Grace Baptist Church, Nokomis, IL.

Text:

Childbirth is generally a painful experience. This probably doesn’t surprise you. Certainly anyone who has witnessed a birth, or given birth, knows this. Keep this in mind as we read this passage.

“The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 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.” (Rom 8:19-23)

Verses 19-22 are an illustration to help us understand verse 23 better. So let’s look first at those.

We know that the earth is not a living being, yet the text personifies the earth (v. 19). All of creation (the land, the animals, the stars, and the sea) are eagerly waiting. For what? It is waiting for the return of Christ, when it will be fully revealed who are God’s children. Until Christ returns, there is time for more people to come to believe in Him. But when Christ comes back, the number of God’s children has been set. But why is the creation waiting for this? Why should creation care?

Creation itself has been frustrated since sin entered into the world (v. 20). When Adam and Eve sinned, it affected not only themselves and their descendants, but all of creation (Genesis 3:17-18). Remember that creation is not alive as we are. We don’t buy into all that “Mother Nature” nonsense. Yet if creation were alive, it would be frustrated because of our sin (v. 20).

Who subjected creation to this frustration? (v. 20) There are three possibilities as to who it’s talking about.

1. We could blame Satan. But this wouldn’t rightly understand Genesis 3:17-18. The land was cursed not because Satan deceived Adam and Eve, but because Adam and Eve sinned.

2. So we could blame Adam and Eve. In one sense, they did subject creation to its frustration because their sin brought about the thorns. But Adam and Eve didn’t have the power to actually bring these things about. I think there is an even better answer.

3. God alone has the power and the will to change His own creation. But He did this for an ultimate purpose.

Remember, this is all an illustration for something else. Look at verses 20-21. There is hope for creation. But for the time being, since the first sin, creation has been experiencing pain (v. 22).

We too, while we live in this world, are groaning with pain, but have hope of redemption (v. 23). We are out of place in this world. We are God’s children, shining as stars in a dark world. We need to realize that it’s God’s will that we remain in the world for this time. He’s got a plan for us, and a job for us to do. But sometimes the world we live in causes us pain. C. S. Lewis wrote, “Pain is not good in itself. What is good in any painful experience is, for the sufferer, his submission to the will of God, and, for the spectators, the compassion aroused and the acts of mercy to which it leads.”

While we are in these bodies, we always look for ways to glorify God through them. But we eagerly look forward to the future redemption of our bodies when we will be free from sin forever.