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by Ebenezer Erskine
"Lord, all my desire is before you; and my groaning is not hidden from you." Psalm 37:9.
"The Spirit helps our infirmities; and makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." Romans 8:26.
"For we who are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened." 2 Corinthians 5:4
In the first verse of this chapter, the apostle gives a reason, why he, and others of the saints in his day, endured persecution for the cause of Christ, with such an unshaken constancy, and holy nobility: he tells us, that they had the prospect of better things, the solid and well-grounded hope of a happy immortality to follow upon the dissolution of this clay tabernacle of the body. You need not wonder, would he say, though we cheerfully and willingly undergo the sharpest trials for religion: "For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down—when we die and leave these bodies—we will have a home in heaven." When the poor believer can say with David, "I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever," he will be ready to join together with the same holy man, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil."
Yes, so far is the apostle from being damped or discouraged at the thoughts of death, that he rather invites it to do its office, by striking down this clay tabernacle, that his soul may be at liberty to ascend to these mansions of glory, which his blessed Friend and Elder Brother has prepared for him above: verse 2: "Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling." He knew very well, that when he should be stripped of his mortal body, he should not be found naked, as it is verse 3; but clothed with a robe of glory and immortality. And in the verse read, he gives a reason why he was so desirous to change his quarters; and it is drawn from the uneasiness and inconvenience of his present lodging, while cooped up in this clay tabernacle: "For we who are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened."
In which words we may briefly notice,
1. The believer's present lodging or habitation; he is in a tabernacle.
2. His melancholy disposition; he is groaning.
3. The cause or reasons of his groans; being burdened.
1. I say, we have an account of the believer's present lodging or habitation; he is in this tabernacle. By the tabernacle, here, we are to understand the body; so called, because it is a weak, moveable sort of habitation; (as we may hear more fully afterwards.) The indweller of this lodging is the noble soul, which is said to be in this tabernacle, while it is in an embodied state. So that the meaning is, We who are in this tabernacle; that is, we who are living in the body.
2. We have the melancholy disposition of the poor believer while in this lodging; he groans. The word in the original, is rendered, to groan, we find it taken in a three-fold sense in scripture.
1st, It is an expression of grief: Heb. 13:17: "Obey those who have the rule over you, that they may give their account of you, not with grief;" or, as it may be rendered, Not with groans. It is the same word that is here used. There is nothing more ordinary, when a person is weighed and pressed in spirit, than to give vent to the heart in sobs and groans: and thus stands the case with the Lord's people many times, while in the tabernacle of the body.
2dly, It is sometimes an expression of displeasure: James 5:9: "Grudge not one against another." It is the same word that is here rendered to groan. And so it imports, that the believer is dissatisfied with, or disaffected to, his present quarters; he does not like it, in comparison of the better habitation that he has in view.
3dly, It is sometimes taken as an expression of ardent, passionate, and earnest desire. Thus, the word is taken in the second verse of this chapter: "Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling." I shall not exclude any of these senses from the apostle's scope in these words.
3. In the words we have the cause or reason of the believer's groans; being burdened. Many a weary weight and heavy load has the believer hanging about him, while passing through this "valley of Baca," which make him to go many times with a bowed-down back. What these weights and burdens are, you may hear more fully afterwards.
The observation I offer from the words is this:
DOCTRINE "That believers are many times burdened, even to groaning, while in the clay tabernacle of the body." We who are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened.
The method I shall observe, in handling this doctrine, is, to give you some account,
I. Of the believer's present lodging; he is in a tabernacle.
II. Of the believer's burdens in this tabernacle.
III. Of his groans under these burdens.
IV. Conclude with some improvement of the whole.
I. An account of the believer's present lodging while in the body. And there are these two or three things that I remark about it, which I find in the text and context.
1. Then, I find it is called a house in the first verse of this chapter. And it is fitly so called, because of its meticulous and exquisite structure and workmanship; Psalm 139:14, 15: "I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows right well. My substance was not hidden from you, when I was made in secret; and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth." The body of man is a awe-inspiring piece of architecture, and the skill and wisdom of the great Creator are awe-inspiringly revealed in it: it is set up, as it were, by line and rule, in such exact order, that the most skillful buildings and structures in the world are but a chaos or mass of confusion, when compared with it. Take a clod of dust, and compare it with the flesh of man, unless we were instructed of it beforehand, we would not imagine it to be one and the same matter, considering the beauty and excellency of the one above the other; which evidently proclaims the being, power, and wisdom of the great Creator who made us, and not we ourselves, and who can elevate matter above its first original.
2. I remark concerning the believer's present lodging, that however ingenious its structure be, yet it is but a house of earth; therefore called in the first verse, an earthly house. And it is so, especially in a threefold respect.
1st, In respect of its ORIGINAL; it is made of earth. And therefore, from thence he is said to have his rise; Job 4:19: "He dwells in houses of clay, and his foundation is in the dust." Whatever be the beauty, strength, structure, or high pedigree of men; yet as to their bodies, they claim no higher extract than the dust of the earth.
2dly, It is a house of clay, in respect of the means that SUPPORT it; it stands upon pillars of dust; for the corn, wine, and oil, wherewith the body of man is maintained, all spring out of the earth. And if these props be withdrawn, how soon will the clay tabernacle fall to the ground, and return to its original?
3dly, It is a house of earth in respect of its END; it returns there at its dissolution. Accordingly, see what God said to Adam, Gen. 3:19: "Dust you are, and unto dust shall you return." Perhaps there may be some allusion to these three in that passionate exclamation of the prophet Jeremiah to the rebellious Jews, Jer. 22:29: "O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord." They were earth in their original, they were earth as to their support, and they would return to earth in the end.
3. I remark concerning the believer's present lodging, that it is at best but a TENT. So it is called, verse 1: "If our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved;" and again here, We who are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened." Now, a tabernacle or a tent is a moveable or portable kind of habitation, and is peculiar especially to two sorts of men. 1. To travelers or wayfaring men. 2. To soldiers or warfaring men.
1st, I say, tabernacles or tents were used by strangers or wayfaring men. Strangers, especially in the eastern countries, used to carry these portable houses about with them, because of the inconveniences to which they were exposed. Hence, (Heb. 11:9,) it is said of Abraham, that "by faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise." They dwelt in tents, because they had no present inheritance; they were only strangers and passengers in the country. To this the apostle probably alludes here. And so this intimates to us, that the saints of God, while in the body, are pilgrims and strangers, not as yet arrived at their own country: "I am a stranger in the earth," says the psalmist, Psalm 119:19; and it is said of the scripture-worthies, (Heb. 11:13,) that they "confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth; they desired a better country, that is, a heavenly one." O believer, you are not a resident, but only a passenger through this valley of Baca; and therefore study a disposition of soul, suitable to your present condition.
2dly, Tents were used also by soldiers and warfaring men, who are obliged frequently to convey their camps from one place to another. Believers, while they are in the tabernacle of the body, must act the part of soldiers, fight their way to the promised land, through the very armies of hell. "We wrestle not," says the apostle, "against flesh and blood; but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places," Eph 6:12. And therefore, as the apostle exhorts, it concerns us to "put on the whole armor of God, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth;" and to be frequently accustoming ourselves to a holy dexterity in wielding and managing "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God," that so we may be able to make a courageous stand in the day of battle and at last come off the field in a victorious manner, when Christ the Captain of our salvation shall sound the retreat at death. Thus, the believer's lodging in a tabernacle, shows him to be both a traveler and a soldier.
4. Another thing that I remark concerning the believer's lodging, is, that it is but a tottering and unstable house, that is shortly to be taken down; for, says the apostle, verse 1: "The earthly house of this tabernacle is to be dissolved". "What man is there," says the psalmist, "who lives, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave?" Psalm 89:48. This king of terrors has erected his trophies of victory over all who ever sprung of Adam. The greatest Ceasars and Alexanders, who "made the world to tremble" with their swords, were all forced at last to yield themselves captives to this grim messenger of the Lord Almighty. "There is no discharge of this warfare;" the tabernacle of the body must dissolve.
However, it may be ground of encouragement to the believer, that death is not a destruction or annihilation: no, as the apostle tells, it is only a dissolving, or taking down of the tent or tabernacle; for God designs to set up this tabernacle again at the resurrection, more glorious than ever. It was the belief of this which comforted and encouraged Job under his affliction, "But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he will stand upon the earth at last. And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God! I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought!" Job 19:25-27
II. The believer's BURDENS while in this tabernacle. This earthly house lies under many servitudes, and the believer, as one says, pays a costly rent for his quarters. For,
1. The clay tabernacle itself is many times a very heavy burden to him. The unstable cottage of the body is liable to innumerable pains and distempers, which makes it lie like a dead weight upon the soul, by which its vivacity and activity are exceedingly marred. When the poor soul would mount up, as upon eagles' wings, the body will not bear part with it. So that the believer feels the truth of Christ's apology verified in his sad experience, "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."
2. Not only is he burdened with a burden of clay, but also with a burden of sin. I mean indwelling corruption, the secret atheism, enmity, unbelief, ignorance, pride, hypocrisy, and other abominations of his heart. O but this is a heavy burden, which many times is likely to dispirit the poor believer, and press him down to the very ground. David (though a man according to God's own heart,) yet cries out under this burden, "Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults," Psalm 19:12. And the apostle Paul never complained so much of any burden as of this, Romans 7:24: "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death!" To be rid of this burden, the poor believer many times would be content that this clay tabernacle were broken into shivers.
3. He is burdened many times with a sense of much actual guilt, which he has contracted through the untenderness of his way and walk. Conscience, that deputy of the Lord Almighty, frequently brings in a heavy indictment against the poor soul, and tells it, Thus and thus you have sinned, and trampled upon the authority of God the great Lawgiver. In this case the believer cannot but take with the charge, and own, with David, "My iniquities have gone over mine head: as a heavy burden they are too heavy for me," Psalm 38:4, and Psalm 40:12: "Innumerable evils have compassed me about; my iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up: they are more than the hairs of mine head, therefore my heart fails me."
4. He is sometimes sadly burdened with the temptations of Satan. The devil, that cunning archer, shoots at him, and sore wounds and grieves him. Sometimes whole showers of fiery darts, dipped in hell, are made to fly about his ears. God, for holy and wise ends, allows the believer to be winnowed, sifted, and buffeted by this enemy. And O how much is the believer burdened in this case! Sometimes he is ready to conclude with David, 'One day or another I shall fall by this roaring lion, that goes about seeking to devour me!' Sometimes he is brought to his wit's end, saying, with Jehoshaphat in great extremity, when surrounded by enemies, "I know not what to do, but my eyes are towards you." But let not the believer think strangely of this, seeing Christ himself was not exempted from the molestations of this enemy.
5. Sometimes the believer is burdened with the burden of ungodly company. The society of the wicked, which perhaps is unavoidable, is a great encumbrance to him, and tends mightily to mar and hinder him in his work and warfare. Hence David utters that mournful and melancholy complaint, Psalm 120:5, 6: "Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!" The believer is of Jacob's disposition, with reference to the wicked, Gen. 49:6: "O my soul, stay away from them. May I never be a party to their wicked plans." And truly, sirs, if the company and society of the wicked be not your burden, it is a sign you are of their society!
