#DailyDevotion We Are Waiting For The Redemption Of Our Bodies

Romans 8:23 ²³And what is more, also we, who have the Spirit as our first taste of heaven, groan inwardly as we look forward to being adopted as His children; then our body will be set free.

People who are Christians all their lives, who were baptized as infants or children or who never fell away many not understand this “first taste of heaven.” Unfortunately those of who have fallen away, who have lost the Holy Spirit through some gross sin and are brought back to repentance through the Law and the Gospel of Jesus Christ do really know what Paul is talking about. Those who are converted to Christianity know what this is. I think perhaps those who regularly go to confession and absolution may experience it especially if some sin has nagged them. I have also seen it in those who were life long Christians but who had not really understood the giftedness of the good news of Jesus Christ, the free gift, the forgiveness of sins, the free gift of eternal life and the Holy Spirit as our guarantee experience the “first taste of heaven.” We can certainly experience the loss of it and then will be be obstinate in our sin and continue or repent before it ensnares us onto a path we might not depart from. Do we confess our sin and live or live in our sin and die.

Now mind you, our salvation is not based on us experiencing this first taste of heaven. We need only experience or encounter the means of grace which God provides us through the Church and in that experience or encounter the gift is given. You may not feel anything at all about it, though you should be thankful for it and rejoice in it. I want your assurance of your salvation always and only to be in the life and work of Jesus Christ. That is the good news, his life, death, resurrection and ascension into heaven for you, in your place so you may experience it on the Last Day.

Now having the guarantee of our citizenship in heaven, i.e. the Holy Spirit, we do groan inwardly as we look forward to being adopted as His Children. We experience as we see the prevalence of sin all around us. When we struggle with sin in ourselves. When we see sin reigning all around us, we groan inwardly for the day of our redemption, the redemption of our bodies and the creation.

It is not as if we were not adopted by God when we were baptized and given the Holy Spirit. Paul writes in Titus 3, “⁵He saved us, not because of any good works we did but because He was merciful. He saved us by the washing in which the Holy Spirit gives us a new birth and a new life. ⁶He poured a rich measure of this Spirit on us through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷to declare us righteous by His grace so that we may be heirs according to the hope of everlasting life. You can depend on this statement.” This new birth is indeed our adoption as God’s children. Earlier in chapter 8 Paul writes, “¹⁵…you received the Spirit who makes us God’s adopted children and moves us to call ‘Abba, Father!'” But we live this adoption by faith. Then on the Last Day we shall see it with our own eyes as our bodies are transformed into Christ’s glorious body and all creation sees we are indeed God’s children.

Heavenly Father, grant we taste heaven as we receive the forgiveness of our sins, we persist in this faith and we may see our redemption. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.