Renewed (part 3 of 4)

Paul looks forward to a heavenly house, which, in his estimation (as that estimation is based upon his worldview that is now informed by the Resurrection), is a body that is suited for the kingdom of heaven that ultimately is the covenant God’s restored creation.  To that end he writes “after we have put on our heavenly house, we will not be found naked” (2 Corinthians 5:3).  Paul believes that he and other believers will not be without a body (no disembodied post-mortem experience in a faraway place as the final and ultimate hope and destination of those that believe on the Christ), but will rather have the experience of a renewed physicality, as did Christ upon His Resurrection, here in this re-constituted world where Jesus rules as Lord and where the Creator God dwells with His people.

Continuing with this theme, Paul goes on to write “For we groan while we are on this tent, since we are weighed down, because we do not want to be unclothed, but clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life” (5:4).  Once again, there is an ability to correlate the groaning of the believer with the groaning of creation (never forget the exodus undertones when Paul speaks of groaning), as well as the similar groaning that is so carefully detailed in the eighth chapter of Romans.  The believer groans in his tent--- in the perishable body that will run down and decay.  He groans because he looks forward to a body that will never run down and never decay and never die, because the power of sin and death was defeated at the cross and triumphed over in Jesus’ Resurrection.  He groans because of the anticipation of being fully clothed, of being fully human, of properly bearing the image of God as all were designed to do before the great rebellion in which man first realized that he was unclothed. 

Though man was first naked before God before the fall, he was truly clothed; but just as happened to Adam and Eve, there is eventually a realization of being unclothed, desirous of re-gaining, through God’s great victory in Christ, the good creation that existed before the fall.  Not only will that creation be re-gained, and not only will there be a re-gaining of true clothing, but that creation and clothing will be enhanced and made into something truly unknown and glorious, having been experienced by only one person in all of history, because of the awesome power of God that was put forth in the Resurrection.  The believer experiences that power through the preaching and living of the Gospel, by which it is at work in this world, though it is not yet experienced in the fullness of its power.  That day, however, will come.  In that day, what is mortal, what can and will die, will be, as Paul writes, completely “swallowed up by life.”       

     

As he continues his written contemplation of the renewal and restoration that is implied by the Gospel and the Resurrection, Paul writes, “Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose is God” (2 Corinthians 5:5a).  This purpose, by way of reiteration, is being clothed with a “heavenly dwelling,” a renewed body that is suited for an existence in the to-be-consummated kingdom of heaven on earth, not just attaining to heaven.  This purpose is to live beyond despair, and instead, living in the light of that “eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison” (4:17b). 

How has the Creator God prepared His people for this?  Paul says that those that live in allegiance to His kingdom through allegiance to the Christ are prepared because He “gave us the Spirit as a down payment” (5:5b).  That is, the activity of the Holy Spirit, apparently gifting faith and stirring belief in the Gospel and the renewed life to come, is the down payment, or guarantee, of that God accomplishing a final redemption through a thorough and complete rescue from the power of death (spiritually and physically).  In this state of belief, as one believes in the very thing that is the power of God unto salvation, one can trust and experience a foretaste of the power of the Resurrection to come.  

Renewed (part 2)

In the renewal, what the believer receives from the covenant God will be enduring, rather than temporary.  As Paul insists, it will be like a building or a house, as opposed to a tent (Temple imagery at play here?).  It is a house not built by human hands, in that it is not something that is or can be produced through the course of nature.  It requires the action of the Creator God.  It requires a great transformation.  It requires the application of God’s power in the same way that the body of the Lord Jesus Christ was transformed from a tent that could be dismantled, to a building that would endure.  His body was transformed into a form that would be eternal, and more than that, would be suited for the kingdom of heaven, which has been inaugurated here in this world, and which will ultimately be consummated here in this world when the Christ finally ushers in the completion of God’s kingdom. 

This is what the believer is to be expecting because of union with Christ.  The believer has a taste of it day by day when he or she experiences God’s power flows through them to deal with the effects of sin that is to be found all around them.  As the body of the Christ was transformed by the delivery of Resurrection power, so too are believers transformed (present and future) into the image that the Creator God would have them to bear day by day.  Indeed, those that live in an allegiance to Jesus will be transformed by that same Resurrection power, so as to be provided with a body, a building from God, that will be suited for His glorious and eternal new creation.      

As Paul moves on to the second verse of the chapter, he causes his hearers to encounter a powerful and interesting word that he uses to great effect elsewhere in his writings.  It is said, “For in this earthly house we groan, because we desire to put on our heavenly dwelling” (2 Corinthians 5:2).  Upon reading the word “groan,” one cannot help but be forced to contemplate the eighth chapter of Romans, where Paul writes, “For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers together until now.  Not only this, but we ourselves also, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:22-23). 

In both letters, the groaning is linked, while also calling to mind the groaning of Israel in Egypt and the response of their God to that groaning, which was to intervene to provide deliverance.  Just as the creation groans in anticipation of being “set free from the bondage of decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children” (Romans 8:21), so, as Paul says in speaking for the body of believers, we too groan with the same desire.  That desire, which comes as “the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groaning” (8:26b), is to move past the age in which physical bodies that wear away--- in this age of fallen man and a cursed earth in which “the creation was subjected to futility” (8:20a)---so as to put on a heavenly dwelling.  That heavenly dwelling is the physical body that will be suited to exist in God’s new creation.  That heavenly dwelling is that same body that Christ put on through Resurrection power, in which He walked this earth for a brief period in the God of Israel’s newly inaugurated new creation. 

Just as Jesus was raised up with that new body from out of the grave, so too shall those who have believed upon Christ and His Gospel (He is Lord of the entirety of the creation), be raised up with that new body when the final resurrection comes to pass and all things are restored.  Speaking to that entity over which Jesus is Lord and which also experiences the impact of the Resurrection, the creation itself does not groan after a disembodied spiritual existence as its final hope.  How could this be the case?  The creation groans for a renewal, and a time when all thorns and thistles will disappear and the lion will lay down with the lamb.  The creation does not have heaven as its final hope, and neither do those in union with Christ.  Since the believer groans in the same way as the creation (and vice versa), the believer then also groans for a renewal which extends beyond heaven, to the other side of heaven, as the ultimate hope.  

Renewed (part 1)

Therefore we do not despair, but even if our physical body is wearing away, our inner person is being renewed day by day. – 2 Corinthians 4:16  (NET)

Paul’s words point the believers towards his great and final hope.  The great hope of those that are in union with Christ, confessing and submitting to Him as Lord, is not heaven, but the final renewal of creation and a participation therein.  Here, Paul expresses it in terms of the day by day renewal of the inner person.  Here, one can imagine Paul drawing on Jeremiah’s Lamentations, where it can be read that “The Lord’s loyal kindness never ceases; His compassions never end.  They are fresh every morning; Your faithfulness is abundant!” (3:22-23) 

Yes, those in union with Christ share in His Resurrection life, renewed day by day, and sharing in eternal life here and now as the renewing, restoring kingdom of heaven (the Creator God’s realm of existence breaking into earth when and where deeds of love and sacrifice in the name of the Christ are performed) advances, even though the believer’s daily experience is that of a physical body that is wearing away and a creation that is often filled with chaos.  That wearing away, of course, will eventually result in a physical death.  However, this expectation of renewal and restoration, and the ongoing experience of it, is based upon the fact of the Resurrection of Christ and its implication for humanity and for God’s good creation. 

Because it is a hope and an expectation, Paul writes that “we are not looking at what can be seen, but at what cannot be seen” (4:18a).  There is faith here.  It is supposed that faith is a gift that is given by God’s Spirit, in the accompaniment of the preaching of the power of God for salvation, which is the Gospel (Jesus is Lord).  It cannot be seen, “For what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal” (4:18b).  Yes, the physical body is wearing away each and every day, but what the believer cannot see---and instead must trust because Christ was raised from the dead and because the believers is in union with Him and shares His life through belief in Him as Lord by the movement of the Holy Spirit---is that he has been made to share in His eternal life.  That gift of eternal life is unseen, though glimpses of it can be caught when God works through those that share in that union to be “a sweet aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved…a fragrance from life to life…speaking in Christ before God as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God” (2:15a, 16b, 17b).

Paul continues with this theme of the contrast being the physical body that wears away, and the inner, unseen person being renewed day by day through the power of the Spirit and the Gospel, carrying it forward into the fifth chapter.  There Paul writes, “For we know that if our earthly house, the tent we live in, is dismantled, we have a building from God, a house not built by human hands, that is eternal in the heavens” (5:1).  The tent in which the believer lives, that tent of human flesh, is being dismantled.  This seems to be another way of indicating that it will be worn away.  As was said, all will die. 

As an aside, an interesting corollary to this is that only some will truly ever live, doing so in union with the Christ.  In that thought of the inevitably of death however, there is no need to ultimately despair.  The believer does not lose heart.  Why  not?  Beecause “We have a building from God,” as Paul says, “a house not built by human hands.”  Is this the “many dwelling places in My Father’s house” (John 14:2a) that Jesus mentions in the Gospel of John?   Of course not.  There is no need to here shift one’s thoughts away from what it is that Paul is presenting.  He is speaking of the renewed body that will be inhabited by those that claim allegiance to Jesus, His reign, and His way being human and bringing about the kingdom of God. 

Movement (part 2 of 3)

Continuing our observation of the “movement” of Scripture, Abram is not long in the land before there is a famine.  In response, he moves south to Egypt (Genesis 12:10).  Later, he is expelled from Egypt due to deceptive acts perpetrated by he and his wife (12:20) but not before receiving “sheep and cattle, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys and camels” (12:16b).  Owing to that, and with these possessions, Abram left Egypt and “returned to the place where he had pitched his tent at the beginning… This was the place where he had first built the altar, and there Abram worshiped the Lord” (13:3b,4).  Once again, we see a foreshadowing of the great movement of the people of God, in an exit from Egypt, an altar, the worship of the Lord, and mention of a tent. 

Shortly thereafter, we hear God saying to Abram, “Look from the place where you stand to the north, south, east, and west. I will give all the land that you see to you and your descendants forever.  And I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone is able to count the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be counted” (13:14b-16).  Not only is Abram directed to look, but God adds to this by saying “Get up and walk throughout the land, for I will give it to you” (13:17).  Yet again, just as we have seen when Noah and his family make their departure from the ark, God demands movement.  There is a more than a superficial correlation between God’s command to Noah to fill the earth, and God’s command to Abram to get up and walk throughout the land.  In both cases, there is a promise from God connected to movement.  As a result, “Abram moved his tents and went… and he built an altar to the Lord…” (13:18)  Additionally, let us not discount the importance that can be attached to “looking.”  Moses, though he is not denied the opportunity to move with the people of God into the land, is given the opportunity to look upon the land, thus enabling us to make an appropriate connection between the two men that can be thought of as bearing God’s covenant. 

When the Lord comes to Abram in a vision and gives him a promise of an heir and descendants, and the reiteration of a promise of a land to possess.  These promises are accompanied by a reminder of his being taken out of Ur of the Chaldeans (15:7), a promise that those descendants will go into subjection to a foreign nation in a foreign country (15:13), and a promise that when they come out of that foreign land that they will do so with many possessions (15:14).  This, of course, is what was supposed to have sustained Israel during their time in Egypt, as well as the evidence (many possessions---plundering the Egyptians, and thus providing an even further revelation of the tremendous symmetry of Scripture---both Abram and Israel would go down into Egypt and leave Egypt with more than they possessed when going in) that would have been purposed to increase their trust in the covenant faithfulness of their God, that He would bring them into the land that had been promised to Abram.  We note with interest that when God speaks to Abram, he reminds Abram of his own exodus, just as when God speaks to His prophets or speaks to His people through His prophets, He is almost always very quick to remind them of their exodus.  For Abram, the exodus is linked to Ur, and for Israel it is linked to Egypt.  When God speaks, He is quite often reminding His chosen ones that He is the God of exodus---the God of rescue. 

We will find Abraham (now with name changed) journeying again, settling “between Kadesh and Shur” (20:1b).  It is said that “he lived as a temporary resident in Gerar” (20:1c), which can be taken to imply that Abraham pitched his tent in that place.  It is here that Abraham will have his dealings with Abimelech, in which he again engages in deceptive acts regarding the nature of the relationship between he and his wife.  This time however, Abraham is not expelled from the land, but is told “Look, my land is before you; live wherever you please” (20:15).  It appears to be the case that it is in this place that Abraham’s wife, Sarah, gives birth to Isaac, for we later learn that “Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for quite some time” (21:34). 

The next time we find Abraham moving, it is in connection with this son that was born to him according to God’s promise, when God says to Abraham to “Take your son---your only son, whom you love, Isaac---and go to the land of Moriah!  Offer him up there as a burnt sacrifice on one of the mountains which I will indicate to you” (22:2).  The faithful movement of Abraham in response to this commandment results in an offering on an altar (but not of Isaac), and yet another reiteration of the original covenant promise to Abraham (22:17-18).  Not surprisingly then, we immediately read that Abraham “set out” (22:19).  Though this setting out was simply a return to his home, the fact that there is a  “setting out” set before us following a revelation of God should not go unnoticed.          

Raising A Temple (part 2 of 2)

Why go through all of this analysis of Paul’s sermon in Acts?  We did so because we needed to be able to have some perspective on David, and the fact that David is not there held up as a model for emulation, as we examine his desire to build the Temple.  After expressing his desire to the prophet Nathan, David hears it said to him by that same prophet: “You should go and do whatever you have in mind, for the Lord is with you” (2 Samuel 7:3).  However, it so happens that “That night the Lord told Nathan, ‘Go, tell My servant David: “This is what the Lord says: Do you really intend to build a house for me to live in?  I have not lived in a house from the time I brought the Israelites up from Egypt to the present day.  Instead, I was traveling with them and living in a tent.  Wherever I moved among all the Israelites, I did not say to any of the leaders whom I appointed to care for My people Israel, ‘Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?’”’” (7:4-7) 

This now allows us to return to the issue of motivation, as it is incumbent upon us not to place men like David on a super-spiritual level, but to remember that they were people like us, with fears and insecurities, prone to mistakes, and subject to the corrupting forces that shape any and all interaction with this world.  What’s more is that it is perfectly okay and legitimate to do this, as in the end it gives us an even more amazing picture of a faithful God---which seems to be one of the points of the Bible. 

So what was the motivation to build a Temple?  Through Nathan, God asks David as much, when He says, “Do you really intend to build a house for Me to live in?”  It’s almost as if God was saying, “Is this for Me or for you?”  To answer that, we cannot separate David’s desire to build a Temple from the relief from enemies that the Lord had given to His people and their king, and it is unlikely that the God of Israel separated these things from each other.  What was it that was signified by the temple of a god?  Power.  Prestige.  Authority.  Domination.  This was what Israel now had in their land.  They claimed that their God had given them these things.  However, if other nations and other peoples were to begin to look to Israel and to Israel’s God, which is precisely what the Lord desired, where would they find Him?  In a temple?  No.  They would find Him (in a manner of speaking) in a lowly tent.  This, of course, was not troubling for God.  However, in contact with many nations, Israel knew that such was not the house of a powerful god.  So not only would this invite scorn upon Israel, but with the lack of a glorious display of their God by a beautifully adorned temple, Israel’s position in the land could come to be looked upon as something of a fluke.  This would invite attack.  The tabernacle alone as the place of God’s dwelling could be understood as a source of embarrassment for Israel, as well as an undermining of their security. 

Apart from all of this, one had to consider the items that were to be found in the tabernacle.  There were a number of precious articles that were composed of gold and bronze, and yet, here they were housed in a simple tent.  This position, for a number of reasons, could be understood as untenable, and we can sympathize with David thinking that it needed to be addressed.  Therefore, to rectify the shortcomings of the house of their God, David proposed the construction of a Temple that would more adequately convey, at least in His mind, the power of Israel’s God.  It would seem that the prophet Nathan even succumbed to this idea for a brief period of time before God intervened to dissuade him, and David through him, of what he had encouraged David to do. 

As an aside, we here note that in the ancient world, the temple of a god was understood to be the resting place of that god.  The God of Israel, the Creator of all things, did not need to dwell in an elaborate temple, for the whole of creation was His Temple; and that was the Temple in which He rested on the seventh day, according to the record of Genesis.  Ultimately, God would take up His dwelling in human flesh, and call that His Temple. 

When Solomon would take up the task of building the Temple, it was not strictly because of a stated desire to do so.  He was simply following the instructions given to him by his father, as we find in the first book of the Chronicles (22:7-10).  There, we find David informing Solomon about his desire to build a temple, God’s denial of that desire, the reasons provided for that denial (David was a man of blood and war), and God’s insistence that it would be Solomon himself that would build the Temple to honor God (though this is never explicitly communicated in 2 Samuel---only that David’s son would build a “house” for the name of the Lord).  It is still of great interest to note that, even there in the Chronicles, it is not God that is demanding a temple to be built, but still only David. 

The Scriptural record is clear, in that it is David’s wish to build the Temple in Jerusalem, and this is probably due in large part to David’s desire to consolidate power and increase Israel’s relative security in its land, with an elaborate temple also serving as a witness of the divine sanction of his rule before the people.  So though this was not necessarily God’s doing, God made sure that when His Temple was built---even though David provided much of the supply, the building process would be carried out by a man of peace, wisdom, understanding, and justice (though this last term may be a pit problematic for Solomon in some cases).  These are epithets that are not given to David.  We cannot help but elaborate on this point, and say that the Temple of God that would come to be called the Church of Christ is built by the one known as the Prince of Peace.  It is in such a Temple that God will dwell.