FRIDAY 26th
2 Corinthians 4
Yesterday I touched on the subject of being victorious in our suffering, in today’s devotion I want to enlarge further by looking at what Scripture says about our present suffering and place it in the context of what Paul says in this chapter, that is, that whatever we go through will be outweighed by that which is eternally prepared for us. Verses 16-18 ‘So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.’
In his earlier letter to the Corinthian believers Paul had written ‘But, as it is written, What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.’ (1 Corinthians 2:9)
Now we know that God has prepared for us in the present, that is everything that is wrapped up in our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ which we are blessed with today, but he has also prepared for us in the future, that which is yet unseen but will be revealed when we enter into his eternal presence. Jesus in one of his parables indicates this in Matthew 25:34 ‘Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’ James talks of the crown of life that is promised and therefore is prepared for those who remain steadfast in trials. (James 1:12)
The verses before us today remind us that though the outward is perishing, that is our mortal flesh, the inner man which has been made anew by the Spirit of God is being renewed daily. In other words, outwardly we are aging and decaying, it doesn’t matter how much anti-aging remedies we may be using to try to stop it, we will fail! Yet at the same time inwardly, we are being renewed and to use the words of Paul again we are being changed from glory to glory, 2 Corinthians 3:18 ‘And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.’
Now it may seem strange to speak of us being changed from glory to glory, as we always ascribe glory as being related to the Godhead, but in the context here it is talking of us who have been redeemed, becoming more like Christ, the more we are renewed inwardly the more we are being changed to become like Christ. The NIV brings this out ‘And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.’
I remember as a young lad our Church often singing the chorus:
From glory to glory He’s changing me,
Changing me, changing me.
His likeness and image to perfect in me.
The love of God shown to the world.
For He’s changing, changing me,
From earthly things to the heavenly.
His likeness and image to perfect in me,
The love of God shown to the world.
It’s a wonderful thought that as Christians, although we are aging outwardly, losing all the youthful features and good looks (if we had them in the first place) something more wonderful is happening inwardly, we are becoming more like Christ. This is the work of sanctification taking place. But there is more good news, the aging, decaying body is not going to be left out of the process of glory! For, that which is temporal, will one day be made anew, and clothed with that which will be eternal. There is going to be an eternal glory, again as a lad I can remember the preachers talking of our justification, sanctification and our glorification, glorification is not only our becoming more Christlike, but also our being changed from temporal to eternal, from momentarily to eternal, from decay to eternal and it is Paul again who brings the wonder of this truth to us in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verses 35-49, I quote here verses 42-49 ‘So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.’
I quote Paul again from 2 Corinthians 5:1-5 ‘For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. 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.’ (Did you notice prepared again)
We will continue to look at the resurrection of the body in the next devotion, but may we be encouraged and reminded today with the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 8:11 ‘If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.’
What is at present is temporal, but what will be, will be eternal, no more sickness, no more suffering, no more pain, no more decaying, no more aging, no more dying, instead we will be entering eternally into the joy and the presence of the Lord.
There’s a place where the streets shine
With the glory of the Lamb
There’s a way we can go there
We can live there, beyond time
Because of You, because of You
Because of Your love, because of Your blood
No more pain no more sadness
No more suffering, no more tears
No more sin, no more sickness
No injustice, no more death
Oh, our sins are washed away
And we can live forever
Now we have this hope
Because of You
Oh, we’ll see You face to face
And we will dance together
In the city of our God
Because of You
There’ll be joy everlasting
There’ll be gladness, there’ll be peace
There’ll be wine ever flowing
There’s a wedding, there’s a feast
Matt Redman CCLI788682