18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.
20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope
21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.
23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.
24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?
25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.
V. 18 - “The sufferings of this present time” - See notes on verse 17, above.
“are not worthy to be compared with the glory” - The glory we will see will be so fantastically better than anything here on earth. As an analogy, think of professional athletes. The hours, days, and years of practice are worth it when the football players hold the Lombardi trophy, or put on the Green Jacket. (See note 1, below ) Paul calls his persecution “momentary and light” - we was beaten, stoned, imprisoned, left for dead, and shipwrecked, to list some of his sufferings. (See: 2 Cor. 4:17) We are encouraged to endure because of the awaiting glory. (See: 2 Tim. 2:12; Jam. 1:12; John 12:24-26; Matt. 5:10-12, 44; 1 Pet. 4:13)
“That is to be revealed to us” - It is not our glory that will be revealed, but Jesus’ glory. And we will share in it because we are His own. (Col. 3:4; Tit. 2:13; 1 Pet. 5:1) To Him every knee will bow and every tongue confess He is Lord. (See: Phil. 2:10, 11; Rev. 19:16; 21:5-7)
V. 19 - “creation waits eagerly“ - All creation - the world, the sun and stars, the living beings - are in a holding pattern waiting for God to make the final checkmate move. The only things left to be done is Christ being re-introduced to the world as King of kings, and Lord of lords, the final judgement, the new Jerusalem, to list a few. Christ was given to the world as Savior in the first advent. He was rejected, as God knew he would be, crucified, buried and raised from the dead. (See: 1 Cor. 15:3-4; 1 Tim. 3:16. For longer reading: Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.) Since Christ’s ascension (Acts 1:6-11) the universe has been waiting for the proper time for Jesus’ return. (See: Daniel, chaps 6-12; Revelation to John, chaps 1-22) The broken and fallen creation will finally be made whole and pure.
“for the revealing of the sons of God.” - Not only the sons of God, but the Son of God, will be revealed. This is a interesting turn of phrase. Hasn’t Jesus Christ already been ‘revealed’ to the world? Indeed, to seek, serve and save the lost. (See: Luk. 19:10, Matt. 20:28; Mk. 10:45) Those who are lost may be won to the saving grace and mercy of God the Father. The world and mankind has not been willing to receive Him as such. Christ died for all, but not all have accepted His sacrifice. (Acts 13:48; 1 Pet. 3:18) When Christ is revealed again it will be a different situation. When Christ first came it was as servant. When He returns, it will be as conquering Lord. (See: Phil 2:9-11) That is what we are waiting for!At the first advent, people had the choice (or in present tense, have the choice) to acknowledge Him. When He returns, all (the Bible means ALL!) will admit that Jesus is God, and He has the right to judge all (again, ALL) persons. I suspect there are many, many people who do not want to do this. At the point it will not matter whether they want to or not. They waited too long. They will have “chosen poorly”. Believers eagerly await, because it is a vindication of our faith in Him. (See: 1 Cor. 1:7, 8; Col. 3:4; 1 John 3:2; 1 Pet. 1:7, 13).
Not only will Christ be revealed, God will show all of creation we are children of God! We are His own! We will be like Him! (See: Hos. 1:10 (2 Cor. 6:16); Matt. 5:9; John 1:12; Rom. 8:14, 16; Gal. 3:26; 1 John 3:1-2; Rev. 21:7.)
V. 20-21 - “Creation was subjected to futility” - Adam sinned, Eve was tricked by Satan, and the result is creation is subjected to the curse. (See: Gen. 3:14-19) I know the question has been raised: why didn’t God just speak it all out of existence and start fresh. There is no good answer to this hypothetical. However, I think that God created us in His likeness so we could have a relationship, a friendship with Him. There is always some who will exercise their free-will to not be friends with Him - because we can choose to do so. Without the choice, we would be meat-puppets, human robots. For example, we may love our cars, but the cars do not love us in return.
The world sees the futility of life, because it is seeing the future of life without God. (Not the future after the Great White Throne judgement, that’s too far out.) The paradox is the world wants to deny that God exists, or that a relationship with God is needed, and at the same time sees the natural sequence of things is futile. The wise men of the Bible saw this. (Psa. 39:5; 62:9; 144:4; Eccl. 1:2>)
In answer to the futility, God provided the access to an abundant life in Him through Jesus Christ our Lord. God does not want robots to love Him, but people to freely and willingly surrender to His love and mercy.
“Creation itself also will be set free” - Creation is now bound by sin and corruption. At the right time, all creation will be set free to be as it was in the Garden of Eden before the Fall. We will no longer hide ourselves from God, driven by shame and guilt. (Gen. 3:7, 8)
“freedom of the glory of the children of God.” - We will see Him face-to-face. We will behold HIs glory, and be blessed by it. (See: 1 John 3:1, 2) Jesus will be able to say to all creation, “These are Mine! They are under my protection. They are enveloped in My love. My Glory is also theirs! They are God’s own children.” No one will be able to object. None will be able to argue with the Father or the Son. There is none like God Almighty. We have a future and a hope.
V. 22 - “the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth” - In verse 19 above, creation is described as waiting eagerly, and here the waiting is likened to being pregnant. When a couple decide to have a baby, they are excited when they find out ‘they’ are pregnant. They look forward to the day, about nine months away, when they will hold their baby in their arms. As the time draws near, it seems that it cannot come soon enough. All creation knows the day is coming when Christ will return in power and glory. All creation knows there will be a time when God executes His judgement.
V. 23 - “we ourselves groan within ourselves” - We must wait until God says, “It’s time,” and we can hardly wait - it can’t get here soon enough!
"waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.” - The emphasis here is waiting for the day we see Jesus face-to-face, when God confirms my (and your) name is in the Book of Life. Positionally, we are children of God as soon as we believe and accept Christ as the Lord and Savior. As we grow in our faith, we become closer and closer to the blameless and blemish free child of God. Ultimately, when Christ is revealed as Lord, we will finally realize what being a child of God actually means. There are hints and allegations, there are guesses and informed speculations, but since we cannot fully imagine how glorious that will be, we can only wait and hope.
V. 24-25 - “in hope we have been saved,” - Hope - “joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation” our confidence is is in Christ’s promises and His resurrection and ascension into heaven.
He said He would be killed (Mt. 16:21; Mk 8:31; Lk 9:22; Jn 12:33, 18:32)...He would be raised up (Mt. 16:21, 20:19; Lk 9:22)...
We would be with Him (Jn 14:24, 26)... and
the Father would be in us (Jn 14:23, 17:24-26)...
He would be going away (Jn 7:33, 13:33, 16:5, 16:7, 16:28)...
He would send a Helper (Jn 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7)...
Our hope is not based on a fancy tale, but on the promises of God, and fulfillment of those.
"hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?” - Our salvation is secure in Christ, but we hav not yet experienced the final result. We have eternal life, but have not yet transitioned to our new body and life. We are confident that Jesus can do this, because He lives. We can joyfully look forward to being with Him because He ascended into heaven. For example: Sitting on the beach in the sun in Hawaii, with a breeze wafting off the ocean no one thinks “I hope this is going to be a nice day.” You are sitting in the middle of a nice day, you don’t have to hope for it. You may hope tomorrow will be a nice day, but no guarantee tomorrow will be nice. However, based on the promises made and fulfilled by Jesus, your hope for eternal life with Him is secure.
Don’t put too much emphasis on the physical side of the word “seen”, or “sees”. When someone asks you, “Now do you see what I mean?”, they have not actually shown you any object, but are asking you if you understand or comprehend what you have learned. You don’t hope to understand what you already have grasped. From the devotional book Jesus Calling, “you may sometimes feel alone because your union with Me is invisible. Ask Me to open your eyes so that you can find Me everywhere.“ (See note 2) That is one of the reasons we “wait eagerly eternal life” - in our present physical, natural man, we cannot see the eternal with our eyes. Help me, Jesus, to see You all around me.
We have eternal life in Jesus Christ. We are now just waiting for the next step.“with perseverance we wait eagerly” - Secured by the promises of God, our “hope is based on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.” (See note 3) We “hang in there” because we hang our hopes on our faith in the faithfulness of Jesus. We hang in there with joy and confidence because He is Risen!
***Note 1: Football’s Super Bowl Championship trophy, and professional golf’s Masters championship, respectively
Note 2: “Jesus Calling”, Sarah Young; Harper-Collins
Note 3: From hymn “The Solid Rock” , Mote & Bradbury.
No comments:
Post a Comment