18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
v17 flows right into this passage so I'm going to include it too.
17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
The previous passage proclaimed our adoption as sons. Since we are the adopted children of God (and in Roman law that gave the adopted child equal if not more rights than biological children), we are heirs. Being an heir may not mean much if the father is poor. But in this case, our Father is God! We are heirs of God - that is incredible when you think of it.
We inherit everything that is God, including God Himself - because relationship with Him is what we long for more than anything.
Not only are we heirs, we are co-heirs with Christ. Everything that Christ inherits, we inherit equally. Incredible thought! We are, literally, the heirs of everything! In heaven, everyone will get everything and there will be no conflict over who gets what, we all get it all - all knowledge, all blessing, all wisdom, all glory, all joy, all love, all everything. We won't be equal to Christ in terms of deity of course, but we will be equal in terms of what we possess.
This inheritance is secure, God never disinherits His adopted children. Never. We are totally secure. In our salvation, in our adoptive status, in our inheritance.
The reality of being a believer is that we will suffer with Christ. We will. Some may endure only light affliction and some martyrdom and everything in-between. But we will suffer. It is a reality of the Christian life and a mark, really, of being a believer. If we are not suffering at all, that is time for some deep reflection as our salvation may be suspect. A believer will suffer.
2 Corinthians 4:17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
We suffer because the more we suffer the greater the capacity we will have to glorify God in eternity. When we suffer we draw closer to God, we are given His strength to endure, we are given His peace, and we are being readied to glorify Him eternally.
And that's why v18 is so true. Any suffering that we experience here on earth is simply trivial when we compare it to the glory we will experience in eternity.
MacArthur spells it out for us...
Our suffering comes from men. Our glory comes from God. There's no comparison, right? Our suffering is earthly. Our glory is heavenly. Our suffering is short. Our glory's forever. Our suffering is light. Our glory is heavy. Our suffering is in this human body. Our glory's in total perfection of personhood.
His prayer at the end of that sermon really spoke to me...
Father, we are in awe of Your grace and we count it a privilege to suffer. We feel guilty because in our part of the world, in our little slice of history, seems like we don't suffer very much. Lord, we're not looking for that, we don't have a martyr complex, but we don't want to compromise. We want to be bold; we want to be representing Jesus Christ, whatever it costs of alienation, being ostracized. Maybe, Lord, it's just that we're not that vocal about it so people don't know who we really belong to. Help, us not to try to avoid the light affliction in this world and therefore forfeit the full weight of glory potential that lies in the world to come. 0 God, how wonderful. We're in no-condemnation status and we are they who will inherit an incomparable inheritance of glory. Nothing to compare to it. We thank You. We are not worthy, we confess that. But, 0 God, we want to give You all that we have, all that we are in living expressions of thanks. We want us to be all You want us to be. We want to suffer, if so be it, for Christ's sake while at the same time representing Jesus Christ in a Christless world. And, Father, help us not to get earthbound, but to long as the Apostle did for the world to come, for the glory that shall be revealed in us. We do not boast, we are humbled for we are unworthy sinners. We do not deserve a no-condemnation status with You and we do not understand why You have chosen us, but what is darkness to our intellects is sunshine to our hearts. And so we thank You for Christ's sake. Amen.
And oh, how we long for that glory to come.
Creation itself longs for that glory to come.
At the fall, creation became a victim of the curse. God cursed creation, and every since the fall it is no longer able to be all that it was originally intended to be. From weeds to hurricanes and everything in between, creation is subject to the curse. There are glimpses though aren't there? Sunsets, waterfalls, flowers - so many incredible things in creation that gives us glimpses of what it was at the time of creation and what it will be once again. But for now, creation has been cursed, through no choice of it's own. God cursed the entire universe because of man's choice to sin. Creation didn't choose to sin. Man did. But creation is a victim to the curse just the same.
MacArthur....
You say, "Why did He do that?" He did that so we would understand the tremendous effect of sin, so that we would understand the tremendous evil of sin, that sin does not just pollute the one who sins but its ramifications are endless. One man's sin pollutes an entire universe.
And so we learn here that nature's destiny is inseparably linked to the destiny of man. Because man sinned, listen now; get this, because man sinned creation fell. And listen to this, when man is restored to the glorious manifestation that God has for His children, creation will be restored with him....
creation is groaning. But it's groaning with its neck outstretched and it's looking--and that's the fourth point. In verse 20, the last two words--"in hope," in hope. Nature is looking. Creation is looking for the glorious manifestation of the children of God because it too will be freed from the bondage of corruption.
It's such an ... this is such an incredible thought, the intimate connection between man's sin and the disaster of the decaying universe.You know, we all in science talked about the law of entropy, that all matter is breaking down, that there's disintegration everywhere. That is true and that is becauseof the curse and that is reiterated here by the Apostle Paul. And may I submit to you at this point, just as a side light? That evolution is a lie, it is an absolute lie. And it has to be because it is the very opposite of the truth. We're not in an upward trend and we have never been in an upward trend. We are in a downward trend. We are on the way from absolute perfection to total disaster. And the whole thing is going to end in a holocaust of devastation and it's not going to be brought on by Russia, it's going to be brought on by God....
But creation is looking for that great time.....Creation has hope. It's a great thought because the promise of the Word of God is for a new heaven and a new earth....It happens at the same time as the manifestation, or the unveiling of the glorious children of God. When we come in blazing glory with Jesus Christ...great thought, great thought. But until that time, creation groans because it is cursed along with man.
Verse 21 then says that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberation of the children of God. That's what it's looking for, the time when it is restored and renewed. And again the verb is passive; again creation has acted upon it the work of God...
"And the heavens will pass away." The only thing you can do with the sin-cursed universe is to destroy it. To what extent? We really don't know. But it will pass away with a great noise, the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and that's exactly what happens in an atomic destruction. And I do believe it will be atomic, I don't think it's going to be atomic as we know little atomic bombs, I think it's going to be atomic in the sense that God will disintegrate the atoms of the universe and set forth a chain reaction that would be beyond anyone's ability to even conceive. And everything is going to be burned up. In fact, in verse 11, it's all going to be dissolved, set loose, by the way. That word dissolved is luo and it means to loose something that is bound. And I get the idea that the atoms which are bound together are just going to fly apart, the separation, the splitting of the atom. That's the day we're looking for, that day called in verse 12 the day of God in which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.
You say, "Well, what's going to happen after that?" Well, verse 13, we look for a new heavens and a new earth in which dwelleth what? Righteousness. That's where it's going, folks. But you can't get the paper to print that, that's forbidden cause that's in the Bible...I guess. So the whole creation's up on its tiptoes, got its neck stretched out looking off in the horizon, waiting for a cosmic regeneration. And I believe we're going to spend all of our eternity in a new heaven and a new earth that's going to be here and it's going to be all redone...inside and out, top to bottom. And it's going to be so wonderful. In fact, in Matthew 19:28 it is called the regeneration. Jesus said to His disciples, "When I sit on my throne, you'll sit with Me judging the twelve tribes of Israel in the regeneration," the cosmic regeneration, the regeneration of the universe. It is called in Acts 3:21 the times of restitution. God makes all things the way He wants them. And it's a marvelous time. I mean, when you think about what the glories of that time are going to be-no sin, no unrighteousness, no evil, no pain, no sorrow, no death, no crying ... glorious. Creation longs for that. They're going to get an initial taste of that and a good taste of it in the millennial Kingdom. And then the full taste in the glorious new heaven and new earth....
There's no way to stop the decay. There's no way to turn around the laws of entropy which cause everything to be breaking down. The disintegration is consistent and constant and unending and unceasing and cannot be reversed. And it is a bondage of corruption that holds the whole creation. And we see it even in the socialist institutions of man. We see it everywhere. Everything he touches turns, as it were, to ashes. And so it is bound in this corruption and it therefore from the outside, verse 21 says, must be delivered. It has to be acted upon, even as it was cursed by God it has to be reversed by God. And it will be when it enters into the glorious liberation of the children of God. And what that simply means is the time when we're liberated from sin and we're liberated from the flesh and we're liberated from our humanness and we enter into the glory of God....That is glory, to be like Jesus Christ. And that day when we're made like Jesus Christ, all of creation also will be gloriously liberated from the bondage that the curse has brought upon it. So we're looking for a new heaven and a new earth....
And here we see, beloved, how great is the evil of sin. Sin has polluted the whole universe. This is the sin of one man...one sin by one man pollutes the entire universe ... the whole thing. Think about that. W hen you try to excuse sin in your mind the next time, remember that if you had been alive as Adam was alive and just committed one sin, one time, you would have polluted the whole universe....
And then it says it travails in pain. That's an interesting word. That's the word for the pain of childbirth. That's right. It's not a ... it's not a futile pain, it's not a pain that leads to nothing, it's a pain that leads to something good. That's the one pain that I guess women look forward to ... the travail that brings a child into the world. It's a marvelous reality. It's a good pain, in a way. Oh it is a mark of the curse for in Genesis 3 God cursed the woman with pain in childbearing, but it is a pain that brings forth a good thing. And so the groaning and the moaning, as it were, and the pain of the earth in its anticipation, is ultimately a travail that will bring forth a new age. But in the meantime, until now, it just groans.
Tomorrow's scripture focus: Romans 8:22-25
Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Luke 24, John 20-21
Tomorrow's scripture focus: Romans 8:22-25
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