Expecting The Glorified Body And The Reward

 An Emoji Devotional for Wed, 16 November 2022

Topic: Expecting the glorified body and the reward 

By Pastor Hans Wenger

Highlights: Listen, I tell you a mystery: we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ (1. Corinthians 15:51 – 54) 

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due to us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. (2. Corinthians 5:1–10) 

Paul is very committed to deliver us the hard facts. We are living in a tent that will be destroyed, but in Christ we will have an eternal home which will be imperishable. He reminds us that by living in the tent, we should please God with our deeds, because there will be a day of accountability for what we have done and all our deeds will be rewarded. The word of God makes clear that this appearance before the judgment seat of Christ is not a question of life or death, but a test on how well we have built our lives on the only foundation, which is Christ. To live according to his word in his footsteps means to build with gold, silver and costly stones, to live as Christian with our own ideas on how things should be means to build with wood, hay and straw. Compare 1. Corinthians 3:11–15. Who has built with strong material will receive reward and who has built with material that burns will suffer damage, but will be saved as one escaping through the flames. The Corinthians did not go to the foundation, which is Christ alone, but clung to words of impressive men of their time. We are deceived and build wrongly whenever we trust on what men tell us and not on the inspired word of God. Jesus warns us in Luke 11:35 to watch over the light within us: “See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness”. Our eyes need to be enlightened by the light of the world, which is Jesus alone. If they draw light from another source, we fill our body with darkness and are set up for building with wood, hay and straw. Paul knows that Christ alone is his life and has therefore the freedom to speak in very encouraging terms of death. It is the reward for sin and is the last enemy that will be swallowed up in the resurrection and in the swallowing up from the mortal through the immortal. He knows that the destruction of the tent-body needs to give him more than it can take away from him, so much so that he even longs to leave his body and to be at home with the Lord. Allowing darkness in our life will lead us to great loss whereas orientation on Jesus alone will bring us great reward. The choice is ours.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, please flood me with your light, fill me with your spirit so that I will avoid any false light that can distract me from clear sight. Thank you that death is only a change from the perishable tent to the eternal building you have prepared for me in heaven. I long to be with you and I long to live in your glory. Amen.