To Be Absent From the Body is to Be Present with the Lord - 2 Corinthians 5:6-8

To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord…

If we try to squeeze what the apostle Paul was saying into our religious paradigm, we will automatically think that Paul is saying that when we die we leave our sinful human body behind and our spirit goes to heaven to be with the Lord.

But that’s not what Paul was saying. The Apostle Paul was not a Gnostic. This is the same Paul that said: to whom God willed to make known what is riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you the hope of glory (Col. 1:27 NASB 1995). Here again:   I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20 KJV). 

It is obvious that Paul didn’t have a Gnostic mindset. He didn’t believe that the human body is evil. He didn’t believe that the physical realm is evil. He didn’t have a dualistic mindset. He didn’t believe that the physical world is separate from the spiritual world. But this is the paradigm on which many believers base their faith.  

Paul is saying that at the resurrection of the dead our body will be changed from mortal to immortal, and we will experience the full manifestation of the glory of God. God’s glory will be made fully manifested to us, while at the present time, while living in this tent, it is hidden (Col 3:3-4). 

In this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven (the resurrected body) (2 Cor. 5:2 NASB see the notes for vs 2 in NASB). 

While we are at home in this body, we are absent from the Lord [from the fullness of the glory of God – because we live in the tent or the temporary dwelling and not in the house – the immortal glorified body] (2 Cor. 5:6 NASB with my clarification). Obviously, Paul can't be talking about absent in the sense of our oneness. Go back and reread Col. 1:27, and Gal. 2:20.

For we walk by faith not by sight [believing that the gift of life will be fully manifested in us even though at the moment we don’t see it. Because we are still in this tent or the physical mortal body]  (2 Cor 5:7). 

But we are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body [having already been changed from mortal to immortal and living in the glorious new body - God being fully manifested in us.] and to be at home with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8 NASB).  

Even though the abundant life is a present reality, it will be fully manifested when we go through our metamorphosis - when we are changed from mortal to immortal. “I have come that they might have life, and life more abundantly” (John 10:10). 

The time will come when we experience the fullness of life in our immortal, imperishable, body. “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).  

Watch the video on You Tube: 

What Jesus Accomplished Outside of the Cross

So often we talk about what Jesus accomplished at the cross, but what about what Jesus accomplished outside of the cross? 

For some time I've been preaching that the "finished work of Jesus," is much more than what Jesus did. When we speak of "the cross," we're talking about much more than Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. Yes, Jesus is the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8). But salvation was accomplished because of who Jesus is, as much as it was accomplished by what Jesus did. In other words, we can't separate Jesus' work from Jesus' person. Salvation is a person named Jesus. The incarnation, and atonement go together. We don't have salvation without the incarnation, and the atonement. As I've said so many times, and I will continue to emphasize, that salvation was accomplished in Jesus life, death, resurrection, ascension, and sending of the Spirit. 

God became man so that he could live out the God-life of other-centered-love, as us, and share with us the abundant life (John 10:10; 17:3). God became man so that he could die our death. God became man so that he could be raised to new life, as us (Col. 3:3-4). God became man so that he could offer himself anew to God, as us. God became man so that he could forever be at rest in the heavenly realm, as us (Eph. 2:5-6). God sent the Holy Spirit so that we would be awakened to the reality that has been pioneered in Christ Jesus.

So the Reality of salvation is  found in Jesus' person and work. Salvation is realized in Jesus' person and work. The cross symbolizes who God is, as well as what he has accomplished in the person of Jesus.  

The Often Overlooked Message of the Book of Acts, "The Last Days!"

The often overlooked message of the book of Acts is that we are in the last days! We have been in the last days since the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon the believers just like Jesus said. The apostles were, like so many of us, concerned about Jesus return to earth to establish his kingdom. But they didn't understand that Jesus was going to "return" first through the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:1-8)! The plan of God was that the kingdom of God was being established within men (Luke 17:21). The Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands (Acts 7:48). He was to live his victorious resurrected life in human beings through the power of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 2:20)!

After Jesus was resurrected he commanded the apostles to stay in Jerusalem until they received the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:44-53). They were witnesses of the Holy Spirit and the power of God demonstrated in Jesus life through the many miracles that he performed and in his bodily resurrection (Acts 2:22, 24). Now that same power would be working in them so that they would be able to testify of what they had seen and heard (Acts 4:20).

On the day of Pentecost, after Jesus had received the gift from the Father, He poured the Holy Spirit out upon those who believed, just as he said. Peter told the crowd that was present that the prophecy of Joel was being fulfilled. He quoted the prophet Joel saying, 'And it shall be in the last days,' God says, 'that I will pour forth my Spirit on all mankind...' (Acts 2:17).

We are in the last days; however we have been in the last days since the day of Pentecost. Our focus should not be on an event, but on the person of Jesus Christ who desires to live his victorious, resurrected life within us with power, through the Holy Spirit which he freely gives to those who obey him (Acts 5:32).

That's the gospel - it's incredibly good news and something to get excited about!

Listen to my message from July 8, 2012, "What did the Witnesses Have to Say?"

"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission."