Is not the creature the primary portion of the creation? I see little difference.
Hi! 'Hezekiah'
Well, not exactly. There is something more than a mere "little difference" to intent of the verse.
Ummm, at the risk of boring you half to death, the only way I know how to properly explain it to you is rather lengthy. Sorry 'bout that.
Romans 8:19: "For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God". Not only are we, God's children, subjected to the influence of the evil powers, the entire creation is subjected to them. But the creation does not possess the spiritual defense which the sons of God have, The sons of God are "saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us", (Luke 1:71), and have become freed from the powers of darkness and decay. The Word of God gives us the grace and strength to resist them,
This is a portion of every Christian's spiritual development while they are on their way to attaining "mature manhood".
The word used for 'creation' here can also be found in Mark 16:15 and Colossians 1:23, where it is applicable to mankind first of all. The entire creation waits for salvation.
Because of the conjunction 'for' which joins this verse to the previous, it can be said that a clear revelation of the great glory of the sons of God consists in their doing the works Jesus did, namely works of salvation, deliverance and healing. Therefore, it is clear that the restoration of mankind and of the rest of creation will not be accomplished by children but by revealed sons. The sons of God will be revealed or 'uncovered', and the people will see what is in them, and the world will marvel, (2 Thess 1:10).
The word 'revealing' (apocalypse) causes us to think about a flower bud which opens up. Until now, the creation has had to wait. This is because there has not yet appeared Spirit filled Christians who have been fully conformed to the image of Jesus. Frankly, If there were a village or a town full of sons of God, the powers that oppress creation would have to yield there even in this very day.
The word 'sons' indicates of a process of growth and maturing. In Acts 13:10 Paul used the word 'son' when he speaks to Elymas the magician. The apostle was filled with the Holy Spirit and discerned the opposing power when he said: "You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy". Not surprisingly too, in the parable of the weeds in the field the Lord calls the good seed literally the sons of the Kingdom, and the bad seed the sons of the Evil One, (Matt 13:38).
So, the question we must all answer for ourselves is: How will a child of God reach spiritual maturity?
The promise is: "With the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it", (1 Cor 10:13).
During the temptation the power of the Holy Spirit will increase in the child of God to that degree that he becomes stronger and matures to be a conqueror. After all, that's the reason why the great tribulation in the latter days will be preceded by the sealing of the servants of God, (Rev 7:3). In this way the people of God will grow and be able to stand against the oppression. The greater the suffering, the greater the victory and the more man will become conformed to the image of Christ. This is the advancement every Christian enjoys during their struggle to attain the purposes and intents of God for themselves.
In the endtime the sons of perdition, those who are filled with the spirit of anti-Christ, will be opposed by the sons of God who are filled with the Holy Spirit. In the battle of Armageddon, the sons of God will triumph over the armies of anti-Christ in the heavenly places. During the Millennium, the sons of God will lead the creation to salvation. And finally, on the new earth, they will bring to complete fullness all the righteous who remained hungry and thirsty for righteousness without being satisfied, for "the leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations". It is the spiritual gifts in the sons of God which will heal the nations, (Rev 22:2), so that God will become everything to everyone.
"For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God", (Romans 8:20,21). Futility is senselessness, lawlessness, delinquency, instability and emptiness.
The creation is unable to function correctly because of the will of him who subjected it to this futility, that is, of Adam.
Because the first man, as head of the creation, had obeyed the Evil One, he became a slave of the one he obeys. Adam subjected himself and relinquished the kingship.This is why the devil is now called the ruler of this world. It says in Genesis 3:17 that the earth is cursed because of man.
Yet, the will of God for man and for His creation is that which is good and acceptable and perfect, (Romans 12:2). Clearly, the creation was not subjected to futility of its own will because it hopes for deliverance. Creation does not accept sin, suffering and decay. It does not resign to these things. The creation does not accept as normal that which is lawless. On the contrary, it looks for deliverance and restoration. Every person and everything that has been set free by the sons of God will be truly free. This deliverance explicitly means to say that the creation will returned to a goodness once the powers of evil have been removed and the injuries healed.
Thus the Psalmist says, and Jesus repeats, that out of the mouth of babes and suckling God brings perfect praise even today. That means that their inner person is still good, for what comes from their mouth glorifies God. Wherever the sons of God are revealed, they will consecrate their children to keep them separated from evil, that the evil one will not be able to make the little ones their victims; that the green grass will not be burned, (Rev 9:4).
The creation is subjected to decay, which means that everything visible is transient and perishable. The word 'decay' may also mean: corruption, degeneration, destruction or annihilation. Instead of fully revealing the glory of God, the creation is often subjected to powers of decay.
The time is coming when the meek will inherit the earth. The meek are those who are who entrust themselves fully to the guidance of God's Spirit. They are the peacemakers of whom the Lord said: "They shall be called sons of God", (Matt 5:9). They will remove enmity from the entire creation and give it true peace. Then it will be fulfilled, "They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea", (Isaiah 11:9).
"We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now", (Romans 8:22).
Observation of natural life teaches us that every creature is injured and damaged. The creation groans and is in travail under the merciless dictatorship of the lawless ruler of this world who disrupts nature. The creation is subjected, but the word of God promises that the sons of God will go round doing well and healing all who are oppressed, just as the Son of God did, for God will be with them ,(Acts 10:38).
The groaning of creation is an illustration of the pangs of birth which will precede the reborn and restored creation. The word 'travail' indicates that the creation seeks to be set free, that it wants to produce something which is good. Its struggle against suffering, sickness, pain and death shows us that these things do not belong to the nature of creation. Forces from outside itself have burdened it with this yoke of slavery. Suffering and pain are from the evil one and never come from God.
The whole creation groans and is in travail, no part is excluded from the common suffering. The suffering covers the entire creation, inward as well as outward, in soul, spirit and body. "And not only the creation; but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies", (Romans 8:23). In the struggle against the ruling powers, the human spirit lacks sufficient defense, and the rest of creation is entirely incapable of defending itself. However, the plan of God provides the faithful the Holy Spirit to enable it to conquer by His strength. The 'first fruit' means that the faithful of Jesus Christ which is baptized in the Holy Spirit is the first to reveal the grace, the lawfulness, the peace, the righteousness and the joy of the Kingdom of God in the midst of the overpowered creation.
As James wrote, "Of his own will He brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures", (James 1:18). But despite this wonderful beginning, we too groan from within our inner man, for we have not yet brought forth the completion of our salvation nor the full fruit of the Holy Spirit. After all, we become an entirely new creation only when all our spirit, soul and body prove to be mature, perfect and inviolable.
So it is that the climax of our regeneration is the functioning of our spiritual body in the visible world at the return of the Lord. After the inner man, we already strive for perfection and inviolability so that we might be able to say with the Lord, "The ruler of this world is coming; he has no power over me", (finds nothing in me), (John 14:30).
But we have a mortal body which is subject to decay and look forward to an immortal body. Only then will we be fully delivered from the influence of the ruler of this world and from the realm of darkness. This is confident hope. We expect the full inheritance of that which we now have as guarantee in the Holy Spirit who enables us to live and function as first fruits.
We, the children of God, groan because we are constantly under the attack of the evil powers when we serve God. The serpent keeps bruising our heel to prevent us from making progress. In 2Cor 11:23-29 Paul describes a number of his tribulations. Regardless, he expresses his hope with these words, "Here indeed we groan, and long to put on our heavenly dwelling, so that by putting it on we may not be found naked", (2 Cor 5:2).
The word 'adoption' in this verse indicates the liberation of a slave who is adopted as a son, as it says, "You are no longer a slave but a son", (Gal 4:7). After their inner man, all who are led by the Holy Spirit are sons of God already. Once they were slaves to the powers of darkness, but now they have been redeemed that they might receive the right of adoption as sons, (Gal 4:5).
So we see there is a process of growth and development of which it says: "We are God's children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he, (or, -it-), appears we shall be like Him", (1 John 3:2). When this sonship becomes revealed before men, angels and the entire creation, we will be like the glorified Son of God.
"For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience", (Romans 8:24,25). When we receive the Lord we make the first step on the way of salvation. The final purpose of our salvation is maturity in spirit, soul and body. What we do not yet have, we hope to receive afterwards. Certain translations render it as: "For to this hope we were saved', or: "We are saved for our hope".
So it is a salvation for everything that the gospel promises and which we expect in faith. God gives a promise of total restoration; we accept the promise in faith, and the hope is the bridge between what we have and that which we still are to receive. When that what we hope for has come about, the hope disappears. We hope for what we do not see and have not yet experienced.
The tribulations befalling us try to rob us of the vision of a wonderful future. If we do not let go of our hope even then we prove to have patience. In chapter 5:3 we read, "'We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance". But we will only be able to rejoice if we do not lose sight of the expected future and the realization of God's promises.
So patience or perseverance is the pillar on which our hope rests. When somebody's faith collapses in tribulation, his hope disappears and his vision is lost. If the faithful of God persevere in faith in the promises of God and keeps hoping for their realization, it stays alive, for hope gives life. When it drops, the hope the faithful will fall away and become a spiritual ruin, a dead church, because "We are his house if we hold fast our confidence and pride on our hope", (Heb 3:6). It is only by the full assurance of hope until the end that we can realize the promise, (Heb 6:11).
