Essex Congregational Remembrancer 2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands… Note — I. THE APPROPRIATE DESCRIPTION GIVEN US OF THE HUMAN BODY — "the earthly house of this tabernacle." Notice 1. Its material origin. It is "earthly." How mysterious and complicated soever may be the machinery of the human frame, it is, after all, a composition of earthly materials. 2. Its use. It is a "house." Every house is built by some man, but He that built this house is God. 3. Its temporary existence. 4. Its ultimate dissolution. II. THE ASSURANCE THE APOSTLE INDULGED. 1. It is a building of God. (1) God the Father is the efficient cause or architect of this building. Abraham "looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God."(2) The procuring and meritorious cause of this building is Jesus the Mediator. "I go to prepare a place for you."(3) It is a building worthy of God. 2. It is permanent, "eternal in the heavens." All other buildings are weak and precarious. "In Thy presence is fulness of joy, at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." 3. Where this building is situated. "In the heavens." The inspired writers invariably speak of it as a place of ineffable blessedness and unspeakable glory. If permitted to arrive there, we shall be ready to exclaim, as the Queen of Sheba did when she beheld Solomon's wisdom and prosperity, "Behold the half was not told me." III. THE GROUNDS ON WHICH THIS ASSURANCE RESTED. 1. The testimony of God's word (2 Corinthians 4:13). 2. The consciousness which he himself had of being the subject of Divine grace (ver. 5).Conclusion — Let us learn from this subject — 1. To be habitually entertaining thoughts about death and another world. 2. The unspeakable value of the gospel. "Life and immortality are brought to light by the gospel." (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.) Parallel Verses KJV: For 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. |
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