GROUP GUIDE: Romans 8:18-25

Since the fourth century the church has observed what is known as a season of Avent. The word advent means “arrival” or “coming”. Historically, the Advent Season is a time of reflection upon the first coming of Christ and anticipation of His second coming. During Advent the church recognizes that we presently live between these two comings. Advent allows us to speak honestly about the condition of the world we live in while doing so with hope, peace, joy, and love. There are four advent candles that are lit in four consecutive weeks with one of the four candles representing hope, one representing peace, one representing joy, and one representing love. In this first week of Advent, hope was our theme. Our scripture passage was Romans 8:18-25.

Verse 18 reminds us that for the believer, there are two major times to be considered; “this present time” and the time that is to come. This present time is a time of suffering and the time to come will be a time of glory. In the following verses Paul speaks honestly about the sufferings of this present time, the time between the first coming of Christ and His second coming. Notice the words that Paul uses to describe this present time; suffering (vs 18), longing (vs 19), futility (vs20), corruption (vs 21), groaning and pain (vs22). These are the words that Paul uses to describe this present world in which we live, the time between the two comings of Christ. His point is that all of creation, nature and humanity, have been subjected to a state of futility. The consequences of man’s rebellion against God brought a curse from God over all that He had created. Thus, everything and everyone suffers under this curse and longs for all to be made right. But for now, all is not right. Everyday things like death and cancer and betrayal and loneliness and floods, and tsunamis, and hurricanes, remind us that in this present time, things are broken and we feel the pain of this reality.

But as believers, as the children of God, we live in the reality of this present time with hope for what is to come.And what is to come, is Christ himself. The believer’s hope is not a hope for better circumstances and better outcomes, it is hope in a person, the person of Christ and the promises that He has made. Such hope is not wishful thinking but rather an assurance that the one who came the first time will fulfill His promise to come again and make all things new. He will not just make all things better, he will make them new. The time to come will be dramatically different than this present time. It will be a time of no more death, no more sorrow, no more suffering, and no more pain. It will be a time when there will be no more tears of sadness or sorrow. That will be the time that God’s glory will be revealed to us. That is the time we are waiting on. And the promise of that time is what keeps us believing and persevering (vs25) during this present time.

Advent is about waiting on the promises of God. Just as the saints in the Old Testament waited for God to fulfill His promise of a redeemer that would save his people, we now wait for God to fulfill His promise of the return of His Son for His people and usher in the finale culmination of His eternal kingdom. It is in this tension between Christ’s two comings, and it because He did come the first time and conquered sin and death and the grave, that we wait with hope, fully knowing, that “the sufferings of this present time, are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed to us.”