Sermonette for Saturday
Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me. 2 Peter 1:14
For a couple of months, a large tarp hid from public view the construction of a new cafe on Main Street. As work on the project continued, passers-by could only guess as to what the builders were doing behind that tarp. Some graffiti artists had even drawn some rough sketches of what they thought was behind that tarp, but nobody except the construction crew really knew. Then one day, the project owner announced a time for the unveiling ceremony. He and some local dignitaries gathered at the site, and, after some fancy words were said, the owner’s wife pulled a rope, and the tarp fell to the ground. There for all to see was a lovely structure that caused the audience to gasp and applaud. It far exceeded the guesses and expectations of those who had wondered what was being built. And it was certainly much better than the graffiti on the old tarp that had been hanging there. It was a bit like putting off the old tabernacle that Peter talks about in our text today.
Peter’s reference to a tabernacle, or tent, reminds us of the temporary nature of our bodies. You wouldn’t know they were temporary by the way that some women (and a few men, too) slather them with cosmetics, by the way that some would-be athletes put great efforts into building up muscle mass, by the way that many folks pour constant dollars into clothing and tattoos and jewellery. As Christians, we recognize that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and we are not to defile that temple (1 Corinthians 3:17). That is why we don’t drink or smoke or use illicit drugs, and why it is a sin for any Christian with a lactose or gluten intolerance to eat dairy or wheat products, because these do harm to the temple. But we need to be careful that we maintain a proper perspective on the temporary nature of our use of these bodies. For the unsaved, this life and their temporal bodies are all they have, and so are very important to them. But you and I are just wearing a temporary tabernacle that will soon be replaced with that which is eternal and glorious.
A brother-in-law once told me that if we knew what Heaven is like, we would all commit suicide to get there as quickly as possible. Maybe so. The Bible doesn’t go into much detail about Heaven in regard to such things as our bodies, our activities, our surroundings, and so on. But the apostle Paul understood something about it when he spoke of ‘having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better’ (Philippians 1:23). So if departing this world and entering the next is to Peter merely the shedding of the old tabernacle, and to Paul ‘far better’, it should not cause any dread or concern for you and me.
The word ‘shortly’ in our text is actually the word for suddenly. You and I are going to be changed, whether by death or by the Rapture, into that which is far more wonderful than we can imagine. – Jim MacIntosh