2Corinthians 5: 1 – 10

September 16, 2022

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.

2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:

3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.

4 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.

5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.

6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:

7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

It takes a minute to understand this, “… the earnest of the Spirit.” What is the ‘earnest’ of the Spirit? It is like the earnest money you pay as you begin the process of buying a house. It means you are serious about your intent and that you will move along the process to the finish – the purchase of the house. The Holy Spirit, in this verse, is God giving us the ‘earnest money’ to help us complete our process of attaining heaven and eternal life with the Godhead.

You see? God gives us everything we need for our journey to Him. Jesus brings us to the Father and Holy Spirit is our earnest that we will do all we can – in our broken and fallen way – to be as God intended us to be.

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