The Reverend Harold A. Linn, Pastor

What is Nature Trying to Tell Us?

By Dr. Richard P. Bucher

Bible Passages provided by BibleGateway.com

As I write this, all the signs of spring beckon to me outside my open window. The trees are budding, the flowers blooming, and the grass is greening under a cloudless sky of blue. All of nature seems to be rejoicing as life returns anew.

Which makes me wonder. If we could read the mind of nature, what would it say on a day such as this? Actually we need not guess. Divine revelation tells us plainly.

In one of the more remarkable passages of Scripture, the apostle Paul tells us what the creation is thinking on a day such as this or on any day, rain, snow, or shine. In Romans 8, he writes, “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²² For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now (Romans 8:19-23). Let’s take a brief look at this profound passage.

If you could read creation’s mind on a day like this, you would learn that it is obsessed with something that you never would have guessed. The creation, Scripture tells us, is eagerly waiting with anxious longing for the revealing of the sons of God, a reference to the resurrection on the last day. Don’t we know who are Christians right now? No. Because we cannot look into each other’s hearts to see who truly has faith in Jesus. Only on the last day when our Lord returns and Christians are raised from the dead will it be revealed who the “sons of God,” the Christians, are. And all of creation, Paul tells us, is waiting with eager expectation for that glorious resurrection.

Why is creation so anxiously longing for the resurrection? Because the creation, despite its outward beauty and vitality, is in bondage—it has fallen into the corruption of sin along with mankind. “The creation was subjected to futility,” Paul tells us. When was this? When Adam and Eve fell into sin. As of a result of our first parents’ disobedience, creation was cursed: “And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; ¹⁸ thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you . . ..” (Genesis 3:17-18).

The creation was cursed and subjected to futility, but in the hope “that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” In other words, the creation so eagerly looks forward to the resurrection of believers because it also will be resurrected. And in its new resurrected “body,” it will no longer be marked by the decay of sin and death but will obtain the same freedom and glory that resurrected believers will.

On that day all of creation will truly be free, but only on that day. Until then, “the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth [Greek text: “groans together and suffers agony together until now”] until now.” On a day like today, it is only by faith that we could ever possibly know how miserable creation is. Judging by sight, we would have to conclude that nature is totally happy and already free and glorious. Not so, says God. It groans and struggles as it tries to patiently wait for the day of the resurrection when it will finally be set free from the bondage of death and decay.

But there is one thing more. In Romans 8:23-24, the apostle writes, “And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴ For in this hope we were saved.” What a beautiful passage! Just as creation groans as it awaits the resurrection on the last day, so do we. We who have the firstfruits of the Spirit (given to us at baptism), inwardly groan as we eagerly wait for our resurrection, which Paul beautifully calls “the redemption of our bodies.”

To some Christians this groaning is frequent and palpable. Visit your elderly brethren in nursing homes and they will tell you all about their inward groaning, as they eagerly await their new resurrected bodies. Ask those saints who are chronically ill, who deal with pain daily, and they will tell you all about how they inwardly groan as they wait for the redemption of their bodies. Talk to Christians who are being brutally persecuted in places such as China and Pakistan. They will tell you about their groaning and longing for the resurrection.

To other believers the groaning is not obvious or even conscious on a daily basis. But the groaning is there nonetheless. And sometimes the groaning surfaces and we feel it too. At times of severe sickness; at times of loss; or at times of debilitating injury. Then we groan and look forward to the redemption of our bodies on the last day.

I also think the groaning manifests itself in another subtle way: When we go through a time of discontent. When we never seem to be satisfied, even when we get what we want, but always feel unfulfilled or empty. This too is the groaning of which Paul speaks. What is happening, in many cases, though we may not understand it, is that we are groaning because our bodies are in bondage to decay. And are longing for the day when, we will be raised up, and given brand new bodies, to know perfect contentment forevermore.

Of this we can be certain! We the baptized know for certain that on the last day we will be raised up with glorious new bodies, bodies free from the decay of sin and death, and all its deformed children, such as illness, pain, and all the frailties of the body.

So the next time you look out your window and take in the sights and sounds of nature, remember that it may be trying to tell you something—something important: The revealing of the sons of God is coming, the redemption of our bodies, when creation itself will be raised up. And that is something that we should eagerly look forward to. That is something that should fill us with hope!

April 2005