Looking Forward to Transformation
But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it Romans 8:25.
In context Paul has been writing about Jesus’ return. When that happens the cursed earth will at last be set free. Paul describes the earth as groaning under the weight of corruption. He likens what the earth is now going through to the pain of childbirth. Something better is coming but until it does there is anguish and pain.
When Christ returns something amazing will happen to all God’s people. These poor bodies we’ve carried all our lives will be transformed into glorious bodies, just like Jesus’ body. God has redeemed our spirit but now comes the final redemption – the redemption of our body.
The new heavens and new earth will be perfect and sin-corrupted bodies can have no place there. The new creation can only be experienced in new bodies.
Paul wrote that we wait eagerly for it. He was eager for it to happen. This life held little for him compared to what he knew was coming.
He wrote too of the need for perseverance to see it happen. This world fights us all the way. The devil is the god of this world. To experience the glory of a new heaven and earth in the future we have to persevere in the present.
It isn’t wrong to eagerly look forward to our passing into the next life. It needn’t be morbid if our heart cries to see Jesus and cries to be free of the weight of this sin-affected body.
Jesus’ return means complete and final freedom!
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