Not Global Warming.....Global Groaning!

By John Stallings

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….but theSpirit itself maketh interession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. (Romans 8:18-23-26)


When you’ve spent as much time as I have over the years visiting hospitals, nursing homes, and standing beside new- made graves, you’re no stranger to groaning.

My father spent the last six years of his life in nursing homes. Our family sometimes felt like we lived there. I’ve been known to do a little groaning myself from time to time. Kidney stones and Migraines do that to you. I’ve heard people groaning in pain, despair, and in deep sorrow. When young people are ill or injured, they groan, but they groan with a hope that their bodies will be restored to full health, and they will be able to resume their normal activities.

Older folk have little hope that these present bodies of ours will be restored to the full vigor of youth that they once enjoyed. Many people groan to be released from the pain that they are experiencing. Some people have been made so sad by the various tragedies of life, they too groan for some sort of release from this present pain of mind and spirit. Some even groan, hoping for death. They believe that even death would be preferable to the pain that they are experiencing.

Then, there are those who have hope for a better life in another world, and they groan for that day when they will be released to enjoy a life that is free from all the distresses of body and soul. There is a desire in many people to be “redeemed,” in the sense of being set free from the pains and sorrows of this life.

Paul tells us that creation itself groans for redemption:

“For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” (Rom. 8:22).

This passage of scripture is indeed mind-boggling. Paul says that even inanimate creation, even the natural elements, even the animals that are not capable of rational thought, know that something is wrong in this world. The world shouldn’t be filled with this kind of suffering, decay, and death, and the creation itself longs for liberation. This passage teaches us that even the non-rational part of creation longs for deliverance from the consequences of sin.

I read somewhere that in Taos New Mexico there’s a subtle, high-pitched humming or some sort of noise that can be heard 24/7-365. I’ve never personally been there but it doesn’t surprise me, because if we had a keen listening ear, we could no doubt hear our whole planet groaning. Do you think I’m taking Paul’s words too literally? Though I know about “types and shadows” and realize some things in the Bible are of a symbolic nature, the overwhelming majority can be taken literally.

Paul personifies all of creation, gives it a voice, and describes that natural order as looking at us and saying, “We’ll be glad when you’re delivered from the effects of your sin, because on the day that happens, the entire universe will be delivered from the effects of sin.” Nature fell on man’s coattails and will someday rise on his coattails.

When Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, that sin didn’t affect human beings only. After the fall, we became subject to decay and death, but it not only came to us, it came to all of creation as well. The whole universe has suffered the consequence of man’s sin. When Adam sinned, God said,

“Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee.”

I grew up in Florida where grass burrs are plentiful. As I remember we used to call them “sand-spurs.” They took a lot of the fun out of going bare-foot. If you walked through most yards in the summer months you’d probably pick up some grass burrs and you know how painful they are. Had it not been for the Fall, we could walk through fields with bare feet and never experience any kind of pain. The ground was cursed because of sin. As a result of sin, this world became a violent and bloody place where the motto is “Eat, or be eaten.”

Certainly there’s much beauty in this world but there’s much that is horrible in creation. I was watching one of the nature specials the other night about anacondas, these huge snakes that squeeze their prey to death. They were showing a scene where an anaconda was squeezing a turtle to death, but the narrator said that it may take 20 hours for that turtle to die. I think that’s a pretty horrible scene. Food didn’t taste the same to me until I could get that picture out of my mind. Watching those nature shows can be every bit as chilling as a murder mystery.

The condition of nature is the result, not of God’s original design, and not for the most part, the presence of man but rather, the result of man’s sin.  Paul said,

“For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope.”Romans 8:20.

The creation suffered as a result of man’s sin, but this passage tells that creation itself has hope, for verse 21 tells us that the creation will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. The Cosmos/Creation is looking forward to a liberation.

Creation will be liberated from its bondage to corruption. The word for corruption in verse 21 is the word “phthora,” which is the same word Paul uses it in I Cor. 15 when he talks about how these mortal bodies of ours are sown in “corruption, but raised in incorruption,” not subject to perishing or being destroyed. Sometimes this word for corruption was used in a moral and ethical sense, referring to moral corruption and decay, but that is not the sense in which it is used here.

We’re talking about the non-rational part of creation, so it wouldn’t be correct to think of creation looking for some kind of deliverance from sin or a sinful nature that human beings have. The bondage of corruption refers to the death and decay that has come into the world as a result of man’s sin. Nature seems to be locked into an unending cycle of decline, decay, death, and decomposition, which is nature’s bondage, and it seems that it will always suffer that kind of bondage. Right now, the creation is experiencing what Paul calls vanity, or futility. Paul says, “For the creature was made subject to vanity, futility.”

Creation still works in a beautiful, orderly fashion because God made it in such a way that it still runs smoothly in spite of the consequences of the fall. But, as a result of the fall, it became subject to futility; that is, creation cannot fully achieve the end for which it was brought into existence. Creation wasn’t meant to be something subject to decay and death and Paul says that even though this is the condition of creation right now, it won’t remain this way forever. The universe is not going to be destroyed, but liberated, fumigated, transformed, and permeated with the glory of God.

As someone has said, “The universe is not headed for annihilation, but transformation.” The NIV translates verse 21,

“The creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” The Good News Translation has it, “Yet there was the hope that creation itself would one day be set free from its slavery to decay and would share the glorious freedom of the children of God.”

As we look at creation, in the midst of all its beauty, we also see decay and corruption. But the creation is looking forward to the time when it will be delivered.

One day, this horror will come to an end. We are told that the creation will be liberated into the glorious freedom of the children of God. Creation is going to go from slavery to liberty. How is that transformation going to be accomplished? Paul tells us that creation will share in the glory that is going to be bestowed upon the children of God. When we are totally redeemed, when all lingering vestiges of the results of our sin have been taken away from us, the effects of sin are going to be taken away from creation as well. The children of God are going to be glorified. We are going to receive glorious bodies like the glorious body of Christ, and when that happens, all of creation is going to be transformed and reflect the glory of God in a way even more amazing than it does now.

NOT DEATH PANGS-BUT BIRTH PANGS!

Paul goes on to tell us that this eager anticipation on the part of the creation should be obvious to us, because he says when you look around, it seems as though the creation is groaning and travailing in pain. These groans and travails are not death pangs, but birth pangs. These are not the death throes of creation, as though it is about to go out of existence. No, these are birth pangs. These are not groans of despair. These are groans of hope. These are the kinds of groans that a woman in labor has—groans filled with hope that the child will soon be born.

 At the present time, creation is travailing like a woman about to give birth. Paul uses the phrase “until now” to show that the travail has been going on for quite some time. She is still in labor,- groaning. Just as that woman in labor has hope that this will soon be over, so the creation has hope that all of this suffering, pain, decay, and corruption will soon come to an end. Notice with me….

GLOBAL GROANING

In the last few years, more than 300,000 people world-wide died as a result of natural disasters, which is far more than the average of 77,000 deaths each year.

The earthquake in Chile killed almost 1,000, and the floods in Pakistan and China killed more than 3,200. There were 950 major disasters recorded last year, more than any other year since 1980. There were almost three major disasters every day somewhere in the world.

Something is happening. The people of the world have no idea what is the cause. Craig Fugate, the director of FEMA, which is the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency said, “It just seems like it's  back-to-back and coming in waves… The term ’100-year event’ really lost its meaning."

EARTHQUAKES

On the afternoon of January 12, 2010 the residents on the island nation of Haiti were going about their business as usual when a violent earthquake shook the island into upheaval, killing approximately 225,000 people and leaving 1,000,000 homeless.

250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings were all destroyed. A year later, more than a million people are still homeless, living in tents and other makeshift structures. Then in October 2010 the misery worsened as a cholera outbreak began sickening over 100,000 people and killing more than 3,300 earthquake survivors.

FEMA handled 79 disasters in 2010, which was a record. The average is 34.

In 2010, earthquake activity was more than all the years prior to it, except 2007, particularly for magnitude 5.0 and higher quakes. There were more earthquakes above 7.0 magnitude in 2010 than in any previous year at least as far back as 1970 but probably in all of recorded history.

It is also important to note that up until 1999, earthquakes above magnitude 5.0 were well under 500 per year. Then in 2000 the number of large quakes started to climb rapidly. For the first time, there were more than 500 earthquakes with a magnitude of 5.0 or higher. Then in 2002 it was over 1,000. Then by 2007 it was around 2,200 earthquakes with magnitude of 5.0 or higher. While the total number of earthquakes each year will vary, it is important for students of prophecy to know that in the last 9 years especially, there has been a substantial run-up of major earthquakes by a staggering factor of at least 600%.

Also, the “normal” number of earthquakes greater than magnitude 7.0 is supposedly 16. But in 2010 there were 22, a whopping increase of 72%.

Big quakes of 7.0 magnitude or higher struck Indonesia four times, Vanuatu and Japan twice each, the
Philippines, the Solomon Islands, India, Mexico and Ecuador as well as New Zealand. There are countless thousands of smaller earthquakes that don’t make much obvious impact. Something is
happening. The acceleration of the number and magnitude of earthquakes lays a foundation for further instability in the near future.

Then there was the powerful Icelandic volcano last April. The spewing magma and ash grounded the whole airline system over Europe, which spread its effects to almost every corner of the globe. 100,000 flights were cancelled over 6 days. And if the Volcano would have erupted for a longer period of time, there would have been substantial difficulties in getting food and other basic necessities into the shops and warehouses of Europe. If it would have gone on long enough, it would have been more than stranded travelers who would have panicked. European society could have been greatly stressed, or even unraveled. Imagine a whole sophisticated society like Europe in a state of panic because they cannot get their needs met.

Something is happening, and it’s worldwide. Natural events of all sorts are coming at a rapid-fire pace. The world is under siege. Why? What’s the reason?

FLOODS

Major floods were recorded in Poland, Portugal and Pakistan; Brazil, France, Romania, several places in Canada and the USA, China, Hungary, Peru, Mexico, Spain, Colombia, Indonesia, Serbia, Argentina, Kenya, Nigeria, Guatemala, Singapore, and several places in Australia. In fact, the relentless floods in Queensland, Australia covered an area larger than Texas. That’s a lot of land! Several people were killed and more than 200,000 were stranded without access to supplies during this unprecedented catastrophe, with over a billion dollars in damage.

Other weather records were set in 2010. Extreme heat was recorded in Los Angeles, California in September of 113 degrees Fahrenheit [or 45 degrees Celsius] while Pakistan took a hit of 129 degrees Fahrenheit [54 degrees Celsius] and may be the hottest temperature on record in an inhabited area of the globe. Drought struck too. China, Russia and Ukraine had severe droughts. So did the Amazon. Parts of the Amazon River basin were at their lowest water levels in recorded history.

Something is happening? Why the wild weather? What is the reason for these extreme changes?

Have you ever heard of a 2-pound hailstone? One fell in North Dakota during a storm that did enough damage to class those areas as one of the seven disaster areas for that state in 2010.

A tornado recently even struck in New York City. It happened on September 16 of last year killing one person and walloping Brooklyn and Queens with a brutal storm.

In one day, Indonesia got hit with a trio of deadly catastrophes; an earthquake of 7.7 magnitude, a deadly tsunami, and volcano – 500 dead, 390,000 homeless. But that was “after flooding, landslides and more quakes which had killed hundreds earlier in the year.

Many scientists, news writers and other media outlets are quick to claim that all this severe weather and other disasters are because of global warming, and they blame humans for causing much of it.

When Paul says that the creation groans and travails “together,” he doesn’t mean that creation groans “together with believers.” He means that the entirety of creation, all parts of it are joining together in this groaning, this longing. One commentator puts it like this, “The entire creation, as it were, sets up a grand symphony of sighs.” Creation is looking forward to the day when Christians will be completely, finally, and totally redeemed in every way.

Sound strange? Not really!

The idea that nature itself would be renewed is one of the key Old Testament visions about the Messianic Age. In Isa. 65 we read,

For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD” (Isa. 65:17-25).

Think about it…there is coming a time when Lions will stop eating Lamb-chops.

THEN PAUL SHIFTS FROM CREATION..TO US!

In Romans 8:23, He says that not only does the creation groan, but we also groan. Since creation groans, how much more should we groan who have the first fruits of the Spirit? As you remember, first fruits point to the certainty of the final harvest. When the people of Israel gathered the first fruits of the harvest, they looked upon those first fruits as a guarantee that more was to come. In this passage, St. Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit is our first fruits.

The Holy Spirit has been given to us, and He is the guarantee of even greater blessings that we’ll receive in the future. The Holy Spirit has given us such wonderful blessings in this life, but we still groan for a better life, a better world. The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives now is a pledge that we are going to receive the full blessing of our redemption at the time of the resurrection of our bodies. The Holy Spirit in us is a constant reminder that we haven’t experienced all of the blessings of our salvation.

Paul says that what we are groaning for is the redemption of the body, the time when this body will have been delivered from things like sickness, age, decay, and death. Though we have been redeemed spiritually, we are still awaiting for the final blessings that await these bodies. Like the creation, we live in frustration, our bodies still being subject o the bondage of decay, pain, and death. But the Holy Spirit is the pledge of the adoption, the redemption of our body.

We groan within ourselves. We are groaning for the completion of our redemption. We are groaning under the burden of the imperfection that we see in our lives. The Holy Spirit is purifying us, making us more like Christ, but as we grow in holiness, we also have a hunger for more of it.

We only have a partial enjoyment of the harvest but the first fruits of the Spirit have whetted our appetite for more. In this present life, the Holy Spirit gives us joy, and when we think about the future we rejoice because of the hope we have, but this interim period fills us with a kind of painful cosmic longing. There is a longing for the glory that shall be revealed in us. It is a groaning like the groaning of creation to be liberated from this decay and death. In II Cor. 5:4-5, Paul said,

“For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.”

Here Paul talks about how we are groaning to receive that new body that the Lord has prepared for us. Again, he mentions that the Holy Spirit is the earnest, the down payment, the guarantee, that these bodies are going to be clothed with immortality.

As Christians we have a great deal of joy, and we want to show the world that we have joy. But even in our most joyful moments in this world, there is present with us this groaning, wanting to be home with the Lord, wanting to experience the full blessings of our redemption.

There was a time in Church history when Christians always looked sad, and they thought that those sad expressions were a sign of spirituality. We have rightly rejected this, but now has the church gone too far in the other direction? Though we have many joys in the Christian life, we still do some groaning.

Don’t we groan for the time when will no longer see our loved ones and ourselves wracked with pain? Don’t we groan for the time when we will never have to be separated from our loved ones? Don’t we groan for the time when will never again have to use those words, “earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust”? We groan for the redemption of the body, which Paul refers to in this passage as “the adoption.”

We’ve already been adopted into the family of God, but the fullest expression of our adoption, the crowning proof that we are the children of God, will be when these bodies of ours are raised from the dead, that moment when we receive a body like his glorious body. The resurrection of the body is the redemption of the body. It is also the full manifestation of our sonship, our adoption, so much so, that in this passage, Paul makes “the adoption” and the “redemption of the body” equivalent expressions. There is certainly more to our adoption than the resurrection, but evidently, we are to see the resurrection of the body as the culminating act of our redemption.

When we see volcanoes erupting, hurricanes, tsunomi’s, floods and tornadoes, and other natural disasters, we should see them, not as “global warming” but rather as the birth pangs of the creation, longing for the day when the creation will no longer manifest such effects of the curse.

When we see pelicans mired in the oil in the Gulf of Mexico, we should see them as groaning for the day of redemption when such things will never happen again. When we sin, when we fail the Lord, when we hurt one another, when we experience mental suffering or anguish, when we see loved ones taken away from us, it’s O.K to groan for that time when we’ll never groan again, when we will never walk the halls of hospitals and nursing homes and hear those terrible cries of pain.

When we and the entire universe, at the return of The Son Of God, will be delivered from corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.



Blessings,

John