There is much speculation and controversy between the moment we die and the time when Jesus comes again, in which we will receive our eternal spiritual bodies. In writing earlier to the Corinthians, Paul laid out the teaching on the resurrection in detail in 1 Corinthians 15. He also describes the difference between our earthly bodies and spiritual ones.

1 Corinthians 15:42-44, 50-54

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.

I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

At first, the early church assumed that Jesus would return soon, but then days turned into weeks, months and years, and believers were dying. The question arose, so what happens to those who die before Jesus comes back?

Paul answers that question in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

“Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore, encourage one another with these words.”

Yet this triggered another question: So, what happens to those believers who physically die before Jesus’ return? This was a deep concern in the lives of first-century Christians and has created much confusion that persists to this day. Theologians call this the intermediate state.

There is a growing fascination with the afterlife. Let me begin by mentioning three false ideas, then move to our text today, and give us the biblical picture of the intermediate state.

John Piper writes in his book The Roots of Endurance that he shared some of the challenges facing Charles Simeon (1759-1836), the pastor of Trinity Church in Cambridge, England. “I heard that he stayed in the same church as pastor for fifty-four years and that in the first twelve years there was so much opposition from his congregation that 'pewholders' locked their pews, stayed away, and forced him to preach to a standing congregation who fit in the building where they could. …So I confess at the outset that I have a spiritual and pastoral aim in this chapter, as in the whole book. I want to encourage you—as I pursue this myself—to receive and obey Romans 12:12, “Be patient in tribulation.” May Simeon’s life and ministry help us see persecution, opposition, slander, misunderstanding, disappointment, self-recrimination, weakness, and danger as the normal portion of faithful Christian living and ministry. I want us to see a beleaguered triumph in the life of a man who was a sinner like us and who, year after year, in his trials, “grew downward” in humility and upward in adoration of Christ and who did not yield to bitterness or to the temptation to leave his charge for fifty-four years. …I need this inspiration from another century, because I know that I am, in great measure, a child of my times. And one of the pervasive marks of our times is emotional fragility. It hangs in the air that we breathe. We are easily hurt. We put and mope easily. We blame easily. We break easily. Our marriages break easily. Our faith breaks easily. Our happiness breaks easily. And our commitment to the church breaks easily. We are easily disheartened, and it seems we have little capacity for surviving and thriving in the face of criticism and opposition.”

What we are about to discover is how to not only survive but also thrive in difficult times and situations. We need to discover how to have joy in life’s most challenging moments, as James explains in his letter.

James 1:2-4

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,

Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

We are going to continue our series on 2 Corinthians, where Paul is under great pressure, scrutiny, and criticism, and he now explains the very nature of Christian life and ministry. It is a life in which, despite hardships, our character may transform as we look to Jesus for wisdom and strength to persevere. Here is where we see God’s manifested glory most evidently in our lives. There are three elements to God’s work of glory, revealing itself through a transforming life and ministry.