Romans 8:19-22 “Reality”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁹For the eager expectation of the creation is waiting for the revealing of the sons of God, ²⁰for the creation was subjected to futility (not willing[ly] but because of the one subjecting) upon hope ²¹that the creation itself will also be liberated from the bondage of decay into the freedom of the glory of the children of God, ²²for we know that the entire creation is groaning together and in agony together until the present.

One of the things that has amazed me as I’ve studied through the book of Romans is how much it is true that the Gospel is actually our reality. What I mean is this – I think I have always seen our Gospel (the message of Jesus and salvation) as, in a way what people might call our own version of “how to get to heaven.” In a sense all religions have some kind of gospel like that – their own version of how to get to heaven or Nirvana or whatever. In my mind, ours was the true gospel, but that’s primarily what it was – the message of how to be saved.

Instead, as I have studied this book, I have more and more realized that our Gospel is far, far, far more than that. It is our reality. Perhaps in other faiths, their “gospel” is only their “how to get to heaven,” but ours goes far beyond that. What do I mean? Here in the book of Romans, as Paul elaborates on and explains the message of salvation, he is actually answering the very questions of our reality: Who are we? Where did we come from? Why are we here? Where are we going? What’s wrong with us? What’s right with us? Why are things the way they are? Who is God? What does He think of us? How should He be part of our lives? Does anyone else see that our Gospel encompasses all of that? And do you see that, to answer those questions, is actually to address not just “how to get to heaven,” but rather the very explanation of the reality we live in!

The passage before us is case in point. What is addressed in these few simple verses is one of the most important and foundational truths of science. It’s called Entropy. Entropy is basically the disorder of our universe. In what is called the “Second Law of Thermodynamics,” it is observed that everything tends to disorder. In other words, without some input of intelligent energy, everything in our universe is falling apart and degrading.

That is science. Pure science. Interesting, no one ever asks why? Why is that true? Why does it have to be true? My whole career has been spent in the field of wastewater treatment. I have been involved in designing entirely new wastewater treatment plants, I’ve designed repairs and upgrades, I’ve even operated plants myself. One of the facts I have long observed is that, in the end, the best wastewater operator is actually a maintenance man, someone who can fix things. Why is that? Because most of his time will be spent fixing all the things that break down and fall apart. He’ll spend very little time “operating” or just thinking about ways to make his plant run better. And that isn’t just wastewater treatment. That is every job, everywhere.

Everything falls apart. Everything eventually corrodes, breaks down, collapses. That is reality, yes? We all know it if we slow down long enough to observe it. Science has even enshrined it, given it a name – Entropy, and established it as an inevitable fact addressed by the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Yet still the question ought to linger, why?

Right here in verse 21, the NIV calls it creation’s “bondage to decay.” Verse 22 observes, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” What is going on? This takes us all the way back to the book of Genesis. This world wasn’t created to fall apart. “And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good” (1:31).  And over this entire material creation, the Lord placed Adam: “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground ,,, Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (2:26,28).

That was “the Garden of Eden” – Paradise.  But what happened? Adam and Eve sinned and then God said to Adam, “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you … By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food … ” (3:17-19). Notice “cursed is the ground.” Because of Adam’s sin, a curse fell on creation itself. The death Adam was warned against became not only his reality but the very reality of this entire material universe. Science knows there is Entropy. Our gospel tells us why.

Thankfully, our Gospel is literally “good news” and also tells us the answer to it all. Our passage says that creation is waiting for “the sons of God to be revealed,” at which time it will be brought into “the glorious freedom of the children of God.” In short, we know the Bible teaches us there will be a new heaven and new earth (II Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1). A time will come when “‘The wolf and the lamb will feed together, … They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain,’ says the Lord” (Isa. 65:25).

However, in the meantime, I am just amazed at how our Gospel is, in fact, our reality. To deny and ignore the Gospel is to live in delusion. How true were Jesus’ words, “And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free!”

 

Romans 8:18 “Growing Up”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁸For I am considering that the sufferings of the present time [are] not worthy toward the about to be glory to be revealed into us.

This is another verse where I think one could write for hours and never exhaust the subject. Suffering. I remember early in my Christian life realizing how much I treasured every sermon I heard about how to handle trials and suffering and hardships. I remember feeling like I could never get enough of such teaching and encouragement. “All things work together for good to them that love God…” “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee…” “I know the plans I have for you, plans to do you good and not to harm you, plans to give you a future and a hope.” “No trial for the present seems joyous but grievous, but afterwards yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them that are exercised by it…” “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials…”

I believe I could sit here typing for hours just quoting verses that address this subject of suffering. Interesting that Paul says right off the bat, “I consider.” That could also be translated something like “I reckon” or “I account.” Also interesting it is in the present tense, so really means “I am considering/reckoning/accounting…” What is he saying? He’s saying this is a mind game, an on-going, continuous mind game. When it comes to suffering, the battle is constantly won or lost in our minds. That is precisely why the Bible is so full, from cover to cover, of verses addressing this subject, why I found I could seemingly never get enough, and why to this day my soul nurses on those truths.

As I studied the verse before us, I realized why all of this is true. Here we have the subject of suffering “in the present time” compared to “the glory which shall be revealed…” As Paul says, our present sufferings aren’t even worth comparing with the glory ahead of us. You’d think the hope of heaven could send us all skipping down the street no matter what we were facing. However, here’s the rub: Our present sufferings are in our face. The glory ahead is a matter of faith. Our present sufferings are something we feel keenly. Now. Pain hurts…sometimes A LOT. What is the glory ahead? It is something I must believe in. I can’t feel it, can’t see it, can’t touch it. I can only believe in it. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). Faith. Faith is a mind game. As Paul says elsewhere, “If there be any virtue, if there be any praise, … think on these things, and the God of peace shall be with you” (Phil. 4:8,9).

This is precisely why the Bible is so full of verses on the subject. Pain is where we all live. It’s also interesting to me how, in this verse, Paul’s encouragement is for us to compare those present sufferings with the glory to be revealed, yet that is not the thrust of the rest of the Bible. What I mean is that actually there is comparatively little said in the Bible about that “glory to be revealed.” It is there. We have entire passages like Revelation 21 and 22 about heaven – glimpses of that future for our encouragement. Yet, think about it, when the Lord addresses hardships, what is His usual encouragement? It is much more present. “When you pass through the flames, I will be with you…” “Fear not, for I am with you.” “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me…” Almost without exception, His encouragement has to do with the right now, how I deal with the “right now” of pain and trouble.

He “knows our frames that we are but dust.” He knows how much we struggle to bear up under pain and what a battle we face trying to win that mind game of faith. Elsewhere He does say, “For our light and momentary afflictions are working for us a far more exceeding weight of glory… (II Cor. 4:16-18), yet He Himself gave us the Bible filled with “here and now” encouragement.

I like how Paul here calls our attention to our glorious future. I wish I could fill my mind more with those truths. In a sense, it makes me feel bad that I don’t draw more encouragement from it. However, what I find studying even this verse, is that we don’t need to beat ourselves up over the fact that the “coming glory” doesn’t seem to give me the encouragement I think it should. Though stated here and stated clearly, yet this is one of the few places where that’s the encouragement God offers us. I personally find it encouraging. The Lord is okay that I need “here and now” truth to help me with my “here and now” pain!

On the other hand, and as this passage would remind us, we do have a glorious future. There is a glory to be revealed, as the chapter will go on to describe, and, as it said in I Cor. 4, it is so glorious it makes our present sufferings “light and momentary,” while it itself is “a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” – and so much so, the very next thought is “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen.” Like Moses, we can “persevere, because we see Him who is invisible” (Heb. 11:27).  Unquestionably one of the marks of adulthood is the ability to live for deferred goals, to accept hardships today for the sake of something we value in the future.

Really it is a considerable immaturity to be constantly unable to do that. People (us) make a lot of very bad decisions in life because we want it now.  What that is, in reality, is the worst form of childishness. “Wanting it now” reduces a human being to nothing better than a racoon or a worm, simply reacting to its environment, with no ability to think things through, to look ahead, and to make choices based on the long-term consequences they’ll bring. The ability to live for deferred goals is part of the dignity of the human race, part of the image of God in us, part of that which was given us uniquely in all this material creation.

Isn’t it interesting that’s what faith does for us? The very “mind game” we’re struggling with is actually lifting us to the dignity we were created for! In a sense, it’s helping us to “grow up!” And that’s a good thing. As I sit here at age 65, I’m still looking forward to what life will be like when I “grow up!” Seriously, the very activity Paul describes in this one little verse, the fact that he is “considering his present sufferings and comparing them with a glory to be revealed” is the very exercise of human dignity!

I am constantly amazed how God’s glory is always our greatest benefit. What I mean is that uninformed people may object to the idea that we should live for God’s glory. They would suggest that somehow God is being selfish to think we should all live for His glory. What they don’t realize is this simple truth, that His glory is always, always, always our greatest good – just like here. The very “considering” of faith is making you and me the respectable, mature people we ought to be. (And that’s a good thing!)

Last of all, I want to note a little grammatical oddity in the passage, and that is, as I translated above, this glory is to be revealed literally “into” us. That word choice doesn’t work very well in English, but it is there in the Greek. If you look up various translations, you’ll see that some render it “to” and some “in.” I think we have to step back and realize, once again, they’re not just stating facts, but rather painting a picture. I would suggest this glory is so great, we will be so much a part of it, that it isn’t enough to say it will be revealed “to” us. In fact, it will also be revealed “in” us. It will be literally like a walk along the bottom of the Pacific Ocean! Heaven will not only be the place we live. It will be the very air we breathe!

So, what to do? We need to nurse on this hope all we can, let it help us grow up and act like adults, but then not get too beat up when we find ourselves struggling with the mind game of faith right here in this “now” time, too often attended with seemingly endless miseries and pain.

Lord, lift us, help us, make us the very royal children You created us to be!

 

Romans 8:17 “Suffering”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁷and if children, also heirs, heirs of God and fellow-heirs of Christ, if indeed we are suffering together that also we might be glorified together.

The blessings just keep flowing. I’ve never understood the second half of this verse really: “…if indeed we are suffering together that also we might be glorified together.” The “if” opens the door to doubtful thoughts that somehow if we don’t suffer enough or in the right ways, perhaps we might forfeit the glory. Knowing the rest of the Bible, I knew that couldn’t be the case, but still it hung there. Then I’d say most commentators turn it into a monumental drama, taking it to refer to some horrific persecution we are destined to face, again leaving us with those doubtful thoughts, “What if I fail?” As I’ve studied, I see it is none of the above, and such thoughts instead rob us all of the sweetness and comfort the Lord intended these words to bring.

First of all, let’s consider the context. What are we talking about? We’re talking about us fallen sinners, us children of the devil, being redeemed by the blood of Jesus, adopted to actually be made the much-loved children of God and indwelt by the very Spirit of Adoption. Having been made his children and indwelt by His Spirit, we now march to the beat of a different drummer. We walk not according to the flesh but according to His Spirit. All of that is itself glory and great cause for praise and eternal wonder.

It would be nice to stop there. However, there is one small problem. We’re still here. Here. In this world. In this Adamic body. In this world ruled by the prince of the power of the air. In this fallen world where death is our portion. In this world where we are surrounded by people who go on living out the lies and murder of their father the devil. If we were of this world, we would go on like all the rest, hating and being hated, constantly maneuvering and manipulating to somehow get this world to give me what I want.

But we are not. We are not of this world. As the song said, “This world is not my home.” And what does that spell for us? Suffering. Misery. Pain. However, not just pain because of pain, but the misery of seeing clearly the lies, the cruelty, the selfishness of the world around us, and feeling in our hearts the same pain Jesus Himself felt for 33 years as He had to live in this same world as us. It says of Him at Lazarus’ tomb, “Jesus wept.” I noted years ago, those could not simply be tears of sorrow at the death of His friend – He knew He was about to raise him from the dead! No. I am quite sure what made Jesus weep was to see the horrible pain of all the mourners around Him. He created this world. Death wasn’t supposed to be a part. Again, it wasn’t just the misery for misery’s sake which pained Him so. It was knowing it shouldn’t be so.

To enter into fellowship with Him is to enter into that same pain. To know His great heart of love for people can only break our own as we see people live without Him – or should I say, suffer without Him. In fact, the closer we walk with Him, the more, in this world, we’ll suffer with Him. Oh, there is the chance we may have to “suffer for our faith,” Church history is of course littered with martyrs and we’ve all experienced the rejection of those who would hate our God. But I would suggest we err greatly, as so many do, to limit this text to anything that dramatic.

We must rather let these words flow into the very fabric of our everyday mundane lives. We all can relate to the psalmist saying, “Oh that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and find rest” (Psalm 55:6) or “Woe to me that I dwell in Meshek, … Too long have I lived among those who hate peace. I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war" (Psalm 120:5-7). It’s just plain painful being here – all day every day.

I like what my good buddy Alexander Maclaren said about this very passage, “Do not keep these sacred thoughts of Christ’s companionship in sorrow for the larger trials of life. If the mote in the eye be large enough to annoy you, it is large enough to bring out His sympathy; … never fear to be too familiar in the thought that Christ is willing to bear, and help me to bear, the most insignificant of daily annoyances … go to Him, and He will bear it with you; for if so be that we suffer with Him, He suffers with us.”

To be here is to know misery, but, if we would recognize it for what it is – suffering with Him – then perhaps we will find His joy in it, He who “for the joy set before Him endured the Cross.” Perhaps we’ll find it genuinely true, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.”  No wonder Paul said, “Therefore will I gladly rejoice in my sufferings, that the power of Christ may rest upon me!”

Then let us return to the thought of our inheritance. All of the very glory of heaven itself is already ours. In this short pilgrimage while we remain here, may we hear our Father say, “Hang on just a little while. It is My will that you should remain. Trust Me. Suffer with Me. Let me use you. Then very, very soon, it will all be over, the heavenly gate will open and you will never again know pain or sorrow. Trust Me and all will be well!”

Jesus is destined for all the glory of the Father. We’re joint-heirs with Him. We suffered with Him for a short while. We’ll know glory with Him forever and ever!