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Scripture Reading: Rom. 8:17-18, 26-30
In the past two messages we considered the blessings of sonship. In this message we shall see that the heirs are conformed for glorification. To what are the heirs conformed? To the image of Christ, God’s firstborn Son (Heb. 1:5-6). Christ is God’s firstborn Son, and the believers are the many sons of God (Heb. 2:10). As God’s firstborn Son, Christ is the model, example, pattern, and prototype for all His brothers, the many sons of God, who will be conformed to His image. This conformation is for the coming glorification. We should not expect to be glorified without firstly growing in life and being conformed to the image of God’s Son. If we expect to be glorified without being conformed, we will be disappointed. The glorification to come depends on our conformation to the image of the Son of God. Thus, glorification depends upon our growth in life.
Once again I use the illustration of a carnation seed. The seed is sown into the ground and sprouts: this is regeneration. Then the carnation grows: this is the growth in life, the stage of transformation. Eventually the carnation plant grows to the point of blossoming: this is transfiguration and glorification. The stage of the blossoming of the carnation plant is the stage of its glorification. If while the carnation plant is in the sprout stage it expects without growing to blossom and to be glorified, the time of blossoming will never come. If you do not grow in life, yet await the time of blossoming, the time of glorification, you are a dreamer. Nevertheless, this is exactly the situation among many Christians today.
Recently, I had dinner with some Christian friends who are very familiar with the outward world situation. They told us that a great many Christians are interested in two main aspects of prophecy: the rapture and the signs relating to the Lord’s coming. However, if we expect to be raptured without growing in life, we are dreamers, for rapture is actually our transfiguration and glorification. No carnation seed can grow from a sprout to a blossom overnight. Imagine that a carnation sprout dreamed that overnight it grew from the sprout stage to the blossom stage. This may occur in a dream, but not in real life, for such an unusual development is absolutely against the law of life. According to the law of life, a carnation plant must grow gradually until it reaches maturity. Then and only then will a blossom appear. Likewise, we must grow gradually until we arrive at a full grown man (Eph. 4:13). Once we reach the stage of blossoming, we are ready to be transfigured and glorified. Thus, glorification with transfiguration is possible only after we have reached maturity.
We may also use the illustration of graduating from college. Suppose a college freshman dreams that he completes his education in one night and that he will graduate the next morning. That is merely a dream. In reality, he should not expect to graduate until he has completed four years of study. After he has finished all of his courses and passed all of his examinations, he will be approved for graduation. Graduation never comes suddenly.
Many Christians live in a dream. Although many Christians have expected to be taken to the air, eventually they all passed into the earth. During the last century and a half there have been many peculiar predictions regarding the coming of the Lord. Many so-called teachers of prophecy even dared to fix the date when the Lord would descend to the air. However, the years passed and nothing happened. Every prediction failed to materialize.
I was saved as a teen-ager a few years after the end of World War I. I loved to read the Bible and to know its truths. Therefore, although I was a student with little money, I tried to buy spiritual books. Many of those who taught and wrote about prophecy offered a number of predictions, most of which were shattered by the start of World War II; none were fulfilled. D. M. Panton, a great teacher of the Bible, published a paper entitled Dawn. In the mid-1930’s he printed an article which included two photographs, one of Caesar Nero and the other of Mussolini. D. M. Panton said, “Look at these pictures. See how much they resemble one another. Mussolini must be the antichrist.” After we came to know about this article, I said in one of the church meetings, “Dear saints, Mr. Panton has published an article telling us that Mussolini is the antichrist. If this is the case, certainly the Lord is coming soon, and we will be raptured. Brothers, deep in my spirit I do know one principle — that the rapture is the issue of maturity. In the New Testament the rapture is likened to a harvest, and a harvest is possible only after the crop has matured and ripened. If the crop is not ripe, but is still tender and green, how can the harvest come? It is impossible. Brothers and sisters, look at the situation among the Lord’s people today. Look at the crop. Is it ripe? Do you believe that according to the present stage of the growth of the crop the harvest is imminent? It is impossible. Look at the field — nowhere is there any real growth. Although there are thousands of genuine Christians everywhere on the earth as a result of two centuries of evangelization, of missionaries going out to the uttermost parts of the earth with the gospel, there is still very little growth. Where is the real growth in life? There is hardly any growth and no maturity. How then can we expect to have the harvest? I dare to say that the harvest will not come until the crop is ripe.” I spoke this word nearly forty years ago; however, the rapture has not yet happened. Mussolini was killed and buried, and no Christian has seen the antichrist.
We should not approach prophecy in the peculiar way of prediction. Many writers have done this and every one of them has been put to shame. We must realize that glorification with transfiguration depends upon our growing in life until we reach maturity. If we want to be glorified, we must grow, for glorification comes as the issue of maturity. When we enter into maturity, that maturity will issue in glorification. Glorification will not come as an accident, as an overnight occurrence; it is the result of growth in life. Brothers and sisters, we need to grow. As God’s crop we need to ripen until the time of harvest, the time of our transfiguration and glorification.
From here on we need to read more verses from Romans 8 and comment on them, including some of the verses which we have covered in the two previous messages. We may begin with verse 17. “And if children, heirs also; heirs of God and joint-heirs of Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him that we may also be glorified with Him.” Children cannot be legal heirs. In order to become legal heirs the children must grow into sons, and the sons must grow into heirs. When we have reached this stage of growth, we shall be glorified. Although we considered this verse in the last message, I want to approach it now from another angle. We need to understand that the genuine growth of any kind of life depends upon hardship and suffering. Without hardship or suffering it is difficult for any life to grow. In verse 17 we find the matter of suffering. I have already pointed out that the more suffering we undergo, the greater will be our degree of glory. However, the suffering mentioned in verse 17 does not only concern outward glorification; suffering is also for growth in life. The more we suffer, the more we grow and the faster we are matured. If a crop in the field could speak, it might say that it grows not only by the soil, water, fertilizer, air, and sunshine, but that it also grows by suffering. Even the sunshine itself is a source of suffering, for the scorching heat of the sun burns the crop into ripeness. Therefore, if you expect to grow, you need to tell the Lord, “Lord, I don’t reject any kind of suffering. Suffering helps my growth.” We should not expect a life that is free of suffering.
Many times I have used the illustration of marriage. As a young brother, you undoubtedly expect to have as your wife a sister who fits your situation exactly. Eventually, however, you discover that your wife is altogether the opposite of your expectations. Do not think that your marriage is designed to cut you into pieces. No, you must say, “Lord, I thank You for such a good wife. My wife does not cut me into pieces, she helps me to grow.” No husband likes to hear the word “no” out of his wife’s mouth. We all like our wives to say “yes.” How sweet it is! However, it seems that most wives are accustomed to saying “no.” These “nos” render much growth to us husbands. Young brothers, you should therefore be comforted when your dear wife says “no” to you. Do not be troubled or offended, but say, “Lord, I thank You for all of these ‘nos.’” Such suffering helps us to grow and mature. Nevertheless, as Paul says in verse 18, “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed to us.” We have covered this aspect of suffering in the previous message.
Verses 26 and 27 say, “And in like manner the Spirit also joins in to help us in our weakness; for we do not know for what we should pray as is fitting, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered; but He Who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because He intercedes for the saints according to God.” Here we have the sympathizing, helping, and interceding of the Spirit. For what purpose do we have these things? The purpose is found in verses 28 through 30. Paul begins verse 28 with the words, “And we know,” words which connect this verse to the foregoing verses. “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to the purpose.” What is the purpose of God’s calling? We find it in verse 29. “Because whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He should be the firstborn among many brothers.” Paul does not say that God foreknew and predestined us to go to a happy place or to have a life that will endure forever. These are not our destiny. God predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son. This destiny was determined before we were even created. Before the creation of the world God had decreed such a destiny for us. Hence, it is a predestiny.
God’s firstborn Son is the prototype, and we are the mass production. Christ is the model, mold, and pattern. God has put us all into Him that we may be molded into the image of His firstborn Son. Eventually we all shall be conformed to the mold. Sometimes when the sisters make cakes they put dough into a mold. By being put into the mold the dough assumes the pattern and image of the mold. Furthermore, the dough must also be baked that the cake may bear the pattern of the mold without any change. If the dough could speak, it probably would cry out, “Sister, have mercy on me. Don’t apply so much pressure. I can’t bear it. Please keep your hands off.” However, the sister would reply, “If I keep my hands off, how will you fit into the pattern of the mold? Dear dough, after my molding you must be put into the oven. You may think that pressure is enough suffering for you, but you also need burning. After you have experienced pressure and intense heat you will bear the pattern of the mold permanently.” Likewise, Christ, the firstborn Son of God, is the prototype, pattern, and mold, and we are pieces of dough. We all have been put into the mold, and are now being kneaded by the hand of God.
We have been predestinated to be conformed to the image of God’s Son that He may be the firstborn among many brothers. This is God’s purpose. God’s purpose is to produce many brothers of His firstborn Son. When Christ was the only begotten Son, He was unique, but God desired to have many sons who will be the many brothers of His Son. In this way the only begotten Son of God becomes the firstborn among many brothers. He is the firstborn Son, and we are the many sons. What is the purpose of this? The purpose is that we express God in a corporate way. God’s kingdom is built up with His many sons, and the Body of Christ is built up with His many brothers. Without the many sons God could never have a kingdom, and without the many brothers Christ could never have a Body. Thus, the many sons of God are for the kingdom of God, and the many brothers of Christ are for the Body of Christ. The kingdom of God is simply the Body life, and this Body life in the church is God’s kingdom where He is expressed and where His dominion is exercised on the earth. This is God’s purpose.
Therefore verse 30 says, “And whom He predestinated, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.” In eternity we were predestinated and in time we were called.
Why does God arrange our environment, surroundings, and situations in such a way that we experience suffering? We should not explain this according to our natural concept saying, “The whole earth is filled with sufferings and everyone undergoes hardship. Why should we be an exception?” This is a natural concept, and we should not accept it. We must realize that God’s purpose is to make us full-grown sons, not little children. We should not be content to remain children enjoying His cherishing and loving. God intends to make us full sons, completely grown up to be legal heirs that we may inherit all that He is in this universe and that we may express Him and exercise His dominion over the earth. Since God’s intention is to bring us into full sonship, we need to grow. There is no doubt that growth comes from inward nourishment, but this inner nourishment needs the coordination of the outward environment. According to our feeling, most of the outward environment is unpleasant. Thus, the outward environment becomes a suffering as far as we are concerned. I do not say that the outward environment is not good; it is always good, but it may not appear good to your feeling.
Sometimes parents do things to their children which, according to the feeling of the children, are not positive. The children may cry and weep, imagining themselves to be suffering. However, good parents are not deceived by their children’s tears. Some young mothers have been cheated by the weeping of their children, changing their policy when they see the tears of their little ones. It is not a gain for children to deceive their parents with their tears. A mother must tell her child, “I don’t care about your crying. I know that I am putting you into a very good environment, the one that is best for you. You may say that it is a suffering. But I know how good it is for you.”
God deals with us in exactly the same way. He knows in which situation and in which environment we can grow well. He is our Father, and everything is under His arrangement. He can do nothing wrong. Everything He does for us is excellent and wonderful, although to our feeling it may not be good. However, we should not care for our feelings; we should take care of God’s arrangement. Was it you who decided to be born in the twentieth century? Was it you who planned into which family you would be born and which parents and brothers and sisters you would have? Was it you who designed your face? You did none of these things. It was God who chose the place of your birth and the design of your face. God selected us, predestinated us, and caused us to be born at the right time and in the right place. He knows what is best for us, and everything is under His control. I say once again that, according to our feelings, our environment may be a suffering, but actually it is a blessing; it is God’s sovereign provision. Everything we need for our growth in life has been sovereignly provided by God. Everything is all right. Therefore, when we are experiencing pain and suffering, we must deny them and say, “Satan, you are a liar. This is not a pain or a suffering to me; it is God’s arrangement. This is a blessing that I may grow into full sonship.” We all need a proper environment to provide the elements which are required for our growth in life. Nevertheless, when unpleasant things happen to us we may not understand that they come from the hand of our Father for our growth.
Even if we do understand we still say, “How am I going to handle this? Oh, I don’t know how to pray.” Hence, you begin to groan, and while you are groaning, the Spirit groans in your groaning. When I came to this portion of the Word as a young man I said, “I have never heard the groaning of the Spirit. When did He groan for me?” Eventually, I discovered that in this chapter whatever we do the Spirit also does. When we cry, “Abba, Father,” the Spirit cries also. When your spirit witnesses within you, the Spirit also witnesses. Likewise, when you groan the Spirit also groans.
Why do we groan? Because we feel suffering and do not know how to pray. It seems that the Holy Spirit gives you no utterance. You are ignorant, and the Holy Spirit in like manner seems to be ignorant. You do not know how to pray, and the Spirit also appears not to know how to pray. The Spirit prays in your manner. You groan, and He groans also. You groan with hardly any purpose, but the Spirit groans in your groaning with a definite purpose. This purpose cannot be uttered by you, but it can be uttered by the Spirit. However, if He would utter it, you would not understand, for it would be a divine, heavenly language. Since it is difficult for you to understand, the Spirit gives no utterance. He “intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Nevertheless, there is a purpose in it all.
What is the purpose? The Holy Spirit groans in your groaning in order that you may be fully molded and conformed to the image of God’s firstborn Son. This is the purpose. When many saints encounter hardship they say, “I just don’t know why this happens to me. Why does this happen to me?” I believe that we have all said this or asked this many times. Even you who have recently been saved perhaps have already spoken in this way. Why do certain things happen to you? Because the groaning Spirit prayed for them. Although you do not know the purpose, He knows, and He prays according to God. Christ is the pattern, and the Spirit prays that everything which happens to you will mold you into this pattern, into the image of the firstborn Son.
Not only does the Holy Spirit groan within us in this way; we also may pray for others in this manner. I have experienced this a number of times in my ministry. I recall the case of a dear brother who loved the Lord greatly. However, he had a very peculiar disposition, and no one could tolerate it. Therefore, we prayed for him saying, “Lord, here is such a dear brother with fine potential. He is such good material. Lord, he loves You. But no one can bear his peculiar disposition. Lord, You take care of this. You know our brother’s situation.” Because we realized that praying in this way is quite serious we simply said, “Lord, You take care of this. Lord, You know our brother’s situation.” After a period of time the brother became ill and began to lament, “I don’t know why this has happened to me.” Immediately he asked his wife to contact the elders and to request that they visit him for fellowship. We went. The first sentence out of his mouth was, “Brothers, you know my situation. I don’t know why this has happened to me.” Deep within we, like the Holy Spirit, knew why he was suffering; however, we did not dare to say anything. We simply spoke in our brother’s manner, “O brother, why has this happened to you?” That was all we could say. When the brother asked us to pray with him, we did not know how to pray. We simply said, “O Lord Jesus, why has this happened to our brother?” Although deep within we did know the reason, all we could say was, “Lord, do Your best.” This did not offend him because he also expected the best, and he said, “Amen.” He understood our prayer in one way, and we understood it in another. We were thinking, “Lord, do Your best to deal with him, to subdue him, to burn him.” Although we did not dare say this, we had such a purpose within us, a purpose which we could not express at that time. Nevertheless, God who searches the hearts answered that prayer, a prayer that was according to Himself. The brother’s difficulty continued and the illness lingered for another period of time. He was very troubled and asked his wife to send for us again. We went and asked along with him, “O brother, why has this illness lasted for such a time?” Once again we were inwardly clear, but did not say anything. When he asked us to pray, we simply prayed, “O Lord, we still ask You to do the best.” Praise the Lord that after another period of time this brother’s situation changed. Firstly he had some amount of deliverance from his disposition; then he was healed of his illness. Finally he could shout, “Hallelujah! Now I know. Now I know.”
Why does the Spirit groan in us with words which cannot be uttered? He groans that we may be molded, conformed to the image of the Son of God. It is much easier to speak about sanctification in life. However, accompanying sanctification is the matter of conformation. We not only need to be sanctified, to be saturated with what God is, but also to be molded. We may be separated from everything common and saturated with God’s holy nature, but still lack this conformity. Sanctification probably does not require any suffering. Conformation, on the contrary, needs suffering. In sanctification there is no pattern, only a change in disposition, in nature, but in conformation there is a mold by which we are conformed to the image of God’s Son. Along with this mold is the pressure and the molding and the mixing with water and the burning with fire. If the dough, the fine white flour, could speak, it would say, “What a suffering this is to me. You mix me with other things, you press me, and you even put me in an oven to burn me. The entire process of cooking is a suffering.” That is correct. Without suffering we cannot be molded into the pattern.
