Romans 8:22-23 NASB95
[22] For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. [23] And not only this but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.
God rescued us by becoming one of us. The King of Kings stooped down and got dirty to bring us up out of the pit of destruction and out of the miry clay. Jesus clothed himself with our fallen humanity and was tempted in every way like us, “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin”- Hebrews 4:15. Through Christ, God completely identified with creation in all of its groanings. We can obviously see how the “lost” suffer in this fallen and broken world without hope apart from Christ, but even we, as believers who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan within ourselves until that time when we have our redeemed bodies and death is no more. Jesus said in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world, you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” Through Christ, God clothed himself with our groanings. Jesus experienced, as a human, man’s inhumanity to man. He experienced betrayal and the loss of family and close friends. As a man, He walked through all of that without sinning. He overcame the world. As those in Christ, we are in union with the one who is both God and human. Every Christian is a fresh manifestation of the incarnation of Christ as He clothes Himself in their unique humanity. In Colossians 3:4, we are told that “Christ is our life; ” therefore, when we as Christians groan in our pain as we walk through this fallen world, Christ participates in it with us. We groan “in Christ,” just as we do all things “in Christ.” One writer says that “we are woven into the fabric of Jesus’s existence.” If that is true, then it is also true that He is woven into the fabric of our existence so that as we participate in His life, He participates in ours. Because we are one with Him and He lives through us in all things and in all places, He, therefore, lives through us in our groanings. Because He participates in our pain, even our groanings are sanctified because the Christ in us in us hides us from the darkness, even in the midst of brokenheartedness. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 6:10 that he knew the experience of being “sorrowful yet always rejoicing.” This is sanctified groaning. These momentary light afflictions are producing IN US an eternal weight of glory, and that weight of glory (which is Christ being formed in us) outweighs every other weighty thing. Jesus went to prepare an abiding place for us, and that abiding place is His person, for He said if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive (take) you to Myself. Jesus has joined us to Him so that where He is, we may be also – John 14:2 – 3. We face nothing in this life apart from Him therefore we can do all things in Christ who continually strengthens us with His strength, so that even when we are afflicted in every way, we are not crushed – Philippians 4:13; 2 Corinthians 4:8. Therefore, when the groaning comes, sink into Him who joins you in your groaning and will keep you from sinking.