1 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 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven,
3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked.
4 For 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.
This passage, and others in the Scriptures, can remind us that this world - thank the Lord! - is not all there is. We have the promise of spending eternity with our Lord in heaven. We can know where we will go when we die and leave this earth - for the Christian, we can have the assurance that we will be with Jesus. For the unbeliever, for the one who dies without Christ, that person will be in a place of eternal punishment - without God, forever. Thankfully, God has given us the choice...accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and we have eternal life with Him - and abundant life here on this earth!
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23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
24 He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.
There is a story out of Kentucky that has certainly raised some eyebrows because of a photo that has been circulating.
A motorcycle crash took place last Tuesday afternoon near Stanton, according to LEX18 Television, which reported that the only person involved was the motorcycle rider, who was taken to a hospital, where he died.
Saul Vazquez took a photo at the scene. The photo is said to show the image or outline of a man above the man's body. Vazquez posted the photo on Facebook from the cab of his truck, and it was shared over 16,000 times in just 10 hours.
The television station reports that lots of people are drawing their own conclusions about the photo, but "either way it's causing a huge conversation on social media." Vazquez says the photo has not been altered. As CNN reported, "many commenters" said the photo shows the dead man's spirit leaving his body.
Who knows? And, I am not in a position to comment on the legitimacy of the photo. But, it does give us an opportunity to pause and process the occasion Biblically.
I think the phrasing of the CNN statement is interesting - that the picture shows the man's "spirit" leaving his "body." I have long subscribed to the view that we are a three-part being - we have a spirit; that is our real self, who we really are, the part of us that is attuned to the Holy Spirit, through Whom we walk in the Spirit, as Galatians 5 instructs us.
We also have a soul, which is thought to contain the mind, will and emotions - through our soulish realm, we make choices whether or not to follow the direction of the spirit. We choose, we experience, we process information, we think - all in the world of the human soul. And, our spirits and souls have a container - our body, which we have here on earth, but which the Bible teaches is temporary; for we will gain a new body, a glorified body, when we are united with Christ in heaven.
So, whether or not the picture is legit or is interpreted by human imagination, the thought of a spirit departing a body is certainly a Scriptural concept. 2nd Corinthians teaches that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. So what happens after we die? Our spirit is no longer resident in this world, we are transferred to another one, into heaven to be with our Lord.
We can be challenged to think about a supernatural realm that is beyond, and in actuality, as it's been said, more real than the world in which we live. We have to be convinced that: life on earth is not all there is, and that there is an eternal destination that we all have. And, we have the opportunity to choose where we will spend eternity and with Whom.
Finally, I think we can realize that the supernatural is very real. We can know that the Holy Spirit is with us, and We can identify the operation of the Spirit of God as He works all around us. There are angels, ministering spirits, who go with us. There is also a devil and his associates who attempt to thwart the work of God, who will tempt us and attack us. We fight them using spiritual weapons, energized by the power of God, as we are clothed in the armor of God. This is very real, and we can seek supernatural explanations to natural occurrences.
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