Who am I? I am a tent but not for long!
My "I" dwells in a tent. My body, my soul, and my spirit dwell in a tent. My essential self lives in a tent in a trinitarian unity. I am a tent.
Tents are never meant to be permanent dwellings. Soldiers in battle zones live in tents and are constantly on the move taking their tents down and putting them back up. Temporary. They long for and wait for the day when they can get back home. James Oglethorpe, the founder of the English colony of Georgia, lived in a tent until all of the settlers that he brought with him had built a house or cabin. After everyone had their cabin, he built one for himself and built himself a cabin and moved in. His tent was just temporary. My tent is temporary.
I'm just moving around here in my tent too. I'm waiting for my permanent home. It's not going to be a man-made tent of flesh and blood. No, it's a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands (2 Corinthians 5:1).
In my tent, I groan and am heavy burdened. Burdened with care, diabetes, tears, and groaning. Oh, I have joy too. But, I long for my "I" to be clothed with my heavenly dwelling. It won't be long either. Every day brings me closer.
My tent shall be folded away and replaced by my resurrection body. Compared to what’s coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and I'm tired of it! I've been given a glimpse of the real thing, my true home, my resurrection body! The Spirit of God whets my appetite by giving me a taste of what’s ahead. He puts a little of heaven in my heart so that I'll never settle for less (2 Corinthians 5:1-5 MSG). What a great hope this is! A sure hope! This is not a hope like I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand!
The hope I have when that time comes to fold up my tent is that I will be immediately clothed with my heavenly, spiritual body. Immediately. No waiting. In the twinkling of an eye. I will be changed, transformed, be given a new body fit to dwell in heaven. In other words, to be absent from my body is to be present with the Lord. Present with Him. Forever. (2 Corinthians 5:8).
It's not my spirit that will be folded up. It's not my soul that will be folded up. My "I," my tent, will be folded up. My "I" is my spirit, soul, and body. And my "I" will be clothed with my new spiritual body, my building not made with human hands!
When my tent is folded up, my soul doesn't leave my body and float around waiting for my decayed body lying in the grave to join it when Jesus returns. My spirit will not unite with the body returned to dust and then clothed with an eternal spiritual body. NO! NO! A thousand times NO. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. All of me. Soul and spirit, my essential "I," will live, be clothed in my eternal spiritual body!
Were those the spirits of Elijah and Moses that appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus? Were they souls that Peter saw and then wanted to build a tent for them to stay a while longer? NO! That was Elijah and Moses appearing in their spiritual bodies containing their spirit and soul, their essential self-hood. They were not ghosts floating around like some spirit. They were real people. Very real! Clothed in their spiritual bodies, their permanent homes. They stepped out of heaven and back into earth in their spiritual bodies. WOW!
My tent shall be folded away and replaced by my resurrection body. Compared to what’s coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and I'm tired of it! I've been given a glimpse of the real thing, my true home, my resurrection body! The Spirit of God whets my appetite by giving me a taste of what’s ahead. He puts a little of heaven in my heart so that I'll never settle for less (2 Corinthians 5:1-5 MSG). What a great hope this is! A sure hope! This is not a hope like I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand!
The hope I have when that time comes to fold up my tent is that I will be immediately clothed with my heavenly, spiritual body. Immediately. No waiting. In the twinkling of an eye. I will be changed, transformed, be given a new body fit to dwell in heaven. In other words, to be absent from my body is to be present with the Lord. Present with Him. Forever. (2 Corinthians 5:8).
It's not my spirit that will be folded up. It's not my soul that will be folded up. My "I," my tent, will be folded up. My "I" is my spirit, soul, and body. And my "I" will be clothed with my new spiritual body, my building not made with human hands!
When my tent is folded up, my soul doesn't leave my body and float around waiting for my decayed body lying in the grave to join it when Jesus returns. My spirit will not unite with the body returned to dust and then clothed with an eternal spiritual body. NO! NO! A thousand times NO. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. All of me. Soul and spirit, my essential "I," will live, be clothed in my eternal spiritual body!
Were those the spirits of Elijah and Moses that appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus? Were they souls that Peter saw and then wanted to build a tent for them to stay a while longer? NO! That was Elijah and Moses appearing in their spiritual bodies containing their spirit and soul, their essential self-hood. They were not ghosts floating around like some spirit. They were real people. Very real! Clothed in their spiritual bodies, their permanent homes. They stepped out of heaven and back into earth in their spiritual bodies. WOW!
How about Jesus? Was that the spirit of Jesus they saw after His resurrection? Was he floating around in a disembodied state? No! That was His body they saw and all who He is was contained in that resurrected body. His resurrected body contained Jesus' essential self-hood.
I am not divided. I am a soul. I am a body. I am a spirit. Three in one. A whole. A unity. All of me, not parts of me, will become, transformed into a spiritual body and be like Jesus in His spiritual body (1 John 3:2) containing my soul and spirit in it.
Who am I? I am a tent but not for long! It won't be long when I am clothed in my heavenly dwelling, my spiritual body. I won't have tear ducts in my spiritual body to make tears. There's no sorrow there. So tear ducts will not be needed!
I won't have diabetes either. There's no sickness there! My spiritual body will be whole, well, and complete forever.
My spiritual body will be pain free too. Emotional and spiritual pain will be gone forever!
In my tent body, I face certain death. I won't get out of here alive. It will be folded up. But, in my new building, my new spiritual body, I live forever! And, I will live in a place of joy and rejoicing forever around God's throne worshiping Jesus fellowshipping with the saints, beloved family, and friends who have gone before me. Plus, I will wait for my loved ones who will soon be folding up their tents too.
How can I be sure of all this? The Holy Spirit made a down payment to hold my future heavenly home - my building, my spiritual body not made with human hands. The Holy Spirit lives in my tent along with my "I." A down payment assures the seller that the buyer will indeed buy the property. The Holy Spirit's down payment on my future dwelling, my heavenly house, my spiritual body assures me that I will take full possession of the place prepared for me! A place where all of me, my spirit and soul, live forever.
All of my dreams fulfilled. All of my hopes realized. My joy complete. To see Jesus face-to-face. I'm looking forward to folding my tent. I will bless the Lord now and forever.
Who am I? I am a tent but not for long!
Video: "There Will Be a Day" by Jeremy Camp. Or, click this link.
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