And I know that this man—whether in the body or out of it I do not know, but God knows—I know such a man (whether in the body, or outside of the body, I don’t know; God knows),And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;)And I know such a man (whether in the body, or apart from the body, I know not; God knoweth),
3 sermons cite this verse
… I knew a man in Christ who 14 years ago, whether in the body, I don't know, whether out of the body, again, I don't know. God knows. Such a man was caught into the third heaven. And I know such a man, whether he was in the body or out of the body, I don't know. God knows. But he was called and caught up to paradise. He heard things so astounding they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell. I love the way Paul approaches this. Yeah, I knew this guy. In the body, out of the body, I don't even know. He's talking about himself. He's trying not to boast. It'd be pretty hard to not boast that you'd been to heaven, right? Yeah, I've been to heaven. Notice he didn't write a book about it. What's with that? No movie was made. And by the way, I have to be honest with you, I'm very skeptical of people who write books about all that they saw in heaven. I'm not saying they didn't. But I'm certainly not saying I know they did. The only authoritative book on the afterlife is the Bible. That's the book you can trust. No other. …
But the Lord said to me, and by the way, can we all read this next verse together? It's such a powerful statement. My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Again, one more time. My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then, then I am strong. This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God indeed. You may be seated. You may be seated. Does anybody else in here feel like it's super embarrassing when a Pixar movie really gets you in the feels? Like when Buzz rejects Woody's counsel and gets himself in serious trouble, but then Woody risks everything anyway to come and rescue him because you've got a friend in me. Or when Andy discards his toys and he goes off to college. …
Yet even the word, satisfying, cannot fully express all that this vision of the King will be, for it will be a ravishing sight, a rapturous, ecstatic, entrancing, transporting vision! I cannot find words that are adequate to describe this sight! One must see it to know how glorious it is. Heaven will be a place of many surprises, but the vision of our glorified King will astonish us forever! We shall be amazed to all eternity that such a wondrous Being as God's eternal Son could ever have loved such worthless worms as we are—that so glorious a King could have stooped so low as to take up for Himself our nature—and then that He should have been willing to endure for our sakes the death of the Cross! That will be a marvel that we shall never be able to understand! We shall also be surprised that we did not know Him more fervently and that we did not do, and dare, and even die for Him who had loved us so much that He did die for us! Perhaps some of us, now and then, have had such rapturous experiences that we have felt like the Apostle Paul when he wrote, "whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell." But the extraordinary seasons have never been permanent with any of us, and usually they have been very transient. Yet, up yonder it will be our normal ambition to be lost and swallowed up in a never-ending ravishing vision of our glorious and beauteous King! …