The Truth comes to Corinth Part 2 Volume 16

Paul Details the Assurance of our Resurrection with Christ Part 2

2 Corinthians 5:5-8 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. KJV

Paul concludes this portion of his letter detailing the assurance of a new resurrected glorified body in heaven with our Lord Jesus Christ by reminding us that it is God the Father who has katergazomai us for this eternal glory meaning to perform or to work out; to accomplish and achieve; to fashion and finish; to do and to bring about and finally to cause or render us fit for spending eternity in His Presence. Let us never forget how Moses (in his earthly body) being so eager and curious wanted to see God who spoke to him from the burning bush and other places and this was the discourse between God and Moses, “The LORD said to Moses, ‘I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.’ Then Moses said, ‘I pray You, show me Your glory!’ And He said, ‘I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.’ But He said, ‘You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!’ (Exodus 33:17-20).

We can today be assured of our glorified state or condition to come by the fact and reality of the pledge, the solemn promise, and the guarantee of the Holy Spirit in our hearts who moves us and incites us to cry out to God as our Father now and no longer as some far away or far off God way out there somewhere, as Paul wrote with these words to the Roman believers, “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us” (Romans 8:15-18). Our assurance is given to us by our Heavenly Father Himself the “Father of Mercies” as Paul referred to Him at the very beginning of this second epistle or letter to these Corinthian believers and to us (2 Corinthians 1:3). This gives us confidence to face what we know will come to us at any moment (death of our earthly body) at all times always because we know that as long as we are alive in this temporary body we are absent from our Lord, Master, and Savior Jesus Christ.

This is one of the greatest things done for us by God the Father through God the Son (our Lord Jesus Christ) and carried out “in us” by God the Holy Spirit removing our fear of death (Hebrews 2:15) and replacing it with the confident expectation of seeing the Face of Jesus Christ. The moment of our new birth we are made aware by the Spirit of God that this earth is not where we long to be but we see heaven as our real home and we long to make our way there, so now we are empowered to live by faith or trusting in the promises of God through Christ and the Word of God that no matter how hard or perplexed, or tempted with sin, or burdened, or weary in spiritual warfare we are prompted in our spirit to do what Paul said in the last few verses of the previous chapter 4, “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 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” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

A great example of such walking or living by faith was what Moses sacrificed because he believed and trusted God as documented for us by these words written by the writer of Hebrews, “By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen” (Hebrews 11:24-27). With this faith to see the unseen as if were seen, we then as Paul declares are willing or eudokeo meaning it seems good to us, or it is our good pleasure to choose or determine or decide to be ready and  to prefer and be well pleased to be absent from our body so that we can be with our Lord Jesus Christ as Paul declared himself to be in a fix between staying alive on the earth or dying and going to be with Christ he wrote this to the Philippians, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better” (Philippians 1:21-23).

“The Apostle employs here a very emphatic compound term for ‘hath wrought.’ It conveys not only the idea of operation, but the idea of continuous and somewhat toilsome and effortful work, as if against the resistance of something that did not yield itself naturally to the impulse that He would bestow. Like some sculptor with a hard bit of marble, or some metallurgist who has to work the rough ore till it becomes tractable, so the loving, patient, Divine Artificer is here represented as labouring long and earnestly with a somewhat obstinate material which can and does resist His loving touch, and yet going on with imperturbable and patient hope, by manifold touches, here a little and there a little, all through life preparing a man for His purpose. The great Artificer toils at His task, ‘rising early’ and working long, and not discouraged when He comes upon a black vein in the white marble, nor when the hard stone turns the edge of His chisels. Now I would have you notice that there lies in this conception a very important thought, viz. God cannot make you fit for heaven all at a jump, or by a simple act of will. That is not His way of working. He can make a world so, He cannot make a saint so. He can speak and it is done when it is only a universe that has to be brought into being; or He can say, ‘Let there be light,’ and light springs at His word. But He cannot say, and He does not say, Let there be holiness, and it comes. Not so can God make man meet for the ‘inheritance of the saints in light.’ And it takes Him all His energies, for all a lifetime, to prepare His child for what He wants to make of him.” Alexander MacLaren

“The desire to go and be with Christ does not have anything to do with one’s age or even their physical health or the lack there of, but it is that longing in our inner man or woman to be rid of this “body of death” physical and spiritual as Paul detailed it in Romans 7:24 and be made completely just like Christ perfect in every way.” Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…