What does it mean to be "in this tabernacle" in 2 Corinthians 5:4?
To be "in this tabernacle" means still being in the flesh, still walking on terra firma, and being burdened in this present earthly body. It refers to this mortal body that will quit functioning, after which the believer is clothed upon with a new, far better, immortal body, not merely unclothed.
Les explains that being "in this tabernacle" means we are still in the flesh, still walking on terra firma, and being burdened. He says the believer is not so much looking forward to being unclothed—losing this old body and having soul and spirit separated from it—but to being clothed upon. The prospect is that as soon as this body quits functioning and is no longer necessary, we have a new one, far better: one that will never again have pain, sickness, or a cold. Les calls this a glorious prospect that is coming, and he says we are getting close. He tells both young and old that one of these days this body, whether young, old, or in between, will suddenly be gone, and we will be clothed upon with that which is immortal. He contrasts this with mortality—being prone to die—and notes how lives full of vigor and vitality can suddenly be gone in a split second, as happens on highways every day, and we never know who is next.
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.