“For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling…For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.”
2 Corinthians 5:2-5
“So that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.” I find this wording fascinating. It highlights the reality that, for those who know and trust in Christ, when our time on earth is complete, it is not death that we enter. It is life.
Life as it is meant to be.
Life that is full and everlasting.
Life free from sin and struggle forever.
Life without pain, sickness, or weeping.
Life lived in radiant splendor and absolute joy, because we bask in the magnificent glory of the God who created the heavens.
Life spent rejoicing in the salvation our Lord Jesus provided…knowing that He was our only hope of rescue and reconciliation, and He chose to die to create the way for us to know God.
Our mortal life here is but a shadow. It is filled with difficulty and strife. Hurt and trial. But when your hope is placed in Christ, He seals you with the Spirit of God and declares that you are His. No one and nothing can break that. So no matter what happens to you here, you have full assurance that glory and life await you at the end of these days. That is the true beginning. The moment when your soul awakens in the unhindered presence of your Savior.
Your eyes will finally behold, clearly, your King in all His beauty. Shining brighter than all the stars in the heavens and more brilliantly than the most precious jewels on the earth.
There is coming a day of light, when what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. Let us walk with our eyes fixed on our Savior, rejoicing in Him as our hope of glory. And let us share that hope with all who will hear, that they may know true life and be snatched from the fire that we all deserve, the fire from which Jesus came to save us.
“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:18-21
“For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” Colossians 1:19-20
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us…For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”
Romans 8:18, 29-30
In Pleasant Places 