...we know that the
one who raised
the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present
us with you in his presence. All this is for your benefit, so
that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause
thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away,
yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and
momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far
outweighs them all.
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what
is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians
4:14-18
Our Heavenly Dwelling
Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a
building from God, an
eternal house in heaven, not built by human
hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our
heavenly
dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found
naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are
burdened,
because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our
heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by
life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and
has
given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to
come. Therefore we are always confident and know that as long
as
we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live
by
faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer
to
be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it
our
goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.
2 Corinthians 5:1-9
The Resurrection Body
But someone may ask, How are the dead raised? With what kind of body
will they come? How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless
it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just
a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body
as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.
All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have
another, birds another and fish another. There are also
heavenly
bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendour of the heavenly
bodies is one kind, and the splendour of the earthly bodies is another.
The sun has one kind of splendour, the moon another and the stars
another; and star differs from star in splendour. So will it be with
the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it
is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory;
it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a
natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural
body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: The first man
Adam became a living being; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The
spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the
spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man
from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of
the
earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of
heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so
shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.
1 Corinthians
15:35-49