The Revealing Of The Sons Of God

by L.C. Shattock, Leicester, U.K. | Category: Christ's Return - Approaching World Crisis | Dec 1984

The amazing statement of Romans 8:19 declares a truth which unenlightened men have never acknowledged. Human philosophy and scientific theory promote the idea of a progressive evolutionary process in nature which ranges in imaginative concept backwards by millions of years and also projects in mistaken forecast what future aeons will unfold. Divine revelation, however, declares that all creation waits for the intervention of God, an intervention which has among its major manifestations that which in this scripture is defined as "the revealing of the sons of God."

Throughout all ages an unbelieving world has largely ignored that line of faithful witness which is represented by godly men and women. In the face of such indifference, Christians today may feel that they are nonentities in the circles of unbelieving society. None need falter, however, for the unassailable truth is that "the firm foundation of God standeth, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are His" (2 Tim. 2:l9). Romans 8:19 is among the declarations of divine scripture which undergird the glad certainty of Christian hope. It tells us that with "outstretched hand" (that is the force of the words translated "eager expectation") creation waits for the day when redemption in fulness of blessing will be universally demonstrated. In eager anticipation of the event, creation waits, and the Christian waits; for this creation groans and the Christian groans. The groaning of creation is expressed by the effects of the divine curse attendant upon Adam's fall in Eden. The inspired description of its condition employs expressive phrases, e.g. "subject to vanity. Vanity implies emptiness, futility and impairment. Another phrase used is "the bondage of corruption," this suggests "thraldom within a process of perishing," and "progressive deterioration." As we reflect upon the fact that after the six days work of creation "God saw everything that He had made and behold it was very good" (Gen 1:31), we must conclude that the vanity and corruption to which creation is now so dominantly subject was never part of His original design.

Many and great as are the beauties of nature, it is nonetheless, subject to devastating forces. Fire and flood, typhoon and tempest, blight and blizzard, volcanic eruption, convulsive earthquake, cruel seas, famine and drought, afflict the earth with relentless impact. Within the range of animal life the consequence of man's fall is shown in the fact of "nature red in tooth and claw." Savage beasts, poisonous reptiles, horrible fishes and birds of prey, all are evidence of a depravity in nature to which all creation has been unwillingly and unwittingly subjected, and every demonstration of it expresses the groan and echoes the pain of universal travail.

How glorious is the prospect, therefore, that the whole creation itself will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. In the purpose of God that deliverance is linked with "the revealing of the sons of God." Scripture leaves us in no doubt as to when that event will be. "When Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested, then shall ye also with Him be manifested in glory" (Col. 3:4). And again, "He shall come to be glorified ... in all them that believe ..." (2 Thess. 1:10).

Once in isolated obscurity, the Son of God was born in Bethlehem, but the day will dawn, and may be nearer than we think, "when the Son of Man shall come in His glory... then shall He sit on the throne of His glory" (Mat. 25, 31). "Behold, He cometh with the clouds; and every eye shall see Him... " (Rev. 1:7) is the inspired prediction of the coming to earth to reign of the Son of Man. It will be then that the restless throb of creation's travail will be stilled by the Presence of the Prince of peace. "The hills shall break forth... into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree" (Isa. 55:12, 13). "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose" (Isa. 35:1).

"The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together... and the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the basilisk's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my Holy mountain" (Isa. 11:6, 8, 9). These words need no exposition, for they are divinely inspired and are the Holy Spirit's wonderful description of the glory and blessing of Messiah's reign. They link with the prophecy of Rev. 20:1-6 which declares the fact of Satan's imprisonment for a thousand years and the nations being freed from the evils of this deceit. Here too are outlined the honours placed upon faithful saints who emerge from the great tribulation of the antichrist: "... they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years."

It is from prophetic scripture that we learn so much of the character of the reign of Christ. "A King shall reign in righteousness" (Isa. 32:1, 2). "He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears" (Isa. 11:3). The perfection of Messiah's government is reflected in these words. How this contrasts with the best methods of rule which have ever been known to exist among men! Human laws are made and administered consequent upon what men see with their eyes and hear with their ears. This is because men have no other means of knowledge. Thus laws break down and justice fails when what the eyes see misleads and what the ears hear is not true or is not all the truth, but the King who reigns in righteousness will govern with absolute knowledge and His judgement will be founded upon perfect understanding.

The perfection of Messiah's rule is beautifully depicted in Psalm 72. Its opening verses (1-4) find recurrent use of the words "judge", "judgement" and "righteousness." Peace, the fruit of righteousness, is shown to be an abiding condition of His reign. The phrases "while the sun endureth" and "throughout all generations" and "till the moon be no more," define the perpetuity of His kingdom. Its universal extent is from "sea to sea," and its comprehensiveness in the fact that "all nations shall serve Him." Mighty as is the power of the King, yet His compassion extends to the needy, the oppressed, the poor and the weak (vv. 4, 12, 13). Abundant blessing results from the richness of His provision for material need and will cause all nations to call Him happy (vv. 16, 17).

"In that day" is a frequent phrase in Isaiah's prophecy which focuses upon the millennial kingdom. It consistently emphasizes the activity of heaven's King which includes the subduing of all false authority both spiritual and human. Spiritual forces are identified by the description "the hosts of the high ones on high" contrasted with "the kings of the earth upon the earth" (Isa. 24:21). World history through all the centuries has been blasted by the evil dominance of proud and haughty men, but "the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day" (Isa. 2:11, 17). To Israel, spiritually restored and revived, will come "in that day" (ch. 12) the understanding concerning Zion, "great is the Holy One in the midst of thee." The reason for the joy and strength of Zion is that the One who is great in the midst of her is Holy. This is the fundamental truth characterizing the kingdom of God and His Christ, and it stands in graphic contrast with the false ideas of greatness which have permeated human kingdoms where power has assumed the need for military prowess, diplomatic acumen and economic shrewdness.

"The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea" (Isa. 11:9). How greatly does the world need the spiritual consciousness which will be awakened when "many nations shall go and say, Come... let us go up to the mountain of the LORD and to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem" (Micah 4:1, 2). The world needs to be aroused to this awareness of spiritual need, for while, as now, it continues on oblivious to it, and rejects the idea of divine direction, it travails under false interpretations and is afflicted by endless conflicts. When nations are taught by Messiah their King and sustained by His word, international strife will end. "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks, nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (Micah 4:3).

Today the barriers of language and of race frequently present problems in human relationship. In the day of millennial blessing, however, the promise of God is, "then will I turn to the peoples a pure language, that they may all call upon the Name of the LORD, to serve Him with one consent" (Zeph. 3:9). "In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree" (Zech. 3:10). As Christians, today we rejoice in the manifestation of the day of God's grace - "of His fulness we have all received ..." (John 1:16) but the purpose of God moves onward to the day of His manifest glory. No force of opposition, supernatural or natural, spiritual or material, can prevent or postpone it. Sovereign authority affirms, "I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and shall see My glory" (Isa. 66:18).

Meanwhile as nations threaten nations, and people fraught with fear tremble at the possibility of nuclear holocaust, how glad we are to find the conviction from the Holy Scriptures that human destiny lies not in London, with its pageantry, neither in Washington with its commerce, nor yet in Moscow with its military strength, but is in the hands of the crucified but risen Son of God. We long for the manifest glory of the Christ and cry, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth" (Mat. 6.10).

"Thine, 0 LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: For all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine; Thine is the kingdom, 0 LORD, and Thou art exalted as head, above all."

(1 Chron. 29:11)

L.C. Shattock, Leicester, U.K. | Dec 1984
Christ's Return - Approaching World Crisis