By Audrey Bauman

Romans 8: 18 – 25   (NLT)

^“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, 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 for it. ²⁵ But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)”

Chapter 8 of Romans is one of my favourites in this book.  The first 17 verses that we looked at yesterday talk about how the indwelling of the Holy Spirit makes such a big difference in each of our lives as Christ followers.  We no longer have to be controlled by our sinful nature – that part of us that puts ourselves and our wants above all else – but now we have the Spirit to guide and prompt us to do what is right. My favourite verses from devotions yesterday are “ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”  For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.  And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory.”  (verses 14 – 17)

Today’s verses talk about another wonderful thing we can look forward to as children of God – that day when our bodies will be resurrected and live forever.  Losing someone we love is incredibly hard. I sometimes wonder what it would be like if we just believed that death ended everything.  But as Christ followers, that is not what we believe.  These verses in Romans tell us we have hope and a better life ahead - “all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day”. (v.19) There are other verses in the Bible that talk about that day as well, and I thought I’d post some of them so you can see that hope is not something we dreamed up.  God has promised us that new life in the future.

1 Thessalonians 4: 13 – 18   (NLT)

^“And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. ¹⁴ For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.

¹⁵ We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died.¹⁶ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves.¹⁷ Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸ So encourage each other with these words.”

1 Corinthians 15: 54 – 55     (NLT)

“Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory.  O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

Revelation 21: 3 – 5    (NLT)

“I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. ⁴ He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” 

1 Corinthians 5: 1 – 5  (NLT)

“For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. ² We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. ³ For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. ⁴ While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. ⁵ God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit.”

And – there is our hope!  We have an amazing future!

Our song for today is When We All Get to Heaven by Matt Redman.