Romans 8:22, Thy Kingdom Come

Romans 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

Since the fall of man, sin, sorrow and death has plagued humankind with untold misery. The curse came upon all the created world. And there seemed no relief since then. The Apostle Paul acknowledges that this sad predicament for the created world is a known truth to all. Here, he emphasizes the entire creation is groaning or signing in pain together like that of a woman in labour during childbirth. It is excruciating and unbearable.

The world is still recovering from the haunting memories of the First and Second World War. Evil, killings and bloodshed devastated the nations of the world. The loss to humankind is severe and irrecoverable. Many children lost their parents during the war. Accounts of these are heard among the generation of relatives who lived during those days. Without God’s intervention, the whole creation cannot find genuine relief from the evil nature of man.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is God’s solution to resolve this agony. In Jesus Christ’s first coming, He solved the sin problem by His death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. All who believe in this gospel will find salvation. The bondage of sin will be broken. And at the second coming of Jesus Christ, death will be overcome.

1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

It is the greatest prophecy of the Bible yet unfulfilled. And the Apostle Paul is confident that it will come to pass. He writes that we may endure and overcome the ravages of sin through the Holy Spirit and the Word of God now. And the time of relief will soon come when Jesus Christ returns just as the blessing of a newborn child after childbirth. May God’s people stay attuned to God’s plan praying as Jesus taught us “Thy kingdom come.” Amen.