Our hope (Romans 8:23-25)

Our hope

 

 

 

[Romans 8:23-25]

 

 

 

                Look at Romans 8:23-25: “And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.  For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”  Who is “we” here?

 

            First, it is “we” who have the first fruits of the Spirit.

 

                Look at Romans 8:23 – “And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.”  When did we receive the Holy Spirit as the firstfruits?  From Romans 1, the Bible says that we are all sinners (Ref. Gen. 3).  To save us, the sinners, God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, into this world to die on the cross as a substitute for us.  As a result, we were saved and became children of God.  On that basis, God justified us.  And he sent the Holy Spirit to us.  The Holy Spirit has regenerated us (Eph. 2:1).  We are saved by the grace of God (v. 5).  In this way, we received the Holy Spirit as the first fruits (past salvation). 

 

            Second, it is “we” who have been saved in hope.

 

                Look at Romans 8:24 – “For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?”  The Bible tells us that we are saved through faith.  Look at Romans 5:1 – “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Look at Romans 3:28 – “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.”  But the Bible says in Romans 8:24 that we have been saved in hope.  In other words, we were not saved in hope (hope), but were saved through faith and we had been saved in hope.  Hope is not a means of salvation.  Faith is the means of salvation.

 

Then what do we “hope” for (Rom. 8:24)?

               

            First, what we hope for is for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body (Rom. 8:23).

 

                We are “already” adopted.  Look at Romans 8:15-16: “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’  The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.”  We will be adopted in the future (“Not-yet”).  Look at Romans 8:23 – “And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.”  Here, what is “the redemption of our body”?  Look at Romans 8:10b-11: “…  though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.  But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”  Although our body dies because of our sins, our spirit is born again by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.  So He will give life to our mortal body as well.  When the last trumpet will sound (1 Cor. 15:52), we will all be changed in an instant (v. 51), and the dead will be raised to immortality (v. 52).  Look at 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17: “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.”  Look at Philippians 3:20-21: “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”  1 John 3:2 – “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.”  The redemption of the body (Rom. 8:23) is the glory that will be revealed to us in the future as we will be resurrected with a glorious body at the second coming of the Lord (v. 18).  Look at Matthew 13:43 – “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”  Look at Revelation 22:5 – “And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.”  We wait for the future glory to be revealed, the redemption of our body (Rom. 8:23).

 

            Second, we hope for what we do not see, not what we see (Rom. 8:24-25).

 

                Hope that is seen is not hope (v. 24).  There are so many hopes in this world that our physical eyes can see (e.g. wealth, health, power and fame, etc.).  The Bible tells us that these visible things are not hope (v. 24).  Therefore, we should not hope for what we see.  We should not hope for what we see more than what we cannot see.  What we cannot see is true hope (v. 25).  We do not live by what we see, but by faith (2 Cor. 5:7).  So we should hope for what we cannot see rather than what we see.  As hopers who hope for what we cannot see rather than what we can see, we should hope for the glory that will be revealed in the future.  We are already enjoying this glory in part because of the Holy Spirit.  So we need to long for it and pursue it more.  Like our fathers of faith in Hebrews 11, by faith we should long for a better country that is in heaven (Heb. 11:16).

 

            First, we should hope while we ourselves groan within ourselves (Rom. 8:23).

 

                A mother who gives birth to her child groan as she goes through the pain and labor of childbirth because she hopes for the precious life that will be born when her pregnancy is over.  Likewise, we who truly believe in the future glory should groan inwardly and hope as the coming of the Lord draws nearer.

 

            Second, we should hope with perseverance (Rom. 8:25).

 

                Look at Hebrews 12:2 – “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  Like Jesus, we too must endure with Christ no matter what present sufferings we go through (Rom. 8:18) for the joy set before us in the future.  Look at Matthew 10:22 – “You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.”  Look at Matthew 24:13 – “But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.”  Since we endure to the end with hope until the coming of the Lord, we must enter the kingdom of hope and glory together with the Lord and enjoy eternal glory.