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CONFIDENCE AT THE CONCLUSION — Part 4 "For we KNOW that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens (2 Corinthians 5:1). Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:5-6). Let's continue to consider "THE PROBLEM OF OUR GROANING." Paul could sincerely proclaim that he longed for his heavenly habitation. He explained his earnest yearning for his eternal dwelling by testifying that he had a heartfelt desire to put on a new set of clothes! In verse 4 of that same chapter, he wrote that in this tent, we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation from heaven. We who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Paul eagerly looked forward to the imperishable clothes his Lord had prepared for him. Did you notice in these verses that when God strips his born-again children of their earthly clothes (death), He provides them with heavenly and immortal garments?" This glorious attire describes a resurrection body, which will be the nature of the body that our Lord Jesus possessed after His triumphant resurrection from the grave! Paul was testifying that he desired a much more expensive house in a much more costly neighborhood!" The location he yearns for is occupying an address in an infinitely better location of infinitely higher value. Note the emphasis again, "If indeed, having been (spiritually) clothed, we shall not be found (spiritually) naked." The Greek culture spoke of the death of an individual as "the disrobing of the soul." They falsely taught that when death occurred, the soul would supposedly be released from the captivity of the body and would roam around in oblivion forever! However, the Word of God powerfully refutes that heresy. The Christian reality of the "separation of the soul from the body" is an addition of attire, not a subtraction! God declares that the eternal soul of a born-again believer will be clothed with a perfect heavenly body and stationed in the glories of Heaven. Additionally, notice, "If indeed, having been clothed." At the moment of justification, the believing sinner is clothed with the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. The prophet Isaiah said, "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my God. For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness." Isaiah describes the gift of "imputed righteousness," which is placed on the account of anyone who truly commits their life to the Lord Jesus. Moreover, the only possible way that any individual could stand before the holy Lord God of the universe is to possess a righteousness that is equal to God's pristine righteousness. However, the best of human righteousness is filthy rags in the presence of a perfectly righteous God! All mankind (in and of themselves) is utterly destitute of this perfect righteousness which God requires. However, when a person believes on the Lord Jesus Christ", he is graced with the gift of "perfected, positional righteousness". He is justified by grace, through faith in the Person and work of the Lord Jesus! For this reason, they will not be found barren, with only the filthy rags of their mountain of sin on that final day. On the contrary, he will be fully clothed in the wedding garments of perfect righteousness, which the King of kings has graciously supplied! Fundamentally, Paul is again testifying that "For me to live is Christ, and to die is unimaginable gain." When the authentic believer takes their last breath on this planet, they will immediately be ushered into the presence of his Lord and Savior in glory! Oh, but on that day when Jesus returns, every genuine disciple will be clothed with an immortal and imperishable resurrection body, exactly like our Lord's! Glory to the Lamb of God!