I ran into this whimsical illustration on two different views of creation. It is entitled, ‘Male and Female Views of Creation’. Woman’s View: God made man and said, “I can do better than that,” and made the woman. Man’s view: God made beast and man, then rested. Then He made woman, and no one has ever rested since, beast, man, or God. ¹ In today’s post, we will continue our look at creations anticipation for deliverance as continue Roaming through Romans.

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Romans 8:21–23 (KJV)
21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

• In Romans 8:21, the conjunction, ‘Because’ leads us to the hope which creation has.
• As we have seen in Romans 8:20, in last week’s blog.

Romans 8:20 (KJV)
20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,

• The creation was made subject to vanity but at the same time, God gave it hope.
• What is that hope?
• The hope is simply stated in one-word ‘deliverance.’
• The Greek word ‘delivered’ means to be liberated or set free from slavery.
• Slavery from what?
• Slavery from corruption.
• The word ‘corruption’ means a breakdown of organic matter, a dissolution, or a deterioration.
• Since the fall of man, creation has been subservient or enslaved to the rot and decay of the curse.
• But the hope it has is that it will experience the same deliverance the children of Israel experienced from Egypt during the exodus.
• That experience is illuminated by the words ‘into the glorious liberty of the children of God.’
• The word glorious is not an adjective in verse twenty-one.
• The word does not describe what kind of liberty we have.
• The word shows a new realm the creation will be brought into.
• This realm of glory produces freedom or liberty.
• We can see that as the curse on the earth ties into the sin of man so the lifting of the curse ties into the redemption of man.
• All of which is known as the glory of the children of God.

The Groaning of Creation

• Paul says, ‘For we know that the whole creation groans.’
• The word groan means to sigh or lament.
• Groaning is both creations reaction to the effects of the curse as well as a sign of its deliverance.
• Creation groans because of the weight and the tangible burden related to the curse.
• The curse can be likened to the Roman myth surrounding Mezentius who inflicted a death penalty on criminals by, strapping a dead body to the living condemned man.
• Everywhere he went, the convicted man felt the weight of that dead decaying body.
• Both creation and humanity are shouldering the weight of the curse.
• But, Paul gives us another way to look at what this groaning means.
• The earth is not just shouldering the weight, the earth is impregnated with the answer.
• The groaning of creation is a metaphoric picture of a ‘pregnant creation’ ready to give birth.
• These pains of childbirth are the answer to the sin problem which caused the groaning in the first place.
• Understand the earth has been impregnated with the fullness of deliverance from the effects of sin.
• The ‘ultrasound’ of the Word of God reveals the earth groaning because she has been impregnated with the ‘New Earth’.
• The ‘child’ to be delivered will only come forth after the Second Coming of Jesus.
• The Coming of the Lord draws near (James 5:8).
• The cervix is dilating. The contractions are getting closer.
• The due date arrives in a short season.
• A case can be made that the upheavals of nature seen on planet earth today are the contractions of the birth process described here in Romans eight.
• Paul says the creation travails in pain together until now.
• The word ‘travails’ is the exact word used to describe the pain of childbirth.
• What’s the wholes story here?
• When God cursed the earth, He, at the same time, impregnated the earth with its restoration.
• The earth waits for this full manifestation.
• This physical sphere we call earth has within it the answer to its own problem much like the Virgin Mary had the Answer within her with the Jesus child.
• The whole of it works just like a pregnancy.
• There is travail.
• There is a gestation period before giving birth.
• It is a definite, fixed, period of time.
• It will not be an eternal pregnancy.
• The child has to be delivered.
• The day has to come.
• It’s just a matter of time.

The Groaning of The New Creation

• The earth is not the only one experiencing the sighs of pregnancy.
• Paul says it this way, ‘And not only they but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit.’
• The term firstfruits is sacrificial vocabulary.
• The first fruits were animals (Deuteronomy 18:4), and crops (Exodus 23:19) reserved exclusively for the Lord.
• The first fruits were a sampling of the best one brought to God.
• When a person comes to Jesus, he receives the firstfruits of the Spirit.
• It’s a sampling of the best God has.
• But, it’s only a sample.
• Ephesians chapter calls it the earnest of our inheritance.

Ephesians 1:13–14 (KJV)
13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

• This earnest or down payment of the Spirit is like the first day of Christmas in the song, ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas.’
• We just got the partridge but there are eleven more days in the song.
• There’s so much more to come.
• As Paul states, the creation does not suffer the pangs of birth alone.
• Humanity suffers along with it feeling the same contractions as creation does.
• They are all in sync.
• All believers are pregnant with their future.
• All of Creation groans together.
• As Paul says, ‘even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
• The Greek word ‘waiting’ means to wait eagerly or with anticipation.
• Waiting on God along with faith and patience (Hebrews 6:12) are intertwined like a three cord rope.
• Waiting with anticipation demonstrates belief.
• Waiting with eagerness escalates faith to an even higher degree.

What Are We Waiting For?

• We are waiting for the ‘adoption.’
• The New Living Translation translates Romans 8:23 as ‘that day when God will give us our full rights as his children.’
• Both the earth and its inhabitants are waiting for the curse to be lifted.
• What we experience today in Christ, the Bible calls the first fruits of redemption, a slice of the whole pie.
• We have a portion of what’s on the horizon.
• Our future will shine brighter than our past.
• And if you think that what you have today in Christ is awesome, you haven’t seen anything yet.
• The fullness of our redemption will only be realized when we ditch, our bodies infected with the sin nature and get glorified bodies free from sin.
• No more lust, no more impulses of the flesh that pull us into error and sin.
• No more decay and breakdown of the outer man.
• We will be completely and totally free.

Call to Action:

Are you enjoying the earnest, the first installment of your inheritance here and now? If you are, are what about the future? Are you, at the same time, looking forward to the fullness of what Jesus has provided for us?

Question: How does the knowledge that creation is groaning affect your view about physical upheavals in the earth today? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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