Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Paul's second epistle to the
Corinthians, chapter 5 and verse 8. We are confident, I say, and
willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with
the Lord. Corinthians 5 verse 8, and what
is upon my spirit is our eternal home. And you might say, well
the word home is not in our text, but the chapter begins that we
know that if we have an earthly house, if this tabernacle were
dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with
hands eternal in the heavens. And this verse, when you look
at the original of the word present, then the meaning that is given
is to be in one's own country, that is home, figuratively, be
at home, present. And in some translations, in
the English language, that is how it is translated. And when we think that in heaven,
in that eternal home, that is where our Lord and Savior is. That is what makes it heaven,
that is what it makes it home, that He is there present. But especially where we have
been away from our homes, we may have been in nice places,
places that have been very nice to stay in, but it's not quite
like home. And when we anticipate we're
coming back to our homes, then to realize that even that home
however much it might have been our home for many decades, it
is not an eternal home. And that we, if we are a believer,
have a home that is eternal and that it is in the heavens. And it is one of the marks of
the people of God, as was said of the Thessalonian believers,
that when they were called, they were called to wait for His Son
from heaven, and the Lord shall come, shall bring His dear people
home. Now I want to observe that the
context of our text, the main teaching in this passage, is
the reality of the resurrection, and our bodies here are spoken
of as an earthly house, and we have in that a soul, and at death
the soul is separated from the body and returns to God, the
spirit returns to God that gave him. But it doesn't remain as
a disembodied soul or spirit, he says here, that for this we
groan in verse two earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with
our house which is from heaven he says in verse four for we
that are in this tabernacle do groan being burdened not for
that we would be unclothed but clothed upon that mortality might
be swallowed up of life the end design and end purpose of God
is in the resurrection of the body and with a new body and
to be with the Lord. But we do not want to fall into
the error of some in the extreme that speak of a soul sleep, because
the word is very clear that the soul before the resurrection,
it does return to God, it goes straight to God. The dying thief,
our Lord said to him, that this day shalt thou be with me in
paradise. Paul, when he writes to the Philippians
in his first chapter of that epistle, we read of him desiring
to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. Paul, when
he writes in his first epistle to the Corinthians in chapter
15, which might say is a parallel to this because it is dealing
with the resurrection, it's dealing with those that had the error
that the dead did not rise. And one of the things that Paul
says If the dead do not rise, not only is Christ not risen,
but also that those that are fallen asleep in Christ have
also perished. And when we think of what our
Lord said concerning what Moses was told in the burning bush,
that I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, And our Lord
said, God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. And
he was there speaking again to those that were trying to trap
him, bringing a situation which they thought proved there was
no resurrection. A man had a wife, he died, his
brother took her, and seven of those brethren took her, and
the question was, Whose wife should she be in the resurrection? And our Lord said that they erred,
being ignorant of the truth, that in the new creation there
is no marrying and giving of marriage, but that they shall
be as the angels in heaven. An earthly marriage between believers
here below It is till death us do part, that marriage shall
not be in heaven rekindled, but where there are believers, there
is a brother and sister in Christ, and that union will never ever
be broken. That union shall be reunited
again in heaven. Shall we know one another in
heaven? Yes. I believe the Scriptures
clearly state that that is so, because this was one of the things
that Paul wrote to the Thessalonians who thought that their loved
ones had perished, and he writes to tell them that no, they had
not perished. They were with Christ. Their spirits were with him.
And at that last day, and he tells them in his first epistle,
chapter four, at the end of that chapter, that he wants them not
to be ignorant concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow
not, even as others which have no hope, or those that have died,
which is set before us asleep, that they are with Christ. And
so he says, if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even
so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. And so they are with him. For
this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are
alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent
or go before them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and
with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. And
he finishes with these words, wherefore comfort one another
with these words. And so they are designed to comfort
those who have lost loved ones, that they were with the Lord,
they will be brought again, and they will be given a body the
same as those that remain on the earth shall be. So this evening,
I desire to look at three things. Firstly, the reality of an eternal
home, and thinking of the words of our text, we are confident. In verse six, he also says, we
are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home in
the body, we are absent from the Lord, or are you not in that
home where the Lord is? And then secondly, the way to
it, which is implied with these words, we are confident, I say,
and willing rather to be absent from the body. There is a way
to it, and the people there are willing. They're willing to walk
this way, willing to be absent from this body, remember in 1
Corinthians 15, one of the other things that Paul said was that
if in this life only we had hope in Christ with all men most miserable,
and God makes his people to want to be where he has designed that
they should be, and makes them to feel where they actually are
that is not their home, but they long for that eternal home. And it's lovely to see it in
the people of God. It's lovely to feel it as well
ourselves. The same as it is lovely to feel
when we've been away literally from our home, that we are longing
and looking to get back to what we call home here below. And then I want to look thirdly
at the aspects of being at home with the Lord. There are several
things that are spoken of in the Word of God concerning that
eternal home. But I want to look firstly at
the reality of it. Everything that we have a right
expectation of or a hope of must be based upon the word of God. It's no use having the expectation
of the wicked that shall perish, or those that have a very vague
and indistinct idea of the world that is to come. Some with even
a name of religion can speak very flippantly of those that
have passed away, and even of them viewing what is happening
here below. But we are told that those that
have passed here, they do not know what is happening here. They cannot see and they're not
conscious of what is going on in this world. We read together
in the Gospel according to John in chapter 14, And again, this
is given by the Lord to stop hearts being troubled. You notice
how many times, whether it be the Apostle or whether it be
our Lord, He speaks words to allay the fears, to comfort His
people with truth that they can be confident of Because the Lord's
word, though heaven and earth pass away, His words shall not
pass away. And when the Lord speaks, it
is with authority. He knows these things. He is the only one that is qualified
to make statements like this. And what would we think of someone
that was speaking to those that were troubled, and we were trying
to allay their fears, and all the time we knew that what we
were saying was not true. It would not come to pass, it
would not happen. And Satan is that liar, he try
and take the Lord's words and make out that they are not true.
That was the very first, the temptation in the garden. Hath
God said? Hath God said? To question it. And so don't be surprised if
even the parts of scripture that the Lord himself has said And
remember, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. But here,
our Lord on earth saying these things, let not Satan come in
and question whether he has said them, or whether they're true,
or whether they've come to pass. And so in John 14, verse one,
let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself
that where I am, there ye may be also. I've often been encouraged
in this passage from this way as well. Many of the Lord's dear
people, they look for a word, a help, an assurance, something
that the Lord will tell them that it is so, it is well with
their souls, it is well, while life endure well when called
to die. But the way the Lord puts it
here, If it were not so, I would have told you. In other words,
his silence is actually a reaffirming, it is so. And he says it is so. And so the reality of an eternal
home, a mansion, a place, I go to prepare a place for you It
is the Lord that is doing it. If we think of, and we've mentioned
it recently in ministry here, of Joseph as a type of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and when he was sent before his brethren, it
wasn't just to preserve them alive, to give them food, but
he wanted to bring them to be with him in Egypt. And he did,
he brought them there. And he prepared a place for them
in Goshen, where they would dwell. The best of the land was to be
theirs. And there you get a little time
of our Lord going before, providing all that they need, and providing
a place, providing a home. If we extend it even further,
we have the promise Canaan as well, where Abraham was not to
have any place in it, but it was given by promise, when they
came out of Egypt, they were to go to that promised land. Heaven is the promised land,
a promised place. Jordan, like death, death like
a narrow sea divides that heavenly land from ours. They were times. Their types are to illustrate
to us and so that we can understand the reality of those things we
cannot see, but we believe by faith, resting upon the word
of God. That is the only place we can
rest on is the authority of the word of God. Dear Job in his
day, living many years before our Lord Jesus Christ. Even in
his tribulation, in his afflictions, he says in Job 19 and verse 26,
well verse 25, he says, I know that my Redeemer liveth, that
he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth, that has
taken place, Though after my skin worms destroy this body,
yet in my flesh shall I see God, not yet the resurrection, but
He is with the Lord, and He looks to what shall be brought at last
to happen, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold,
and not another, though my reins be consumed within me. You had those clear views of
what was to come. The first part of it has come
to pass. The scriptures very clearly set
forth the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the latter
part, again, is reinforced with our Lord's teaching and the teaching
of the Apostle Paul. Then we have the prophecies concerning
the new heavens and new earth, wherein dwells righteousness. In Isaiah chapter 65 and verse
17, the Lord says, For behold, I create new heavens and a new
earth, and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice forever
in that which I create, for behold thy great Jerusalem rejoicing,
and her people adjoin. And in a sense, we think of what
happened with Noah's day, the earth that then was being overflowed
with water perished, and then there was the renewed earth that
Noah entered into. And we know at the end of the
world, the world shall be destroyed by fire, but there shall be a
new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. And so
in the very next chapter, in Isaiah 66 and verse 22, for as
the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain
before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name
remain. And then we have Peter referring
to this promise in his epistles. And remember, Peter's ministry
was, when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. So not
surprising that he also is speaking of those things that are coming
to pass and what is provided for the people of God. In his
second epistle, the last chapter, chapter three, we read in verse
13, if we go back to verse 12, looking for and hasting unto
the coming of the day of God, whereon the heavens being on
fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent
heat. nevertheless we according to
his promise, and that goes back to Isaiah what we've read, look
for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Paul when he writes to the Philippians
he says in the third chapter that the The Lord himself shall change
our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious
body, according to the working whereby he is able to subdue
all things unto himself. In the previous verse to that
I've just read, verse 20, he says, for our conversation, another
rendering of that word, twice it's used in Philippians, But
in the original, again, it has the meaning of citizenship, for
our citizenship is in heaven, or our walk, our conduct, our
conversation is in heaven from whence also we look for the Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. We know what it is to, here below,
if we have citizenship of a country, then that enables us to go in
and out freely. We can live there, we can stay
there. We haven't got fear of being
cast out of that place at all. It's a very different situation. If we do not have citizenship
of a country, then we are not able to freely go to and fro
in it or to abide in it. But Paul says of the Philippians
that our citizenship, our passport, our expectation, where we have
authority to stay forever is in heaven. And really our whole
conversation, our whole life and all that we do should bear
that same witness that we are going to heaven. The reality then of an eternal
home. We'll look a bit later at some
of the aspects of it in the revelation. But the scriptures are very clear
in this. This life is not the only life. When our life ends here, that
is not the end of us. When this world is destroyed,
that is not the end of God's plan and God's purpose. He has
a new heavens and a new earth plan. He has a place where His
people are now, and He shall come again with them at the end
of the world, and He shall raise the dead, and they shall be with
Him forever. May we be persuaded and be like
the Apostle says here, to be confident, to be confident. I say, and willing rather to
be absent from the body. Wherefore we are always confident,
knowing that whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent
from the Lord. It's a blessed thing to have
our confidence, not on our thoughts, not upon man's opinion, but upon
the word of God. where the Word is made precious
to us, then we have a sweet token, really, that that is for us. I've often said that if we had
an older person, and maybe the children were thinking, well,
they can't live in their own home, look after themselves,
we are preparing a special home for them where they shall be
looked after and cared for. If that person knew that that
was being prepared for them, they'd often be asking about
it. How's it getting on? What does it look like? What's
it going to be like there? How am I gonna be provided for?
Who's gonna look after me? And there'll be this interest
in it, and there'll be a looking forward to going to it. You imagine if it was the other
way, if the family decided to do it, but they didn't tell their
parents. They were gonna prepare it and
then spring it on them. There'd be no anticipation, no
looking forward, because they didn't even know about it. And
when it was sprung on them, they might say, we don't wanna go
into that, we're happy here, we're happy where we're living,
we don't want to go to that, and all that preparation's been
for nothing. But what a difference it is when
the preparation is going on, and that person knows it is,
takes an interest in it, and looking forward to it, and wants
to go into the place being prepared. And so with the people of God
as well. Part of the experience in their
lives, they've been told about that place. They've been prepared
for it, and they're looking forward to it. They're longing for it.
is not going to be a surprise to them. They often thought of
a future habitation, like Job did, like those who've gone before
us, who've had their respect, like Moses did, unto the recompense
of the reward. They look for another country. It is beautifully set forth in
Hebrews 11, as a description of those that walk by faith. From verse 13, These all died
in faith, not having received the promises, that is, not having
seen literally Christ appearing, but having seen them afar off,
were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they
were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say
such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly if they had been mindful
of that country from whence they came out, they might have had
opportunity to have returned, but now they desire a better
country that isn't heavenly. Wherefore God is not ashamed
to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city. And you see this description
of faith, how those God has prepared a city for, a place for, they're
made to view this world that they are strangers and pilgrims,
this is not our rest, it is polluted, this is not our home, but they're
made to desire a heavenly home, and they confess these things,
they say it clearly, those round about them, Get this impression,
they're not like some, that very evidently they're living just
for this life. They're living just for things
here below. They live as if this was their
only hope, their only life, which sadly it is in that case. But where the Lord works and
prepares, that is very different. His people are thinking. of what
God has prepared for them. He doesn't hide it from them. There is an expectation. Thine expectation shall not be
cut off. And sometimes part of going on
a holiday, we have the expectation, we know the date, we know where
we're going, what we're doing. And part of the joy is the anticipation
of it leading up to it. Instead of it being sprung on
us last minute, or if we've had it that we've had that expectation
at last it's cut off and it doesn't not realized if that happens
again and again then we stop having the expectation but with
the things of God the Lord gives us those little tokens throughout
this life that what he says is true is right when he says that
he will bring you from one land to another land and he doesn't
You can look back and say what he said then was right. We walked
it out, we proved it out. What he says about preparing
a place in heaven, he'll do that as well. And he'll give to us
that desire after him. So the reality of an eternal
home, may that be so with us. May we be confident of that,
that there is an eternal home, that Christ is there. and that
there is a way to it. And I want to look then secondly
at that way that is to it. Our text says, we are confident,
I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to
be present with the Lord. The way to it then in One aspect,
and overlaps part of what I have been saying, is that here is
a people that are willing. We read, thy people shall be
willing in the day of thy power. And it is one aspect of willingness,
not just in one part of the Christian life, but in all aspects of the
Christian life, not only willing, to depart this life to be with
Christ, but also to walk the way as a follower of Christ. Many will say, well, we'd like
to have heaven, but we like to live this life as if we were
just following man and following our own desires and own thoughts. But the Lord says, no, that is
not the way that you will get to heaven. And this is why we
read in John 14, we stopped at verse 6, Jesus says to Thomas,
because Thomas was saying, we know not whither thou goest,
how can we know the way? The Lord's answer was, I am the
way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father,
but by me. Christ is the way. And those
that were brought to believe, they became disciples. Our Lord says in John 8, to those
that believe, if ye continue in my word, then shall ye be
my disciples indeed, ye shall know the truth, and the truth
shall make you free. A true believer is known by a
following of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so those that are destined
for heaven, where Christ is now, our Lord says that He puts forth
His sheep, He goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him. And
Paul says that we are to run the race that is set before us,
looking unto Jesus. And our Lord says in John 17,
Father I will, but they whom thou hast given me be with me
where I am, that they may behold my glory. So he is the way, and
he begins to be the way here below. If you see someone that
does not desire to know what Christ has said, they despise
his word, They do not want to be part of his church on earth. They do not want to obey him. They do not want fellowship with
him or his people. They do not walk the path of
prayer. They do not love the word of
God. They do not feed upon that. They
do not regard the things of God more than the things of this
earth. Then you can't see any evidence
that they are following in a way that leads to an eternal home. But our Lord says he not only
goes before, but those are drawn to him, attracted to him. You think of how on the way to
Emmaus, the disciples were drawn to him as he preached, as he
set forth himself in all the scriptures, their heart burned
within them by the way. And those are precious times
where might be one word or one phrase or verse that we're really
drawn to. We see an attraction to, attraction
in the Lord and in what He is saying and speaking to us. Of course, our Lord speaks of
the way as being a narrow way with a straight gate. That straight
gate is Christ. But then He says of a broad way,
wide is the gate, broad is the way that leadeth unto destruction,
And many there go in their act, because straight is the gate
and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there
be that find it. May we never be offended if someone
says, well, you're very narrow-minded, and you've got a very narrow
way. You see what most so-called Christians do, or follow, or
the world follows, and you're the odd one out. If Scripture
is on our side, if the Word is on our side, above all, where
the Lord has granted His Spirit to seal that Word upon our souls
and make that precious unto you which believe He is precious. So the way it begins with the
new birth, it begins with conversion, it begins with the Lord, I give
unto them eternal life, They shall never perish. And there's
another thought, isn't there, regarding an eternal home. If
the Lord gives eternal life, where's that gonna be lived?
It can't be lived here, we know it. And that's why again it reinforces
that eternal life in heaven and with the Lord that has given
that life and sustained that life. the greatest tokens of
living forever with Christ is that he has begun, and Paul says
this in Philippians, he that hath begun a good work in you
will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ, where he has
first given life, life that's made us feel our sinship, life
that's made us feel our need, life that has drawn us to Christ,
life that has made us aware of eternity and of our soul and
the need of being right for eternity and to be with the Lord at last. These things are Lord works,
they are not in everyone, it is only by faith and He is the
author and finisher of our faith, He begins the work, so it is
through the new birth insisted on in John 3, and conversion,
but it is also through much tribulation. The Lord says that ye must, through
much tribulation, enter the kingdom. So we are to expect that as well. The psalmist in Psalm 73 stumbled
at this when he saw the prosperity of the wicked, there was no bans
in their death, and yet God's people were troubled, and they
were affrighted, they were in need, until he said he went into
the sanctuary of God, then understood he the end of the wicked, how
quickly they were consumed with terrors, how quickly they saw
what was the other side. But for God's people, they're
already aware of what is the other side, they're already aware
of eternity, they're aware of their sins, they're aware of
their judgment, they're aware of their need, of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Hymn writer says, if ever my poor soul be saved,
his Christ must be the way. When we read that we grow in
grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, that's
not growing better and better, it's growing more and more to
feel our sinnership, our poverty, what we deserve, and our need
of Christ's blood, his righteousness, and his mercy. John the Baptist says that I
must decrease, he must increase, and that is realized in the path
of the people of God. I could from all things parted
be, but never, never, Lord, from thee. The Lord Jesus Christ is
our heaven. He is the link, as it were, between
this life and the next. What a difference it makes. If
we were to go to a place we'd never ever been before, we'd
never seen it, we never knew it before, but someone we knew
was there, what a difference that would make. We could then
really anticipate going there, because that person would be
there. And that is what the Lord says for his people, that he
will be there. He goes before to repair a place. And if the secret of the Lord
which is with them that fear Him is with us, and we know the
Lord, He's not a stranger to us, then we know one that is
there. He says that when He ascended
up into heaven that He would pray the Father to give you another
spirit. Every outpouring, every gift,
every Tying the Spirit has comforted, instructed us, granted us power
upon the world like the Thessalonians. It is because the Lord Jesus
Christ has made that intercession, sent forth His Spirit into our
hearts, crying, Abba Father. We know also that the way to
it is through death. Yes, Enoch and Elijah They did
not die, they were translated. They are a type of those that
shall be upon the earth when the Lord returns at the end of
the world. We that remain shall be caught
up with them in the air, so shall we be forever with the Lord. But for most of us, it will be
through death. What man that liveth shall not
see death. We know, as Emre Aydin says,
death like a narrow sea divides that heavenly land from ours. There is then a way to it, and
as much as the scriptures show forth the existence and the reality
of an eternal home, they also set forth the way to it. They
don't hold that as a secret, but they reveal it, It centers
in the Lord Jesus Christ. May that truly be of us, that
we not only are confident of what God has prepared, but really
in a greater way, to know something of the way to it, something of
the beginning of the work of God and what Christ is to us. and how we are actually walking
here below. Where is our conversation? Where is our fellowship? Where are our hopes? Naturally,
and sometimes the truth is much better known by contrast, naturally
the hopes of man are just on earth. He is of the earth. And
it is a miracle that any should, like Moses, choose rather to
suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a season. I want to look lastly at some
aspects of being at home with the Lord, where it is a home
where the Lord is, and our Lord makes that very, very clear,
that where I am, there ye may be also, and also with his people. And remember one of the great
tokens of being a child of God, we know that we are passed from
death unto life because we love the brethren, and it is to love
the Lord, and it is those that we shall be with in heaven. That will be the company. In
the Psalms we read in His temple, everyone does speak of His glory. In the world, they only seek
to cast Him down from His excellency. But in heaven, what a picture,
that there is no dissenting voice. Different denominations hear
one in heaven. No barriers of language, no barriers
of creeds, of teaching, of doctrine, everything shall be clearly known
and understood there. And no sin, no tribulation, no
mortality, an eternal state, that which is prepared by God. We have the pictures of this
in the Revelations. We come to the close of the Word
of God in Revelation 21, we have a picture of the New Jerusalem,
of the city of it. I saw no temple therein, for
the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. The
city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine
in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the
light thereof. And the nations of them which
are saved shall walk in the light of it. And the kings of the earth
do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it
shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there. And there shall in no wise enter
into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination
or maketh a lie. that they which are written in
the Lamb's book of life. And in the following chapter
as well, we are told, there shall be no more curse, but the throne
of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall
serve him, and they shall see his face, and his name shall
be in their foreheads, and there shall be no night there, and
they need no candle, Neither lie to the Son, for the Lord
God giveth them light, they shall reign for ever and ever. Then he says, these sayings are
faithful and true. And yet we read in Paul's epistle
to the Corinthians, and he's quoting back to Isaiah, that
is not entered into the heart of man, what God hath prepared
for them that love him." That was spoken to the Old Testament
church, and really thinking of the children of Israel in the
wilderness and in the promised land later, how could they have
pictured today, with all of the churches in the Gentile world,
gathering as we do, the preaching of the gospel, the clear light
of the gospel, Those Old Testament saints, they could not have pictured
it as clear as it is. Paul says, we see through a glass
darkly, and we do. And he applies it to what then
is to come. But it really hasn't entered
into our hearts either. But we know it shall be most
wonderful, most beautiful, It shall be like when the Queen
of Sheba came to see Solomon. She'd heard the report, but when
she saw, she said, the glory exceeded the report. His majesty,
the kingdom was so much better. And we can only understand that
that which the Lord has prepared for his people shall be much,
much better than ever is pictured or can be known here below. A blessed thing then to be a
prepared people for a prepared place, a people that have been
made different by the grace of God, and a people who think of
a future habitation, who desire to be there. And the apostle
very much was of the expression that desire to be with Christ,
which is far better. A blessed thing then, though
we know we all must die, to be of those that have an anticipation,
a hope beyond the grave that entereth into that which is within
the veil. And it is a good hope by grace,
a hope based upon the word of God that cannot change, that
abideth forever and ever. May the Lord have granted, or
yet to grant us, that hope and that expectation and bring us
safely home, to an eternal home, to glory. Amen.