Foretaste of Future Glory

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Monday, December 10, 2018

For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.  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.  We were given this hope when we were saved.  (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it.  But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)  Romans 8:22-25(NLT)

It’s common to hear young-ish people joke about the old folks’ home.  At my age that’s hardly a joke – I live there!  My bride and I are in the eighth-decade of life; even the dogs that live with us are approaching 100 in doggie years.  There is a lot of groaning in such places, particularly in the early morning!

In Paul’s pulling-back the curtain on that future glory of heaven, that blessed place of perfect relationship with our Creator and Savior, he points to groaning, that which accompanies the pain of giving birth.  And the Apostle says it is this pain that every part of God’s creation experiences. 

That got me to thinking about how, in all the nativity scenes you’ve ever seen, and children’s Christmas plays you’ve ever attended, there is never a labor room, no signs of water breaking, contractions that produce back-gripping spasms, or the messier side of giving birth.  We go straight from the donkey to a stable, followed by angelic choirs, shepherds and wise men bearing lavish gifts.  In true Hollywood fashion, it’s a Hallmark-perfect fade-out from a hurried ride to the hospital, and fading-in on the nursery, complete with washed newborns, wrapped in blankets, and fathers, looking like does in the headlights with their noses pressed up against the glass.  It’s ok to look; just don’t get too close, because up-close is where that messier side of life lives, and things get real; that’s where you can hear the groaning!  Paul calls this a foretaste of future glory. 

In that great old hymn, Blessed Assurance, Fanny Crosby seizes on Paul’s words.  She writes:  O what a foretaste of glory divine!  The theme continues with scenes of heirs to the throne, adoption into God’s family, fellowship with the King of Glory, finally returning to Paul’s messier side, that we are, for the time being, stuck here, watching and waiting, looking above. 

It’s hard to wait, and wait, and wait.  Just ask Hatchiko, the dog whose master always came home on the train.  Hatchiko would wait every day, and the master would arrive every evening.  Until one day he didn’t come home.  This true story traces the waiting life of a dog, who kept vigil at the station for nearly 10 years, waiting to see his master step off that afternoon train.  His name became synonymous with loyalty.  

God has promised to return to fulfill the promise of adoption – our welcome into His forever family.  With that adoption are the full rights and joys of heirs, with the incredible promise of a new body that doesn’t ache and groan, even in the mornings.

For You Today

Let’s let Fanny Crosby have the last word today:

…watching and waiting, looking above,

Filled with his goodness, lost in his love.

This is my story, this is my song,

Praising my Savior all the day long;

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com