Creation waits…
I was reading Romans the other day, and ran across these verses:
“18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children 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 freedom and glory of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved.” (Romans 8:18-24a)
It really got me thinking. Here is creation, what we might call the wilderness or nature or something like that, waiting in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. Eager expectation. It knows the promise is sure, and it absolutely can’t wait. It longs for the children of God to be revealed so it can be brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
What will that look like? What will it take for the children of God to be revealed? If creation looks this good and is this refreshing now, while it’s under subjugation, what will it be like when it is set free and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God?
What will creation look like when the children of God are revealed?
Wanting a little more incite, I went over to the Mounce Reverse-Interlinear version to see what I could find in the Greek. Here’s a rough translation of what I found there:
For creation was brought under the influence of folly / futility, not willingly, but through [him who] subjected [it], upon the expectation that creation [would be] set free from bondage to corruption / decay / corruptibility / mortality into the glorious manifestation of freedom of the children of God.
Perhaps what we see now is only a foretaste of what will come. But think – could we see this revelation in our lifetime? What if we as the children of God were revealed in glory and freedom? Would we then be able to rejoice with the freedom and glory of the wilderness?
It seems like a dream worth living for.
