“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 corruption 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 until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits 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.” Romans 8:19-24 ESV
Have you ever stopped to wonder why all of creations waits in eager expectation for the revealing of the sons of God? Or why it too groans to be set free from bondage?
What do we know about creation?
Genesis tells us that after God created mankind He saw everything that He created and saw that it was good. Since God our Father is perfect and He saw that everything was good it can only mean that His creation was perfect too. Everything had been created in perfection even mankind.
We also know that mankind sinned against God by directly disobeying God’s command not to eat from the ‘Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil’ found in the middle of the garden.
Just how grievous is mankind’s sin?
When we think of Adam and Eve’s sin it really pales in comparison to ours, but nonetheless, the effect of that one little sin had enormous ramifications.
Think of it this way.
There once was the most skilled pottery maker in all the world. He took exactly six years to make one vase. He elaborately decorated his creation in a labor of love that was unparalleled throughout the world. His vases were so prized that people were willing to pay millions to possess just one.
Now imagine that you’re the rightful owner of one of these treasures and every time someone comes to visit you proudly show it off. Of course everyone admires it to no end gushing in excitement over its exquisite beauty.
One day a visitor is admiring your vase while holding a little child who is grasping a nickel in its hand. Suddenly the child throws the nickel onto the floor as little children often do and the nickel bounces and strikes the vase chipping its surface in the tiniest way.
Everyone in the room gasps! The perfect vase in all of its glory was just made imperfect by the unwitting action of one little child. It’s not just the tiny chip that is imperfect. The tiny chip made the entire vase imperfect. It can never be made perfect again even if it is repaired because the repair itself is an imperfection. The vase must be recreated anew to be perfect, while the imperfect one must be discarded at a great cost to you the owner.
In the same way Adam and Eve’s sin made all of creation imperfect. They though tiny are a part of the whole and their action affected the whole. Therefore, Satan not only subjected mankind to slavery, but all the universe as well! All of creation groans in slavery waitning eagerly for redemption and the revealing of the sons of God.
The corruption is complete and inescapable.
We, mankind, can never escape our sinful nature and the damage it does even if we were to flee to the farthest place in the universe. Jonah stands as an example of trying to escape from God. While he was only trying to escape to some distant land we can never escape the ramification of sin even if we travel to the end of the universe because we will always be traveling as a creature in God’s creation which has been polluted by our sin.
One imperfection ruins the whole.
If Adam and Eve’s one puny sin made the whole universe imperfect just imagine how much the compounded sin of all mankind mars the whole?
No wonder the universe groans!
Some assume that “the creation” and the “whole creation” are the same and refer to Christians, and it is they who are represented as looking forward to the time when the curse of death shall have been removed.
Where is it taught that death came upon animals and vegetables as a result of Adam’s sin?” Upon what did the animal and fish eat before Adam sinned? What did Adam and Eve eat before they sinned? It does not seem possible that Paul had in mind the lower creation in verses 19-21.
It seems unreasonable that Paul should, by a figure of speech, represent animals and vegetables as expecting and awaiting the revealing of the sons of God; and it seems especially strange that he would affirm that animals and vegetables “shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God,” or that they were subject to vanity, “not of their own will.” Every statement indicates that he was talking about intelligent beings who had a real interest in the resurrection and glorification of the children of God.
The verses are closely connected with verse 18 and were evidently written to encourage the Christian to endure the suffering for the sake of the glory that shall be revealed. It would not be helpful in enduring suffering to be told that the lower creation was longing to be delivered from suffering into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.
Both the statement “the creature itself shall be liberated from the bondage of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God”; and “not only they, but ourselves also,” show that the apostle is speaking, not of the brute and animate creation, but of mankind, and of their earnest desire of immortality. For these reasons, and especially because of Mark 16:15, “Preach the gospel to every creature,” which means to every human creature, I think the words (creature and creation) in this verse and in the preceding three verses signify mankind in general, Jews as well as Gentiles. See also Colossians 1:23 where the words signify “every human creature.