In July of 2019, M.I.T. published a paper entitled How Expectation Influences Perception. The researchers studied how prior knowledge combined with certain or uncertain evidence helps make sense of the things we perceive in life. Our prior knowledge and our expectations influence what we perceive. The same evidence can be examined by different people with different expectations and draw very different conclusions. Believers and unbelievers look at the world and see the same things, but the children of God have a different perspective which provides peace and contentment.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones said, “It is the Christian alone who really can and should understand contemporary history. No one else understands it.” Only the Christian correctly understands the effects of Adam’s fall into sin. The immediate effect was that Adam and Eve experienced shame before God and before each other. As redeemed believers we understand why there is suffering in the world. We understand why the world works in the way it does. Unbelievers look at the world with a self-centered philosophy and can’t understand why we are able to have a specific diagnosis and prognosis regarding the world. The answer is that believers have a personal relationship with the revealer of truth. 

I. Creation Longs for Glory (vv. 19-22)

We see death and decay all around us and we see natural disasters, as the creation longs for the revealing of the sons of God. Today the wheat and tares grow together, but a day is coming when the entire universe will recognize the sons of God. Today the earth is subjected to futility by its Creator because of Adam’s sin; it is not operating in the way that God designed it, yet it is not without hope. The earth longs for the revealing of the sons of God because it means redemption for itself as well. At the present time creation is in bondage to corruption. As the earth deteriorates, we see the effects of the fall – resources challenged, death and decay, animals attacking one another, erratic weather patterns, the Garden of Eden becoming a desert – all reminding us that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). As a woman groans in the pains of childbirth, the earth groans because it desires to be delivered. The groans are not endless, and they are not in vain, there is a certain end to the groaning. Something beautiful happens when labor pains are over. When the child is born it leads to great joy for the woman. Today the universe groans, straining its neck to be set free of bondage to corruption. Through personification of the universe, we imagine it is gazing onto a future glory along with believers. 

II. Believers Long for Glory (vv. 23-25)

We have seen that the creation longs for glory; today we see that the believer longs for glory, and next week we will see that the Spirit longs for glory. In verse 23 Paul makes the transition from the longing of creation to the longing of believers. Even though we have the first fruit of the Spirit who enables us to live the Christian life and have victory over sin, we still suffer. There is universal suffering for all mankind, but there is some suffering that is just for believers. Romans 8:17 tells us that if we are God’s child, we have a great inheritance, and it includes suffering. We are the heirs of great treasures in heaven but also heirs of suffering. Suffering gives us a perspective that enables us to have clear expectations. In verse 18 Paul said, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Creation longs for glory and we who have the first fruits also long for the glory to be revealed.

• We long for adoption (v. 23)

The first aspect of the believers longing for glory is that we eagerly await our adoption as sons of God. The natural man is alienated from God and does not groan for the glory that Adam initially possessed. Depraved man cannot understand the implications of future glory. Paul described this in 1 Corinthians 2:8, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” Only believers long for future glory. Only believers understand the effects of and the remedy for sin. Only the believer can cry “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15). As a newborn baby longs for its mother, the new Christian longs to be with God; for the first time, he understands separation anxiety and he knows that it will be resolved only in the future glory. 

We long for adoption because we have the first fruits of our inheritance, the Holy Spirit. Paul was remembering how the Jews were instructed to bring the best of the first fruits of their harvest and offer them to God as an act of worship (Exodus 23:19). The Jew would do this as a sacrifice while trusting that God would provide the remainder of the harvest. The Holy Spirit, promised by Jesus in John 14:16, is a down-payment that seals us for redemption (Ephesians 1:13). In verse 23 Paul is saying that we have the first fruits because, at the moment we believed, God put His Spirit within us. The indwelling Holy Spirit is the initial installment for the guarantee of the glory that is to come, a guarantee of the eternity that we will enjoy with God in heaven. We also received the spirit of adoption that testifies, with our spirit, that we are children of God. We groan because of what we possess, and this possession of the Holy Spirit makes us long for adoption, makes us long for the next life.

We groan because we are separated from our Father. We groan because we recognize that creation is not right. We have a sigh of dissatisfaction because we know that creation is not behaving in the way it should. We sigh for the new heavens and the new earth. We sigh because we want to be with our Father. We groan when we face difficulty in sin; we groan when we face pain; we groan when we see injustice in the world; we groan when we see the world functioning as it does. We sigh when we see humanity mistreated. We sigh when we see death, disease and illness. When we look back at Genesis 1-2, we know that this is not the way things were meant to be. We long for the time when death, and illness and sin are no more. We experience strife in marriage, bitterness in relationships, wrath, clamor, and anger. We long for deliverance from this foreign body that is deteriorating in a foreign world. We know this not what God intended and we look forward to the hope of glory, but our hearts are heavy by what we experience. This is also a warning to non-believers: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John 2:15). If we love the things of the world, we belong to the world. James 4:4 states the same thing, “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” There is no middle ground; we either love the world or we love God. Jesus said we cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24).

A question that we must ask ourselves is, what makes my soul groan? Do we sigh because we don’t get more of the things we want? Do we sigh because we want to bask in the luxuries of this world? We may want to ask God why we don’t have more children or why I don’t have a greater income or a bigger house, etc. Do we groan because our soul is attached to these things? Do we groan because we live to feed our flesh? Do we groan because our desires are not met immediately? Scripture contains many warnings about seeking the things of the world when we are instructed to seek God’s righteousness and His kingdom (Matthew 6:33). Luke 12:19 records a parable about a man whose barns were overflowing, so he said he would tear them down, build bigger ones and take life easy. “But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? If we desire comfort or anything else in the world, more than we desire God, He says we are a fool.

If we have the Spirit of God living with us, then as we experience life, we also experience separation anxiety. All Christians should be known by their groan. A new believer begins to groan as they identify sin and as they see the world from God’s perspective. As you begin to understand the truth of Scripture, as you begin to grow in the knowledge of God, of the understanding of your salvation, of the knowledge of the gospel and apply it to yourself, the groan only grows louder. As we go about our daily activities we groan because we don’t want to be here on this earth. We groan but, since we believe that God is sovereign and loving, it is not because of discontentment. We can be content because we desire to be used by God, to accomplish His will however difficult it may be.

As mature believers are weaned from the world, our love for God grows, and our groaning also grows. This is why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:11, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.” When we become mature believers, we no longer find complete fulfillment in the things of the world. However, we do find joy as we eagerly await our adoption. Though we were legally adopted at our conversion, the full effects of this adoption are not realized until the resurrection, when we receive our glorified bodies. 

We can only speculate about the exact nature of the glorified body, but Scripture does give us some hints. The gospels give us some information about Jesus’ glorified body: It was material, for Thomas felt the nail prints in Jesus’s hands and the wound in His side (Luke 24:39, John 20:27); it could pass through walls (John 20:19,26); and it ate fish (Luke 24:42, John 21:13). So, what will we be like in the glorified state?

• Like Jesus – 1 John 3:2 (However, we will not be deified; we will remain a part of God’s creation.) 

• Tangible, transformed to be like Jesus’s body – Philippians 3:20-21

• Able to pass through walls – John 20:26

• Able to eat and drink – Matthew 26:29, Revelation 19:9

• We will be seen as Christ was seen after His resurrection – 1 Corinthians 15:5-7

David said in Psalm 17:15, “As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.” King David eagerly longed for the time when he would be in the presence of his Savior, and we do too!

As a side note, when Jesus ascended to the Father, He did not simply disappear. Had Jesus just disappeared, His disciples would have been troubled, and Jesus did not want this for them. Jesus had told them to not be troubled and He had promised to send the Holy Spirit as a comforter. But since He had said He was going away and would return, His disciples would be wondering where He would appear next. (John 14:1-3) By ascending as He did, His disciples got the message that His earthly ministry had come to an end, and the ministry was now theirs. 

In anticipation of the redemption of our bodies, we groan inwardly as we wait for our adoption. We read in 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 that those who die in Christ have an eternal home in heaven, and this is the home for which we long. We have good courage because God has given us His Holy Spirit as a guarantee of our adoption. Our greatest desire is to be in our heavenly home with the Lord, but either way, our aim is to please God.

Paul says that, while we endure the trials of this life, we wait for our adoption to be complete; we wait with joy, with good courage, with eager anticipation, and with hope because we know what is coming. The hope that we have is both objective and subjective. The objective hope is our salvation. We understand that God has chosen us (2 Thessalonians 2:13); we respond with the faith that God has given us (Ephesians 2:8-9); we are assured of our adoption (Romans 8:16); we understand that our salvation was planned by God before the foundations of the world (Ephesians 1:4); we know that our salvation is absolutely secured (John 6:37); and our hope is secure by being sealed with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13). Our hope is a tangible gift because, just like faith, it was given to us at conversion.

The subjective hope that we have enables us to look forward with excited anticipation of what is to come. We are saved in hope and saved to hope. Verses 24-25 say, “For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” Because we have the Holy Spirit within us, we can see what the world does not see. We have both clarity and knowledge, and these enable us to live with eager and hopeful expectations, just like the Old Testament saints. “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.” (Hebrews 11:13) The hope that they had prompted them to lead a righteous life.

The Old Testament saints had an unseen hope that they knew was true, and they had great expectations of the coming kingdom; it drove them to live for God’s glory. When we read about their lives of faith, we are encouraged to live in obedience too. It was their unseen hope that enabled them to run the race even in great trials and tribulations. Our objective and subjective hope grants us endurance; we are saved in hope and we wait for it with patience, with perseverance, and with steadfastness. Our patient endurance causes the world to wonder why we don’t collapse under pressure, why we have confident expectation, why we have joy, why we have hope. This is a perfect platform for sharing the gospel. Peter guides us, “But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” (1 Peter 3:14-15)

Believers and unbelievers alike share the common human condition: natural disasters, illness, death, crime, frustration, economic hardship, victory, defeat, etc. but we live in this world groaning with a hope that unbelievers do not have. This is what sets us apart. We do not love the things that unbelievers love; they are attached to this world while we are detached from it. We don’t respond as they respond, we don’t need the things they need. We understand the world around us; we understand that the world was spoken into existence by a personal God; we understand the effects of sin on the creation; and we understand the final state of all of creation. The patient endurance that we display through trials gives us a platform for the gospel, whereas unbelievers are left in desperation. 

The strength of our hope is a tangible reflection of the maturity of our faith. If you love the things of this world more than God and you don’t have a sure hope of heaven, then be reconciled to God by confessing your sins and trusting in Jesus. If you are a believer, you need to be prepared for when the Bridegroom comes, having our lamps full of oil, and not wasting time. We need to be pursuing holiness and being a good steward of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Selah:

1. How do you identify your greatest longing? What is it?

2. The world seems to be falling apart. In what do you hope? How can you have hope?

3. What are you doing as you wait for adoption?