Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Romans 8:22-25 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved ... we wait for it patiently.
GROANING FOR GLORY
Somebody has said that all the sounds of nature are in a minor key. Listen to the sighing of the wind. Listen to the roaring of the tide. Listen to the sound of whales calling to one another. Even most of the songs of birds are in a minor key. All nature is singing, but it is singing a song of bondage. Yet it sings in hope, looking forward to that day, Paul says, when it shall step into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Not only does nature testify to this bondage, bearing witness to the hope that is to come, but Paul, writing by inspiration, says our present experience confirms that this glory is coming. The Apostle points out that though we ourselves are redeemed in spirit, our bodies are not yet redeemed (raised and glorified), so that we too are groaning.
All through this Scripture there is a constant contrast between the groan and the glory, and at the same time, there is a link between the two. Nature groans; we groan. And yet the groan leads to the glory. Like the pains of childbirth leading to the joy of new life.
And so it is that with great expectation -- with hope made alive within us by the power of God's promises -- that we look forward in faith to our final adoption as sons, namely, the redemption of our bodies -- the change from corruption to incorruption. It was in view of this very thing that Jesus Christ died on the cross.
This is why we were saved from our sins -- to be brought to this final hoped-for state of incorruption.
