It’s always a pleasure to be back with you. I invite you to turn in God’s Word with me to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. I think I’ll begin our reading with verse 12. The title of the message this morning is “The Coming Glory.” The Coming Glory.
Romans 8, beginning with verse 12:
So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you’ve received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba, Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us. For the creation waits with eager longing 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 will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth till now, and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 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.
Let’s bow together for prayer. Our Father, we are grateful for this wonderful portion of Your Word. We ask that You open our eyes and our hearts to see it, to grasp it, and therefore to rejoice in the glory of it—to praise You more as we ought because of it. We ask in Jesus’ name, amen.
I’d like to draw your attention particularly to verse 18: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us.” John Wesley is noted, known to have remarked concerning those people of the Evangelical Awakening, he said, “Our people die well. Our people die well.” Of course, he’s referring to the confidence that only the gospel of Jesus Christ can give. And so for those who are bereaved, Paul says in 1 Thessalonians, we sorrow, but not as those who have no hope. Or for those who are themselves suffering, or even for those who are on their deathbed, we have verse 18. Romans chapter 8: “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed in us.”
Grief in either case—whether it is over someone else who is suffering, or dying, or who has passed, or grief for ourselves in suffering or in dying—all of it is shored up by the anticipation of better things, a glory that is to come. And this, at least in part (it’s not the whole explanation, but it is certainly the large part of the explanation), it’s what explains for us what I’ve often called the Christian enigma. Often people in the world have looked on Christians and have remarked, scratching their heads maybe, “With all the suffering they’re going through, how is it they remain so joyful?” The Christian enigma.
Frequently when Christians suffer, when Christians are bereaved, going through some difficulty of whatever kind, other Christians are very quick to point to Romans 8, verse 28: “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose.” And it’s for good reason we point to that verse; ultimately, that’s where every suffering Christian is going to have to place his anchor, in that kind of theology—that our God has ordered all that comes for His own good purpose and for our good. And it is a marvelous verse to hang your hopes on in times of suffering.
But I’ve often thought that Christians, well-meaning in giving that counsel to Christians in suffering, often rush too quickly to Romans 8:28, because it can seem a bit unfeeling, as if you don’t understand what they’re going through at the moment. And I’ve often thought that although they have to get to Romans 8:28—they’ve got to get there at some point—I’ve often thought it would be better in our counsel to them if first of all, at least, we point them to Romans 8:18. And that is: “The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that shall be revealed in us.”
A Cursed And Fallen World
Very helpfully, I think, Romans 8:18 presents for us this wonderful theme of the coming glory in a context of discussing the sufferings of humanity and of the whole created order that is evident all around us. Romans chapter 8, of course, is known as one of the high points of Scripture. It’s just one of those mountain peaks of Scripture, where Paul just seems to pour everything into this in just a glorious way. And of course, Christians by the scores and scores and scores have found Romans chapter 8 to be their favorite—or one of their favorite, at least—passages in all of Scripture.
It glories in the fact that we are united to Jesus Christ, and it seems to just unpack all of the implications of being united to Jesus Christ. Verse one: united to Jesus Christ, there’s no condemnation. United to Jesus Christ, verses two and following: we’re freed from sin’s grip and enabled to live unto God. We’re able to put away sin. Not perfectly yet, but we’re able to experience real victory over sin and to live successfully unto God. United to Jesus Christ, we share in His glory now and then. And at the end of the chapter, it’s united to Jesus Christ: we don’t have to fear ever being separated from the love of God. How could we ever be separated from the love of God when we are in Christ, His Son? And so Paul just unpacks these wonderful glories of being united to Christ.
But in the context of doing all of that, it’s in this context of pointing out how the whole created order, and we with it, have been subjected to futility and suffering of all kinds. And he spends some time mentioning that in order that, by contrast, he can show us the glories of being in Christ. And I think that’s one of the reasons Romans chapter 8 is such a favorite passage of Scripture: because the glories that are ours in Christ, and that will be ours in Christ, are set in contrast to a curse and judgment.
Before the Apostle looks ahead or before he looks up, he looks around and he sees suffering. And he observes what is just a reality of life, and that is we live in a cursed and fallen world. And our world has all of the marks of judgment, even if not fully displayed. Even if this judgment has not fully yet been consummated, it has the marks of judgment. And so in verses 19 and following, he tells us that the whole created order is out of sorts, waiting for a better day. And he pictures the created order, verse 22, as groaning. Interesting language, isn’t it? The created order itself. Now, in a minute, he’ll get on to us. We’re groaning, too, with it. But the created order, what we call nature around us, is groaning.
Like it’s in child-bearing pains, waiting to give birth, and it’s like it’s in labor pains. The travail is awful, waiting for something better. But in the meanwhile, groaning. You ever thought of the created order as hurting? Groaning with pain? The savagery of the animals. Severe weather: hurricanes, tornadoes, cyclones, tsunamis. Some areas where it’s just unbearably hot, other areas where it’s unbearably cold. And as much as we want the rain, sometimes it comes in such measure—just ask Houston—that it’s unbearable. And with all of this, the hurricanes and the tornadoes and the devastation of the winds, Paul says it’s creation groaning. It’s creation out of sorts.
And with that: illnesses, diseases, death. And not just in the physical world and not just in the animal world, but we ourselves groan. And there is sickness, and there are debilitating illnesses, and there’s death. There’s cancers, there’s infections, there are viruses. And all of this he speaks of as creation groaning, and we with it, groaning, caught up in the judgment of God against sin.
People outside of the church, people who have no acquaintance with divine revelation in the Scriptures, they may well wonder, “How do you make sense of all of that suffering?” It sometimes just seems to be nonsense. Seems to be no way to account for it. If there is a God, why is there so much suffering? Why is there so much evil in the world—both moral evil, injustices inflicted on others, and natural evil: the storms and the winds and the devastation of the natural elements? Why is there so much of that? If there is such a God, how do we account for it, and how do we account for what seems to be so much disorder? Is there some consideration, some cohesive factor that can possibly make sense of it all?
And the Apostle Paul is answering that question in verses 20 and following here, where he tells us that the whole created order has been subjected to futility. Interesting phraseology, isn’t it? The whole created order has been subjected to futility. Certainly a divine passive there: subjected by God to futility. God is involved in this. This is God’s doing that the created order is groaning. It is God’s doing that the thing seems—seems to us—out of order. It is God’s doing that there are storms and winds and tornadoes and hurricanes and cyclones and tsunamis and earthquakes and diseases and illnesses and death. It’s God’s doing. He has subjected the whole created order to futility. And the whole created order, then, is groaning.
And what Paul is doing here, of course, is drawing our attention to the big picture. He takes our attention all the way back to the beginning in Genesis chapter 3. Adam and Eve were not content with the glory that they’d been given in creation. Created in God’s image as His vice-regents to reign over the created order, they wanted more. And they ate the forbidden fruit of their own ambition, and in consequence, God pronounced judgment and curse. And the whole created order is taken up in that judgment. Satan against humanity, the seed of Satan against the seed of the woman, men against women, people against people, and man against the created order itself with the thorns and the thistles and all of the resistance of the created order, so that we have to struggle just in order to make a living.
And Paul is drawing our attention back to the beginning to see the big picture of it all, to see that man was created for glory, and man was given a great glory, but we’ve rebelled against God, and there’s been a consequent judgment. And to this day we are reeling from that judgment that God pronounced in Genesis chapter 3 in the garden. We’re reeling from the curse that was pronounced. Enmity on every level of existence: “Enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed.” You’ll have pain and childbearing, and you’ll be fighting against one another, and you’ll be fighting against the created order, and there’ll be resistance and unrest and chaos on the whole level of existence because of humanity’s rebellion against sin.
The whole created order is out of sorts because of human sin and a consequent judgment of God against it. And this—this is why we have infections, viruses, cancers, debilitating illnesses, funerals, wheelchairs, crutches, nursing homes, hospitals. The whole created order, he says, verse 20, has been subjected to futility—divine judgment against human sin. We are fallen creatures living under a divine curse. God has subjected the whole created order to frustration. Verse 22: creation is groaning. Verse 23: we, with it, are groaning, eagerly waiting for something better.
And so in the brief space of a few verses here, Paul paints the big picture of the scene: that we live in a fallen world, marked by divine judgment and curse, and this is what accounts for all of the suffering that we see. Moral evil and injustices—bad guys flying airplanes into big buildings—natural evil, the storms, the upheavals of what we call nature: every scrap of suffering traces back to Genesis chapter 3. Human sin against God and rebellion and the consequent judgment. And the whole created order is caught up in a divine judgment against human sin.
A Seed Of Hope
But of course, as you know, and if we had time we would go look at that as well, in Genesis chapter 3, in the midst of pronouncing this judgment and curse on the whole created order, God makes a promise. He promises to Adam that He will send a champion—a champion who, at some cost to Himself, His heel will be bruised; a champion who, at some cost to Himself, will crush the head of the tempter. And with that is born this hope that the one who brought all of this mess on us, the tempter, will be defeated. Finally dealt with: a crushing of the head. And with that is the hope that the whole problem that he’s gotten us into will be fixed.
And that hope is born—just a seed of hope—in Genesis 3:15. And then throughout, of course, the Old Testament, that hope grows and grows. Humanity and all of the created order with it will be restored. It will be reconciled to God. The champion would deal with the tempter and would nonetheless, even though He has a cost to Himself—His heel will be bruised—He will nonetheless triumph over the tempter and restore us to God.
That hope that was born in Genesis 3:15, of course, grew over the long centuries, and prophet after prophet was sent by God to announce His great plans in the restoration of humanity and redeeming mankind to Himself, and with him the whole created order. And prophet after prophet would come and announce that a new day is coming, that God will break into history Himself and He will fix things Himself; that He will send His great servant to come and bring about this great change, and He will judge sin, and He will establish righteousness, and He’ll restore humanity to fellowship with Himself.
Prophet after prophet comes along announcing this great hope for a new day that’s coming. And it’s not only a restoration of humanity from its sin, but with it the whole curse will be reversed. And so, for example, Isaiah chapter 35, verses 4 to 7: “Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Be strong, fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with recompense of God. He will come and save you.’ Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf will be unstopped; then the lame man shall leap like a deer, the tongue of the mute will sing for joy, for waters will break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert, and burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water.”
That’s not unique in the Old Testament prophets, is it? You find that announcement of this coming day “and the lion shall lie down with the lamb.” In Habakkuk it’s described in just the most glorious terms. In Habakkuk chapter 2: “The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” Now whatever that metaphor entails specifically, you get the point, don’t you? The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. And this, of course, is the kingdom of God theme throughout the Old Testament: that God will break into history. He Himself will come, and He’ll establish His reign, and He’ll reverse all that has gone wrong, and He’ll redeem humanity and the whole created order to Himself. And His reign will be marked by peace and righteousness the world over. And this entails, of course, in a big way in the Old Testament, the whole theme of the Messiah who is to come, the agent of God’s kingdom. He will have universal authority and breaking into history Himself, He will bring about God’s rule in this fallen created order.
Well, that hope, of course, grew until finally a prophet by the name of John the Baptist burst on the scene. And he said, “Repent, for,” remember, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And then Jesus comes out and says the same thing: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Big news! That long promise—God is coming good on it! And He’s bringing about His long-promised kingdom. And throughout Jesus’ ministry, He displayed all the marks of the promised Messiah. He healed the sick. He raised the dead. He stilled the storms. Diseases vanished. Demons were cast out.
And you remember, John the Baptist is in prison. He has those doubts. And he sends some of his disciples to Jesus asking him, “Are you the one who’s to come?” You remember how Jesus answered? He answered with words from Isaiah 35, a passage I just read. And he says, “You go back and tell John this. You go tell John what you hear and see. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the good news preached to them.” That is that long-promised Messiah. “Do I look like him or not?” Jesus Himself claiming that with Him and with His ministry the kingdom of God is breaking in.
Now of course the means of establishing that kingdom was entirely surprising. God had said at the outset that He would establish His reign again through the bruised heel of that champion who is to come. And there are echoes of that through the prophets, some of them remarkably explicit. But when it came about, it was still—it was completely surprising, the means of establishing the kingdom. By Adam and Eve’s submission to Satan’s advances, the right to rule was lost. It was surrendered. And we have, as a result of that, running through the Bible, the expressions of the world as the kingdom of Satan. Satan, the prince and power of the air. Satan, the god of this world. Satan, taking men captive at his will. Satan, the ruler of this world. Satan, even offering Jesus the kingdoms of this world if He’ll bow to him. It’s not an idle boast. This is his domain ever since Genesis chapter 3.
But if the right to the rule over this world was surrendered by sin, the restoration of that rule would be brought about by atonement for that sin. And of course, Jesus comes as the new Adam, the new representative head of His people. And He stands in the place of His people and takes the judgment and the curse that they deserve. And having exhausted the curse and the judgment of God against sin on the cross, buried in the grave—but the curse really was exhausted. The penalty really was paid in full. And so God raised Him from the dead.
The Firstfruits Of The Spirit
The prophets in both the Old Testament and the New Testament remind us over and again that the full consummation of God’s kingdom will come. There’ll be this full display, the full manifestation of the glory of God, the full manifestation, the consummation of His kingdom. It will come. Of course, there’s a “now” and a “not yet” aspect to it. We enter His kingdom now by faith. We’re delivered from Satan’s kingdom into the kingdom of His dear Son. In Christ, we’ve entered into the glory of the kingdom because He Himself has been raised and has entered into the glory of that age to come. And we share with Him in it by faith.
But there is a full manifestation of that kingdom still to come. And that note is sounded throughout these verses as well. Verses 19 and following, there’s this theme of creation waiting. Even the childbirth metaphor gives you that hope as well, doesn’t it? The labor pains are not just for the labor pains, but for a happy outcome. And the whole created order are waiting, like it’s in childbearing labor pains, waiting—waiting for the better day to come. Verse 22: it is the creation groaning. But verse 23: we ourselves are groaning and have the firstfruits of the Spirit as we wait eagerly for the adoption of sons, the redemption of our bodies.
And so there is this “now” and this “not yet” aspect of the kingdom, and here we are struggling in this in-between time, caught up with Christ into His kingdom, and yet the full manifestation of that kingdom not yet here, and we still groan, and we wait. And with all of the groaning, there is this we can say with it: we have hope. We’re waiting for something better that’s been promised. And this is the larger context of this “waiting for a better day” theme that we find in this passage and so often in the Scriptures.
Verse 23 describes it actually in terms of the “now” and “not yet” aspect of the kingdom, where it says, “We have the firstfruits of the Spirit.” The firstfruits of the Spirit. We ourselves have the firstfruits of the Spirit groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for the adoption of sons, the redemption of the body. Now that term, “firstfruits,” that of course is something taken from the Old Testament economy. Each season, the first samplings of the crops were brought into the temple and offered to God as an expression of praise and worship. And those firstfruits that were brought into the temple were themselves a sampling and a part of, and a representative sampling of, a fuller harvest that will come. “Here’s what I have now, and that’s a pledge of more to come.”
Now when Paul says we have the firstfruits of the Spirit, he’s speaking of that glorious time that’s anticipated in the prophets, when the Spirit of God will be poured out on God’s people and poured out upon the created order. And there’ll be this whole transformation of the created order. And we ourselves will be fully transformed and God’s work in us will be so powerful. It’ll be as His law written on our hearts, causing us to walk in His statutes and in obedience.
Today, he says, we have just the firstfruits of that. We have just the firstfruits of the Spirit. We do not yet have all that God has promised. We have just a sampling. Now the sampling is wonderful. The firstfruits that we have is glorious. There’s acceptance before God. There is with that the Spirit of God ministering with our spirit that we are God’s children so that we cry instinctively now, “Abba, Father!” It used to be the case when things would happen that would make us suffer, the instinct wasn’t that. The instinct might have been something like, “God, why do You do this to me? God, why do You let this happen?” But the instinct has changed. The Spirit of God has come into us to work in such a way, so deeply to minister to us a sense of God’s love for us as His children, that instinctively now when suffering comes, we turn heavenward still. But the expression is different. Now we say, “Father.”
And with that, of course, has been a real transformation of heart and life. It’s not perfect yet. God knows we still sin and we sin too much. But there has been a real change. He really has written His law in our hearts. He really has taken out this heart of stone and put in a heart of flesh. And our whole thinking toward God has changed. And our thinking toward Him is good. We love Him and we revel in the sense that He loves us. And we love to obey.
But glorious as all of this is, Paul says it’s just the firstfruits of it. There’s a full harvest to come. Verse 23: we wait eagerly. Verse 24 and 25: we live in hope. When you see that word “hope” in the New Testament, it’s not just a wish. It’s more like, if you think in terms of expectation, that kind of hope. God has made a promise and we live in hope of its fulfillment.
We still groan, verse 23. We’re caught up with the fallenness of this created order. Life is still marked by a curse. But we are waiting—verse 23—we are waiting for the adoption of sons. I thought we already were sons? Yeah, we are. It’s a glorious theme, and we have the privileges and rights of it, but we don’t have it in full yet, do we? We’re waiting for the adoption of sons, the redemption of the body. God’s work—it will be complete. God has set out not simply to rescue our souls and take them to heaven. God has set out to restore all of the created order and we with it. Body and soul redeemed, restored. And this is the hope we live in that Paul is talking about here: the redemption of the body. A time when the suffering that marks this life in all of its ugly details—a time when it’s all gone.
Of course the Apostle John picks up on this in a famous way in Revelation 21 and 22. Particularly with those “no more” expressions. Do you remember them in Revelation 21 and 22? There was no temple there. Speaking of the age to come, there’s no temple there. Why? Because God and the Lamb are there. There’s no sun or moon. Why? Because God and the Lamb are there. And you get this beautiful picture of us basking in the glory of the presence of God. And so: no more death, no more crying, no more pain, and significantly, no more curse. All these things are gone. All of those things mark that former age. But in this age, God’s redemptive work will be brought to consummation. And Paul says we live in this hope.
The Glory That Shall Be Revealed In Us
But as important as it is to describe the hope of the coming age in terms of the contrast—no more pain, no more crying, no more suffering, no more death—as important as that is, I want you to see that here, the Apostle Paul is not content simply to speak of that age in negative terms. “Not that,” “not this anymore,” “not the suffering,” “not the curse.” He speaks of that, but he’s not content to speak of that only. He speaks of it in positive terms of how glorious that day will be.
And the greatest expression of that, I think, is what we find in verse 17. Back up to verse 16: “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” And then he unpacks that. We’re children of God, okay? What does that mean? Well, if we’re children, then we’re heirs. Heirs of God. No, wait. It gets better than that. Fellow heirs with Jesus Christ, God’s Son.
And here he looks at Christ who, in His mediatorial work, has been promised an inheritance of glory. God sends Him on this saving mission. He promises, “I’ll give You the nations as Your inheritance. Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that You are Lord to My own glory,” the Father promises. And in the end, there’ll be this full display of the glory of Christ. And Paul is saying—he’s simply reasoning—I am joined to Jesus Christ, I’m united with Him. I’m a child of God because I’m joined to Him, the Son. And because I’m a child of God, I will inherit all things. No, let’s say it better: because I’m joined to Christ, I will inherit His glory with Him.
It just almost boggles the imagination. He is saying here we will be united to Christ in that coming glory and we will share with Him in the glory that will be given Him. And so there will of course be no need of sun or moon or temple; we will be basking in His presence. Joined to Christ, we will share in His glory. And it’s spoken of in terms of kings and crowns and thrones. And you run out of metaphors, don’t you? It was more common, I think, in the older theologians that they would refer to the time to come as “the glory.” Or the coming glory. The coming glory.
That’s what Paul means in verse 17 when he says we are joint heirs with Christ. And now coming back to what I said was our text, verse 18. It’s all of this that Paul has in mind when he says, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that shall be revealed in us.”
Yeah, we live in a fallen world, and it’s marked by curse and judgment. There’s still disease, and there’s still suffering, and there’s still death, and there’s still disappointment. There’s still separation. Death is still our dreaded enemy, and there’s just no nice way to put it. It’s still a dreaded enemy. But it’s only for now. It’s only temporary. A glorious coming, Paul says, a glorious coming whose blessedness is beyond all of our ability to imagine. Sharing with Christ in His glory. All we can say is, verse 18, the glory that we will have then will be so marvelous that the sufferings we have now are not worth even comparing to it. No one in that day will be saying, “Well, I don’t know, what do you think, was it worth it?” No, we’ll be basking in the glory of the Lord Jesus and sharing in the splendor of it all, and the sufferings of this present age then will seem like nothing more than a blip on the screen.
This passage was given to God’s people to encourage us in our difficult days. And the Apostle Paul is laying this out for our help and for our encouragement. And he’s saying, as it were, “Christian, think. Think like a Christian. There’s a glory to come. Don’t faint. Take hope, take comfort, be encouraged. We are sons of God, and if sons of God, then heirs, joint heirs with Jesus, destined—destined to share in His glory.”
And the long and short of it then becomes: we simply must view today through the lens of the coming glory. A better day. A much longer day, I might add. A much longer day is coming. A day of unending gladness. A day of reunion with Christ in His eternal glory. Amen.
Let’s bow together for prayer. Our Father, we praise You for this great hope that You’ve given to us in Christ. Oh Father, what a marvelous encouragement it is to know that You have predestined us to a shared glory with Christ. What a great hope to know that the day of glory is coming and it will be such glory, the sufferings of this present time will scarcely be remembered. We know it will come to pass because You are working all things together for this great purpose. Encourage us then in it, we pray, for Christ’s sake. Amen.