In different times and different places, the Holy Spirit gave David, John, and Paul revelation that would encourage God’s people until all are raised in the last day. Praise God for the WORD, the LIGHT, and the LIFE. Praise God for His Spirit that guarantees what is to come. May we live by faith until we are at home with the Lord. (In the Scriptures below I have capitalized the three words above and put one comment in parenthesis.)
“Your WORD is a lamp unto my feet and a LIGHT for my path.”
“In the beginning was the WORD, and the WORD was with God, and the WORD was God.”
“I am the LIGHT of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the LIGHT of LIFE.”
“For God who said, ‘Let LIGHT shine out of darkness,’ made his LIGHT shine in our hearts to give us the LIGHT of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the LIFE of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his LIFE may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but LIFE is at work in you.”
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
“Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by LIFE. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose (to be swallowed up by LIFE!) and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”
“Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. ”
(Psalm 119:105; John 1:1; John 8:12; II Corinthians 4:6-12; II Corinthians 4:16-18; II Corinthians 5:1-10)