The Magnitude of Our Heavenly Inheritance

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. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath 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 groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. the...: Or, every creature 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. - Romans 8:18-23

    In Romans 8:18-23, as the Apostle Paul discusses the great privileges and prospects of God’s elect in Christ, he seems to simply get carried away with the great tide of grace. The greatness of the things he is writing about seems to have utterly engulfed him. He says, "If children, then heirs; heirs of God; and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ!” What an inheritance! We possess the inheritance, not by our own rights and merits, but by God’s covenant grace and Christ's all-sufficient merit as our Substitute. It is true, we must in this world suffer for a season with him and for his sake; but when our earthly woes are over, we shall reign with him and inherit all things with him as the children of God.

    In consideration of these things, the apostle says, “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." This glory that shall be revealed in us is not the glory that shall be ours as soon as we die and enter into heaven with Christ. This is the glory that shall be ours in the consummation of our salvation at the resurrection. It is something indescribable even by one who was inspired by God. Paul seems to search for words to speak of it. Notice, just in these few verses, he calls it four different things:

    (2.) “The Manifestation of the Sons of God”(v. 19),

    (3.) “The Glorious Liberty of the Sons of God” (v. 21), and (4.) “The Redemption of Our Body” (V. 23).

    This is that “blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior” (Tit. 2:13) for which we are to constantly look. This is that for which Peter admonishes us to “Gird up the loins of our minds, and be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Chrisr (1 Pet. 1:13). This heavenly inheritance is an inheritance of indescribable, universal greatness and glory.

    The glory to be revealed in us

    The glory to be revealed in us is of such magnitude that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to it. Paul writes, in verse eighteen, “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.” The Apostle Paul uses a kind of spiritual arithmetic here. He places these two opposite things in two separate columns. The amount of our sufferings in this world, he acknowledges to be very great. In the other column, he sees the amount of glory that is to be revealed in us, and says, “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to even be put in the scales with the glory that shall be revealed in us.”

    The sufferings of this present time are, for many of God’s saints, great. I know that compared to what Christ suffered for us, compared to what so many others have and do suffer in this world, compared to what we deserve, and compared to the glory awaiting us, our sorrows here are but “light afflictions.” However, I do not suggest that you try telling a man who has just buried his only child that his affliction is light. The misery of man in this world is great upon him. Viewed in themselves, our woes are hard to bear, heavy, and painful beyond description. We all know some people who carry heavy, heavy burdens. Yet, the heaviest of our temporary, earthly burdens and woes are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us.

    We should always try to remember that our sufferings are confined to this present time. The short duration of any agony makes it bearable, if we are confident that the agony will be succeeded by a long time of relief and enjoyment. Jacob’s fourteen years of service to Laban for Rachel seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her (Gen. 29:20). A mother’s travail in birth is forgotten as soon as her baby is in her arms. Our Lord Jesus was sustained in his agony of body, heart, and soul by the joyful prospect of having his ransomed ones with him in heaven (Heb. 12:2). So, too, our hearts are sustained in trouble when we look beyond present things to eternal things (2 Cor. 4:17-5:1).

    The glory of that heavenly inheritance awaiting us will be so magnanimously great that it will remove from us every painful memory of sorrow in this world. Our sorrows here will only add to the glory of the world to come. I cannot tell you how, but I know that when we have entered into our glory, our happiness and glory in eternity will be greater because of our sorrows here. “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” “Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold (hat perIsheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:17; 1 Pet. 1:6-7).

    “Such will be the joy of the heavenly inheritance,” an old preacher said, “that it will efface from our remembrance the few years of sorrow which have preceded it; so efface them, at least, that we shall never think of them with regret, but as a foil to heighten our bliss.” The sufferings of this present time, therefore, are not worthy to be compared to that glory that shall be revealed in us.

    So great and magnanimous is the glory to be revealed in us at the resurrection that it influences and affects the whole of god’s creation. “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature it seff 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” (vv. 19-22)

    The creature, that is to say, the whole creation of God was brought into bondage by the sin and fall of our father Adam. Adam’s sin reached beyond the human race. It affected the whole earth. The whole creation was brought into the bondage of corruption, not willingly, but in consequence of Adam’s transgression. The ground itself was cursed. Adam’s house cat became a roaring lion and his dog a ravening wolf. This subjection of the creation to the bondage of corruption was by the hand of God; but it was not to be permanent. God “subjected (he same in hope.” That simply means that when we are delivered from the curse of sin, God’s creation shall also be delivered from the bondage of corruption. The redemption of our bodies in the resurrection will be the birthday of a new creation. By sin everything in God’s earthly creation has become in some way subservient to evil; but God will not allow that to continue. He will, when he completes our redemption, completely restore his creation to himself, so that everything shall serve and praise him. There is a day appointed when there shall be a restitution of all things to God (Acts 3:21; Eph. 1:9-10).

    When the Lord God created the heavens and the earth everything, according to its nature and capacity, displayed his glory. To a very great extent they still do (Ps. 19:1-4). This was the natural order of things by God’s design. Either consciously or unconsciously, everything furnished its tribute of praise to him who is over all God blessed forever. The entrance of sin into the world changed everything. Everything God created for the comfort of man has been abused by man. Everything God gave us to use in serving him and honoring him, we have sacrificed to Baal (Hos. 2:8). Everything in the world has been sacrificed to some imaginary deity. Every benefit of creation has been employed by us to serve and gratify our lusts. The creation itself has been turned into a god to be worshipped! The earth is called “Mother Earth!’ Nature is called “Mother Nature!” Even time is worshipped as “Father Time!” Nature, with fallen man, occupies the place of God.

    Though the creatures have no reason or intelligence, yet there is, as it were, such an instinctive tendency in God’s creation to oppose man that the whole of creation is at war with fallen man. Were that not the case, there would be no reason for a covenant to be made on our behalf with the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, the creeping things of the earth, and the very stones of the ground (Hos. 2:18). The Holy Spirit assures us that this bondage of God’s creation is only temporary. God, in his infinite wisdom, saw fit to subject the creation to the bondage of corruption for a season. However, it is specifically said to be a subjection “in hope” because there is a time set by God when he will deliver his creation from the bondage of corruption. The redemption of our bodies from the grave will be for us the destruction of our last enemy and the termination of all the effects of sin. It will also be the termination of bondage and corruption, of all the corrupting effects of sin, upon God’s creation. It is for this that the whole creation groans and travails.

    Notice the threefold description given of our heavenly inheritance. As we look at these descriptions of glory, remember that Paul is talking about the perfecting and completing of our salvation through the death of Christ, which is the greatest possible display of the glory of God. This will be the last of that great series of events that God has been performing from the beginning of time. This is the thing for which all things were made and to which all things are subjected. This glorious inheritance is the goal of election and predestination and the object of providence (Rom. 8:28-30; Eph. 1:3-6).

    1. It is called, “The Glory that Shall be Revealed in Us.” This refers to the manifestation of God’s glory that shall be revealed in our consummate salvation (Eph. 1:6, 12, 14; 2:7).

    2. The completion of God’s work of grace is called, “The Manifestation of the Sons of God.” Here, God’s saints are little known and hardly noticed, except when derided by the wicked; but there is a day coming which will be the day of our manifestation (1 John 3:1-2).

    3. Our ultimate salvation is described as “The Glorious Liberty of The Sons of God.” This will be our happy jubilee! When it comes, we will be freed from the penalty and dominion of sin, At death, we shall be delivered from the presence of sin; but when Christ comes, when the jubilee trumpet sounds, we shall be delivered from all the consequences of sin. We will sing the song of triumph and victory as we look back upon our empty graves — "O death, where is thy sting? 0 grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

    Believers groan within themselves for this glory

    Such is the magnitude, greatness, grandeur, and glory of our heavenly inheritance that our highest and greatest enjoyments in this world can never satisfy us; but we groan within ourselves, waiting for the redemption of our body. “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” (v. 23). First, the apostle says that we who have the firstfruits of the Spirit groan within ourselves. These are the groanings spoken of in verse 26. Firstfruits are delightful, but never satisfying. We groan for the full harvest (Rom. 7:24). Second, Paul speaks of us waiting for our adoption. We were adopted into the family of God by divine decree in eternal election (Eph. 1:3-6). We were experimentally adopted into the family of God in regeneration when we received the Spirit of adoption (Gal. 4:6-7). We shall enter into the full enjoyment of our adoption in the resurrection. Third, the apostle describes our resurrection, our entrance into heavenly inheritance with Christ, as “the redemption of our body.” Christ is made Redemption (1 Cor. 1:30) unto us in a threefold sense: (1.) We were redeemed from the curse of the law and penalty of sin by the ransom price of Christ’s shed blood when he died as our Substitute (Gal. 3:13). (2.) We were redeemed from the rule and dominion of sin by the power of God’s grace in regeneration (Rom. 6:18). (3.) We shall be redeemed from all the consequences of sin in the resurrection. What a glorious hope is set before us! Let us set our hearts upon it (Col. 3:1-3). This great, glorious, indescribably magnanimous inheritance shall be the glorious consummation of Christ’s reign as our King (1 Cor. 15:24-28). It is this blessed hope which fills believing hearts with expectant anticipation in this world.