DISCOURSE: 2017
THE CHRISTIAN’S ASSURED PROSPECT OF GLORY
2 Corinthians 5:1-5. 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. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven; if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. 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. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
IT has justly been said of Christians, that if in this life only they had hope, they would be of all men in the most pitiable condition; seeing that they renounce all the pleasures of sin, and are exposed to all manner of trials for their Lord’s sake. And certainly, if we consider the variety and greatness of St. Paul’s sufferings, this may be applied to him with more propriety than to any other of the children of men. But, notwithstanding he was “delivered daily unto death for Jesus’ sake, he was still cheerful and still happy: and, notwithstanding “his outward man decayed, his inward man was renewed day by day.” Do we seek the cause of this? he had his eye fixed on eternal things, and derived from thence a fund of consolation sufficient to bear him up above all his afflictions. Death had no terrors for him; because “he knew that, when his earthly tabernacle should be dissolved, he had a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
But, as this experience was not confined to him, we shall take occasion from the words which we have read to shew,
I. The Christian’s experience in the prospect of the eternal world—
He knows that there is a glorious mansion prepared for him—
[Here he dwells in a poor frail “tabernacle,” like the patriarchs of old [Note: Hebrews 11:9.], exposed to vicissitudes of every kind, and uncertain how soon he may be called to change his precarious abode. But he has a better tabernacle prepared for him, a house more glorious in its structure, and more lasting in its duration, even “a building of God, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” Nor is his speedy enjoyment of this house a matter of conjecture with him, nor even of hope; it is a certainty, of which he is assured: he “knows” that such a tabernacle is prepared, prepared for him too; and that, “as soon as his earthly tabernacle shall be dissolved,” he shall instantly be translated to it. It is the inheritance to which he has been born; and which is therefore “reserved for him,” as he also is for it; the very power which made it for him being pledged to put him into the possession of it [Note: 1 Peter 1:3-5.]. To it the patriarchs looked forward as the certain termination of their earthly pilgrimage [Note: Hebrews 11:10.]: and with still greater certainty does the Christian look forward to it, as being at this instant occupied by his forerunner, the Lord Jesus Christ, “who is gone before to prepare it for him, and is coming speedily to remove him to it [Note: John 14:2-3.].” Like Job, he can say, “I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth, and mine eyes shall behold him [Note: Job 19:25-27.];” and with the same blessed assurance also he can add, “I shall be with him, and be like him,” for ever and ever [Note: 1 John 3:2.]
In the prospect of this he longs for the period of his dissolution—
[In his present tabernacle he is laden with grievous corruptions, and beset with manifold temptations, and exposed to injuries on every side: and, from “his fightings without, and fears within,” his time is often spent in sighs and groans. Many, many times does he exclaim with St. Paul, “O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me?” Notwithstanding “he has within himself the first-fruits of the Spirit, he groans within himself, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body [Note: Romans 8:23.].” Twice is this mentioned in our text, to certify us the more fully, that groans are the common language of the heaven-born soul; and that it is in that language more especially that “the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us [Note: Romans 8:26.].”
“To be delivered from the bondage of corruption,” is certainly one great object which the Christian panteth after: but he also longs, and “earnestly desires,” to be brought “into the glorious liberty of the children of God [Note: Romans 8:21.].” He knows that “when unclothed, as it respects his present tabernacle, he shall not be found naked” and destitute, seeing that a better habitation is ready for him; and it is his desire after this better habitation, that chiefly actuates him in his longings for the dissolution of his earthly tabernacle. It is “not merely to be unclothed,” and to get rid of his present troubles, but “to be clothed upon with his house from heaven,” and have “mortality swallowed up of life.” It is no disparagement to a godly soul to say, “O that I had wings like a dove [Note: Psalms 55:6.]! for then would I flee away and be at rest:” but it is a higher attainment to say, “I long to be dissolved, that I may be with Christ [Note: Philippians 1:21-23.].”
We are ready to imagine that there is a confusion of metaphor in this place, and that “to be clothed upon with a house,” is an absurd expression: but, if we advert to the circumstance, that that house is “a tabernacle,” and that a tabernacle is constructed with an awning or covering cast over it, the propriety, and indeed the beauty, of the expression will appear at once. And when it is considered that even the tabernacle of the Most High was not so far superior to the accommodation of the meanest Israelite, as the mansions prepared for us are above the tabernacle in which we now live, we shall not wonder, that the soul of the believer sighs and groans for his blest abode; his abode, the residence of angels, the habitation of his God. It was this consideration that made Paul so satisfied in the near prospect of martyrdom: “I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand: but there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me [Note: 2 Timothy 4:7-8.].” It was the same, that rendered Peter also equally composed in the near approach of crucifixion. He designates even that cruel death by the gentle term of “putting off this tabernacle;” to which he was reconciled by the thought that an infinitely better mansion awaited him at his departure hence [Note: 2 Peter 1:13-14.]. But is it for Apostles only to enjoy this sweet assurance? Are they alone authorized to look forward with delight to the eternal world? No: this is the privilege of every saint. Heaven is the believer’s home: whilst he is here, he is a sojourner, in a state of exile from his Lord: and when he goes hence, he ceases from his pilgrimage, and goes home to the bosom of his God [Note: ver. 6, 8. See the Greek.]. If we are “walking by faith and not by sight,” that is, if we are true believers, that is our present portion, and “our eternal great reward.”]
But, whilst we assert that this is the Christian’s experience, it will be proper to shew,
II.
How he attains to it—
It is wrought in him by his God—
[Man cannot work it in himself. Man may desire to get rid of his present trials, and in a fit of impatience may “choose strangling rather than life:” indeed it is but too common for those who are bowed down with a load of worldly troubles, to seek relief in suicide. But this is very different from the experience in our text, a principal ingredient in which is a desire after the glory and felicity of heaven. This no man can produce in his own soul. Man, of himself, has no conception of that blessedness, nor any taste for the enjoyment of it: much less has he such a view of it as will incline him to brave the most cruel death for the attainment of it. He who alone can work this in the soul of man, is God. He alone, who opened the eyes of Stephen to behold God, and Jesus Christ standing at the right hand of God, can give to any man a just apprehension of the heavenly glory, together with an assurance of his title to it, and his interest in it. He alone, who raised up the Lord Jesus from the dead, can so deliver us from the fear of death, that it shall appear to us a desirable acquisition. He alone, who has enabled us to say, “To me to live is Christ,” can enable us to add, “To me also it is gain to die.”
How God works this in the soul, it is not easy to state. We are but little acquainted with the workings of our own spirit, and still less with the operations of the Spirit of God. We know little of wind, but by its effects: as to the mode of its operation, we have but very indistinct notions about it: it is no wonder therefore that there should be many things relative to the operation of the Holy Spirit on our souls which we are not able clearly to define. But from the effects produced by him, we do assuredly collect his agency: and where we see an ardent desire after the heavenly glory, we do not hesitate to affirm, that the author of it is God; since none but He, who created the universe out of nothing, can create so blessed a disposition in the soul. This disposition is called “the earnest of the Spirit,” which God gives to his believing people. Now an earnest is, not merely a pledge of any thing, but a part of the thing itself, given as a pledge that the remainder shall be imparted in due time: and hence that which is called in our text “the earnest of the Spirit,” is in another place called “an earnest of our inheritance [Note: Ephesians 1:14.];” which being given to the soul by God, is to that soul a ground of the strongest assurance that the promised blessing shall in due time be communicated in all its fulness.]
It shall be wrought in all who heartily desire it—
[One of the most important lessons which the Gospel teaches us, is, that we should be ever “looking for that blessed hope, even the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ [Note: Titus 2:11-13.].” We should not only be looking for it, but “hasting unto it,” even “to the coming of the day of Christ [Note: 2 Peter 3:12.]:” and the character given to all Christians is, that they do thus “love his appearing [Note: 2 Timothy 4:8.].” But, if we have not a well-grounded hope of glory, how can we delight ourselves in the prospect of that day? It is our taste of the grapes of Eshcol that assures to us the full enjoyment of the promised land: and it is our partial entrance on our rest in this world, that assures to us the complete possession of “the rest that remaineth for us [Note: Hebrews 4:3; Hebrews 4:9.].” Let us therefore seek the first-fruits, and we need entertain no fears respecting the full harvest.]
From hence we may learn,
1.
How desirable it is to have the evidences of our conversion clear—
[Though the earnest of the Spirit is itself both a seal and evidence of our conversion, it must not be found alone; much less must it be supposed to exist, where any habitual or allowed sin attests the contrary. The witness of the Spirit is in perfect harmony with the written word: and though it may for wise and gracious reasons be withheld from a person who is walking uprightly before God; (for a man may “fear the Lord, and yet walk in darkness and have no light [Note: Isaiah 50:10.];”) yet it never is vouchsafed to any one who is not serving God in sincerity and truth: and the man who imagines that he has the earnest of the Spirit, and the witness of the Spirit, whilst yet he is not unfeignedly and unreservedly devoted unto God, deceiveth his own soul. Some imagine that to speak of evidences is to encourage legality: but it is impossible to read the Epistles of St. John, and not to see, that he lays down, I had almost said, a system of evidences, whereby a man should try his state before God. Feelings, however strong, and whatever confidence they may generate in the soul, cannot be depended on, if separated from the dispositions and actions produced by them: and therefore I cannot but earnestly recommend every one to examine carefully the state of his own soul, lest he dream of heaven and awake in hell.”]
2. How light all trials should be to the believing soul—
[Well does the Apostle in the words before our text call them “light and momentary;” so light, as to be “lightness” itself [Note: 2 Corinthians 4:17. See the Greek.]. Of what moment are the accommodations of an inn, where the traveller stops an hour in his journey to his father’s house? Such travellers are we; and the period of our stay is at the utmost an hour, or rather, the twinkling of an eye. I may ask too, of what moment are his little inconveniences there, in comparison of the great and permanent felicity that awaits him? This is the true way to estimate our sufferings, of whatever kind they be [Note: Romans 8:18.]. You who are most tried, fix your eyes upon the glory that shall be revealed: think of “the grace that shall be given you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Think especially too of your trials as loosening the pins of your present tabernacle, and hastening forward your entrance into that tabernacle that is prepared for you: view them, I say, in this light, and you will be so far from complaining of them, that you will rejoice and glory in them as the wise appointments of a gracious God: and “the trial of your faith will be precious, because it will be found to his praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ [Note: 1 Peter 1:7.].”]
3. How blessed is the portion of every child of God—
[Inconvenient as his present abode is, and painful as his state at present is in some respects, he yet is truly blessed. Consider what prospects he enjoys, yea, what anticipations and foretastes of his future bliss; for by faith he has already as clear evidence of the future glory, as if he saw it with his bodily eyes; and as truly the substance of it, as if he had it already in his possession [Note: Hebrews 11:1.]. Tell me not of his trials; for I say, he is a truly blessed man: and our blessed Lord again and again declares him blessed [Note: Matthew 5:11-12.]. Then think of his state as soon as this earthly tabernacle is dissolved; think of him as clothed upon with his house from heaven, and mortality, with all its attendant pains, “as swallowed up of life.” Not an atom of his former troubles or weaknesses remains; all is swallowed up, and is as if it had never been. Read the account of him as dwelling in the tabernacle of his God [Note: Revelation 21:3-4.], and you will break forth into the most heart-felt congratulations, “Happy art thou, O Israel, O people saved by the Lord [Note: Deuteronomy 33:29.]!”]