Going to Be With the Lord

No faith is needed where the thing hoped for can be seen. And the difference between not yet seeing and fully seeing Is the whole difference between being in the body and being out of it and "with" the Lord.

 Therefore we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord;  for we walk by faith, not by sight.  We are courageous, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:6-8 (WEB)

---

IF God is always with me,

If God lives within and through me by his Spirit

If God is really all around us,

Then how can it be that to be at home in my present body is to be absent from the Lord?

And how can it be that to be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord?

“Where could I go from your Spirit?  Or where could I flee from your presence?”

What difference does being in this body make?

While I am in this body, I cannot see God all around me

I must be given the faith to believe he is here.

While I am in this body, I cannot see the end to which everything is going

I am trapped in time, unable to see the future

I cannot see my future, or the futures of others around me

I can visualize what I want the future to be

I can to some extent visualize what my earthly experience tells me the future will probably be

I can most certainly visualize what I fear the future will be

And I can try to visualize what God has told me the future will be

But I am also aware that the future will most likely, in fact, be nothing like any of what I visualize!

Instead of seeing, I must groan while waiting to see

I must, along with the whole creation, “groan and travail in pain” while “waiting” for “the children of God to be revealed.” .

I must groan while waiting for the redemption of my body.

I must take the good he has in store for me

his control of everything that happens

his Kingdom that is all around me but presently invisible

and his ability to make all things work for the ultimate benefit of his people

as I take his presence within and all around me:

by faith.

I cannot see it.

BUT those who have left this present bodily existence

Now actually see the Lord

They can see he is with them and they are with him

They have entered the Lord’s “time zone” (or timeless zone)

And can see the end to which everything is going

Because they are already experiencing it

There are no tears in his presence

But not because those who have gone with him are unaware of our trials

They are now our witnesses, spectators in the stands cheering for us

As we run our race.

There are no tears in his presence

Because those who are with him in his visible presence

See, as he does, that everything has already worked out for us who remain.

So, where we must take a future we cannot see by faith,

They see what we cannot.

No faith is needed where the thing hoped for can be seen.

And the difference between not yet seeing and fully seeing

Is the whole difference between being in the body and being out of it and “with” the Lord.

---

.

Where could I go from your Spirit?
    Or where could I flee from your presence?
If I ascend up into heaven, you are there.
    If I make my bed in Sheol,^[a] behold, you are there!
If I take the wings of the dawn,
    and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand will lead me,
    and your right hand will hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me.
    The light around me will be night,”
even the darkness doesn’t hide from you,
    but the night shines as the day.
    The darkness is like light to you.

Psalm 139:7-12

For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.  For most certainly in this we groan, longing to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed being clothed, we will not be found naked. For indeed we who are in this tent do groan, being burdened, not that we desire to be unclothed, but that we desire to be clothed, that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now he who made us for this very thing is God, who also gave to us the down payment of the Spirit.

Therefore we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord; for we walk by faith, not by sight.  We are courageous, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.  Therefore also we make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be well pleasing to him.  For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive the things in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

2 Corinthians 5:1-10

 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God; and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.

 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us. For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.  Not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for adoption, the redemption of our body.  For we were saved in hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for that which he sees?

Romans 8:16-24

Therefore let’s also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:1-2

 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.  For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified.

What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Romans 8:28-31

---

Why have I always resisted the idea that departed believers are really still here “with” Jesus?

Site Index