George Müller preached this sermon at Bethesda Chapel, Great George Street, Bristol, England, on Sunday evening. October 3, 1897.
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 us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. (2 Corinthians 5:1-10, NIV)
What we have read refers to the resurrected body—the glorified body—that believers in Christ will receive, and in which they shall be seen, at the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, such a body as the Lord Jesus Himself received after His resurrection. “For we know.” This is in connection with what is stated in the last verses of the previous chapter.
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18, NIV)
“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.” Our present body is called “an earthly tent.” A tent may be ripped up and pitched elsewhere. Thus, it is concerning the body in which we are now. It is frail, it is weak, it is earthly, it is of time—in contrast with the glorified body which we shall have. No more weakness, no more frailty then; no more of the earthly character, but of the heavenly character! No more of the body of time, but of eternity. That is the difference between our present bodies and the body we shall have.
“We know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed”—if our physical bodies are destroyed—“we have a building from God.” As our earthly bodies are called tents, we can call our glorified bodies buildings, contrasting the weakness of structure to that which is solid and lasting. “An eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.” The glorified body we shall receive at the return of the Lord Jesus is eternal—all weakness, all infirmity, will be done with forever. No more pain, no more weakness, no more sickness, no more death—all gone! Completely gone! All this when we have glorified bodies. This is truly refreshing to the inner man. Now, those who seek to minister for the Lord—whether in Sunday school, distributing gospel tracts, visiting unbelievers, or caring for the sick—our physical strength can only go so far. Some may be able to work four or five hours, others up to eight, but at last weakness comes and tiredness is felt, and at some point, we must stop and leave work for the next day. But this won’t always be the case, and one day weariness will end forever.
There will be kingdom work in eternity. There will be no sleeping, no folding hands, but work, continual service done for the love of Christ. And this working for the Lord, this seeking to glorify Him through it, will go without end— hour after hour, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. It will never cease. This joyful, unending service is a great promise to the Church of Christ. Not only will the curse be gone when we are in glory, but it will be considered a high honor, a glorious privilege.
And the delightful service going on all the time is held out as a special promise to the Church of God, not merely that the curse will be gone when we are in glory, but an exceedingly high honor and glorious privilege. “His servants will serve him,” we read in Revelation 22:3 (NIV). All our work and labor here on earth, however much or varied it may be, will seem as nothing compared to the glorious work that awaits us in eternity! Oh, how precious this thought is! We shall work without any hint of weariness. We shall labor on forever and ever for the glory of God!
This word “eternal” is very significant. “An eternal house in heaven.” We shall receive these eternal bodies in heaven. Therefore, this word “eternal” is so precious! “Eternal in the heavens.” In the heavens we shall obtain this glorified body. “For in this tent”—that is, our present frame of weakness, our body of weakness—“we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked.” Groaning on account of weakness, of pain, and of other physical difficulties, but especially because of spiritual sickness, spiritual weaknesses. Sin. It’s because of this that the child of God specifically groans, longing to be delivered from all these spiritual hindrances, which are found even in the best of us. The more holy we are, the more we are burdened by seeing our spiritual sickness remaining.
At present, we are not yet “clothed” in this life. We do not yet have a glorified body. We are yet in this tent of a body, the physical body. “Because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked.” Do you all understand this verse? Just ask yourselves what we mean to be clothed, for it is important to understand this verse, and I have reason to consider that some do not know what this means. Therefore, to those who have specific doubts whether they understand this or not, seek to pay attention to its meaning. The time will come when a glorified body is given—but will all humans receive this? No! There will be the first resurrection, the resurrection of the just, where these bodies will receive new, glorified bodies. But not all humans will be part of this resurrection. Many multitudes will not have received these glorified bodies when this resurrection passes! Oh, may we, when this time comes, be clothed and not found naked. This means to be left in the grave, found without a glorified body. Then will come the general resurrection: These bodies will be raised again too, but for judgment. Those who don’t receive the glorified body will be found naked. The time passed for the first resurrection, the resurrection of the just, and the glorified body was not received! To receive this, every poor sinner, however spiritually sick and weak he may be, however ignorant he may be, if he is trusting truly in the Lord Jesus Christ, then he is a child of God and will receive this glorified body.
“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.”. Meaning that we, children of God, while yet on earth in ordinary bodies, a tent, groan and are burdened. We cry, we sigh, we wish to have different circumstances. And what is it that we long for? Not that we should be unclothed, but clothed to obtain our glorified body, so that mortality may be “swallowed up by life.” This is what the child of God should long for: the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not death, but the return of Christ, because then the whole of the Church of God will obtain, every one of them, a glorified body, and thus mortality will be “swallowed up by life.” For this body that we shall receive will be an eternal body, and we will never have to pass through death again.
“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.” Notice particularly this amazing verse. “Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose.” That is, we children of God, weak, helpless, and erring, foolish and ignorant, though as yet we may be, have been appointed for this. God has fashioned us for this exact same thing—that we should obtain a glorified body. In other words, I, as surely as I am speaking now, shall have a glorified body, and my brothers and sisters in Christ here present, and everyone trusting in Jesus for salvation, will obtain the glorified body. Every one of us, without exception, for we are appointed for it, we are fashioned for it, we are prepared for it, and we have the evidence that it will be so. The promise is given to us in the reception of the Holy Spirit. And as surely as we have received the Spirit, so certain is it that we shall have a glorified body. This is the promise given to us in the gift of the Spirit, to comfort our hearts, to make us look out for this glorified body, to ponder it again and again and again with the truth that we shall have a glorified body. For this very purpose was the Holy Spirit given to us, that the Holy Spirit might be the guarantee to us to look out for the glorified body.
“Therefore we are always confident”—that is, of good courage—”and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.” It would do us well to test ourselves through what is written here: “Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.” That is, we have not yet been brought into the presence of the Lord to have unending, full, complete communion with Him, and have not yet entered into that eternal happiness, as every child of God will have it forever and ever. “We are confident,” we are of good courage! “I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”
That means we are wishing for the Lord Jesus Christ to come and take us to Himself rather than us simply dying and casting off these earthly tents. Is this the desire of our hearts? When we look at ourselves, are we able to say, “I would rather be away from the body and to be present with the Lord; I would rather go home and get my glorified body, instead of remaining longer here on earth”? The more we are in this spiritual state, the more this longing will grow, but with an exception, one that Paul saw in himself—longing to go to be with the Lord, yet willing to stay longer here on earth to do the Lord’s work (see 1 Philippians 1:21-26). With this one exception, the spiritual state of the heart is to go be with the Lord forever and ever. But if it pleases God to allow us to labor for Him, to be ready to stay, counting it an honor and privilege to labor yet further on earth. I myself have been praying to achieve the great honor, the glorious privilege to be allowed to stay yet longer in the body, that I might be able, in my weak, impotent abilities, to labor more for the Lord, for I count it the greatest honor, the most glorious privilege, to be allowed to do any little thing for my worthy, precious Lord, who has done so much for me.
“So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.” In other words, we strive—whether here on earth or in His presence in heaven—to live in a way that pleases the Lord. That should be our greatest aim: to please Him in all things. This should be our greatest concern: to live to please the Lord well, no matter how little or how much we work, no matter if the circumstances or easy or difficult, no matter if we’re among friends or amidst our enemies, at home or afar…no matter where we are at in our lives, to live to please Him is the greatest goal we can have as believers in the Lord. How earnestly we should seek this on this side of eternity!
Now, in conclusion, the most solemn statement comes in our last verse. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” The eye of God is on every human being! The ear of God hears every word uttered by us, and whatever we do, whatever we say, nothing escapes the ear or the eye of our heavenly Father. According to all this, we have to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. The believers, all who trust in Christ, are pardoned for all they have done, for all they have said, no matter how great or many their failures have been. Anyone, anyone who acknowledges their own guilt and places their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Substitute escapes this judgment.
But if we don’t believe in and put our faith in the Lord Jesus, if we continue thoughtlessly and carelessly, unconcerned about the things of God, or if we rely on ourselves for salvation instead of trusting in Christ—or if we imagine that living a better life can somehow make up for past sins, which is a fatal and soul-destroying error—if we are not found to have faith in Christ, then God, as a holy and just Judge, must hold us accountable for every deed, every word, and even every thought.
How will it be when we appear before the judgment seat of Christ and receive what is due us for the things done in this life? Oh, how will it go? I plead and urge all here present—if you have not yet trusted in Christ for salvation, you will not be able to answer God in any merit of your own, in any of your good deeds! You won’t be able to justify your actions, words or thoughts. Numberless millions will be found out, their evil deeds, their sinful words, their unholy thoughts brought to light. And what dreadful condemnation awaits those who are found without Christ? So before it’s too late, turn to Him for the forgiveness of all your numberless transgressions!
Dear ones, our earthly lives are fleeting, but the glory that awaits us in Christ is eternal. Oh, fix your eyes on what is unseen—live to please the Lord in all things, longing for the day when mortality will be swallowed up by life, and we shall stand before Him clothed in glory, forever serving the One who redeemed us. May God’s will be done regarding these realities in our lives for the sake of Christ! Amen.
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George Müller
