The Holy Spirit And Our Hope Romans 8:18-25
18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. 19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. 20 Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, 21 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. 22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from Sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children,[j] including the new bodies he has promised us. 24 We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope[k] for it. 25 But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)
We read earlier in chapter seven about the weakness of humanity in the face of our Sin and depravity. We discovered that our one hope resides only in the man, Jesus Christ. We arrived at chapter 8 with the encouraging words for God’s mouth, “ So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.” We traveled from hopelessness to redemption and eternal joy in those few verses between the end of chapter seven and the opening of chapter eight. Remember the power and significance of the phrase, “So Now.” It is the conclusion that follows the statement. It is the final word on our situation of hopelessness in chapter seven. We are redeemed, set free, and no longer condemned but reclaimed to a new life.
This New life we enjoy is given to us through our position in Jesus Christ. Outside of our relationship with Jesus Christ, we are doomed, but in the safety of our relationship with Jesus, we are secured. More than secure, we are assured because of the Holy Spirit. In chapter eight, we discover that our rebellion against our relationship with the God Head has far-reaching consequences. All of creation is subject to the curse we created. Consider the statement of Scripture when it says,
19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. 20 Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, 21 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.”
We rejected the trusting and loving relationship that God offered in Genesis three. The result is death and decay for us and all of creation. What’s the problem with the world, people ask, even today. The answer that must come back is, “Sin and Brokenness.”
The Holy Spirit Covers Us In Our Frailty
26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. 28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. 29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.
The single most important thing for us to remember is that God’s Love for us was expressed in the life, ministry, suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That same Love the redeemed is by the Blood of Christ is the same Love that teaches us, matures us, and prays for us through the work of the Holy Spirit. We are not left to our own devices. We are on good terms with God because of Jesus Christ’s payment of blood and gift of shared righteousness. We have the Holy Spirit to guide us through life to become the people God saved us and is raising us to become. Our maturity is God’s goal and aim in our lives. We must join the process and grow in the people God envisions.