What does it mean that creation waits in eager expectation (Romans 8:19)?

Far as the distance may seem between creation in general and those whom grace has now taken out of its ruin and associated in so intimate and complete a way with Christ as the Christian knows it, there is a link of the most direct and momentous sort. "For the earnest expectation of the creation is waiting for the revelation of the sons of God. For the creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but on account of him who made [it] subject, in hope that† even the creation itself shall be freed from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God." Here, as it is a passage of very great interest and value, so ignorance of the truth conveyed has embarassed most of those who have sought to expound it, whether orally or in formal commentaries. There is no real difficulty where the main drift of the apostle is caught. The perplexity, as is usually the case, is brought in with notions extraneous to his reasoning. Let us then consider briefly the truth conveyed, and that which has made it obscure to the mass of readers. † Or, "in hope: because."}

Both the present sufferings and the future glory in the apostle's mind touch on the creation, which he here personifies. It is represented first of all as on the stretch of outlook, waiting for the revelation of the sons of God. Externally His sons do not differ in bodily appearance, power, or glory from the rest of mankind; they may be weak, they may suffer, as also they fall asleep or die while the Lord tarries on high. But after the resurrection or change, at His coming, they are to be manifested in glory with Christ when He is thus manifested also. Creation too awaits this blissful moment. Its deliverance from its actual misery hinges on them and their revelation.

Nor is there any ground of surprise at such a connection with men; for creation was made subject to vanity, not of course by its own will, but on his account who made it subject. Man was set by God as the head of the lower creation. When he fell, creation shared his ruin. When the sons of God are revealed at the appearing of Christ, there will be a proof that it was made dependent on them, and that the hope of emancipation is not in vain. If it was righteous that by the fall of its head creation should be subjected to vanity, how consistent and worthy of God that the redemption of His children and heirs should be followed by its glorious retrievement!

(Vv. 19, 21). The creature is in the state of misery and corruption which results from the fall, and will be so until the sons of God are manifested in bodies of glory. With the creatures it is no question of souls that need to be redeemed, but of bodies that are subject to corruption. The sons are the subjects of grace that has redeemed their souls and given them an inheritance in glory. The creature cannot be the subject of grace, but will share in the glory that will bring the outward blessing to this world of sorrow. For this deliverance from corruption the creature waits for the manifestation of the glory of the sons of God.

It was not by the will of the creature that it became subject to vanity, but through the folly of man. But the glory is coming, therefore if the creature is subject to vanity, it is so in hope of deliverance from the bondage of corruption. If it cannot share in the liberty of grace that sets free from sin and judgment, it will share in the liberty of glory that lifts every pressure from these bodies.

But there is a glory the creation waits for, the glory of the children of God. This will come to light when the sons of God are manifested. The creation fell with its head Adam. He is the one who subjected it to vanity. But God had His eye upon everything, and the fall of man did not take Him by surprise. He allowed it to take place that by it His counsels of love might be fulfilled. If the creation fell under one head, He knew how to recover it under Another. But this involved bringing the children of God home to heaven, and gathering them as sons into the Father’s house; and not only this, but it also involved their manifestation. The last Adam, in the day of His glory, must not be without His bride. The fall and ruin of the creation was not without the bride of the first Adam, neither will the recovery be without the bride of the last Adam. The Eve of the first Adam was prominent in the fall, and the Eve of the last Adam will be prominent in recovery. Therefore the whole creation waits the manifestation of the sons of God. In contrast with this we wait the redemption of the body. The body links us at present with the groaning creation; and we who have the firstfruits of the Spirit wait for the adoption of the redemption of our body. We wait to go in; the creation waits until we come out. Our groaning will cease at the rapture, when we are taken up. The groans of creation will cease when Christ appears and all the sons of God with Him. Until that day comes the creation must go on groaning. Men may seek to alleviate its woes by legislation and in various ways, but the creation expects nothing from earth in the way of deliverance; this will come from heaven at the manifestation of the sons of God.

Creation's long subjection to decay and death will then be brought to an end. "For the earnest expectation of the creature (or creation) waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God." (Rom. 8) Not, observe, for the manifestation of the Son of God, but the sons of God. He has been manifested; they, not yet. It is when the sons of God are manifested in the glory that the groaning creation will be relieved; that will be the signal for its complete deliverance. Its time of bondage runs on till then. "The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now:" and, alas, must continue to groan and travail until Christ, and God's "many sons" appear in glory. But then, O happy day, the whole creation will be delivered from the bondage of corruption — the winding sheet of death, in which it has been swathed since the days of Adam, shall then be removed — the trail of the serpent shall disappear before the rising beams of the Sun of Righteousness — the wild beasts of the field shall be shorn of their ferocity — the earth shall yield her increase, the wilderness shall rejoice and blossom as the rose — and men shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. Thus shall end the long period of creation's subjection to vanity. Hasten it, in thy good time, O most gracious Lord! Oh, how many voices from the depths of oppression are daily and hourly crying, Come, Lord Jesus, O come quickly!

Turn now to Rom. 8:16-25, a passage which, in its connections with several in the Old Testament, as well as in itself, sheds much light on the subject we are considering. "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." This is the present joy of believers; we are the children of God. "And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Observe, my brethren, it is a glory to be revealed — a glory to be revealed, too, in us. It is a glory, moreover, which we share with Christ — glorified together. Glory is, in the thoughts of most Christians, connected with the separate state, the state of disembodied spirits. They speak, in consequence, of saints going direct to glory when they die. One can find no fault with this, if it be simply expressive of the immediate happiness of the saints with Christ on their departure from the body. But it is not strictly correct and scriptural thus to speak of glory. Glory is a manifested thing. The glory here spoken of is a glory to be revealed, and revealed in us. When will this be? Not until this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal have put on immortality. As to those who have fallen asleep, it is said of their bodies, "Sown in weakness, raised in power: sown in dishonour, raised in glory." Yes, it is when these bodies of humiliation, changed or raised by our Lord Jesus Christ, "are fashioned like unto his glorious body," that we shall be "glorified together" with him. "For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God." We are the sons of God now, and faith knows this, and rejoices in it. But where is the manifestation of it? I speak not now of its manifestation morally, by the difference in spirit and character between the children of God and the men of the world. Feeble and imperfect as this is, there still is some difference discernible, as to character and conduct, between Christians and the world. But as to our condition outwardly, — are we not subject to every infirmity of body, and to the ills of life, in like manner as our fellow-creatures around us? Yea, and have we not besides a life of sorrow peculiar to ourselves — sorrow coming upon us in consequence of being sons of God — sorrow to which we were strangers before we became the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus? And is it thus that the sons of God are manifested? No; the "manifestation of the sons of God" has not yet taken place. When will the period for it arrive? Turn to 1 John 3:1-2: "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not." So far are the sons of God from being manifested now. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear (i.e., it is not yet manifested) what we shall be: but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." When he shall appear we shall be like him. The manifestation of the sons of God will be at the appearing of Christ. As we read in Col. 3:4, "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." It is for this the earnest expectation of the creature (or creation) waits. "For the creature (or creation) was made subject to vanity not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope; because the creature (or creation) itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." Here we find that sin — the fall — has affected not us only, but the whole creation, of which man, in innocence, was made lord. The creation was made subject to vanity. The whole of it groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. How true! What a world of sorrow, and disappointment, and wretchedness this is! It has its bright appearances, indeed; but they are treacherous and delusive. Saunter forth on the evening of a summer's day; ascend some eminence, and view the landscape spread out in stillness and beauty beneath: and how easy to forget, amid the serenity of such a scene, that it is a world of sin, and death, and darkness you are beholding.

It is amazing how the soul becomes soft when happy in the Lord! How it removes all roughnesses. Saints cannot quarrel about being happy in the Lord, though they may quarrel about doctrine or discipline. We ought all to look onward, and have the heart filled with the glory. The effect of this is to put us into suffering, though we can say it is not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. It is not the divine essential glory, of course, but the manifested glory, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Verse 19 shows the sons exhibited in the family glory. In the world it is known by the dress of the children what is the wealth and grandeur of the father. It is the parent's pride and delight to deck them out and show them forth. Well, God has children, and He must display His sons in His glory. When He transfigures them, He manifests them. It is then, and not till then, the creature is introduced into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God. This, as far as creation goes, is not intelligent, for it has been brought by man's sin, unwillingly, into all misery and bondage. It must also wait, for it will not be brought back until man has been. If a chain were suspended from the ceiling, and the first link be broken, which connects it with those above, the whole chain would immediately fall to the ground.

When man fell, all creation was involved. It has often struck me how as all the misery of the creature, sickness, bodily suffering etc., came by man, so all the deliverance comes by man. There will be a blessing on the fruit of the ground and not a curse, by and by, certainly in Jerusalem. The Cain-curse it is that was taken away by the flood, as Noah, (i.e., "this shall comfort us") the name given by Lamech to his son, seems to imply. It is not that they get rid of labour, but they get comfort in it. No doubt there will be very great fertility and fruitfulness; not that there will be no labour needed there, but they shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; but they shall build houses and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them. "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose." It is clear that "the creature" goes beyond our bodies; the creatures outside our bodies are groaning. There are two curses spoken of. The first was spoken to Adam, the second, to Cain. The first was on the earth in general, but the second did not extend beyond the family of Cain. The two curses are very different. Cain was a tiller of the ground — "Now art thou cursed from the earth. When thou tillest the ground, it shall not yield unto thee her strength." It is true Cain had the earth, after it was cursed, after he had killed Abel. The two presented, as heirs of the earth, were Cain and Abel. These were two parties, and they soon showed who should get on in it — the righteous man or the vagabond — for Abel is slain; but Cain takes possession, builds a city, and makes progress in it. God blessed Israel in the earth; but what do we see? The godly forced up to heaven, because the ungodly were in prosperity, and this, too, while prosperity was the mark of God's favour to the righteous; and so David says, "This I understood not, till I went into the sanctuary of God." Well, they will have the heavenly blessing. The temporal promises were not even possessed by Abraham. God's temporal government was blessing on the earth. (See Ezra, Nehemiah, etc.) Solomon did not get higher than earthly blessing. The prophets rise up to heavenly blessing; not that they reach to the heavenly Bride — the body of Christ; for the Church never was the subject of prophecy or promise. The Church is founded on the defacing the difference between Jew and Gentile. Now to have attempted to deface the Jew before, would have been wicked. It was done in the cross. Meanwhile the Christian suffers. But, see how the energizing power of the Holy Ghost fills him with this "earnest expectation." He so sees the love of God and thought of God in the thing that is coming, that his neck is stretched out, as it were, looking for it. God is a faithful Creator, and so He will bless according to God. The intelligence does not know the remedy, though the heart feels the groaning. Paul knew God in the sorrow pressing on his spirit. If he links it with the glory, it never can come till the manifestation of the sons of God, when the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. It is not liberty by grace, but the liberty of the glory; "for the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who subjected the same." My will was concerned in it; if it had ruined itself willingly, it would have remained; but God is there, and He is good. The creature offended; then the Holy Ghost inspires the whole creation with hope, so that all are looking out for the manifestation of the children of God. That is what they wait for. They groan, but not intelligently. We have the key to the groaning. The text may be read thus: "For the earnest expectation of the creature waits for the manifestation of the sons of God, in hope that the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God; for the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him that subjected the same." There is a parenthesis. If it had chosen all, then there would have been no hope of recovery; but it is "waiting in hope," and not only they, but we ourselves also wait, because we have the creature about us; "even we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption." "The Spirit itself makes intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered; and he that searches the heart knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he makes intercession for the saints according to God." It is recorded in the history of the experience of an old saint, that he had lain a whole day groaning, without uttering a word, and, at the close of the day, there came out simply, "my God!"

The Spirit of God, in unfolding to the saints the hope of their calling, addresses Himself to that which in the believer as born of God is capable of thinking and of desiring according to the sympathies of Christ. Accordingly, we have opened in the following verses of this chapter a wide view of creation in its actual condition as subject to vanity. This is done in order that a juster estimate may be formed in the hearts of God's children of the manner and the measure of the glory for which they wait, by the description of its effect upon the now groaning creation which awaits the hour of their completed adoption as the expected moment of its own deliverance. "For the earnest expectation of the creature waits for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who has subjected the same, in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now" (verses 19-22).

We have here the emancipation of the groaning creation made dependent upon the manifestation of the sons of God. The Church, that is, not only partakes, as part of the creation, in the deliverance which is the effect of redemption, but it is itself, as the vessel of Divine glory in Christ, the very light which shall dissolve at its revelation the thick darkness of vanity which as yet holds the creature in the bonds of travail and of pain. The position of the creature is described to be that of actual oppression and subjection to vanity, but in immediate and earnest expectation (apokaradokia) of deliverance. But this deliverance can only be at the revelation of the sons of God. It is not said of the Son of God, but of the sons of God. Doubtless, it is with His glory that they will shine; but the point kept before our view here, is the place which the children (already sealed for the inheritance by the Spirit of adoption) are manifestly to hold in that day.

They likewise long for the time when they shall be set free from the bondage of corruption and share the coming glorious liberty. They anxiously look on for the revelation of the sons of God. The creatures will not exactly share the glory, but the “liberty of the glory of the children of God.” Instinctively they long for that time. Believers are to look on to it intelligently, a communion with God, understanding what He is doing. The Old Testament greatly helps us as to the earthly side of the glory, and also as figurative of the heavenly.

First, then, the glory is connected with the manifestation of the sons of God. The sons will be manifested when the Son, who is the Firstborn and Heir, is revealed in His glory. Then the creature (that is, the creation) will be delivered from the bondage of corruption and share in "the liberty of the glory of the sons of God." (N.Tr.) It has well been remarked that the creation does not share in the liberty of grace which we enjoy even amidst the sufferings, but it will share in the liberty of the glory. The creation was not made subject to vanity by its own will but rather as the result of the sin of the one to whom it was subject; that is, of Adam. And creation is represented as anxiously looking out in hope of the deliverance which will arrive with the manifestation of the glory. When the sons are publicly glorified the year of release and jubilee will have come for the whole creation. What glory that will be! How do present sufferings look in the light of it?

Creation's Future. — The apostle speaks, be it remarked, of the glory which should be revealed to us, as he really wrote, and not simply of our being in glory, all true and sure as this last is. For his eye by faith was surveying a scene on which no creature has ever yet looked, viz., creation itself resting in the calm delight of the liberty of the glory of the children of God (21). The divine purposes, as revealed in the Gospel, are not bounded by, nor confined to, the blessing of God's saints; creation animate and inanimate is concerned in them likewise. And the Creator has given it to expect this. He thinks of His created things, as well as of His saints. He thought of the cattle at Nineveh (Jonah 4:11). He thought of every living thing upon the earth after the flood (Gen. 9:8-17). He will care for creation in the coming day. How creation comes to understand this it is not for us to say. But it would be strange indeed if the Creator could not communicate with everything that He has brought into being, and be also the interpreter to His intelligent creatures of the earnest expectation of the to us non-intelligent creation. He alone, of course, was competent to do this. He has done it; and by Paul, a vessel of revelation, this is made known to us: "The earnest expectation of the creature (i.e., creation) waits for the manifestation (or, revelation) of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who has subjected the same, in hope because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory (not, the glorious liberty, as the Authorised Version has unhappily given it) of the children of God" (Rom. 8:19-21).

Creation waits, but in hope for the sons of God to be revealed. Of this expectation other Scriptures also speak. Its utterance when the Lamb took the book to open the seals thereof (Rev. 5:13) John heard, and in his prophetic book has recounted. Its rejoicings on the Lord appearing to reign the Psalmist has in beautiful language predicted (Ps. 96:11-13; 98:7-9); and at the close of that book (Ps. 150:6) he calls on every creature which has breath to praise the Lord, a call which will not have been made in vain, and to which, it would seem, not men only will respond. Here in Romans its expectation of the revelation of the sons of God is declared, an intimation of that of which otherwise we must have been ignorant. Further, taken back to the past, we learn how it got into that condition of sorrow, out of which it is by-and-by to be delivered. In the opening of the epistle we saw how men got into savagery and heathenish ways. Here we learn how it was that creation became subject to vanity. It was subjected to it, not willingly. Adam fell. By him sin, which weighs on creation, entered the world, and God cursed the ground for man's sake. Was creation, then, for ever to be subjected to consequences arising from that one act of transgression on Adam's part? Are some of that man's descendants to enjoy redemption in its fulness, and creation, which shared, but not willingly, in the results of the disobedience of its head for evermore to groan, never, never to get relief? Far otherwise is God's thought for it. But here again His grace to us shines out. We get, as already stated, full deliverance, and shall be in glory ere creation will get any relief. It hopes for deliverance. It will enter into it, freed from all corruption, to rejoice in the liberty of the glory of the children of God. How narrow often are our thoughts, not ranging beyond the circle of our blessings! How wide, how glorious are God's thoughts! How worthy, too, of Him we must say when we see them as He unfolds them in His Gospel.