This is Epistles of Paul class. We are all the way to 2 Corinthians 5. That's where we'll pick it up in today's class. So if you want to make your way over to 2 Corinthians 5, Paul begins by talking about this life that we live, this physical life. And as he begins, he makes this connection. He's already compared us in Chapter 4 to clay pots. Remember that comparison that he made? Well, this time he turns it around a little bit, and he says, "We are an earthly house or a tent." Notice what he says in 2 Corinthians 5:1.

2 Corinthians 5:1 He says, "We know that if our earthly house, this tent is destroyed." Well, what's he comparing that to? Well, this tent, this house is our body, this physical life we're living. He says, "If that's destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

So Paul's looking forward to this physical body becoming spirit. And he talks about that very thing, and he compares it using this metaphor of a tent. A tent, this is the word skene is the base word here. It's, S-K-E-N-E, skene. Oftentimes, translated a tabernacle or a tent, the same base word you might find all the way at the end of Revelation where God is going to make His tent, His dwelling with us, the tabernacle with us, same base word that's used throughout those different examples. So even though we have this tent... Well, how lasting is a tent? Hopefully, it'll last through your camping trip, but is it going to last for years and years on end? No, that's why he compares that to a building, that God is giving us a building, something that's going to be solid. And he uses that example. So making this point, our physical life, this existence is kind of fragile. It's not going to last. It's temporary. It's lowly.

And then he compares that to this building from God that's not physical. And he uses that to show how solid eternal life will be, that it's secure, not like a tent that can get blown over in the wind. He's telling you this is something that's permanent. And so he begins to make that comparison, that that's what we as believers, that's what the Corinthians should really look forward to, ready to exchange this physical body for the permanence of eternal life in the Kingdom of God. And so he makes this very point.

2 Corinthians 5:2 He says, "In this, we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation, which is from heaven."

And so that's what we're looking forward to. That should frame our thinking. In fact, if you hold your place here, turn with me over to Philippians 3. In Philippians 3, he again makes this point of what we really should be looking forward to, that this physical life is just temporary. It's not lasting. Don't get focused on the things of right now during this physical existence, instead recognize the permanence that's coming in eternity through the gift of God. Philippians 3, let's pick it up in verse 20. In verse 20.

Philippians 3:20-21 He says, "Our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body," there's that temporary existence he's talking about, "that this lowly body may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able to even subdue all things to Himself."

And so here he emphasizes that very point that he made in 2 Corinthians 5, that we're looking forward to a rock-solid spiritual body given to us by God. And so he emphasizes that very point. And where is it at the moment? Well, we're waiting for it to come from heaven. Our citizenship right now is in heaven. Doesn't mean we're going to heaven, no. Right now, we're temporary dwellers on this earth.

Sometimes Bible connects that with other metaphors. We're sojourners. We're strangers, where this world isn't going to last, so this is temporary. Kind of reminds you of the example of ancient Israel. What did they dwell in? Well, as they're sojourners going through the wilderness, they dwelt in tents, in tabernacles. And that was a representation of what we're all about. Right now, we're like sojourners traveling through the wilderness of this physical world. And what are we looking forward to? The promised land. That's what the Israelites were looking forward to, permanent dwelling. Well, we're looking forward to it in the spiritual plane, that temporary physical existence is not what it's all about. It's looking forward to the Kingdom of God, being spirit beings in His family forever. That's the rock-solid plan of God. We're looking forward to that building, not just a temporary tent. And so we look forward to that. Paul oftentimes wrote about this.

A good example of this is also found over in 2 Timothy. As Paul talks to Timothy in this particular letter, he looks forward to that time. He knows this physical life is going to come to an end. It does for all of us. And so as Paul writes about this, notice how he frames it as he writes to Timothy in chapter 4. This is 2 Timothy 4. Notice verse 7. Paul is looking to the end of his life, this physical life.

2 Timothy 4:7-8 And he says, "I've fought the good fight. I've finished the race. I've kept the faith. Now," he says in verse 8, "finally there's laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge will give to me on that day, and not to me only, but also all who have loved His appearing."

And so Paul's looking forward to that time when he will be given eternal life, given that rock-solid house that he talked about in 2 Corinthians. And he says that's not just for him, but for all. And when is it going to happen? He gives the time frame. When Christ returns, at the time of the resurrection. And so he says, "At the moment," he says, "that's kind of being held in heaven."

If we make our way back to 2 Corinthians, let's notice that and make sure we don't get confused by the way he's written this, when he says, "This habitation, which is from heaven." He says that in verse 2, "It's from heaven." So where does this eternal existence, where does it originate from? Well, God the Father and Jesus Christ, they are in heaven right now. Christ is going to return where? To earth. He's coming to earth. And so He will bring that life as He resurrects us with Him. And so here we recognize that very thing that we're looking forward to that. Paul says, "We're groaning earnestly. That's really what we can't wait for." And this is an existence that is not made with hands. He says, "We're looking forward to that habitation." You notice in verse 2, that habitation word is the word for dwelling. That's the real dwelling place we can't wait for. Literally, an immortal body, not just a temporary physical existence, not like a tent. We want a building.

2 Corinthians 5:3 And so he says, "If indeed," verse 3, "having been clothed, we shall not be found naked."

Kind of another aspect of that metaphor. Physical is going to wear out. It's corrupt. It's going away. We're going to die. But the eternal, that gift from God, eternal life, is not going to wear out. So he's comparing it here to being clothed or being naked. This physical life is more like the naked side of things. And we want this clothing, this building, this immortal body from God. Also in the sense that, think about that time when Christ returns, we don't want to be found naked. Don't want to be found... Well, what else could that be pointing to? Not just the fact that this temporary life, physical life doesn't last. Okay, we get that. What should we be concerned about? Well, when he says, "Having been clothed, not found naked when Christ returns, if we're naked, what's the problem?" Our spiritual state. Are we naked spiritually speaking? We don't want to be found spiritually naked because if that's the case, we're not going to be in that resurrection. And so he emphasizes that point. We better put on the character of Jesus Christ. We better be allowing Him to live in us and through us, or we could be found spiritually naked.

Now, if you hold your place here, it is also referred to in the letters to the churches all the way back in the book of Revelation. If you go to Revelation, we find those letters in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 of Revelation. Interesting, when we look at the letter found here as we look at the letter to the Laodiceans in verse 14.

Revelation 3:14 "'To the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write this.'"

Well, one of the things that they're told is in verse 18.

Revelation 3:18 "'I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich, and white garments and that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed, and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.'"

So here he's using that same metaphor of being clothed or being naked. And what's it referring to? Spirituality, our character. Are we putting on the character of Christ? Do we have white garments? Do we have the righteousness that comes from God? That's the kind of clothing that we're supposed to have. And so he says, "Yes, that's what we need to do. We need to have that kind of character." And so he emphasizes that.

And the fact is once we're clothed with glorified spiritual bodies, yeah, we can't be naked any longer. You know, we will be clothed. And so in that sense, he's talking about in 2 Corinthians 5 and here in Revelation, to be naked would be to die and not have been given a spirit body. And so he contrasts those two things. So head back to 2 Corinthians 5, and he continues on with this metaphor of building eternal life or a tent, this physical body, this physical existence. And so he continues on with that in verse 4. Let's pick it up there.

2 Corinthians 5:4 Here he says, "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."

Yeah, that's what we're looking forward to. Remember reading about that in 1 Corinthians 15, where it talked about the resurrection. We're looking forward to that time of the resurrection where we will ultimately be further clothed. You see, we've already been putting on, hopefully, the character of Christ.

Hopefully, we've been putting on righteousness. But are we perfect? I mean, we're not there yet. And so we have to be further clothed. That's what he's talking about here. Get rid of this mortality, this temporary existence and put on real life, real life. And when does that happen? At the resurrection. You can just make a note of 1 Corinthians 15:50. It talks about that very fact. That's when that will happen. That's when mortality will be swallowed up by life. We also studied that back in 1 Thessalonians 4, that at the return of Christ, that's when we will be changed. We will be changed at that time. And so we look forward to that, and we need to be preparing for that. He says in verse 5 then.

2 Corinthians 5:5 "Now, he who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has also given us the Spirit as a guarantee."

So there you have a little bit of that idea of we want to be further clothed. We have God's Spirit. And so we have Jesus Christ living in us. We have to be submitting to God's Spirit. We have to be responding to God's Spirit, allowing our lives and our hearts and our minds to be guided by the Spirit.

So He's given us and He has prepared us for success. You could say He's prepared us for eternal life. He's prepared us for this very thing. That's what God wants. Is God on our side? Absolutely. Does God want us to succeed? No doubt. Does He want us to come to repentance? Absolutely, He does. Of course, He does. He's prepared us for His Kingdom. And so He certainly reminds us of that very thing, telling us, "You know, you've got a guarantee." We've talked about this idea of the guarantee before. We have that earnest of the Spirit. In fact, if you just kind of hold your place here and turn back just a couple pages, 2 Corinthians 1, when we began studying 2 Corinthians 1:22, he reminded us there.

2 Corinthians 1:22 He says, "He sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee," or literally a down payment.

We've got the earnest money. We've got the Spirit given to us now that reminds us the full payment of being transformed into Spirit beings in the family of God is coming. God's promised that. In fact, if we turn back to another passage that is a great reminder of this fact, is over in Ephesians. Take a look at the very beginning of Paul's letter to God's church in Ephesus. Ephesians 1, notice verse 13, reminds us of the same fact. Ephesians 1:13, God's given us the guarantee, the earnest of His Spirit, the down payment on eternal life. We're reminded of that here in Ephesians 1:13.

Ephesians 1:13-14 He says, "In Him, you also trusted after you heard the Word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise." So God's promised to make the full payment, and He says, "That is the guarantee," verse 14, "of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchase possession to the praise of His glory."

And so we have the down payment of eternal life. When is the purchase made? We talked about it's kind of like buying a car. You put the down payment down or you're in a rented apartment, you put your down payment down and when you move in, you take possession.

When Christ returns, He's going to take possession of us until the redemption of the purchase possession, until that time of redemption, until the resurrection, until what he wrote about in 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians 4. Yeah, we have the guarantee, the down payment until that time, the time of the resurrection. And so we can look forward to that very, very thing. And so what an amazing blessing. We've got the guarantee. And so we can, in a sense, take that to the bank. We can take that to the bank. And so head back to 2 Corinthians 5 because that particular passage there in verse 5 also, I think, has another powerful point that it makes there.

2 Corinthians 5:5 He says, "Not only has He given us the Spirit as a guarantee," notice what else he says here, "He's prepared for us this very thing. He's prepared the Kingdom for us. He's prepared for us to be children in His divine family."

If you look at what it tells us here in Matthew 25, notice what Christ Himself preached and taught. Matthew 25, here Christ Himself emphasized this in verse 34. Take a look at verse 34. Here He's been giving an example of what will happen when Christ returns. So in Matthew 25, notice verse 34.

Matthew 25:34 It says, "'The King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.'"

This is something God's been preparing for. This isn't just some happenstance, some accident, or anything like that. God has prepared the Kingdom, and He wants us to succeed. So He says, "Come, inherit the Kingdom that's been prepared for you." God's been purposing this all along.

And so over and over again, Christ reminds us of that very fact. Said a little bit differently in Hebrews 11. Let's notice a little bit different way it's framed in Hebrews 11, but talking about this same aspect of God preparing for this amazing blessing of being a part of His family forever. Hebrews 11:16 puts it a little bit differently, but still talking about this same thing. After talking about all these faithful individuals that Hebrews 11 speaks of.

Hebrews 11:16 "Now, they desire a better that is a heavenly country." They're looking forward to, in other words, the Kingdom. "Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them."

So here the Kingdom of God is compared to a city that God has prepared. So God has been planning this, purposing it for a long time. And so He's looking forward to that time when we can be a part of that city, a part of that habitation, a part of that building. All of those are different metaphors that are all pointing to the same thing, the Kingdom of God and eternal life in that Kingdom.

And so Paul really emphasizes this to the Corinthians because they've had their challenges, they've had their difficulties. And so oftentimes, what were they focused on? They were focused on the here and now. They were focused on their petty little differences and disagreements and divisions among themselves. And here Paul's trying to help them to reset their focus. So as we go back to 2 Corinthians, notice how he continues to emphasize the proper vision, the proper eyesight that we need to have, that we've got to take our view from the physical and start to recognize the spiritual side of things. Well, if we went back to 2 Corinthians 5:5, he tells us, "All right, we've been given the Spirit as a guarantee." God has prepared us for success, which is an awesome thing. So what does he say about that? If that's the case, God gives us a guarantee. He's given us a down payment. He's given us something that He's prepared. He's preparing this for us. He's prepared us for success so that we can be a part of His family forever. What should that do to our perspective?

2 Corinthians 5:6 Well, verse 6, He says, "So we are always confident."

That should be our perspective. We should have a confidence, an assurance that knowing while we're home in the body, we're absent from the Lord. We can have a confidence that God can't wait to give us the Kingdom. That's God's perspective. He wants us to succeed. He wants us to overcome. And so he says, "All right, we're looking forward to that very fact. But right now, well, we're not there. Right now, we're still in this physical body." And Paul is in a way saying, "I can't wait to be changed. I can't wait to put on eternal life, that when Christ returns, God will give us the gift of eternal life." And so that's going to happen at the return of Christ. And so he says, "Well, while I'm still in the flesh, I'm not there yet. I'm not there yet. Yes, I'm still in this tent. But boy, am I looking forward to that house that God will give us." And of course, if God's preparing this place for us, has He promised? Has He promised us anything? I think He absolutely has.

A passage that just came to mind, I think it's over in the book of James. Let me see if I can find it. No, no, no. Where is it? Oh, it's in the gospels. That's where it is. If you hold your place here in 2 Corinthians, I'm sure it's in the book of John where he expresses a similar kind of a thought. When you put this idea of preparation and this idea of this temporary existence that we have right now, thinking of this passage that's over in John 14, Christ Himself is teaching here.

John 14:1-2 And He says, "Don't be troubled. Don't be troubled in this life." He says, "You believe in God, believe also in me." Very beginning of John 14, He says, "In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you."

And so here we have this metaphor of a house being prepared that has many rooms, many mansions that we should want a room in that rock solid spiritual house. What's He doing? He's preparing this place for us. So we have that idea of preparation once again. And He says then in verse 3.

John 14:3 "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also."

And so he emphasizes that very fact here, that when Christ returns, we will be changed from mortal to immortal, from flesh to spirit. 1 Corinthians 15, certainly, reminds us of that very thing. And, of course, we recognize that's not going to heaven, Christ is going to return to earth. We know Scripture like Zechariah 14:4 will remind us of that. Christ is going to return to earth. 1 Thessalonians 4 reminds us of that very fact as well. We'll meet Him in the air, escort Him back to this earth. And so we recognize that very fact. And so here's Paul reminding us, that's what He's longing for. He's looking forward to that time. And as long as we're in the flesh, we're still looking forward to that time of the return of Christ and that change that will come.

So as we go back to 2 Corinthians 5, we realize God has prepared us for eternal life. He's prepared a place in the Kingdom for us. He's prepared a place in His family for us. He wants us to be sons and daughters in His Kingdom. That's what He's prepared for us. And so we've been given the down payment to that now. And so we're looking forward to that. And he says, "We should be confident that that's the case." We can be confident that is God's plan and His purpose. So then the question is, should that impact the way we live our life now? Well, it better. It better impact the way we live. And so what does he say about that? Well, if you're back in 2 Corinthians, look at verse 7. How should it impact us?

2 Corinthians 5:7 He says, "We walk by faith, not by sight."

That's the impact it should have on us. It should impact our total perspective in the way that we walk. But what about this walking? It's not just talking about taking a stroll. That walk is referring to our way of life, the way we live our life. And so he uses this idea of walking in a metaphorical sense. This is the way we conduct our life. This is our lifestyle. This is the way we choose to live. This walk, this lifestyle that we choose is to walk by faith. You see, all too often, and as he's really taking the Corinthians to task, all too often we build our lives around things that don't last, things that are temporary. That's why he's been contrasting what's solid, what's eternal versus what's temporary, what's corruptible, what's not going to last. So he's been going back and forth, looking at these things. And he says, "Listen, don't pursue the things that the world pursues. Don't go after the things that aren't going to be lasting. That's what the world does." You see, He's saying, "Focus on the things that aren't seen."

You see, this world focuses on the temporary. They focus on what they can get, what they can have. But is any of that going to last? You see, Paul's making the point, no, that will not last. That cannot last. It's a temporary thing. And so he says, "Walk by faith." You walk by faith, what does that mean? What does it mean to walk by faith? That means you're going to live life recognizing there are eternal consequences. There are eternal consequences. That means I better fear God more than I worry about what man thinks about me, what people think about me. That means I'm going to obey the Word of God. I'm going to obey the Bible even when it comes into conflict with what men may tell us, what men may want, what men command us to do. No, I'm going to obey God instead. That's walking by faith. That means I'm going to choose righteousness over sinful behavior. That's walking by faith.

Walking by faith means I'm going to follow God no matter what the cost may be, no matter what the consequences in this life may be. I'm going to follow God. And that means walking by faith is trusting Him, having confidence in Him, no matter what the circumstance may be. In every situation, I'm going to trust God. I'm going to rely on Him. And I'm going to recognize God's promised. God's promised to be with me. He's promised to never leave me or forsake me. He's promised not to try me more than I'm able. He's promised those very things. In fact, He's promised there are rewards for following Him as well. No matter what anyone else may say, there are certainly blessings that follow. And God's promised that very thing. And that's walking by faith, not by sight.

Look out for what these temporary physical things that get in the way may bring. He says, "Don't get caught up in that, but see beyond. See beyond the temporary. See beyond the physical. See beyond those things that don't last to the reality of the things that will last, eternal things." In fact, he reminds us, yes, God is a rewarder of those who seek Him. I think back once again to Hebrews 11. Should have had your hold your place there when we were back there, but this one just came to mind. In Hebrews 11, once again, the faith chapter, notice the reminder that he gives us here as well. Hebrews 11, thinking of verse 6. In verse 6.

Hebrews 11:6 He says, "Without faith it's impossible to please Him, for He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."

And that last part is the part that I was thinking of. Yeah, He rewards those who diligently seek Him. God will absolutely do that. And that's a way that requires faith. That's a way that requires confidence in the things that we cannot see, in the things we cannot touch, in the things that we cannot hear. Those are spiritual things, and we have to live by faith.

And that goes against our natural inclination. It goes against our human nature. It goes against everything physical in that regard. And when we choose to live by what God reveals to us rather than trusting our senses, then that takes us to a whole other level, that we trust God, that we have confidence not in ourselves, but we have confidence in God. We have confidence in His promises. We have confidence in what He has said to us, and we know what He promised is true and will come about. And so he says, "That's why it's impossible to please God without trusting Him, without having confidence in Him." That we can trust in Him, and that He will absolutely be a rewarder of those who continue to seek Him. And that's what he emphasized back there in 2 Corinthians.

In fact, that reminds me that He tells us this everywhere throughout the Bible. The passage that came to my mind is one that's over there in the Proverbs. It's right near the beginning of the Proverbs. Let's see if I can pick it up here as it came to mind. Yeah, it's in Chapter 3, Proverbs 3:5. You know this passage. Maybe we haven't put it to memory, but you'll know it. You recognize it.

Proverbs 3:5 It says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding."

And I think that speaks to this difference, this comparison that he makes between looking at things spiritually and looking at things physically. Don't trust your eyesight. Don't trust the temporary. Don't trust in the things that don't last. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. That's what really counts. Trust in His promises. Don't lean to your own perspective. Don't lean to your own physical eyesight. See beyond the temporary. Look to the spiritual.

That's what he's all about when he says, "We walk by faith, not by sight." Let's put on those spiritual glasses so we can have that kind of vision and see things the way that God wants us to see them. And so he emphasizes that very point. And so that's what we should be about. That's how we should walk. That's how we should order our lifestyle. And, of course, we recognize that very fact. So as we go back to 2 Corinthians, notice in chapter 5 once again, that confidence of walking by faith, not by sight. He once again then says in verse 8.

2 Corinthians 5:8 "We are confident."

We are confident. So we don't have to be shaky. We don't have to think about what ifs or will God really do the things that He says. No, God cannot lie. And so He's prepared us for the Kingdom. He wants us in the Kingdom. We can always be confident as it says in verse 6. We can walk by faith because God's going to be there with us. He's given us the Spirit as a guarantee so that we can have faithful spiritual eyesight.

2 Corinthians 5:8 And so he says, "Yes, we're confident." He says, "Well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord."

And so there's the ultimate perspective that even if we lose our physical life, we can be confident in the fact we'll be present with the Lord, that we'll be there at the resurrection. And so he makes this point that we have to be following that kind of eyesight. And so in verse 9.

2 Corinthians 5:9 He says, "Therefore, we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him."

And I think that's a valuable point that Paul makes here. Okay, he's not saying we can earn eternal life. We can't. We can't earn eternal life. There's nothing we can do that will make God give us eternal life because we're sinners and we fall short of the glory of God. We have to be given eternal life. We know that the gift of God is eternal life. And so by the grace of God, He gives us eternal life.

Now, once that's happened, there are rewards. And so even though we can't earn eternal life, God has to give it to us. We are given rewards based on what we do, based on our works. And so Paul says this very thing, we make it our aim to be well pleasing to Him. All the way back in the book of Revelation, we have that point emphasized. If you follow me over to Revelation 22, we get to the very end of the book. If we get to the very end of the book, notice how it emphasizes that very same point. Revelation 22:12. In fact, if you've got a red-letter Bible, these words are probably in red pointing to the fact these are words that Christ was speaking. Christ is speaking these very words.

Revelation 22:12 "Behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me." Christ is coming. He will give us eternal life. That's the gift of God. But He also says, "My reward is with me." Well, what about the rewards? Well, He says, "To give to every one according to His work."

Now, that's not talking about eternal life. Eternal life is a gift that's given to us by the grace of God. God is a merciful God, and we need to be given eternal life. But this reward that Christ is talking about, that's based on our works. It's based on our actions. It's based on what we've done. And so He says, "My reward is with me to give to every one according to His work." And so the things that we do.

Revelation 22:14 And so He says, "Blessed are those who do His commandments that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates into the city."

So here we have that important difference between the gift of eternal life and the rewards that were given based on our actions, based on our works. And so an important differentiation there that Christ certainly makes for us. All right, if we head back to 2 Corinthians 5 once again, we do need to be well pleasing to Him.

And notice how he ties this together with what we just read in Revelation 22. Christ will return. He will return. And we will appear before Him. And in verse 10.

2 Corinthians 5:10-11 He says, "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what He's done, whether good or bad," kind of pointing to those rewards. He says, "Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are well known to God. And I also trust well known in your consciences."

And so here he says, "We will stand before Christ." In fact, interesting, he says, "It's the judgment seat of Christ." We all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Interesting word used here, the bema of Christ, the judgment seat. This particular word is the Greek word bema. It can mean a seat of judgment. It could point to where the judge in the courtroom sat. It can also refer to where someone was appearing to receive judgment, to receive the judgment of the court.

That bema word could also be used in that way. But that wasn't the only way this word was used. You know, this bema literally was a raised platform. And it was also used to point to that platform that the athletes in the game stood to receive their victory crowns. That was also the bema. And so it carries that connotation as well. So a place of judging can have a good connotation. You receive a victory crown, or it could also have a negative connotation, a judging. You are judged. There is judgment that's executed on you as you are in court. So you can see both sides of these things. And it's interesting when you begin to think about judgment and, in this sense, appearing before the judgment seat of Christ. Now is that something that only takes place at His return? Oftentimes, we have that perspective in our minds. So is that the time that we are before the judgment seat of Christ? No.

Now, if you hold your place here, go over to 1 Peter 4. 1 Peter 4 reminds us about the fact that we are before the judgment seat of Christ, not at His return, but right now. And so if you look at 1 Peter 4, notice verse 17.

1 Peter 4:17 It tells us here, "For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God. And if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?"

So in a sense, you could say we're standing before the judgment seat of Christ now. The Church is before the judgment seat now. It's not just something off into the future. Now, not everyone is there at this point. We'll talk about that a little bit more as we go on. But as we recognize this very fact, we realize that judgment is right now on the household of God, on the Church. The Church is the household of God, on us. That judgment is right now. So we all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

At the return of Christ, what are we looking forward to as His people, as His Church? Hopefully, then it's the victory crown. And hopefully, then, that's the bema that we'll be at, that we are judging and being judged now so that we're changing and we're repentant and we're standing justified before Him. You see, that's, hopefully, the process that's taking place right now so that as Paul said that "we're looking forward to that time when this mortality will be swallowed up by real life." That we've changed, and we've grown, and we're repentant before God, and He justifies us as we repent and we change. That's, hopefully, what we're looking forward to. And so it doesn't have to be a fearful thing to stand before God. You know, if we judge ourselves, hasn't He talked about the fact that it's going to be a different kind of judgment at that time?

And so a pretty powerful statement here. Yes, all of mankind will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and we are standing before Him, in a sense, right now as His people, as His church. And so the wonderful blessing is that when we see our faults, we see our weaknesses, we see our shortcomings, we see our sin, that we change, and we repent before God. And of course, what happens when we are repented before God? He removes our sin. And so if our sin is removed, and we are justified before Him, we are declared righteous before Him, what is the judge going to see? Righteousness. He'll see Christ's righteousness in us. And so that kind of changes the whole frame of when you think about the judgment seat of Christ, that as Christ judges, hopefully, He sees Himself in us. He sees that we are repentant before Him, that we are forgiven. And ultimately, that is the amazing blessing that certainly is the part of what I think Paul is really emphasizing here.

And so no wonder we can say, all right, we can be confident. We can be confident that ultimately we can always be confident because that's our frame of mind. We have this spiritual perspective and not just a physical perspective. And so some important points that he begins to emphasize here as we get to the middle of Chapter 5... We'll pick it up next time, and talk a little bit more about this idea of Christ judging and the impact of that. We'll talk a little bit more about just the fact that Christ Himself is the judge as well. So we'll pick it up there, next time, and we'll look forward to getting together then.