In 2 Corinthians 5:1-9, the Apostle Paul refers to our fallen body as “our earthly house of this tabernacle.” According to Paul, after our fallen body is “dissolved” we will receive a glorified body—“a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” Until then, Paul says “we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.” Paul adds, however, that “we that are in this tabernacle” are not groaning to “be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.” In other words, we are not necessarily groaning to escape from our fallen body through death, but hoping instead to be alive when Christ comes. If we are, we will never die or be “unclothed”; that is, we will never die and be in a bodiless state. Instead, we will be “clothed upon” as our glorified body is instantaneously put on over our fallen body so “that mortality might be swallowed up of life.”
When someone dies their soul and spirit depart from their body and their fallen body is left behind as a corpse. The corpse returns to dust, just as God promised in Genesis 3:19. If the person who dies is not a born again child of God, their spirit returns to God who gave it (Ecclesiastes 12:7) and their spiritless soul goes to hell with no hope of ever communing with God. On the other hand, if the person who dies is a born again child of God, their spirit returns to God intact with their soul to enjoy eternal communion with God in heaven. Nevertheless, having left their fallen body behind and having not yet received their glorified body, the born again child of God will remain “unclothed”—in a bodiless state—until he or she returns with Christ and the resurrection occurs (see APPENDIX B: THE DISINCARNATE STATE OF THE DEAD).
In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14, the Apostle Paul writes, “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” Every born again child of God who dies before Christ returns will return with Christ when He comes. How will they return with Christ? Since their fallen bodies were put off at death and their glorified bodies have not yet been resurrected they will have to return with Christ in a bodiless state. When they do, their graves will be opened, their bodies resurrected and their glorified bodies will rise to be united with their souls and spirits in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18). Afterward, they shall “ever be with the Lord,” not to mention being forever like Him, having received a glorified body in their resurrection like He did in His.
Unlike all who die before Christ returns, those born again children of God who are alive when Christ returns will never find themselves in a bodiless state. They will never “be found naked,” as Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 5:3. Instead, they will “be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” when their corruptible body “puts on incorruption” and their mortal body “puts on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:51-53). Once their glorified body is instantaneously put on over their fallen body they “shall be caught up together with” the resurrected “dead in Christ...to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall [they] ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
Being alive at Christ’s Second Coming and escaping the disincarnate state of the dead is the Christian’s “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13). In spite of this blessed hope, Paul still expressed a personal preference “to be absent from the body and...present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). Paul wanted us to know that even if Jesus tarries, being in God’s presence in a bodiless state is preferable to remaining in this sin-cursed world in a fallen body. Paul understood, as so few do today, that God never intended for us to live in mortal or fallen bodies. God’s intention was for us to live in immortal bodies. This is why Paul teaches that it was for this “selfsame thing” that God made us (2 Corinthians 5:4-5). Paul even adds that it is to this end that God gives “unto us the earnest of the Spirit.” God gives us His Spirit, resulting in the rebirth of our spirit, as a deposit guaranteeing what is to come; namely, the redemption of our bodies.
In Romans 8:23, the Apostle Paul writes, “And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” Notice, Paul calls the Holy Spirit “the firstfruits.” The firstfruits were the first produce from the harvest. They guaranteed that the rest of the harvest was to come. It is no coincidence that the Holy Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4). Pentecost was the Jewish Feast of Firstfruits. The Holy Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost because He is the firstfruits of our salvation guaranteeing us that the rest is to come!
Our reborn spirits are God’s guarantee that someday He will redeem our bodies. When that day comes, you and I will once again be like God created and intended us to be. We will be like Adam before the Fall and like Christ following His resurrection. Not only will we be alive spiritually, but we will be spiritually alive in a glorified body.
Until that glorious day comes when we shall receive our glorified bodies, the Apostle Paul admonishes us to “faint not” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). According to Paul, “though our outward man perish” we shouldn’t be discouraged, because our “inward man is renewed day by day.” Everyday our “outward man” (fallen body) is perishing and getting closer to falling off while our “inward man” (reborn spirit) is being renewed and getting closer to breaking out. Far from being disheartened and discouraged by this deterioration of our outer man and approaching liberation of our inner man, we should take heart and be encouraged by it. After all, “our light affliction,” which Paul says “is but for a moment,” is working “for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” Why should we be discouraged by the fleeting troubles we are currently experiencing in our temporal bodies when we have immortal bodies waiting on us in eternal glory?
Along with showing us why we should not be discouraged, Paul also teaches us how to keep from it. He instructs us to “look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are unseen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are unseen are eternal.” Rather than concentrating on the external, visible and temporal, Paul teaches us to concentrate on the internal, invisible and eternal. Focusing upon that which is within and forever, instead of upon that which is without and fleeting, will deliver us from discouragement.
The Bible teaches us that Christ has given His glory to every Christian (John 17:22; 2 Thessalonians 2:14). We have the glory of Christ within us. However, His glory is presently veiled by our flesh, just as it was by His during His earthly sojourn. Remember, Christ partook of our flesh—He came into our world in a corruptible body— so that He could die for our sins (Hebrews 2:14). Had He not come into our world in a corruptible body, Christ would not have been subject to death. He would have been unable to die for our sins.
According to Philippians 2:5-8, Christ possessed the fullness of His glory in the form of God before His incarnation. Nevertheless, in His incarnation the fullness of His glory was emptied into the form of a man. The Greek word “kenoo,” which Paul uses in Philippians 2:7, means to empty the contents of one vessel into another. The miracle of the incarnation is seen in the fact that God’s glory was emptied into a corruptible body in the man Christ Jesus.
Emptied into a corruptible body by the miracle of the incarnation, God’s glory became veiled by Christ’s flesh. This explains how Isaiah could say of Christ, “He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2). With His glory veiled by His flesh Christ appeared common or ordinary in His earthly appearance.
In Mark 9:1-8, we have Mark’s account of the transfiguration of Christ. On the Mount of Transfiguration, Christ pulled back the robe of His flesh revealing to Peter, James and John the glory that was within Him. Interestingly, the Greek word for “transfigured” is the word we get “metamorphosis” from. Metamorphosis is when the caterpillar emerges from the cocoon as a butterfly.
Before Jesus took Peter, James and John up on the Mount of Transfiguration, He promised to some who were with Him that they would “not taste of death, till they [had] seen the kingdom of God come with power.” It was on the Day of Pentecost that this promise of Christ was fulfilled. Having ascended to the throne and having received all power and authority in heaven and in earth, Christ came in the power of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost to rule and reign in the hearts of believers. This coming of the King in the person of the Holy Spirit to empower His subjects was what Jesus meant when He promised some of His followers that they would live to see “the kingdom of God come with power” (see APPENDIX C: THE KINGDOM OF GOD).
It is in the person of the Holy Spirit that Christ invades the lives of believers in all of His power and glory. It is the Holy Spirit that deposits Christ’s glory in us. That glory, however, is presently veiled by our flesh, just as God’s glory in Christ was veiled by Christ’s flesh. The divine glory on the inside is presently concealed by our mortal bodies on the outside.
In Romans 8:17-25, the Apostle Paul teaches us that all of creation is waiting in “earnest expectation...for the manifestation of the sons of God.” All of creation is longing and waiting for the glory of Christ to be made manifest in the children of God by “the redemption of our bodies.” When Christ returns to redeem our bodies, His glory in us will no longer be concealed by our flesh. Instead, it will be revealed by our glorified bodies, just as the divine glory in Christ was no longer concealed by His flesh, but revealed by His glorified body following His resurrection. That Christ’s post-resurrection appearances were glorious ones explains why His disciples had such a hard time recognizing Him. Like the resurrected Christ, we too will manifest God’s glory in glorified bodies following our resurrection.
When Jesus returns to the earth in His glorified body, His glory will be revealed to the whole world (Matthew 24:29-31; 25:31-33). Also, according to the Apostle Paul, our spiritual “life,” which is presently “hid with Christ in God,” will at long last be revealed when you and I shall “appear with [Christ] in glory” (Colossians 3:3-4). You and I will receive our glorified bodies when Christ returns in His. This is why the Apostle John says, “When [Christ] shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). No longer will the glory of Christ be shrouded by our fallen bodies, but manifested by our glorified bodies. Christ’s glory within us will at long last be displayed by us.
In addition to our displaying of divine glory at Christ’s coming, the Apostle Paul teaches that when Christ returns “creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). The whole world will be delivered from corruption and filled with God’s glory when Christ returns. All of creation, including you and I—God’s new creation in Christ—will once again be doing what God created it to do; specifically, manifesting and displaying the glory of God. “The earth,” as the ancient prophet Habakkuk predicted, will once again “be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14). Is there any wonder that “the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain” waiting with “earnest expectation” for the “manifestation of the sons of God”? May we join with all of creation in its eager longing for Christ’s return and with John the Revelator in his earnest adjuration: “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:21).