Romans 8: Hope for What is Unseen
Romans 8: Hope for What is Unseen
Romans 8:19-25; Isaiah 11:6-9
“For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”
Romans 8:19-25 NASB1995
We are filled with hope and perseverance for what is coming and for what is unseen. God’s glorious creation is also filled with that same hope that it will be set free from its slavery to corruption and be part of the freedom of the glory of the children of God. The whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together. The suffering and death and prey/predator tension and various natural disasters will be gone, as it is so beautifully put in Isaiah chapter 11:
“And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them. Also the cow and the bear will graze, Their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord As the waters cover the sea.”
Isaiah 11:6-9 NASB1995
God’s creation is a marvel to behold, even in its corrupt state caused by our sin. He clearly loves to create things of indescribable beauty and wonder. From the vast universe with trillions of galaxies filled with millions of stars to the complexities and ordered structure of subatomic particles to the pure coherence of mathematics to the majesty of the many varied landscapes we can see here and on other planets and finally to the incredible bounty of life itself on Earth, God spared no “expense” in putting together this marvelous mortal dwelling place. His love shines through while all of this creation groans for redemption and that ultimate freedom in Him that will come. Creation is not destined for annihilation but for rebirth!
Science has shown us so much to ponder and study. I am a fan of science and scientific technique and am a trained engineer (who applies science to solve problems), but science does not explain everything and it seems to be caught up in a fatalistic nihilism these days, asking us to either believe in what science says or give up our reasoning and intellect to believe in God. I followed this utilitarian path for quite a few years and it was completely unsatisfying. God was seeking me all that time, however, and I returned to faith, using my reason and my intellect to reach that juncture! There is so much that is unseen and purely supernatural. Science can’t explain love or sacrifice or miracles or the promptings of the Holy Spirit or why we find beauty in things that we observe, like the starry sky in my photo that I chose for today. Turning to another Sermon by Welsh pastor Geoff Thomas, he compares the hopelessness of the modern skeptic with the hope found in the God of Genesis:
Such a geo-centric view of reality is deplored by many non-Christian intellectuals today. Carl Sagan, the most famous American astronomer who resolutely opposed the Christian view of creation, was interviewed on the US TV programme Dateline by Ted Koppel. That interview was to be only a few days before Sagan’s death, though Sagan wasn’t aware that he had less than a week to live. Koppel asked him if he had any closing remarks, any words of wisdom he would like to share with the people of the earth and this is what he said; “We live on a hunk of rock and metal that circles a humdrum star that is one of 400 billion other stars that make up the Milky Way galaxy which is one of billions of other galaxies which make up the universe which may be one of a very large number, perhaps an infinite number, of other universes. That is a perspective on human life and our culture that is well worth pondering.” Those were his closing despairing words saying, “We are virtually nothings.” They are saying something like this:
We came from nowhere.
We are going nowhere.
There is no purpose in anything that we see around us.
‘Life’ is meaningless.
Humans are not special in any sense.
How different is the perspective of Genesis chapter one.
There is a Creator.
Mankind has a Maker.
God designed the universe with the world at its heart.
He especially made the earth amongst all the billions of stars in the cosmos.
Humans are very special, made in his image.
Our Maker is not silent but speaks to us by his servants and his Son.
Note that I have made no statement concerning young Earth versus old Earth creationism, which is one of those secondary or tertiary concerns of faith and the source of many arguments that seem pointless. What I have grasped in my return to faith is that my belief in God brings me hope and His love, regardless of the physical mechanisms that were employed to get us here. We sinned against Him and He found a way to redeem us! Meanwhile, we groan in anticipation of our future glory and the full restoration of His beloved creation!
My next devotional will examine Romans 8:26-27, The Holy Spirit and Prayer
Sermons by Geoff Thomas are copyright 2012 and found through Precept Austin. He encourages sharing of his sermons.