For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. (2 Corinthians 5:1)
Remember this: Every time you attend a funeral or memorial service, you are merely viewing the physical remains of the deceased individual. You are seeing only the body, which is decaying, decomposing. You are not viewing the person—only the outer “shell.”
Regardless of how we refer to the remains—slumbering, at rest, at peace—or how “natural” he or she may look, we are looking at that which is going to be changed and glorified, renewed so that the body can endure eternity.
The soul-spirit, that invisible part of the Christian, has been taken to be in the presence of the Lord. What you are seeing before you is the external “suit of clothes”; or, as Paul wrote, the “house” which is “torn down” (2 Corinthians 5:1 NASB). The funeral service provides us a time to give God thanks for the memory of the person and for the fact that that body will be raised some day in the future.
One of my favourite lines that I often state once the funeral party gathers at the grave site is related to that future day when the dead will be raised. I will usually say, “whether you realise it or not, at this very moment you are standing on resurrection ground.” (I’ve actually seen people look down, then step aside two or three feet!)
There will be a time when the graves will be opened, and the bodies will be removed in a glorified state to be forever with the Lord Jesus. Plain and simple, the Christian has no reason to fear death since the future is so full of hope and happiness. Even though we cannot turn to any Scripture that states that a believer was interviewed after death, we know these things are true.
Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a pledge. Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord—for we walk by faith, not by sight—we are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:5–8 NASB)
