Our Earthly Tent

by Hugh DeLong

Paul faced many worldly problems because he endured persecution for preaching the gospel. He lists many of them in II Corinthians 11. These were so severe that he “despaired even of life” (II Corinthians 1:8). However, even in such a situation, he learned to trust not in himself, his existence, his ability, but in God. Yet, death awaited him! His earthly tent would be torn down. He would die. So he could write that he faced that prospect “knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you” (II Corinthians 4:14).

He knew that death would not have the final word! This is because Jesus' resurrection brings the promise of our resurrection. I watched my 90+-year-old parents go through this ‘tearing down’ of their bodies. Their hope was not in continued living, but in the resurrected life. They held to the same faith and trust that the Lord will raise them, and that death does not have the final word.

That will not be another ‘mortal’ body, but an immortal one. It will be a body fit to live in the presence of God – forever. A body the Lord will provide. A body not made with hands, but one that is eternal in the heavens.

We may groan now as we observe our own body slowly, or perhaps not so slowly, being torn down. We lose more and more physical abilities and bodily health. So be it. And in the end, we die (unless the Lord comes before that end!). But death will not have the last word for us either. Are you prepared for this?