The Coming Glorious Earth Day

As we study this next passage in Romans 8, let us keep in mind that we are coming together to reason, consider, understand, and exercise our minds in the word of God. Possibly the greatest biblical expositor of the last century, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, said this about churchgoing people: “And they come to the church; all they want is a ministry of comfort, a pleasing, soothing atmosphere. They want a bright service, a spice of entertainment, something to help them, something to soothe and comfort them. Suddenly, they are confronted by a man standing in a pulpit who preaches about a holy God who hates sin and who is full of wrath against sin. And they say; ‘Things were bad enough already; this is but making it worse. I wanted some comfort.’ But that is the answer of the gospel; there is no comfort except to those who are in Christ Jesus. There is no comfort except to those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died to make atonement for our sins, that He was buried, that He literally rose triumphant o’er the grave, having conquered the last enemy, and that He has ascended through the heavens. If you do not believe that, this passage has nothing to say to you.”¹

Dr. Lloyd-Jones also stated, “The business of preaching is not merely to make the hearer to feel a little happier while he is listening or while he is singing particular hymns; it is not meant to be a way of producing an atmosphere of comfort. If I do that I am a quack and am a very false friend indeed. No, the business of preaching is to teach you to think.”² So let us exercise our minds to understand the word of God.

Paul taught in Romans 8:18 that our present sufferings cannot in any way be compared to the magnitude of our future glory. Let us consider from Romans 8:19-22 about the coming glorious “earth day.” This section teaches that the whole creation is going to share in this coming glory. This is the theology of the hope of creation. One sin of one man (Adam) brought death and destruction, not only to the whole human race, but also to the environment. So Paul speaks of the creation four times in these four verses. “Creation” here means animate and inanimate, subhuman creation. “The creation” (ktsis) has particular reference especially to this earth, as we read in Genesis 1:1-2.

Redemption of Our Environment

In this passage, creation refers to our environment. God has a wonderful plan both for us and also for our environment. In Jeremiah 29:11 we read, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'” Paul declares, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified” (Rom. 8:28-30).

God indeed has a wonderful plan for us, but this text tells us that he also has a wonderful plan of redemption for our environment. Professor John Frame states, “Remember, the consummation of human existence does not take us above and beyond the physical. Rather, as with Jesus’ resurrection body, our existence in the new heavens and the earth will be physical. There will be eating and drinking (Luke 22:18; Rev. 19:9; 22:1-2) and travel through a city with streets (Rev. 21:10-11, 21-26).”³

God has a plan both for us and for our environment, and we should do everything we can to save trees and whales and the planet. But the truth is that sinful man cannot save his environment. Creation’s hope of glory is not in man but in Christ. In a sense, then, creation believes in Jesus Christ to transform it. It is not human environmentalists but Jesus Christ who will ultimately save his planet.

There is a grand and glorious Earth Day celebration coming, when all creation, including this earth, will enjoy maximum salvation and glory together with the glory of God, for the destiny of creation is linked with the glorious destiny of the children of God. In contrast, the destiny of everyone who refuses to bow down to Jesus Christ is eternal suffering. If one does not bow his knees to Christ and confess him as Lord, he has no hope of glory. The creation hopes in Christ for its own liberation from futility.

Creation Eagerly Awaits (v. 19)

“The creation is on tiptoes, creation is craning its head in eager waiting of the glorious revelation of the sons of God” (v. 19, author’s translation). As sons of God, we are led by the Holy Spirit (see vv. 14-18). We are sons by divine adoption, heirs of God and co-heirs of Christ. We will suffer with Christ so that we may also be glorified together with him.

In some sense it seems that creation is aware of the coming glorification of God’s children. As the father of the prodigal son was eagerly looking out for his son to come home, the creation is expecting our imminent change. The sin of Adam affected all of creation, including all non-rational, subhuman creation. But creation is not longing for self-liberation or liberation by man. Creation is longing for God to glorify it as he glorifies his children.

How hideous, repulsive, and destructive the original sin of Adam was! The effects of this man’s one sin extend to all humans and the entire universe. That is why we counsel people to avoid sin by all means. Flee from all kinds of sin. All the pleasures of sin are for a moment; then comes pain, misery, and destruction.

In Romans 8:19-22, creation is personified as an entity that is longing, hoping, and expecting from Jesus a glorious future for itself and for us. This personification of creation is an Old Testament phenomenon. We find it in Jeremiah’s prophecy: “How long will the land lie parched and the grass in every field be withered? Because those who live in it are wicked, the animals and birds have perished” (Jer. 12:4). Here we see how creation suffers because of man’s sin. Elsewhere the Lord says, “Therefore the earth will mourn and the heavens above grow dark, because I have spoken and will not relent, I have decided and will not turn back” (Jer. 4:28). Isaiah says, “You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. . . . The grasslands of the desert overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness. The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing” (Isa. 55:12; 65:12-13).

Here in Romans 8 Paul is personifying inanimate and animate non-rational creation, saying that it is hoping for its redemption. Both creation and Christians are anticipating their coming glory. Creation is not hoping in man or in his evolutionary hypothesis; it is hoping for its deliverance by Jesus Christ. Creation is eagerly looking for the now-despised Christians to be revealed in glory, that it also be glorified.

Matter has never been evil, for God himself created it and called it very good. Therefore, the new paradise will consist of matter. There is going to be regeneration not only of God’s elect but also of the entire universe.

Creation Subjected to Futility (v. 20)

“For to futility creation was subjected, not by its fault but by reason of him who subjected it in hope” (v. 20, author’s translation). When man sinned, he was punished. As a result of Adam’s sin, we must work hard to eat, women deliver children in pain, and all people must die. But man was also punished by God’s subjecting all creation to futility. Paul helps us define futility: “So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futilityof their thinking” (Eph. 4:17). Unbelievers are incapable of thinking right, that is, they can never think God’s thoughts after him.

God subjected creation to such futility to punish man. Because of this subjugation, creation itself cannot achieve its own God-intended destiny. According to Professor John Murray⁴, Romans 8:19-22 is Paul’s commentary on Genesis 3:17-19,4 in which we read: “To Adam he said, ‘Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, “You must not eat of it,” Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.'”

Paul is commenting in this text about this subjection of God of creation to frustration and futility. God cursed the ground to punish Adam and all mankind. This subjection to futility was not God’s original plan for his creation. Because of man’s sin, it was cursed to emptiness, purposelessness, meaninglessness, and disappointment.

What is frustration? It is like climbing a greased pole; all attempts to reach the top fail. Yet in his common grace God enables the earth to produce food for man if he works hard. God’s sun shines on it and his rain falls on it.

Notice certain facts from Romans 8:20:

1. God, not Satan or man, subjected creation to futility.
2. God subjected all subhuman creation to futility.
3. God subjected it in hope of a glorious future.
4. This subjection, therefore, is temporary, occurring between the fall and the second coming of Christ.
5. Creation will be glorified when Christ returns in manifest glory.
6. The children of God will also be revealed in glory at that time.
7. This subjection to futility was not due to creation’s sin but to punish man who sinned. So when man is glorified, God will also glorify man’s environment.

Because of the curse, creation is now filled with thorns, thistles, pests, plagues, infertilities, famines, dust bowls, global warming, global cooling, decay, and entropy. (PGM) In fact, the universe itself is running down and dying. It is going from order to disorder. There are earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis. Change and decay all around us we see.

But God subjected creation to this frustration in hope. The entire creation possess an eschatological destiny of glory. Paradise will be restored. To understand this truth, we must read carefully the divine record as found in Genesis 1-11.

The Liberation of Creation (v. 21)

“That the creation itself will be liberated from the slavery of decay, that is, slavery consisting in corruption. It will be delivered into the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (v. 21). This hope will not make us ashamed. It is liberation from slavery to corruption and liberation into the coming freedom of the glory of God’s children.

Man’s sin must be atoned for. But who can do it? No human or angel can, so God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. Christ died for our sins and was raised for our justification (see Rom. 4:25). God in Christ solved our sin problem once and forever. So man is liberated from the penalty of sin. So too his environment will be set free from its subjection to futility, slavery, and decay. The ill effects of man’s sin extended to all creation; therefore, the good effects of his God-given gracious salvation must also reach his environment, the whole of creation, especially this planet Earth. There is coming a day, an Earth Day, when there shall be no more ecological imbalance due to human greed. There shall only be beauty and harmony beyond all human imagination.

Isaiah foresaw this fulfillment of God’s plan for creation:

The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. 7 The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest.9 They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. (Isa. 11:6-9).

Isaiah also said, “The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, 2 it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God” (Isa. 35:1-2). We read elsewhere in Isaiah:

Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. 19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more. 20 “Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth; he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed. 21 They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the works of their hands. 23 They will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the LORD, they and their descendants with them. 24 Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the LORD. (Isa. 65:17-25)

There will be no more killing, cruelty, hatred, and war. Jesus himself spoke of this new world order: “I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things . . .” (Matt. 19:28). Things are not in order. Everything is dying. But there is going to be a renewal, a restoration, of all things, both of man and of his environment. In Acts 1:6 Jesus’ disciples asked the risen Lord, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” And Peter explained, “[Christ] must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets” (Acts 3:21)

God has a wonderful plan for us and for the environment. Peter says, “But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness” (2 Pet. 3:13). John writes, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea” (Rev. 21:1).

The creation is going to share in the glorious destiny of man. A twelve-year-old Welsh Christian girl had this verse in mind when she wrote the following in the 1860s on the day her father died: “Today Dada has left us. He has gone into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”⁵ She lived at a time when people thought biblically. But the truth is, her Dada is still waiting for the fullness of his glory. He will be soon glorified together with us. All God’s people and creation will enter into the freedom of the glory destined for the sons of God. Christ’s glory will be shared by us and our environment, this planet earth. Jesus Christ is our glory; and he shares his glory with us and with this planet. This is the blessed hope of the children and creation. So Paul says, “while we wait for the blessed hope-the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). Peter says, “As you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming” (2 Pet. 3:12). We are looking forward, not to the next election, but to the coming of Christ and to our glorification and the renewal of our environment.

We are already delivered partially. Paul writes, “You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness” (Rom. 6:18). But we shall be fully delivered from all effects of sin when God gives us a glorious body which he promised: “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you” (Rom. 8:11). Then the new glorious people of God will dwell with God in a new glorious earth with plants, flowers, birds, animals, and so on, in all its explosive beauty. There shall be no more death, no more tears, and no more bad news. Our destiny is not misery or frustration. It is glory and beauty beyond imagination. It is liberation and life. And the same is true for the planet Earth. Then the glory of God shall fill the earth as waters cover the sea, and God’s original plan for us and for the planet will come to pass.

O that will be glory for me, glory for me, glory for me.

When by his grace I shall look at his face,

That will be glory, be glory for me.

The Creation Groans (v. 22)

“For we know that the whole creation is groaning and travailing together until now” (v. 22, author’s translation). Creation is groaning. This began at the fall because of one sin of one man one time, when God subjected creation to futility, slavery, and corruption. This groaning and travailing continues until now. It will go on until the end of this age, when Christ shall come to inaugurate the new glorious age of life, liberation, and sheer happiness.

But because God subjected creation in hope, the groaning is also in hope. John Murray said the travail of creation is “not death pangs but birth pangs.”⁶ Destruction of creation is not God’s ultimate plan.; rather, renewal and restoration are. The creation shall by God’s power give birth to a new creation, a new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness.

When man sinned, creation was cursed and man lost his rule over creation. But all will change. The sons of God shall share in the Son’s glory, as will creation, and God shall dwell with man. Redeemed people, once again under God, will rule the earth, which Adam lost. Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” We shall inherit the earth. Rulership and authority shall be restored to us. So the writer to Hebrews says:

It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. 6But there is a place where someone has testified:”What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? 7You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor 8 and put everything under his feet.” In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. 9But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. 10In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. (Heb. 2:5-11)

In Jesus Christ our authority will be restored to us. Once again we will rule the planet. In Christ, God is bringing us and the creation to glory.

If you have not bowed down to Jesus Christ, I urge you to do so today. Outside of Christ you have no hope nor prospect of glory. God commands all people everywhere to repent. The psalmist says, “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him” (Ps. 2:12).

In the meantime, believers are not exempt from sufferings. But thank God, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter is given to us. He helps us in all our sufferings and causes us to rejoice always, even in tribulations.

We must aim for perfection but do not expect it. Do not expect your computer or iPhone to work perfectly. Do not expect to have a perfect marriage, since we are still sinners. Be happy with less than perfect. Do not expect to hear a perfect sermon or find a perfect pastor. Do not expect the price of your house to always go up. Do not trust others to improve your conditions or the conditions of the planet, for even brilliant scientists, philosophers, politicians, artists, televangelists, environmentalists, prime ministers, presidents, or those in science and technology cannot do it. Do not expect not to die. Do not expect any exemption from sufferings because we are believers. In fact, expect more. But do not worry: fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who endured the cross because of the joy that was set before him.

God has a wonderful plan for us and for our environment. What a future! What a hope! I pray that we will all trust in Jesus Christ and participate in this great, grand plan of salvation.

¹ D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Final Perseverance of the Saints, Romans 8:17-39 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976), 26.

² Lloyd-Jones, 24.

³ John M. Frame, Salvation Belongs to the Lord (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2006), 292-293.

⁴ John Murray, The Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979), 303.

⁵ Lloyd-Jones, 118.

¹ Murray, 305.