We have a building of God


 

 

『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. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. 』 (2 Corinthians 5: 1-4)

The tabernacle is the place of covenant meeting with God. Before the time of the law (the law of God's wrath), it was the tabernacle where Abraham met with God. God's hand-built house means the flesh. God made man from the dust. And God put Adam in the garden of Eden to eat the fruit of the tree of life. The spirit in Adam's body came to life and began to communicate with God. But because of human sin, the body became polluted, and the spirit became an inhabitable body. The tabernacle of all humans has fallen. But those who are in Christ have a dwelling from heaven. This dwelling place is the spirit body. If we do not wear the spirit body, our spirit is naked. Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and found that they were naked.

『 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: 』 It means wearing one more dress. This means that the spirit body is put on the physical body. The person born again is wearing two different clothes. It is the physical and spirit bodies. The physical body must die before the spirit body can live. Romans (6: 4):

 『 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 』

Life (spirit body) swallows death (body). So there is something to die, but the spirit body is real. This is to be born again.『Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 』 (2 Corinthians 5: 5-6)

The Holy Spirit has guaranteed this. The born-again has two bodies, but our consciousness is in the flesh received from the parents. So even though we know that we live separately from the Lord, we always believe that we are with the Lord in the spirit body. This is faith.
Those who died with Jesus Christ dwell with the Lord in the body of the spirit and separate from the Lord in the body of the flesh. Occasionally, the consciousness of the mind may be with the Lord. But the reason for dwelling apart from the Lord is that there is work to do in this world. The task will be to establish the kingdom of God on earth.

『We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. 』 (2 Corinthians 5: 8-9)

We must please the Lord. It is not "I am glad and the Lord is a happy life," but only the Lord is a pleasure. The Bible says: Always try to please the Lord, whether we are in the spirit or the body

『And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 』 (2 Corinthians 5: 15-17)

Today, many church people think of the new creation as a mental function. Say you have new values. The new creation is the death of the former physical body and the rebirth of the spirit body. But people do not try to believe this fact. For they think and look with the eyes of the flesh. The new creation is wholly obedient to the word of the Lord. It is not the kind of person who thinks according to the flesh, but the person born of heaven. This is not a change of philosophical values, and it is not becoming a metaphysical human. If you think empirically, it is impossible. But we are not to compare our past experiences with the Word of God. When we believe that we are dead to the world, the Holy Spirit will guide us.

The people of the church say: Even though we are born again, we have a body, so we have no choice but to sin. They say so because they do not know the spirit body. So when you dwell in the body of the flesh, there is a spiritual battle. Satan does not have access when we are in the spirit body. But when our consciousness is in the physical body, we will fall unless we are armed spiritually. Satan approaches our thoughts. And Satan tries to stumble us by using our ambitions. In the Garden of Eden, Satan used Eve's ambitions. Eve's ambition was "Can I be like God?" Satan penetrates into human desires.

『(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. 』 (2 Corinthians 10: 4-6)

 If we do not deny experience and thought before the Word of God, we will not be able to experience the power of God. God is the Creator of the universe. How can humans on earth know the power of God? But if we believe in the power of God, we must obey fully.
What we fight is a battle of the mind. It is not a battle between blood and flesh, but a spiritual battle.『For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 』 (Ephesians 6: 12-14)

Praying to God should not be a blessing in the world. Prayer should be for building the kingdom of God. We must do God's will. But what many ask for is prayer for themselves. We know: They pray for the blessing of the world, whether they are church attendants or not. But the Bible says: Pray in the Holy Spirit to preach the Gospel.

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