{"id":56585,"date":"2019-10-11T10:00:10","date_gmt":"2019-10-11T09:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/\/uk\/?p=56585"},"modified":"2019-10-09T17:59:02","modified_gmt":"2019-10-09T16:59:02","slug":"the-christians-view-of-life-death-and-eternity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.banneroftruth.org\/uk\/resources\/articles\/2019\/the-christians-view-of-life-death-and-eternity\/","title":{"rendered":"The Christian’s View of Life, Death, and Eternity"},"content":{"rendered":"

The second Epistle to the Corinthians is the most personal of all Paul\u2019s epistles. In it he tells us more of his sufferings and his anxieties than in any other. In Chapter 1 he mentions his deliverance from \u2018so great a death\u2019, which is taken by Dr B. B. Warfield<\/a> to refer to his being cast to the wild beasts at Ephesus (1 Corinthians 15:32). In Chapter 2 he reveals \u2018his much affliction and anguish of heart\u2019 over the state of the church at Corinth. In Chapter 4 he says: \u2018we are pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not unto despair; pursued, yet not forsaken; smitten down, yet not destroyed\u2019 (vv. 8-9). In spite of all his trials he is far from being overcome. Indeed at the close of Chapter 4 he says his trials are only as a feather-weight: \u2018our light affliction which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory.\u2019 He can describe them thus because he looks at them \u2018sub specie aeternitatis\u2019 — in the light of eternity.<\/p>\n

A Building of God<\/h3>\n

In the first ten verses of 2 Corinthians 5 the apostle sets before us the Christian\u2019s attitude to death and the resurrection. He begins with the note of certainty that marks Holy Scripture — a note that is often missing in contemporary theology. He says \u2018we know.<\/em>\u2019 And this assurance is with regard to the unseen and eternal world. His body, he says, is as a frail collapsible tent, but when this is taken down, he will have a building, not of human construction but of God\u2019s making, awaiting him. He does not at this point say when or how this will happen, but he uses the present tense \u2018we have\u2019 because it is an assured possession. Or, as Dr Vos put it, by faith he can project himself into the future and claim \u2018this house\u2019 as his own. He surveys the taking down of the frail tent (of his body) with calm equanimity for he is to have a better structure of God\u2019s handiwork. This would be part of the \u2018far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory\u2019 which lay ahead.<\/p>\n

This confidence marked Robert Cunningham who ministered faithfully at Holywood, Co. Down, N. Ireland, for some twenty years before being thrust out and deposed in 1636. When dying at Irvine in Scotland in 1637 he said: \u2018I see Christ standing over death\u2019s head, saying, \u201cDeal warily with my servant; loose thou this pin, then that pin, for his tabernacle must be set up again\u201d.\u2019<\/p>\n

The Believer’s Groanings<\/h3>\n

While the believer dwells in the frail tent, he groans (verses 2 and 4). The groanings arise in part from the imperfections and lack of attainment in our present bodily condition and because of the evils of our time. But they also arise from his earnest desire and longing to put on his house which is from heaven. The apostle mentions this groaning also in Romans 8: \u2018we who have the first-fruits of the Spirit groan within ourselves, awaiting the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body\u2019 (v. 23). Clearly he is here referring, not to the glory of which the believer shall be partaker at death, but to the resurrection, when he will be clothed upon and what is mortal will be swallowed up of life (2 Cor. 5:4).<\/p>\n

The Maximum of Blessedness<\/h3>\n

Let me repeat, the apostle is not thinking of the glory of the disembodied spirits of the just. There is something still more to be desired than what he refers to as the state of \u2018nakedness\u2019. It is true that the spirits of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness and behold the face of God in the highest heaven in light and glory, and this will be \u2018great gain\u2019 and \u2018very far better\u2019 (Phil. 1:21-23), but it is not the maximum of blessedness. This <\/em>will be their portion only at the coming of the Lord when the dead in Christ will rise in their glorious, incorruptible bodies and the living saints will be \u2018clothed upon\u2019 with their house which is from heaven.<\/p>\n

It is true indeed that the lot of the disembodied spirits of the just and the lot of the resurrected saints will have something in common, namely, the bliss of being \u2018with Christ.\u2019 And the bliss of being \u2018with him\u2019 is greatly to be desired even at the expense of the unnatural mutilation which takes place at death. But when Christ comes in his glory the bodies of the saints will share in the bliss of their spirits and the whole body of Christ will be complete and will enjoy the maximum of bliss in the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.<\/p>\n

There are in this passage (2 Cor. 5:1-10) four present tenses which bring out strikingly the attitude which should mark believers in this present time:<\/p>\n

(i) Walking by faith: <\/em>\u2018We walk by faith\u2019 (verse 7). Step by step we must journey on, and follow in the steps of the heroes in Hebrews 11 who endured and conquered by faith. <\/em>The apostle himself said: \u2018The life which I now live in the flesh, I live in the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me\u2019 (Gal. 2:20). On this Bishop Lightfoot comments: This is \u2018the atmosphere as it were which he breathes in this his new spiritual life.\u2019 It should be the pervading atmosphere of our lives. So we too shall endure and overcome.<\/p>\n

(ii) Looking earnestly forward:\u00a0<\/em>John Trapp said: \u2018This is pinned as a badge to the sleeve of every true believer — that he looks for and longs for Christ\u2019s coming to judgement.\u2019 The New Testament is an intensely forward-looking book, and believers are taught to look forward with earnest desire (verse 2). This keen desire burns strongly, for it is wrought in us by God; it is produced by the Spirit in our hearts and is our guarantee as it were of the full inheritance. Samuel Rutherford<\/a> spoke of himself as \u2018a man often borne down and hungry and waiting for the marriage supper of the Lamb.\u2019 May this \u2018earnest desire\u2019 (verse 2) mark our lives!<\/p>\n

(iii) Showing courage:\u00a0<\/em>\u2018We are always confident\u2019 (verses 6 and 8). \u2018Always of good courage\u2019 is a better rendering. Why of good courage? Because, says Paul, \u2018we wish rather to be absent from the body and at home with the Lord.\u2019 We are not like that great English lady who is reputed to have said on her death-bed, \u2018All my possessions for a moment of time.\u2019 No, we p<\/em>refer <\/em>to be at home with Christ. When Charles Hodge<\/a> was dying, his widowed daughter was weeping by his bed-side. He urged: \u2018Why should you grieve, daughter? To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord; to be present with the Lord is to see the Lord; to see the Lord is to be like him.\u2019 It was this that made the martyrs so brave. But they also looked away beyond death to a yet more glorious day. When Paul was facing martyrdom he said: \u2018Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day.<\/em>\u2019 He was looking for the day of days, the crowning day.<\/p>\n

(iv) Cherishing ambition:\u00a0<\/em>Our Authorised Version reads \u2018we labour that we may be accepted of him\u2019, but a better rendering is \u2018we make it our aim [or, our ambition] to be well-pleasing to him.\u2019 And he adds: \u2018for <\/em>we must all appear before the judgement-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things he has done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.\u2019 This is a noble ambition — to be well-pleasing to the Lord. God forbid that we should \u2018suffer loss\u2019 on that day! God forbid that our work should be of combustible material such as wood, hay, straw, but rather may it be of gold, silver and precious stones which will abide the testing fires!<\/p>\n

A few weeks after Dr Andrew Bonar<\/a> celebrated his ministerial jubilee he said: \u2018I have been thinking tonight that perhaps my next great undertaking may be this — appearing at the judgement-seat of Christ.\u2019 May we keep that \u2018great undertaking\u2019 in view!<\/p>\n

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This article was first published in the June 1975 edition of the\u00a0Banner of Truth<\/em> magazine.<\/p>\n

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Of Further Interest<\/h3>\n

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