Awaiting the manifestation of the sons of God
If you have ever heard a sermon on the manifestation of the sons of God, in all probability, what you were told is that as a child of God you ought to get out there in the world and ‘manifest’. That is, shine as a star, ’succeed’, in the sense that the world counts success, and become the toast of the world.
Again, such a teaching is arrived at only by not rightly dividing the Word of truth.
Romans 8:16-19
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
That passage says that we are the children of God, and heirs. A heir is one whose right to certain things is post-dated. Paul uses the term ‘heirs’ here to show that we will share (future tense) in the glory that is to be ushered in at the return of Christ.
That’s why he says that “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us”. Contrary to what earthly-minded preachers teach, there is suffering in this world for both believers and unbelievers. That suffering exists because we do not have our redemption in full manifestation.
This sufferings include: sickness, disease, as well as persecution for the sake of Christ. This present world is suffering. I don’t know about you, but I long to get out of this limited mortal body that pulls me in a direction different from that of my Saviour. You see, James says that we are tempted when we are drawn away by our own lusts.
I do not understand how a believer can feel at home in this world. From the political systems, through the economic systems, educational systems, and even its religious systems as typified in the false religions and much of the visible Church today, are a source of suffering.
Until our redemption is enforced in full at the return of Christ, all of creation will continue to await the manifestation of the sons of God. In other words, we are sons now, but we are like everyone else – fully human. We are subject to all human frailties, passions and limitations.
Romans 8:22-23
22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
The entire creation which was subject to corruption, as we were, groans to be delivered from this state. The Bible says we groan also because we do not have the redemption of our bodies yet. That’s why our bodies cry for the wrong things, and that’s why our bodies still fall sick.
Revelations 21:4, speaking about the afterlife, says:
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away”.
If God is going to wipe these negatives out of the believer’s life in the future, that means they still exist in the believer’s life now. It is no use denying it. Those who claim that believers ought to never fall sick, to never lack or to never die young themselves have succumbed to the very things they preach is not their lot. All the confessions of faith and denial will not wipe away reality.
We must stick with the truth of God’s Word or we will get hurt and offended and fall away when things do not happen the way we have been told they should.
A few years ago back on the University of Lagos campus, a lady who belonged to Christ Embassy asked me in tears and much hurt, “Why did my friend die of sickle cell anemia like that? We believed God, we prayed, we confessed! We stood on His Word!“.
Well, they were believing an error, praying amiss, and confessing in vain. Contrary to what she thought and said, they were not standing on God’s Word at all. They were standing on the unBiblical teaching of their pastor. They were acting on a presumption.
God’s Word does not promise us immunity from the frailties of this life. Rather, God’s Word promises to sustain us through the painful realities of this life and to give to us a glorious future when our Lord returns.
Romans 8:23 says that we “have the firstfruits of the Spirit“, that is, a guarantee, and that we also long to be delivered from this mortal bodies of ours. Because we have the guarantee now, we are assured of the full package when the time comes. Verses 24 and 25 encourage us to keep our hope alive. This is what the Bible means when it says “Christ in you the hope of glory”!
Finally, the apostle John corroborates Paul’s teaching here when he wrote:
1 John 3:2,3
2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
Brothers and sisters, our faith and hope is not an earthly one, and is not for earthly things. It is for a future glory. If you want to be a partaker of that glory, keep yourself pure from the world and all that is in it.
Biblically, it is not time yet for the sons of God to be manifested.
