (Rom 8:23; 2 Cor 1:22; Eph 1:13-15). In the meantime, while in this earthly tent, we are away from the Lord, though not fully away from Him, we do have His Spirit; He is unseen but is believed and experienced. This requires us to live by faith, not sight; but, there will be a day our faith becomes sight (1 Cor 13:12; 1 Jn 3:2). Oh, what hope we have as followers of Christ. Life as we know it is about to get a whole lot better, and the bodies we have are about to get a significant upgrade. I think this is a compelling reason to think a bit more positively.
