A GODLY RESPONSE TO SICKNESS AND DEATH II
2Co 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, eternal in the heavens.
2Co 5:2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:
2Co 5:3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.
2Co 5:4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
2Co 5:5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
2Co 5:6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:
2Co 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
2Co 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
2Co 5:9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.
2Co 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
In an earlier study we looked at how to use the word of God as “comfort” in all our tribulation and suffering by taking the verses in God’s word and letting them ‘go to work’ “for us” in our trying times. In this study we will see the motivating doctrine in God’s word so that we can not only be “more than conquerors” in our sufferings, but we will see how we can “glory,” “rejoice,” and “abound” in all of our suffering and tribulation. And much more than that, we will take a look at verses like the above showing how we ought to be “confident” if we ourselves also face our eventual physical death. The entire epistle of second Corinthians is dedicated to the issue of suffering, but here in chapter 5 verses 1-10 deals with ones who are suffering for Christ’s sake ‘unto death,’ and whether we are facing suffering and persecution unto death, or whether we are facing death because of “the bondage of corruption,” God our Father gives us the ‘comforting’ doctrine by making known all that we have “in Christ.” And so, we are taught that our “earthly house” is going to eventually ‘dissolve,’ (and in most cases we “groan” in pain, while in other cases there is little or no pain at all while awaiting our death), but we have a “building of God” which is “eternal in the heavens” that we are promised from God our Father. Therefore as “sons” we are given the “effectual” doctrine for our souls in our time of need whereby we will be equipped with the necessary doctrine that we will need to do as the Thessalonians did in their troublous times, whereby we ourselves will also be “confident” knowing all that God has provided for us in the heavenly places.
1Th 2:14 For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews:
1Th 2:15 Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:
2Th 1:3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;
2Th 1:4 So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:
2Th 1:5 Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:
2Th 1:6 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;
And as the Thessalonians faced persecution and death for preaching the gospel in truth; they also operated upon the motivating doctrine given to them by the Father regardless what evil they faced. The Thessalonians were confident “and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord,” they understood that death did not have “victory” over their lives, and they knew that this “temporal” body is not what we should place a high value upon in this life, and by ‘walking by faith’ they came to understand how to look for the things that are “not seen.”
1Co 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1Co 15:54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
1Co 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
1Co 15:56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
1Co 15:57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore when we come to understand that not only is death a natural thing for all mankind, but that it is also part of the “victory” that is accomplished by our physical death when we trust in what the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross, then we begin to gain the proper understanding so that we to can also be “confident”. Moreover it is in that “victory” that we ‘play our part’ in being the instruments by which “death” and Satan’s plan of evil are put on display and defeated.
Act 20:22 And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there:
Act 20:23 Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.
Act 20:24 But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
Act 20:25 And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more.
Act 21:11 And when he was come unto us, he took Paul’s girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.
Act 21:12 And when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem.
Act 21:13 Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.
Act 21:14 And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done.
Paul possessed the proper attitude concerning his physical death, whereas he did not count his life ‘dear unto himself,’ nor was he ‘moved’ by what he faced knowing that because he was ‘fighting the good fight,’ it was all for “Christ sake” and for the job that he had to the ministry. Moreover Paul knew that those disciples would not ‘see his face anymore,’ but Paul was ready to show the “power” and “strength” of the Lord by his persecution and his eventual death, because Paul looked at the ‘bigger picture’ when it came to what his suffering and death would mean, and what “victory” it would have over Satan’s plan of evil, and “death” itself.
Php 1:20 According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.
Php 1:21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Php 1:22 But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not.
Php 1:23 For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:
Php 1:24 Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.
Php 1:25 And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith;
Paul’s “confidence” came from his understanding of ‘the bigger picture,’ and his role in it. And even though we today do not face the physical persecution and death that the saints endured in Paul’s day, our physical death “in Christ” plays a big role in the “victory,” and our being “the fullness of him that filleth all in all.” And not only do we show the “power” of what Jesus Christ’s death accomplished at the cross, but we also ‘do our part’ in filling the “principalities, powers, mights, thrones, and dominion” positions in heavenly places, and we ‘fulfill’ the heavenly purpose that God has for the heavens through the body of Christ.
2Co 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
2Co 4:8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
2Co 4:9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
2Co 4:10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
2Co 4:11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
2Co 4:12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you.
2Co 4:13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;
2Co 4:14 Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
However it is this ‘excellency of Power’ that we should want to put on display, (because the justified in Christ upon our physical death puts it, and the victory over death on display whether we know it or not), because as a “son” God the Father would have us to possess the godly understanding that is associated along with our physical death. But it is quite common for the natural man to do everything in his power to avoid his eventual physical death, but we need to come to the proper godly understanding concerning our physical death, because it is doctrine that our Father would have us ‘not to be ignorant of,’ and when we are ignorant of this understanding, we and our love ones will suffer more within the “inward man,” because he is looking at the “things which are seen.”
2Co 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
2Co 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Rod Jones