We are hearing from a man under the Spirit’s superintendence who was at one time walking in a direction of destroying the church, who was stopped in his tracks and had revealed to him a new future, and had reconstructed in him all his fears. He was one who came to know his future by the gospel, by his groans, and by a guarantee all that would change his fears to construct a life of faith and glory in Christ Jesus.

The Apostles’ Future Revealed Through the Grace of Knowing

The apostle was given the grace of knowing the gospel which prepared him to face a future death with good courage.

He says,

“for we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (v.1).

The clause of words here is a hypothetically likely condition, meaning he sees in the future of his life that death is unavoidable. He uses the strongest of terms to describe it—destroyed! He describes death in terms of a temporary dwelling, a tent, coming to an end.

Jesus spoke of the Temple with the same language that the apostle uses here. His accusers used it against him saying,

“We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.’” (Mark 14:58 ESV)

When the apostle spoke of dying, he spoke in the .same terms that Jesus spoke about the destruction of a temporary temple to a permanent one built by Jesus Himself. When he did this, he was saying that the worst that can happen to man is at best—a movement to a permanent dwelling.

Besides this, the apostle was given the grace of knowing the glory to make him face death with good courage. He says,

“For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life” (vv.2–4)

It may at first appear that the groans are those who are being sick of the world, but that is not likely what is in view here. Paul uses the same analogy in another place to speak of the groans being birth groans giving forth birth to a new world (cf. Romans 8:18–25).

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” (Romans 8:18–25 ESV)

Paul speaks also of the mortal being swallowed up by life (v.4). The apostle is then not speaking of groans that are a result of the world swallowing up believers, but of the life of the kingdom of God swallowing up the world! This is said also in 1 Corinthians 15,

“For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?””(1 Corinthians 15:53–55 ESV)

So, the believer never experiences what the world fears will happen at death—fear of the unknown. The godly have graciously revealed to them that a permanent house exists for them. They don’t face the fear of going somewhere unknown, they have the faith that they are going to be with the Lord.

How is all this possible? It is brought about by the grace of knowing the Holy Spirit. He says,

“He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee” (v.5).

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, the one God in three persons. He is the Helper promised by God to come when Jesus arrived at the right hand of God the Father on high. The Holy Spirit reveals the gospel and induces the groans of childbirth in us for the next world. He is said to be “a guarantee.” This means that the Holy Spirit is the One who brings about these things for an ultimate and sure end. A pledge is giving something that will cover the entire cost if what was borrowed is not returned. A guarantee is also called an earnest, which is a downpayment guaranteeing delivery of all that is promised.

Do you have the grace of knowing the gospel? Do you have the groans of increasingly knowing God? Then it is only a result of the Spirit of God leading you to don’t face a flimsy unknown, rather a glorious permanence. The Kingdom of God is going to swallow up the kingdoms of this world. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:25–26,

“he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

So, Paul graciously knew that death would come until the reign of Christ came to an end. Death is inevitable until then, but it never conquers the believer, and Paul has the grace of knowing that because of the gospel and the groans brought about by the Holy Spirit.

The Apostle’s Fears Reconstructed Through the Grace of Knowing

Paul moves then from doctrine to application in vv.6–10. He takes the world’s fear of death and reconstructs it as a believer. We may call it reconstructed fear. Fear is reconstructed by the grace of knowing in two ways: (1) we walk by faith, not by sight; (2) we make it our aim to please him.

First, fears are reconstructed as our lives are now “always” defined in relation to where our captain the Lord Jesus Christ is. He says,

“So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord…Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from teh body and at home with the Lord” (vv.6, 8).

The word “always” points us back to 2:14–17 where the apostle says,

“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.”

In between verses 6 and 8, the apostle says “for we walk by faith, not by sight.” So, a life lived by faith is one that is always determining where he is at in life by how close he is to his Lord and captain Jesus Christ. This type of living was done from Abel to the present day. Moses asked to see more of God’s glory, and in doing so was simply asking to know God more. When the presence of God moved, Moses went out to where he could meet with God. Walking by faith and not by sight is on a constant journey of closeness with God. This comes from the grace of knowing and having our fears reconstructed. When our fears are worldly we fear everything from man to death, but when our fears are reconstructed, we are not willing to stay even in the palace of Pharaoh if it means not being with God and God’s people.

Second, our fears are reconstructed as our lives demonstrate our love for Christ based on who he is. The apostle says, “we make it our aim to please him” (v.9), regardless of being at home or away from Jesus. Our conduct gives us assurance that we will not face anything the world fears about death. The believer does not have to fear death because Jesus died for him, but the believer fears displeasing God because Jesus lives in him. Fear is thus reconstructed Godward. The grace of knowing then results in reconstructing our fears. He reconstructs our fears to always define our lives based on where he is and to always demonstrate our love based on who he is—creator, redeemer, Lord, and judge—to name just a few things.

The difference may be described and summed up in this—How do you know the Lord? Do you know him in the manner that Paul knew him? Or do you simply know the matter of facts about him? The demons believe and tremble. They know that God is one. They have the right doctrine, but they do not know Jesus in the manner that Paul knew him. Do you know the Lord Jesus this way? Do you know him by grace? Do you have the grace of knowing the gospel, the groans toward God, all by the guarantee of God the Holy Spirit?

There is a gravity to this grace. Years ago, my wife Sherry and I were on a road where a car crossed the center lane and was headed right for us. He was within inches of us, no stopping, and we know not how we were put on the side of the road in one piece and the car that headed our way gone except the grace of God. And when I share such a story, I know the thought to some is, ok with little gravity. But for us, we knew something of grace there. We had there the grace of knowing what it meant to be spared from death. Our fears would soon be reconstructed around where God was and where his people were. Our fears would be reconstructed around what demonstrated our love to God. It was not because of a car experience, but because of a Christian experience soon after. But there are moments in life that we can look at and see God’s grace, and the only way we know it personally and truly is through something called the grace of knowing.

So then how do we live? Do we live trying to do more so we can pass the judgment? No. We go on living with the fear of God because he has made us see what we are in completion by grace not what we are by limitation due to sin. Paul said elsewhere,

“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:29–30).

That is the grace of knowing. It is knowing because you have received the grace of God in Christ Jesus that you walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit free from condemnation. Receive that grace. Keep receiving that grace, and know the Lord, where he is, and who he is increasingly and forever. Thanks be to God for Jesus Christ!1