“For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only so, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.”
Romans 8:22-23
By far the most common argument against Christianity is some form of the argument from evil and human suffering. If God is all powerful and all good, so the argument goes, He would want to eliminate evil and human suffering and He would have the power to do so. Since evil and human suffering are not eliminated, the non-believer concludes that God does not exist. The argument of course presupposes that God has no morally sufficient reason for permitting what He does. Unless the non-believer can show this presupposition to be anything but arbitrary, the logical form of this argument must be dropped. Whatever the case, the Bible is well aware of the fact that the world we live in is not what it ought to be. The Scriptures explain that God’s original “very good” world was smashed and destroyed by man’s sin (Genesis 3). Originally designed to live forever, man was cursed with mortality (Romans 5:12). We praise God for His wisdom, justice, and mercy come to maximal expression in the redemptive work of Christ. Our Lord’s shed blood was sufficient to cleanse us of all sin and unrighteousness, granting us bold access to God in His holy place (Hebrews 10:19). Christ came to do more than grant us cleansing and justification, however, He came to undo all of the damage caused by Adam’s sin. This includes freeing man from the power of death and granting to him the immortality Adam had forfeited (1 Corinthians 15). Remarkably, almost unimaginably, those who have trusted in Christ for salvation will not only be granted immortality, but eternal, glorified existence. We will have bodies fashioned like Christ’s own glorified body (Philippians 3:20-21). During our pilgrimage here in the present dispensation, we contend with physical infirmity and weakness; we “groan” in our earthly bodies (2 Corinthians 5:4). Even so, as we walk with the Lord, we grow in grace (2 Peter 3:18), the outward man perishing for now, but our inward man is being renewed day by day (2 Corinthians 4:16). Let us remember that we who have trusted in Christ for salvation, are predestined to the adoption, the redemption of our bodies (Ephesians 1:5; Romans 8:23). Our great God not only restores what was lost, He grants “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (Ephesians 3:20). Now that is a God worth loving with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30)!
God bless you, my friends,
Pastor John
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