Women's Bible Study: The trade in

Thursday, April 1, 2021

The trade in

There are very few things that have guarantees . . . but this is one of them! We have a guarantee of life after death - eternal life with Christ - and a new resurrection body! We will trade in the tent for an overcoat! But how can we be sure, you may ask?

Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. (II Corinthians 5:5)

Having just recently assisted in the sale of some property, the word "deposit" or "earnest money" is a familiar one to me. Perhaps you, too, have experience with this . . . a person chooses a piece of property, and is absolutely in love with it. Gotta have it. So, they provide the seller with a deposit. Some call it earnest money: the person is truly "in earnest" about wanting to purchase. The deposit means that they are really, truly sure that they want to buy. It's a guarantee of sorts, that this person will come back and finish the paperwork and complete the sale.

Paul is telling us that God Himself has guaranteed our future resurrection. He says this is our purpose! There is more to life than just what we experience here on earth! Is this all there is? NO WAY! We were made for a purpose. We were made for more than what we see when we look around us here. There's a new life in our future. There's a new body in our future. God called us to be His children; He saved us to be His children. We are saved by an eternal love that will not let us slip through His fingers.

We have been saved for a purpose:

He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, (II Timothy 1:9)

We are being saved.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (I Corinthians 1:18)

We will be saved.

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! (Romans 5:9)

God raised His own Son from the grave, and He gave us the Holy Spirit as the deposit, or down payment. Just like in the transactions we mentioned earlier, the deposit is a sum that is legally binding. It binds you legally to pay the full amount later. The Holy Spirit Who indwells us is God's "down payment" on our future resurrection. It's as if God "signed on the dotted line" and said, "I will raise from the dead anyone who trusts in my Son."

It's as good as done:

And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. (Romans 13:11)

It's going to happen.

When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:13b-14)

It's our ultimate hope. It's not a hazy view of heaven where we slowly fan our wings and look past our toes, over the edge of the cloud, to see what's going on "down there." We are looking. We are anticipating. The Lord will return and the dead in Christ will rise!

We can bet our lives on it. Life is, after all, a series of battles for all of us. In the very last battle, the final struggle with death, there is victory for the children of God. Death won't have the last word. Why? Because Jesus has conquered the grave.

Because He rose, we too shall rise.

God has promised it.