Are we there, yet? How much longer until we can cut the cake? How many days of school are left?
Waiting is hard, especially for something really great and fun. Years ago there was a ketchup commercial with a song that played in the background about “anticipation.”
It is hard. Our hearts and body and mind yearn for the big event, the time to come. We fuss, we fidget, we are distracted, we groan.
Romans 8 tells us that we are not alone. All of creation is groaning in anticipation of Christ’s return to, once again, set everything right. The wickedness all around us is like a gloomy day to someone who has tickets for a tropical vacation. The noise of the bitterness in this world is like the sound of a beginner band to a music teacher with tickets to the Philharmonic. We want to get past this and to what is to come. We savor it and yearn for it.
Hoping isn’t wishing. Hoping is anticipation of the big day and big event. We are a bride with a destination wedding. We are an astronaut awaiting launch. We are the children of God.
My Answers:
9.
Christians groan – eagerly awaiting adoption to sonship and redeemed bodies, whole of creation groans in anticipation of renewal, The H/S intercedes for us through wordless groans
10.
a.
eternal life, adoption, redeemed bodies, the coming of the Lord to reign and to put all under his feet. We wait eagerly, hopefully, with faith
b.
See 10.a. It is the glory of God and the completed work of restoration
The Notes are Good 