|
Pathways Through Paul
Daily Devotional
March 11
Click on verses for Full Scripture
|
previous - - - - - - - - - -
next
|
Today's Pathway:
|
Romans 8:19-24
- For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
- For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
- Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
- For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
- 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.
- For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
|
|
|
We concluded yesterday with the fact that all of creation is anxiously awaiting that day when Christ returns and His children no longer are bound by their mortal bodies. In verse 20 Paul begins his explanation of why all of creation is involved. He states that creation ("the creature") is "subject to vanity". "Subject" means "to be brought under full control", as in the idea of a king and his "subjects". "Vanity" refers to "emptiness, nonsense, purposelessness, and meaninglessness". So, all of creation is subjected to serving no purpose. Why would this be the case? Because all of creation has been affected by man's sin. In Genesis 3:14-19 we see that as a result of Adam's Satan was cursed (vs. 14-15) , men and women were cursed (vs. 16-17), and the ground itself was cursed (vs.17-19) by God. Nature was adversely damaged by man's sin just as man himself was. Henry Morris gives a good explanation of this. He wrote,
"Because of sin, the creation was made to operate under a law which specifies a universal process of decay and death. This law of morpholysis is recognized by science as a basic principle pervading the whole universe. It is also called the law of increasing entropy or the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Every system in the physical and biological worlds has a tendency to turn inward and feed on itself to maintain its structure and activity, but this simply causes it to run down, disintegrate and die, unless it somehow becomes opened to outside sources of energy, information, food, etc. Even if it does remain an open system, this internal tendency continues to act in opposition to the incoming energy. Since even the latter will eventually be exhausted, the whole creation is thus in bondage to this principle of futility or vanity."
So, the reason why things fall apart, and plants and animals die, and your car rusts away, and your house needs repaired, is because of man's sin in the Garden of Eden.
The middle phrase in verse 20 teaches that nature did not desire to be useless ("not willingly") but was put in this state by God. Verse 21 reiterates that creation desires to be liberated from the bondage of corruption caused by sin just like the Christian does. Verse 22 indicates that the universe has been groaning from the time of Adam's sin until today. "Groan" means "to sigh inwardly to ourselves or outwardly because of undesirable circumstances or oppression under which we suffer". The word "travaileth" pictures an expectant mother as she approaches the time of delivering her child. She is in tremendous pain and discomfort, but she hopes that soon her child will be born and she will experience the joy that her baby brings. Thankfully, according to the end of verses 20 and 24, both the believer and creation have hope. In Genesis 3:15 God promised the serpent (Satan) that someday the "seed of the woman" would come, defeat him, and redeem not only men who would believe, but also all that had been impacted by Satan's lie and Adam's sin. Since nature did not curse itself but was subjected to vanity by God, only God can restore it. And He has guaranteed that He will do so! Remember that in the New Testament the word "hope" carries the idea of confident expectancy, so the believer knows that because God has said it, it will happen.
Pastor Mark J Montgomery
|
|