AND NOT ONLY
THIS,
BUT ALSO WE OURSELVES HAVING THE
FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT: ou monon de, alla kai autoi
ten aparchen tou pneumatos echontes (PAPMPN):
(Ro 8:15,16; 5:5; 2Co 5:5; Gal 5:22,23; Eph 1:14; 5:9) (Ro 8:26;
7:24; 2Cor 5:2, 3, 4; 7:5; Php 1:21, 22, 23; 1Pe 1:7)
And not only
this - not only is creation groaning
Having (2192)
(echo) means holding or possessing with the
present tense
picturing the first fruits, the Spirit, as our continual possession.
This is good news!
Of the Spirit - This phrase in Greek is referred to as an appositive genitive
which in simple terms means that first fruits is
the Holy Spirit, Who now indwells every believer (Ro 8:9-note;
Ro 8:11-note)
and Whose presence
in us guarantees the full completion of our salvation -- future tense
salvation (glorification) = the redemption of our dying decaying physical bodies which
will be changed instantly into glorified bodies (1Co 15:42ff 1Th 4:13-note).
The culmination of our position as adopted sons is the resurrection
state. The first fruits is a pledge of more to come, specifically the
redemption of our body.
First fruits
(536)
(aparche
[word study] from apó = away from + árchomai = to
begin) is the first fruit, which in Biblical terms describes an offering
of any kind, animal as well as grain. It represents the first portion of
offering set aside specifically for Lord. The first portion of the
harvest
was
regarded both as a first installment and as a pledge of the final
delivery of the whole.
Aparche -
9x in 9v in the NT - Rom 8:23; 11:16; 16:5; 1 Cor 15:20, 23; 16:15; 2
Thess 2:13; Jas 1:18; Rev 14:4. NAS = first convert(1),
first fruits(6), first piece(1).
Aparche -
68x in the non-apocryphal
Septuagint (LXX)
- Exod 22:29; 23:19;
25:2f; 35:5; 36:6; 38:24; Lev 2:12; 22:12; 23:10; Num 5:9; 15:20f; 18:8,
11f, 29f, 32; 31:29; Deut 12:6, 11, 17; 18:4; 26:2, 10; 33:21; 1 Sam
2:29; 10:4; 2 Sam 1:21; 2 Chr 31:5, 10, 12, 14; Ezra 8:25; Neh 10:37,
39; 12:44; 13:5; Ps 78:51; 105:36; Ezek 20:31, 40; 44:30; 45:1, 6f, 13,
16; 48:8ff, 12, 18, 20f; Mal 3:8
First fruits
is related to the Jewish term that refers to that which is set apart to
God before remainder could be used. Under the Law Israel was to bring
the
first fruits
of the grain to the LORD and in this act they were acknowledging that
all produce was God's. The
first fruits
of a harvest of grain was an indication of a greater harvest to come.
Paul utilizes the metaphor of
first fruits in three ways in the NT:
(1) Of the relationship between the resurrection of Christ to the
resurrection of the dead (1Cor 15:20, 23). Christ’s
resurrection is the “first fruit of those who have fallen asleep”
(1Cor 15:20), and like the
first fruits of the harvest, it is a taste and a guarantee of the
full harvest of resurrection yet to come.
(2) Likewise the Holy Spirit is called first fruit in (see
note
Ro 8:23)
(cf. Holy Spirit as “downpayment” in 2Cor 1:22 5:5, Ep 1:14-note),
a foretaste of our divine life in the age to come.
(3) Finally when Paul speaks of his first converts in a region, he calls
them the “first fruits” (cf "first fruits of Achaia" in
1Cor 16:15).
Epaenetus ("praised") was the first convert (and predictive of a greater
harvest to follow) from Asia who became part of Paul’s “offering of the
Gentiles” to the Lord (Ro 15:16-note).
Just as the nation of Israel tasted the first fruits of Canaan when the
spies returned (Nu 13:23, 24, 25, 26, 27), so we Christians have tasted of the
blessings of heaven through the ministry of the Spirit. This makes us
want to see the Lord, receive a new body, and live with Him and serve
Him forever. We are waiting for “the adoption,” which is the redemption
of the body when Christ returns (Php 3:20,21-note). This is the thrilling
climax to “the adoption” that took place at conversion when “the Spirit
of adoption” gave us an adult standing in God’s family. When Christ
returns, we shall enter into our full inheritance.
The first portion of the harvest was regarded both as a first installment
and as a pledge of the final delivery of the whole. The concept of first
fruits is prominent in the OT, where, according to the law, Israelites
were expected to bring the first-ripe elements of grain, fruit, etc., to
the Lord as an offering (Ex 23:19 Neh 10:35). By this observance of
worship the offerer acknowledged that all produce was the provision of
God and was really his. Implicit also in the ritual was the assurance
from the divine side that the general harvest to be enjoyed by the
offerer would providentially follow. From the human side this act of
obedience was a manifestation of FAITH in the promise of Jehovah to
provide what they needed.
When we experience the Holy Spirit’s empowering us to turn from iniquity
and to truly worship, serve, obey and love God, we have a taste of the
future completed and perfected renewal He will work in us at the
resurrection. Every time we see Him working His righteousness in and
through us, we yearn all the more to be freed of our remaining sin and
spiritual weakness. Because of our divinely-bestowed sensitivity to sin,
we ourselves groan within ourselves over the dreadful curse of sin that
is still manifested by our remaining humanness.
First fruits was the actual beginning, the first installment,
of the Palestinian harvest (Ex 23:19 Lev 23:10,11; Dt 18:4 26:1, 2, 3, 4); the
presence of the Spirit in believers is thus the actual beginning of the
future world. Believers had experienced redemption (Ro 3:24-note) and adoption
(Ro 8:15-note), but still awaited the fullness of that experience at the
resurrection of their bodies by the Spirit (Ro 8:11-note). The first converts to
Christ in a particular area were called “firstfruits” (Ro 16:15-note
1Co 16:15).
Christ himself is the firstfruits in reference to the resurrection
(1Cor 15:20, 23).
To say that we have the first fruits of the Spirit means that even
though we do not yet have our complete inheritance as God’s children, we
have already received a significant portion of it in terms of the gift
of the indwelling Holy Spirit, along with all He has already
accomplished for us in regeneration and sanctification. This is the
sense in which the Spirit is the “earnest of our inheritance” (Ep 1:13-note),
i.e., the down payment, the first installment, the deposit, the pledge
of the fullness of glory (2Cor 1:22 5:5). In this sense the “firstfruits”
are not simply the beginning of the harvest, but are also the guarantee
that much more will follow. And as this context shows, the complete
inheritance includes the redemption of our bodies and a liberated,
glorified universe.
When Abraham’s servant was sent to find a bride for Isaac and met
Rebekah, he gave silver and gold garments and presents to Laban as
indications of what was to come. That is what God has done for us by his
Holy Spirit. That indescribable peace we knew when we first experienced
the forgiveness of our sins, the power of God that calms our heart
despite circumstances, the joy that floods our souls—these are mere
foretastes of what is yet to come!
EVEN WE
OURSELVES GROAN WITHIN OURSELVES: hemeis kai autoi en heautois
stenazomen (1PPAI):
Spurgeon
comments that...
That is our state now; at least, it
is the condition of the most of us. Some of our brethren have gone ahead
so tremendously that they have passed out of the world of groaning
altogether; they are perfect. I regret that they are not in heaven; it
would seem to be a much more proper place for them than this imperfect
earth is (Ed: I'm not sure if Spurgeon is being sarcastic or not
in this comment!). But as for us, our experience leads us, in sympathy with the
apostle, to say that we are groaning after something better. We have not
received it yet; we have the beginnings of it, we have the earnest of
it, we have the sure pledge of it; but it is not as yet our portion to
enjoy; we are “waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our
body;” for, though the soul be horn again, the body is not. “The body
in dead,” says the apostle, in the tenth verse of this chapter,
“because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness.”
There is a wonderful process through which this body shall yet pass, and
then it shall be raised again, a glorious body, fitted for our
regenerated spirit; but as yet it remains unregenerate.
Groan (4727)
(stenazo
from stenos = narrow or contracted as when one is squeezed or
pressed by circumstances) literally describes an internal squeezing and
denotes a feeling of sorrow which is internal. Stenazo means to express
grief by inarticulate or semi-articulate sounds. A groan is an audible
expression of anguish due to physical, emotional, or spiritual pain.
Stenazo refers to the utterances of a person who is caught in a
dreadful situation and has no immediate prospect of deliverance. The
term is used in its noun form (stenagmos - used in Romans 8:26-note
of Spirit's prayers expressed to God inarticulately) by Luke to describe the desperate
utterances of the Israelites during their oppressive bondage in Egypt
'I HAVE CERTAINLY SEEN THE OPPRESSION
OF MY PEOPLE IN EGYPT, AND HAVE HEARD THEIR GROANS, AND I HAVE
COME DOWN TO DELIVER THEM; COME NOW, AND I WILL SEND YOU TO EGYPT.' (Acts
7:34 cp Ex 2:24, 25 )
In the present context these continual (stenazo =
present tense)
groanings bewail a condition that is painful, unsatisfying, and
sorrowful and are a cry for deliverance from a torturing experience. The
pain we feel now because we still live in bodies that harbor the flesh
(the old sin nature) which causes us to we still stumble and grieve the
Holy Spirit. In this passage, the deep distress is related primarily to
our remaining sinfulness. This is especially painful to those who know
that they have been shown great mercy and have manifold grace to live
victoriously for His glory.
Below are the
other 5 uses of stenazo in the NT.
Paul
explains this groaning to the Corinthians writing that...
1 we know that if the earthly tent
which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2 For indeed in this house we groan (stenazo), longing to be clothed with
our dwelling from heaven;
3 inasmuch as we, having put it on, shall not be found naked.
4 For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan (stenazo), being burdened,
because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that
what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
5 Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us
the Spirit as a pledge. (1Corinthians 5:1-5)
Comment: As long as we are in
the “tent” of our human body, which harbors the old flesh nature, we
will not fully escape sin’s corruption this side of eternity. This truth
causes Christians to suffer times of deep inner distress over the
debilitating sinfulness that still clings to them.
When they brought
the deaf to Jesus He put His fingers into His ears and after spiting
touched His tongue...
and looking up to heaven with a
deep sigh (stenazo), He said to him, "Ephphatha!" that is, "Be
opened!" (Mark 7:34)
The writer of
Hebrews charged his readers to...
Obey your leaders, and submit to
them; for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give an
account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief (stenazo),
for this would be unprofitable for you. (See note
Hebrews 13:17)
In James stenazo
takes on a slightly different sense, James commanding...
Do not complain (stenazo),
brethren, against one another, that you yourselves may not be judged;
behold, the Judge is standing right at the door. (James 5:9 )
Stenazo -
19x in the non-apocryphal
Septuagint (LXX),
mainly in the Major Prophets -Job 9:27; 18:20; 24:12; 30:25; 31:38; Isa.
19:8; 21:2; 24:7; 30:15; 46:8; 59:10; Jer. 31:19; Lam. 1:8, 21; Ezek.
21:6f; 26:15f; Nah. 3:7. Below is an example in which Jerusalem is
personified as a woman groaning because of her sinfulness...
Lamentations 1:8 Jerusalem
sinned greatly, Therefore she has become an unclean thing. All who
honored her despise her Because they have seen her nakedness; Even she
herself groans (Hebrew = 'anach = groan in pain or grief; Lxx =
stenazo) and turns away.
WAITING
EAGERLY FOR...ADOPTION AS SONS:
huiothesian apekdechomenoi (PMPMPN):
(Ro 8:19,25; Luke 20:36; Php 3:20,21; 2Ti 4:8; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 9:28;
1Jn 3:2)
The reason we can groan and yet do so with an eager expectation is because
we have experienced the firstfruits of the Spirit a foretaste of the
incomparable glory to come.
The Spirit is the firstfruits of heaven. And since
we have the Spirit now, we know a little of what heaven will be like and
are assured of our final destiny. God's gift of the Spirit to the church
is an event in the present which foreshadows the future union of God and
His people in eternity.
Waiting eagerly (553)
(apekdechomai
[word study]
from apó = intensifier [see Vincent below] +
ekdéchomai = expect, look for <> from ek = out + déchomai
= receive kindly, accept deliberately and readily) means waiting
in great anticipation but with patience (compare our English expression
"wait it out"). To expect fully. To look (wait) for assiduously (marked
by careful unremitting attention) and patiently.
Kenneth Wuest
explains that apekdechomai is...
a Greek word made up of three words
put together, the word, “to receive,” (dechomai)
which speaks of a welcoming or appropriating reception such as is
tendered to a friend who comes to visit one; the word “off,” (apo)
speaking here of the withdrawal of one’s attention from other objects,
and the word “out,” (ek)
used here in a perfective sense which intensifies the already existing
meaning of the word. The composite word speaks of an attitude of intense
yearning and eager waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus into the air
to take His Bride to heaven with Him, the attention being withdrawn from
all else and concentrated upon the Lord Jesus." (Wuest,
K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans)
Apekdechomai
is in the
present tense
indicating this is a heavenly citizen's continual mindset (Do
you frequently contemplate His return beloved?)
and the
middle voice which indicates the
subject is the beneficiary of the waiting. Wuest picks up on this nuance
of the middle voice with the translation "eagerly
waiting to welcome the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and to
receive Him to ourselves" where "to ourselves" is the reflexive
aspect of the middle voice. What a beautiful picture of the Bride, His
Church, waiting to receive Him to herself! A waiting, welcoming mindset
will motivate the bride to keep herself pure and holy.
Marvin Vincent
writes that...
"the compounded preposition apo
denotes the withdrawal of attention from inferior objects. The word is
habitually used in the New Testament with reference to a future
manifestation of the glory of Christ or of His people." (Vincent, M. R.
Word studies in the New Testament Vol. 3, Page 1-453)
A T Robertson
adds that apekdechomai is a...
"Rare and late double compound
(perfective use of prepositions like wait out) which vividly pictures
Paul’s eagerness for the second coming of Christ as the normal attitude
of the Christian colonist whose home is heaven." (Robertson, A. Word
Pictures in the New Testament)
Apekdechomai
pictures waiting in great anticipation but with patience. Awaiting
eagerly and expectantly for some future event and so to look forward
eagerly. Note that seven of the eight NT uses of apekdechomai are
related in some way to our "blessed
hope", the return of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
Adoption as sons (5206)
(huiothesia
[word study]
from huios = son + tithemi
= place) literally means "to place one as a son". Huiothesia thus
speaks of adoption or being placed in a position and rights as one’s
own child. It means to to formally and legally declare that someone who
is not one’s own child is henceforth to be treated and cared for as
one’s own child, including complete rights of inheritance.
Huiothesia is used only by Paul and is not found in classical
writings, but it describes a Roman legal term by which a person takes
into his family a child not his own, with the purpose of treating him as
a full son and giving him all the privileges of an own son. The custom
was not common among the Jews, but was among the Greeks and Romans, with
whom an adopted child was legally entitled to all rights and privileges
of a natural-born child. This custom is used as an illustration of the
act of God giving a believing sinner, who is not His natural child, a
position as a fully grown son in His family.
Detzler
writes that...
Throughout the Greek world the
wealthy and influential practiced adoption. Sometimes just a simple
declaration in the marketplace turned a slave into a son. It was an
ancient remedy used when a marriage failed to produce a male heir. No
change in name came, but the adopted son immediately became heir to the
entire wealth and position of his adoptive family. Conversely the
adopted son also assumed responsibility for the parents in their time of
need. Adoption in the Greek and Roman world was a beautiful picture. His
contemporary culture gave the Apostle Paul this word, but he gave the
word a new, Holy Spirit-inspired meaning. (Only Paul uses this word to
describe the relationship of believers to their Heavenly Father.) No
concept is more meaningful to a believer. For adoption deposits
every-thing that God owns to the accounts of His sons and daughters.
Adoption is all about position and privilege... Walking down the dusty
streets of Nazareth one summer afternoon I was almost run over by a
racing boy. As he charged past me the little lad caught sight of his
father. In a shrill, childish voice he screamed: "Abba, Abba."
Then I began to understand the intimacy of relationship which God
sustains to us. What wonderful, God-ordained words to use in prayer:
"Abba, Father." (Detzler,
Wayne E: New Testament Words in Today's Language. Victor. 1986)
(Bolding added)
The concept of
adoption as sons reaches back into the Old Testament, Paul writing
in Romans that
For I could wish that I myself were
accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren (the Jews),
my kinsmen according to the flesh (specifically unbelieving Jews), who
are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons (huiothesia)
and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple
service and the promises whose are the fathers, and from whom is the
Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever.
Amen. (see notes
Romans 9:3;
9:4;
9:5) (Comment: God had "adopted" Israel in the Old
Testament, Jehovah declaring in Exodus 4:22 to Moses "Then you shall say
to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the LORD, Israel is My son, my
first-born.")
Earlier in
Romans 8 Paul explains the
present tense aspect of adoption as sons when we were born
into God's family and God gave us His Spirit Who kindles the fire of
assurance in our souls for...
all who are being led by the Spirit
of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit
of slavery (as when we were bound to sin and our "father" Satan) leading
to fear again, but you have received (right now in this life) a spirit
of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! (Daddy) Father!"
(Ro 8:14, 15-note)
Comment: Abba is the very name
the Beloved Son used when speaking to His Father, Mark 14:36 recording
"And He [Jesus] was saying "Abba! Father! All things are possible for
Thee. Remove this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what Thou wilt."
William Barclay
further explains that...
Roman adoption was always rendered
more serious and more difficult by the Roman patria potestas. This was
the father’s power over his family; it was the power of absolute
disposal and control, and in the early days was actually the power of
life and death. In regard to his father, a Roman son never came of age.
No matter how old he was, he was still under the patria potestas, in the
absolute possession and under the absolute control, of his father.
Obviously this made adoption into another family a very difficult and
serious step. In adoption a person had to pass from one patria potestas
to another. There were two steps.
The first was known as mancipatio, and
was carried out by a symbolic sale, in which copper and scales were
symbolically used. Three times the symbolism of sale was carried out.
Twice the father symbolically sold his son, and twice he bought him
back; but the third time he did not buy him back and thus the patria
potestas was held to be broken.
There followed a ceremony called vindicatio. The adopting father went to the praetor, one of the Roman
magistrates, and presented a legal case for the transference of the
person to be adopted into his patria potestas. When all this was
completed, the adoption was complete. Clearly this was a serious and an
impressive step. But it is the consequences of adoption which are
most significant for the picture that is in Paul’s mind. There were
four main ones.
(i) The adopted person lost all
rights in his old family and gained all the rights of a legitimate son
in his new family. In the most binding legal way, he got a new father.
(ii) It followed that he became heir to his new father’s estate. Even if
other sons were afterwards born, it did not affect his rights. He was
inalienably co-heir with them.
(iii) In law, the old life of the adopted person was completely wiped
out; for instance, all debts were cancelled. He was regarded as a new
person entering into a new life with which the past had nothing to do.
(iv) In the eyes of the law he was absolutely the son of his new father.
Roman history provides an outstanding case of how completely this was
held to be true.
The Emperor Claudius adopted Nero in
order that he might succeed him on the throne; they were not in any
sense blood relations. Claudius already had a daughter, Octavia. To
cement the alliance Nero wished to marry her. Nero and Octavia were in
no sense blood relations; yet, in the eyes of the law, they were brother
and sister; and before they could marry, the Roman senate had to pass
special legislation." (Barclay,
W: The Daily Study Bible Series. The Westminster Press
or
Logos)
Our adoption began in eternity past with God’s choice when...
He predestined us to adoption as
sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind
intention of His will" (see note
Ephesians 1:5)
Then we actually
became His children at salvation
But as many as received Him, to them
He gave the right to become children of God, even
to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12)
But when the fulness of the time
came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, in
order that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might
receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons,
God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba!
Father!" Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a
son, then an
heir through God. (Galatians 4:4-7)
Our sonship will
culminate with our glorification, the full realization of our
inheritance...
Whom He predestined, these He also
called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He
justified, these He also glorified. (Ro 8:30).
As believers and
sons and daughters of God we have already been placed in the family of
God, and are being led by and controlled by the Spirit. But only when
our mortal bodies have been glorified, and we are made like Him, will we
possess all the fullness of sonship. And so we groan for that glorious
day.
Have you
pondered this truth recently?
This glorious truth will impact your temporal outlook beloved.
Take time right now to meditate on your future glorification.
THE REDEMPTION
OF OUR BODY:
ten
apolutrosin tou somatos hemon: (Luke 21:28; Ephesians 1:14; 4:30)
We have been
redeemed and we will be redeemed!
Glory!
Jesus
alluded to this future redemption when He declared...
But when these things begin to take
place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption
is drawing near. (Luke 21:28)
Comment: When all the signs
given in the Olivet discourse are just beginning to be fulfilled, then
Christ says His coming is very near. Although we cannot know the date,
we can be sure that He is coming very soon.
Paul speaks
elsewhere of this future redemption...
(The Holy Spirit ) Who is given as a
pledge (arrabon) of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's
own possession, to the praise of His glory. (Eph 1:14-note)
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of
God, by whom you were sealed (sphragizo) for the day of
redemption. (Eph 4:30-note)
Redemption (629)
(apolutrosis
from apo = marker of dissociation or
separation + lutron = ransom) (Click
word study on apolutrosis
or see
How to do Greek
Word Study which uses apolutrosis
as the example to study).
Apolutrosis
describes the payment of a price to ransom, buy back and deliver
from a situation from which one is powerless to liberate himself or from
a penalty which he himself could never have paid. Apolutrosis was used
in Greek writings describing liberation of prisoners of war, slaves and
those under penalty of death.
Apolutrosis
pictures the recalling of captives (sinners) from
captivity (these bodies of sin) through the payment of a ransom
(lutron).
Our spirit and
soul have been redeemed, and our body will be redeemed. This is
glorification or
future tense salvation (See
Three Tenses of Salvation) which will
be revealed in the last time when we are freed even from the presence of
SIN and the pleasure of SIN. Because we as believers are already new
creatures possessing the divine nature, our souls are fit for heaven and
eternal glory. We love God, hate sin, and have holy longings for
obedience to the Word. But while on earth we are kept in bondage by our
mortal bodies, which are still corrupted by SIN and the FLESH (both of
which are still present in our decaying bodies).
Ray Stedman illustrates Romans 8:23, 24 with this story:
The other day I gave my oldest daughter a driving lesson, and she wanted
to start driving the Oldsmobile because it has an automatic shift. But I
said to her,
"No, dear, I think it would be better if you would start with the
Chevrolet. It has a stick shift, and a clutch, and it is a little bit
cranky and hard to operate at times, but if you will learn how to run
this car, you'll have no trouble at all with the Oldsmobile."
You know, in a sense, God has done that with us: He has given us these
old, cranky, balky, pain ridden bodies of ours, and has told us that, if
we learn how to handle these, if we will learn how to make these obey,
and present these to him as a living sacrifice, then we will grow ready
in spirit to receive those glorious bodies that are now being prepared
for us. And Paul says that, with this hope before us, we can patiently
wait for God to teach all that we need to know. (Romans
8:14-25 The Joy of Being Grown Up)
><>><>><>
F B Meyer writes that...
The saints have been purchased at
great cost by the precious blood of the Son of God. Not only their
spirits, but their bodies, have been bought with an infinite
expenditure. Is it not a wonderful thought that God should have thought
it worth His while to expend so much on us! But, since He has done it,
we cannot suppose that He will not make all He can of us! He will bring
His estate under cultivation; there will be no corner of it that will
not yield Him produce.
To be redeemed.--Our bodies
are owned by God, but they are not yet entirely redeemed. And if we
should die before the Lord's advent, they will return to their mother
earth, possessed but not redeemed. Hence the apostle says that we are
waiting for our adoption--to wit, the redemption of our body (Ro 8:23).
We are under the sentence of corruption for Adam's sin; but we are to be
redeemed.
Sealed.--In Ezekiel's day a
mark was set on the foreheads of the men that sighed and cried for sin
(Ezek. 9:4); and in the Apocalypse we read of the sealing of God's
servants (Rev 7:2, 3). For sealing there are needed the softened wax;
the imprint of the beloved face; the steady pressure. Would that the
Spirit might impress the face of our dear Lord on our softened hearts,
that they may keep it forevermore!
This sealing is an earnest of our
inheritance. The eternal future is all unknown, yet we may guess at it,
because the work of the Spirit within us is the first-fruits--the grapes
of Eshcol, showing what the vintage will be; 'the earnest penny, which
is the pledge as well as part of the entire payment; the first streak of
the coming day. (F. B. Meyer. Our Daily Homily)
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In his book No Condemnation in
Christ Jesus, Octavius Winslow has the following chapter...
The First-fruits of the Spirit,
a Pledge Of the Full Redemption
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. Ro 8:23
Not only so, but we ourselves, who
have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly
for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. Ro 8:23
And even we Christians, although we
have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also
groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously
for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children,
including the new bodies he has promised us. Romans 8:23
From his natural and impressive
digression, the Apostle again returns to the renewed creature of whom he
had previously been speaking. Having adverted to the suffering of the
whole animate creation, he proceeds to show that this condition was not
peculiar or solitary- that not only in the heart of the irrational
creature, but even in the heart of the renewed Christian there were the
intense throbbings of a woe, and the deep groanings of a burden, from
which it sighed and hoped to be delivered. Let us take each section in
its order, of this remarkable passage.
"Ourselves also, which have the
first-fruits of the Spirit." It had been the earnest aim of the Apostle
broadly and distinctly to draw the great line of demarcation between the
state of nature and the state of grace. What distinctive feature more
illustrative of the Christian character could he have selected than
this. "Who have the first-fruits of the Spirit." The figurative allusion
is to a familiar law of the Jewish economy. It will be recollected that,
under the Levitical dispensation, the Lord commanded that the
first-fruits, in the form of a single sheaf, should be sickled, and
waved before him by the priest; and that this wave-offering was to be
considered as constituting the herald or the pledge of a ripened and
full harvest. And not only should it be an earnest and a pledge, but it
should represent the nature and character of the fruit which, before
long, in luxuriant abundance would crowd with its golden sheaves, and
amid shouts of gladness, the swelling garner. When, therefore, it is
said that believers in Jesus have the "first-fruits of the Spirit," the
meaning clearly is, that they have such communications of the Spirit
now, as are a pledge and foretaste of what they shall possess and enjoy
in the great day of the coming glory. "In whom also after that you
believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the
earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased
possession, unto the praise of his glory." We remark, in general terms,
that if we are believers, then we are partakers of that grace which is
the earnest of glory. Do we partake of the grace of life? It is the same
life which beats in the souls of the glorified. In us its pulsations are
faint and fluctuating; in them they are deep and unfluttering- yet the
life is the same. And if we have the Spirit of life dwelling in us now,
then have we the first-fruits of the life which is to come. Have we the
Spirit of adoption? What is it but the earnest and the seal of our
certain reception into our Father's house? The love to God which
overflows our hearts, the yearnings of those hearts to be at home, are
the first-fruits of our consummated and glorified sonship. Thus might we
travel the entire circle of the Christian graces which go to form,
sanctify, and adorn the Christian character, illustrating the truth,
that each grace wrought by the Spirit in the heart on earth is the germ
of glory in heaven, and that the perfection of glory will be the
perfection of each grace. The present character and tutelage of the
child of God are preparatory to a higher state of being- yes, it is an
essential part of that being itself. Oh, it is a holy and inspiriting
thought, that every development of grace, and every aspiration of
holiness, and every victory of faith, and every achievement of prayer,
and every gleam of joy in the soul here below, is the earnest-sheaf of
the golden ears of happiness and glory garnered for the saints on high.
"He that goes forth weeping, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless
return again with joy, bringing his sheaves with him."
"Even we ourselves groan within
ourselves." In these words the expectant of glory is represented as
sympathizing, in a certain degree, with the general condition of present
misery, and expectation of future good. But we must distinguish the
emotion here described, from the somewhat kindred depression beneath
which the whole creation is bowed. It is the groaning of those who have
the "first-fruits of the Spirit"- consequently it is the emotion of a
living soul. In the one case, the groaning is the throb and the throe of
death; in the other case it is the evidence and the breathing of life.
To what causes may
it be traced? We groan within ourselves on account of sin- its innate
principle, and its practical outbreakings. Over what do our tears flow
the bitterest and the fastest? The winged riches? The heart's treasure
wrenched from our grasp by ruthless death, and which the cruel grave has
hid from our view? Ah, no! but the sin which lays us in penitence and
grief at the Savior's feet, with David's confession and prayer breathing
from our lips- "Against you, you only, have I sinned, and done this evil
in your sight." Oh, what a mercy to know that the "sacrifices of God are
a broken spirit: that a broken and contrite heart he will not despise!"
There is also the
groaning arising from external trial. Of this cup, which all alike
drink, none quaff so deeply as those to whom are imparted the
"first-fruits of the Spirit." The path of sorrow is the path to glory,
and the "bread and the water of affliction" is the food of all the
"prisoners of hope." But spring from what cause it may, this groaning of
the servants of God confirms the affecting truth, that the believer
possesses but the "first-fruits of the Spirit;" and that, consequently,
his present condition, being one of but partial sanctification, must of
necessity be one of but limited happiness. And yet we would not fail to
remind the reader of the truth, that the deeper his sanctification the
keener will be his sense of indwelling corruption, and the heavier his
groaning because of it. So that, so long as he is still the tenant of a
tabernacle of sin and death- an unwilling subject of vanity- and so long
as he grows in grace, he will "groan being burdened," and will the more
deeply sigh, and the more intensely long for the uncaging of his spirit,
that frees him entirely forever from its oppressiveness and its
thraldom.
But, oh, there is music in the groaning of those who have the
"first-fruits of the Spirit!" The chain they wear is not the manacle of
a slave of sin, shaking his galling fetters in deep and dark despair.
The captivity that confines him, is not the subjection of a voluntary
vassal of Satan, crouching beneath the burden, and trembling at the lash
of a hard task master. Oh, no! it is the sensibility, the consciousness,
the groaning of the Christian. It tells of the Spirit's indwelling. It
betokens the hope of glory. Those inward heavings of the soul are the
pantings of a life divine; those deep groanings of the heart are the
muffled chimings of heaven. They are the indices of a nature which God
will before long lift to its native home; they are the discordant notes
of an anthem, which soon will fill heaven with its swelling and
entrancing music.
"Waiting for the adoption, to wit,
the redemption of the body." The terms "adoption," "redemption," must
here be taken in a restricted sense. Our present adoption into God's
family is as perfect as God can make it. We shall not in reality be more
the children of God in heaven than we are now. Dwell upon this truth,
beloved. Press it in faith and gladness to your sighing, groaning heart.
Is God's hand uplifted? Oh, tremble not! It is a Father's hand. Say not
that it presses heavily upon you- it is the pressure of love. Oh, think
not that there is one throb of affection less towards you in his heart.
"Beloved, now are we the sons of God," and all the immunities and
blessings of a present sonship are ours. Equally as complete is our
redemption from all that can condemn. When Jesus exclaimed, "It is
finished!" by one offering he perfected forever the salvation of his
church. Then did he entirely roll away the curse from his people. Then
did he hurl their sins into an infinite depth. Then did he complete the
work the Father gave him to do. For the finishing of that work, thanks
be to God, the saints do not "wait"!
And still, all believers are the
expectants of an "adoption" to be confirmed, and of a "redemption" to be
perfected. Their adoption now is concealed, their adoption then will be
visible. Their present adoption is limited in its privileges- their
future adoption will introduce them to all the riches of their
inheritance and to all the splendors of their Father's house. For this
unveiled, this manifest, this full adoption they are "waiting." And so,
too, of "redemption." The ransom price is paid, but the body is not yet
fully redeemed. It still is fettered, and cribbed, and cabined by a
thousand clinging corruptions and infirmities. But the day of its
complete redemption draws near. In virtue of its ransom it will spring
from the dust, its last link of corruption entirely and forever
dissolved. "But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ
lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He
will take these weak mortal bodies of ours and change them into glorious
bodies like his own." Php 3:20, 21. Like unto Christ's glorious body!
Oh, then, no deformity will mar its symmetry! no infirmity will impair
its strength! no sickness, no faintings, no nervousness, no pangs of
suffering or throes of death will ever assail and torment it more! For
this "redemption of the body" the sons of God are waiting. Our heavenly
Father has adopted it. Our divine Savior has redeemed it. The Holy
Spirit, our Comforter, has sealed it. Oh, yes! The first-fruits of the
"first resurrection" bloom on the grave of the holy dead. Plant not
above their heads the flowers that fade. There are flowers blooming
there, plucked from the amaranthine bowers of immortality, and they will
never die.
This page may arrest the eye of a sufferer, not soothed in his grief, or
cheered in his loneliness by such prospects as these. There is coming a
day when the irrational creation, of whom we have been speaking, will
suffer no more. "The spirit of a beast goes downwards." But no such
annihilation awaits suffering man. Oh, melancholy condition! Oh, dreary
prospect! Suffering in this life, and suffering in the life to come! to
pass from a fire that is temporary, to a fire that is eternal- from the
agonies and throes of the first death, to the power and the pangs of the
second! But there still is hope. Jesus died for sinners, and there is
mercy even for the chief. Blessed suffering, hallowed sorrow, if now, in
the agony of your grief, you are led to the Savior to learn, what in the
sunny hour of prosperity and gladness you refused to learn- that God
only can make you happy, and that God in Christ is prepared to make you
happy. Oh, heaven-sent affliction! sweet messenger of love! beautiful in
your somber robes, bearing to my soul a blessing so divine, so precious
as this!
Have you the "first-fruits of the Spirit?" Guard them with tender,
sleepless care. Nature in her richest domain yields no such fruits or
flowers as these. Employ all the means and appliances within your reach
to keep verdant and fruitful the sacred garden of your soul. Unveil it
to the sun's light, to the gentle showers, and the soft gales of heaven.
Let your incessant prayer be, "Awake, O north wind; and come, you south;
blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my
beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits."
Oh, guard those
precious "first-fruits!" Soon the glory they foreshadow will be
revealed. The autumnal tints are deepening, the golden ears are
ripening, the reaper's sickle is preparing, and before long we shall
join in the song of the angels' harvest-home, "Grace, grace unto it!"
(From Octavius Winslow. No Condemnation in Christ Jesus)
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Octavius Winslow. Daily
Walking with God - June 15
"Ourselves also, which have the
first-fruits of the Spirit." Romans 8:23
THE figurative allusion is to a
familiar law of the Jewish economy. It will be recollected that, under
the Levitical dispensation, the Lord commanded that the first-fruits, in
the form of a single sheaf, should be sickled and waved before him by
the priest; and that this wave-offering was to be considered as
constituting the herald, or the pledge, of the ripened and full harvest.
And not only should it be an earnest and a pledge, but it should
represent the nature and character of the fruit which, before long, in
luxuriant abundance, would crowd with its golden sheaves, amid shouts of
gladness, the swelling garner. When, therefore, it is said that
believers in Jesus have the "first-fruits of the Spirit," the meaning
clearly is, that they have such communications of the Spirit now, as are
a pledge and foretaste of what they shall possess and enjoy in the great
day of the coming glory. "In whom also after that you believed, you were
sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our
inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the
praise of His glory."
We remark, in general terms, that if we are believers, then are we
partakers of that grace which is the earnest of glory. Do we partake of
the grace of life? It is the same life which beats in the souls of the
glorified. In us its pulsations are faint and fluctuating; in them they
are deep and constant—yet the life is the same. And if we have the
spirit of life dwelling in us now, then have we the first-fruits of the
life which is to come. Have we the spirit of adoption? What is it but
the earnest and the seal of our certain reception into our Father's
house? The love to God which overflows our hearts, the yearnings of
those hearts to be at home, are the first-fruits of our consummated and
glorified sonship. Thus might we travel the entire circle of the
Christian graces, which form, sanctify, and adorn the Christian
character; illustrating the truth, that each grace wrought by the Spirit
in the heart, on earth, is the germ of glory in heaven, and that the
perfection of glory will be the perfection of each grace. The present
character and tutelage of the child of God are preparatory to a higher
state of being—yes, they are essential parts of that being itself. Oh,
it is a holy and inspiriting thought, that every development of grace,
and every aspiration of holiness, every victory of faith, every
achievement of prayer, and every gleam of joy in the soul here below, is
the earnest-sheaf of the golden ears of happiness and glory garnered for
the saints on high. "He that goes forth and weeps, bearing precious
seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves
with him." Have yore the "first-fruits of the Spirit"? Guard them with
tender, sleepless care. Nature, in her richest domain, yields no such
fruits or flowers as these. Employ all the means and appliances within
your reach, to keep verdant and fruitful the sacred garden of your soul.
Unveil it to the sun's light, the gentle showers, and the soft gales of
heaven. Let your incessant prayer be, "Awake, O north wind; and come,
you south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.
Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits." Oh,
guard those precious "first-fruits"! Soon the glory they foreshadow will
be revealed. The autumnal tints are deepening, the golden ears are
ripening, the reaper's sickle is preparing, and before long we shall
join in the song of the angels' harvest-home, "Grace, grace unto it!" (Octavius
Winslow. Daily Walking with God)
AUGUST 3.
"We wait eagerly for our adoption as
sons,
the redemption of our bodies." Romans 8:23
The terms "adoption," "redemption,"
must here be taken in a restricted sense. Our present adoption into
God's family is as perfect as God can make it. We shall not in reality
be more the children of God in heaven than we are now. Dwell upon this
truth, beloved; press it in faith and gladness to your sighing, groaning
heart. Is God's hand uplifted? Oh, tremble not! It is a Father's hand.
Say not that it presses heavily upon you- it is the pressure of love. Do
not think that there is one throb of affection less towards you in His
heart. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God," and all the immunities and
blessings of a present sonship are ours.
Equally as complete is our redemption from all that can condemn. When
Jesus exclaimed, "It is finished!" by one offering He perfected forever
the salvation of His Church. Then did He entirely roll away the curse
from His people. Then did He hurl their sins into an infinite depth.
Then did He complete the work the Father gave Him to do. For the
finishing of that work, thanks be to God, the saints do not "wait."
And still, all believers are the expectants of an "adoption" to be
confirmed, and of a "redemption" to be perfected. Their adoption now is
concealed; their adoption then will be visible. Their present adoption
is limited in its privileges; their future adoption will introduce them
to all the riches of their inheritance, and to all the splendors of
their Father's house. For this unveiled, this manifest, this full
adoption they are "waiting."
And so, too, of "redemption." The ransom-price is paid, but the body is
not yet fully redeemed. It still is fettered, and cribbed, and cabined
by a thousand clinging corruptions and infirmities. But the day of its
complete redemption draws near. In virtue of its ransom it will spring
from the dust, its last link of corruption entirely and forever
dissolved. "But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ
lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He
will take these weak mortal bodies of ours and change them into glorious
bodies like his own, using the same mighty power that he will use to
conquer everything, everywhere." Like unto Christ's glorious body! Oh,
then, no deformity will mar its symmetry! no infirmity will impair its
strength! no sickness, no fainting, no nervousness, no pangs of
suffering or throes of death will ever assail and torment it more! For
this "redemption of the body" the sons of God are waiting. Our heavenly
Father has adopted it. Our Divine Savior has redeemed it. The Holy
Spirit, our Comforter, has sealed it. Oh yes! The first-fruits of the
"first resurrection" bloom on the grave of the holy dead. This page may
arrest the eye of a sufferer, not soothed in his grief or cheered in his
loneliness by such prospects as these. But there still is hope. Jesus
died for sinners, and there is mercy even for the chief. Blessed
suffering, hallowed sorrow, if now, in the agony of your grief, you are
led to the Savior to learn, what in the sunny hour of prosperity and
gladness you refused to learn, that God only can make you happy, and
that God in Christ is prepared to make you happy. O heaven-sent
affliction! sweet messenger of love! beautiful in your somber robes,
bearing to my soul a blessing so divine, so precious as this! (Octavius
Winslow. Daily Walking with God)
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Charles Simeon sermon...
The State of God's
Children
Romans 8:23
MUCH is spoken in Scripture
respecting the happiness of the saints. And doubtless they are on many
accounts the most blessed people upon earth. But they also experience in
a great degree the sorrows that pervade the universe. It is not in this,
but in the future world, that they are to attain perfect uninterrupted
felicity.
The Apostle is here encouraging the
afflicted Christians to endure their trials patiently, in expectation of
a rich eternal recompence. He tells them that the whole creation were
supported under their present sufferings by a hope of some happier
state: and that he himself, notwithstanding the privileges he enjoyed,
participated with them in the common lot.
From his words we are led to
consider,
I. The state of the creation at
large—
This is fully developed in the four
verses preceding our text. There are however considerable difficulties
in those verses; but chiefly arising from the inaccuracy of the
translation. Read them thus, and the main difficulties will be overcome:
“The earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the manifestation
of the sons of God: (for the creation was made subject to vanity, not
willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same;) in hope
that the creation 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.” Thus, by translating the word ktsis, creation, and the word hoti,
that, and by inclosing a part in a parenthesis, the whole will be made
clear, and to a certain degree easy.
[The whole creation was reduced to a
very deplorable condition by the fall of man. The material world
underwent a most awful change: cursed was the ground for man’s sake: the
earth rendered barren without continual and laborious culture, or
fruitful only in briers and thorns, which, if left unrestrained, would
speedly overrun it: and the atmosphere rendered the fatal source of
storms, and tempests, and pestilential vapours for the destruction of
man. The animal world, first subjected to man’s controul, and
innoxious in all their habits, had such a change wrought within them,
that they all of various orders prey one upon another, and are more or
less arrayed in hostility to man. The rational world partook more
largely still of this fatal change: for man universally, and without
exception, was despoiled of the Divine image, and corrupted in all his
faculties, whether of mind or body, and subjected to innumerable
diseases, and miseries, and death.]
But things shall not always continue
thus—
[There is a time coming, when God
will manifest himself in a more especial manner to his own people; and
it is therefore called, “The manifestation of the sons of God:” and then
shall the sentence denounced against the whole creation be reversed, in
order that every creature, according to its capacity, may partake of
that universal blessedness. The material world will become again what it
was at first, beautiful in all its parts, fertile to the utmost extent
of man’s necessities, and salubrious throughout every place and every
clime. The animal world shall have all their venomous propensities
removed, and the prophet’s description shall be fully realized among
them, “the wolf dwelling with the lamb, and the leopard lying down with
the kid; and the calf and the young lion, and the fatling together; and
the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned
child shall put his hand upon the cockatrice’ den: they shall not hurt
nor destroy throughout God’s holy mountain.” The whole rational world
shall then be converted unto God; “for the knowledge of the Lord shall
cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea.”
Thus throughout the whole creation
shall, to a certain extent, the paradisiacal state be restored.]
Now, as this will be a state of
inconceivable blessedness, the whole creation is represented as looking
and longing for it—
[It will be remembered that our
blessed Lord was foretold as “the person whom all nations desired.” Now
he was foretold under that character, not because all nations did desire
him, but because all nations, if they had known him, would have desired
him. So here the whole creation is said to look and wait for the day
spoken of in my text, not because they do indeed expect it with such
solicitude, but because they would expect it in that way, if they were
fully apprised of the blessedness attendant on it. And, as in other
passages of Holy Writ, the woods and the hills are often spoken of as
participating in, and expressing, the joys of God’s people; so here, by
a very strong figure, the whole creation is represented as stretching
forth the neck, with eagerness, in looking for it, and groaning with
impatience for its arrival; yea, and as experiencing the pangs of
parturition till they shall be liberated from their present burthen.
Nor are these expressions at all too strong, if the different parts of
the creation were capable of discerning and appreciating the blessedness
of the change that shall await each in its proper sphere, and to the
full extent of its capacity. Every part is at this time “under the
bondage of corruption,” that is, under the curse introduced by sin; and
every part, according to its capacity, shall be delivered from that
bondage, and be brought, so far as it is capable of it, into a
participation of the “liberty that shall then be accorded to the
children of God.” These were the feelings assigned to the inanimate
creation at the first advent of our Lord in his abased state; and the
same creatures may well be said to pant for a renewal of their joys,
when our Lord shall come again to establish his kingdom over the face of
the whole earth.]
But all this may, almost without a
figure, be uttered as descriptive of,
II. The state of God’s children in
particular—
These have already the foretaste of
these joys in their own souls—
[The “first-fruits” were a part of
any produce, devoted to God as an acknowledgment that the whole was from
him: and whilst they sanctified the whole harvest, they assured to the
possessor the full enjoyment of it. Now the harvest of “the Spirit” is
that abundant effusion of holiness and happiness which God will pour
forth on his people in the latter day, not unlike to what they enjoyed
on the day of Pentecost, or to that which our first parents possessed in
Paradise. And “of this Spirit God’s people have now the first-fruits.”
They are renewed in the spirit of their mind after the very image of
their God in righteousness and true holiness: and, with this renewal of
their nature, they are also “filled with joy of the Holy Ghost;” even
with a “joy that is unspeakable and glorified.” Now it might be supposed
that these, by reason of their present attainments, would be less
anxious for the promised period before referred to, when the whole
creation shall be restored, as it were, to its primeval purity and
happiness. But the very reverse of this is the case: for in every age
these are the persons who most pant and long for the promised felicity.
Yes, says the Apostle, “ourselves who have the first-fruits of the
Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the
adoption, even the redemption of our body.”]
Of the joys they now experience they
look forward to the everlasting consummation—
[“Believers are now the children of
God,” his children both by adoption and grace. Now adoption, amongst
the Romans, was two-fold; first, private, in the house, and afterwards
public, in the forum. The former of these every believer has received
already through the operation of the Spirit of God upon his soul: but
for the latter he waits till that period when God shall come to gather
together his elect from every quarter of the world, to restore to every
soul its long mouldered body, and to make the whole man, in body and
soul, eternally blessed in his presence. That is the period when “the
body will enjoy the redemption” that has been long since possessed by
the soul; and a blessedness will be then imparted to the whole man, of
which his present most exalted happiness is but an earnest and
foretaste. Now the believer knows that that period shall arrive: and he
longs for it, and “groans within himself,” through the ardour of his
desires after it. Even here his anticipations of it have been sweet,
infinitely beyond the powers of language to express, (“a joy
unspeakable;”) what then shall the full possession be in the complete
enjoyment of his God? From the private adoption, by the testimony of the
Spirit, he has been almost wrapt at times into the third heaven,
notwithstanding the clog which his body has imposed upon his soul. What
then shall the public manifestation of this honour in the presence of
the whole assembled universe be, when his “redeemed body” shall possess
all the purity and perfection of his soul, and not only partake of all
the joys of his soul, but aid the sold in its everlasting possession of
them? I wonder not that “St. Paul groaned in this body, being burthened;
yea, that he groaned, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with his
heavenly house, namely, with his body in its renovated and perfect
state. This ought to be the state of every true believer; and it will
be in proportion as he lives nigh to God, and has “his conversation in
heaven.”
By some the period referred to in my text is supposed to commence at the
Millennium, of which time St. Peter speaks when he says, “We look for
new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” And, if
any find comfort in that view of the subject, I would not move a finger
to rob them of it. I have no objection to persons following their own
views of Scripture truth: every man has the same right to do it as I
myself have. But, when these uncertain matters are made the subject of
disputation in the Church of God, to the creating of dissensions and
divisions, and to the turning of the minds of pious persons from the
more clear and fundamental truths of the Gospel, then I bitterly regret
it, and am ready to weep over it as “a device of Satan to turn men from
the simplicity that is in Christ.” If any choose to apply this passage
to the Millennium, and to look for its accomplishment then, let them:
but let them bear with those who cannot see with their eyes, or feel
that there is any advantage in their views. Let all agree in this, to
look and groan inwardly for the time of their consummate felicity,
whether it occur at a little earlier or a little later period: for this
is the point in which all are to agree; and in this consists the highest
attainment of the Christian life: “We come behind in no gift, whilst we
are waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” to perfect our
felicity; and we are sure, that “to those who so look for him, he will
appear a second time unto their everlasting salvation.” My prayer
therefore for all of you, my brethren, is, “The Lord direct your hearts
into the love of God, and into a patient waiting for Christ.”]
That I may bring this subject home
more powerfully to men’s business and bosoms, I would add,
1. Let us not take up our rest in
this world—
[This world is but a passage to a
better, a wilderness which we must pass through in our way to the
heavenly Canaan. As to our present accommodations, we need not be much
concerned, whether they be a little more or less suited to our present
convenience. We are but “pilgrims and sojourners here,” hoping in due
season to attain our rest hereafter. Let us then look forward to “that
rest which remaineth for us,” and under all existing difficulties derive
our consolations from the prospect of the happiness that awaits us. This
is, not the duty merely, but the high privilege, of the Christian. This
it is which raises the Christian above all the world besides. What are
crowns and kingdoms, if a man have no prospect beyond the grave? On the
other hand, What is martyrdom itself to one who sees it as the very door
of heaven, and knows that the body which agonized for a few moments,
shall reign in glory for evermore? I say then to every one amongst you,
“Set not your affection on things below, but on things above, where
Christ sitteth at the right hand of God,” and where “all who suffer with
him now, shall be glorified together with him “to all eternity.]
2. Let us press forward more
earnestly after the happiness reserved for us—
[Who can conceive the blessedness of
that state to which we are hastening? If “eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard, nor heart conceived the things which are enjoyed by God’s people
in this present world,” how much less can any just conception be formed
of their future state? If the possession of the first-fruits be so
glorious, what must the harvest be! If the privilege of being God’s
children be so delightful now, that the very hope of it raises us above
all the joys or sorrows of this present world, what shall the full
manifestation of it be when all the interests of time and sense are for
ever passed away? Let us then survey more and more the blessedness of
heaven, where we shall behold face to face that Saviour who died for us,
and be with him for ever, possessing, according to their capacity, all
the fulness of his beauty, his felicity, and his glory. Dear brethren,
let this prospect swallow up every inferior consideration, and animate
us to run with ever increasing diligence the race that is set before us.
Let us “forget all that is behind, and reach forward to that which is
before, and press on with all imaginable ardour for the prize of our
high calling in Christ Jesus.” And, in the desire of that full
blessedness, let us cry continually with the beloved Apostle, “Come,
Lord, and take me to thyself; yea, come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.”] (Romans
8:23 THE STATE OF GOD’S CHILDREN)
