Eternity (Glorification)
What are we to think of our present sufferings?
v18. (2 Cor 4:17) Suffering can enhance our glory. (1 Peter 2:20-21)
v21. We are in bondage to decay. Nature can turn a building into a pile of bricks, but it cannot take a pile of bricks and turn it into a building. Things go to disorder instead of order. (Ecc 3:19-21) Solomon here writes from the perspective that there is no God.
v22. Just as in childbirth, the pains will subside and we will be glorified like how the glory of the baby overwhelms. It is worth the pain to get to the outcome.
The Earth will be renewed, the fire will not destroy but refine.
v24-25. Not unfounded wishful thinking, but firm confidence in our Lord Jesus Christ and His soon return.
Faith is the evidence; hope the expectation of things not seen.
v26-27. Two privileges of true Christians 1.) The help of the Spirit in prayer when we don’t know what to pray for and 2.) Intercession to dictate our requests, indites our petitions and plead for us.
The Spirit interceding in us melts our wills into the will of God. (2 Peter 1:3) The only way the Spirit is going to intercede for you is if you know the Spirit.
It’s not just knowing God, but trusting in Him.
v28. God’s plan stays on track even through the worst of the world. We may not be able to see the big picture, but we don’t need to!
v29. Predestined has to do with the plan of Salvation. Foreknowledge does not cause them to have faith, but rather their faith causes God to foreknow.
v31. It’s not if God is on our side, but if we are on His.
v32. Since God did the harder thing, sacrificing His Son on the cross. Surely He will do the easier thing, fulfilling the work (blessings) begun at the cross.
v34. Not only does the Spirit intercede for us, but Christ also.
v35. (2 Cor 1:5)
v37. (John 16:33)
“This is the end, for me the beginning of life.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer (at his execution two weeks before the Allies liberated the concentration camp where he was held.)
v38-39. (2 Cor 4:17) Our victory is certain.