Paul wrote of the believer’s death in 2 Corinthians 5:1-8, as the destruction of his earthly house or tent (see vs. 1). He used earthy house and tent symbolically to refer to the believer’s body in which his spirit resides. At death, the spirit of the believer in Christ leaves the body and goes to heaven to be with the Lord (see vv. 6-8).
Paul also spoke of the believer’s body as clothing (see vs. 2). If the believer dies before the return of Christ, he goes to heaven where he dwells as a bodiless spirit, or to use Paul’s language, he dwells there naked unclothed. The believer’s ultimate desire is to be in the presence of the Lord in his new body which Paul calls a house not made with hands in verse one, and in verse two, a habitation which is from heaven. The believer will receive this new body when Christ returns and raises the dead. At that time mortality will be swallowed up by life (see vs. 4, cf. 1 Cor. 15:42, 53-54). It is God who has prepared believers for this very thing and given them His Spirit as a guarantee (see vs. 5).
Let us praise God for the wonderful hope we have as believers in Jesus Christ!