2 Corinthians 12:1-10

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Watch

Read

The Vision of Paradise

12 It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord: 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven. 3 And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—4 how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. 5 Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities. 6 For though I might desire to boast, I will not be a fool; for I will speak the truth. But I refrain, lest anyone should think of me above what he sees me to be or hears from me.

The Thorn in the Flesh

7 And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 8 Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), 2 Co 12:1–10.

• Transcript

  Hey, good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and devotions. This is where every day you and I we get together we have a little bit coffee, we get into God's word and we grow in our love for the Lord together. This year 2022 Lord willing, we'll make it from the book of Acts through the book of fire Lehman, I'm so glad to be with you this morning we're at at Second Corinthians chapter 12. The first 10 verses Let's have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into the Lord's word. Let's pray. Father we thank you so much for your word. And we thank you for the blessing it is to read it this morning. We pray that as we read your word that you would watch over our souls, that You would bless us that we might know that your grace is sufficient in Jesus's name. Amen. Here we go. We're at Second Corinthians chapter 12. I wouldn't say x I don't know why. Second Corinthians, second Corinthians chapter 12. We'll go through the first 10 verses together this morning. It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago whether embody you, I do not know or whether out of the body I do not know. God knows. Such a one caught up to the west caught up to the third heaven. A nice no such a man whether in the body or out of the body. I do not know God knows how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. of such a one I will boast yet of myself. I will not boast except in my infirmities. For though I might desire to boast. I will not be a fool, for I will speak the truth. But I refrain, lest anyone should think of me above what he sees me to bear, or hears from me. Unless I should be exalted above measured by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times, that it might depart from me. And he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you. For my strength is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, most gladly I would, I will rather boast in my infirmities than the power of Christ, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in needs, in persecutions in distress, for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong. Well, we need to ask ourselves a What's this about? Be what's the best verse to summarize this and see what are we called to do in response to this? So we start off with verses one through six urine, and we kind of have a little bit of hermeneutical difficulty, right? How do we interpret this passage? Who is Paul talking about? What's this guy doing? Right? Paul has been in chapter 11, talking about boasting and now in chapter 12. He's got something to say about some guy. It's pretty ambiguous, isn't it? I don't know if he was in the body or the body. But he knows the exact time it happened. He knows when it took place. And there are Bible commentators who will argue about this is Paul talking about the apostle John, very few think that but maybe, maybe he's talking about the revelation that the apostle John got. Others think more likely that Paul is talking about himself here. He's actually saying I was taken up now he's have a hard time with with this one. Just because he says, I know I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago and he says that and I know such a man and then he goes up more. And he says, in Verse five, of such a one, I will boast Yeah, of myself. I will not boast and so I'm not sure. Right, this is one of those I have to put a question mark in my Bible, and I'll tell you what, when I get to heaven, I'll tell you who this person is. Paul's pretty indiscriminant here. If he's talking about himself, he's talking. He's trying to use the most humble way possible, right. But it almost seemed like you'd be talking with a double tongue. So I'm not so comfortable with that. But what he's saying is that this man, whether it was Paul or someone else, was taken up to third heavens. Now some people have taken this too far. And they say, Okay, this third heavens, you know, so you have like, floor number one of heaven and that's where the normal people are in the holy people get like floor number two, and then the really holy people get floor number three, that's not what he's talking about. Right? And in a Hebrew and in a Greco Roman mind, you have the area of the heavens where the where the birds fly, and then you have the area of the heavens, where the constellations are, where the stars and the planets are. And then you have the area of Heavens, where you're in God's direct presence. And he says, I know a man who went into the very presence of God, and he was strengthened in his soul. 14 years ago, this happened where he was brought into God's presence himself, and he heard things that is not lawful for humans to speak about. Right, such wonderful things, and I'm going to boast about people like that. I'm going to boast about them, but my life you want to know what my life is about? Suffering? Pain, hardship. Alright, Paul says in verse seven, that unless I should be exalted above, measured by the abundance of revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given me by Paul was given all these wonderful prosthetic words from God. The apostle Paul wrote, the vast majority of the books in the New Testament we know more about Christ and more about the inter Trinitarian working of the Godhead from the words of Paul than we do have anybody else really. And so he could be tempted to boast but the Lord instead gave him a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet him. And paint. Paul. I mean, he actually cries out to Jesus Christ themselves and ask for this thorn in the flesh to be taken away. And again, commentators are gonna say, oh, whatever the commentators gonna say. They want to figure out exactly what the stored in the flesh was. Was this his eyesight going bad was it a constant giving over to anxiety? Right, you'll have people trying to psychoanalyze Paul from 2000 years away. The point is, Paul doesn't tell us what this thorn in the flesh is. But something torments him so much that he cries out to Christ, to take it away from him. And this is where Paul This is where we should lean in is a theological truth. Jesus says to him, My grace is sufficient for you. For my strength is made perfect in weakness. Is the paradoxical way in which Jesus operates. It's not out of strength, but it's not a weakness. God is going to humble the apostle Paul, so that he must rely on Christ more. So this is why Paul concludes the section, saying therefore most gladly I would rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me, therefore, this is a weird cockamamie, no way you could ever say this unless you're saying if by the Spirit, rest of the verse, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake for when I am weak, then I am strong. That's what I want double underline in my Bible. I'm gonna double underline verses 10 Nine and 10. What are we called to do? I don't know what's going on in your life today. Maybe there's horrible relational things going on in your life. Maybe you've been let go of your job. Maybe you your family members are sick. Maybe someone has died. You feel like the weight of God is pressing upon you. This world is beating you up. You just feel like man, what is going on? God, please help. Help me, Lord, please take this weight off my shoulders. I want to give you encouragement this morning that maybe the Lord is putting you through these things, so that you might know that His grace is sufficient for you. I'm not trying to make it sound like you shouldn't be shown empathy for what you're going through, or that God has a hard heart towards you. But when we're on our knees, there we are the most exalted. When we are humble, under the mighty hand of God. There he's able to do the most incredible work. There's so many stories, the stories of adversity where our loved ones our brothers and sisters in the faith, have suffered so much for the gospel. So much has gone wrong in their lives. And yet they clung to Jesus Christ. Maybe God's calling you to do that in your life today. To know that His grace is sufficient for you. To know that in our weakness, then we are strong. Let's pray. Father, I thank you so much for your word. And for the working of your Holy Spirit. I pray for whoever might be listening to this today. Who needs your grace, your mercy, Your love. God, I pray that You would bless them and they might look up to heaven. And know that you are their strength. Father, please give us grace for today. And strength through the work we have before us in Jesus's name. Amen. May the Holy Spirit comfort you though your days might be filled, filled with tears. May you know that your Shepherd walks with you through the valley of the shadow of death and that his face shines upon His people and He gives some peace. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye Transcribed by https://otter.ai