on tiptoe with expectation

 

“creation itself is on tiptoe with expectation, eagerly awaiting the moment when God’s children will be revealed.”

 

Standing on tip-toe, peering with anticipation,
the angels gaze intently with longing expectation,
  holding hope with all of creation,
for the children’s of God liberation.  
Eagerly awaiting the moment to break in
when God’s children, with full revelation, fully awaken
As they are birthed from the canal
   into the manifestation of the Spirit to prevail. 
Full release of creation from the bondage of decay
   as freedom and glory hold full sway.

 

In context, these verses come from Romans 8:14-23,

All who are led by the spirit of God, you see, are God’s children. You didn’t receive a spirit of slavery, did you, to go back again into a state of fear? But you received the spirit of sonship, in whom we call out “Abba, Father!”  When that happens, it is the spirit itself giving supporting witness to what our own spirit is saying, that we are God’s children. And if we’re children, we are also heirs: heirs of God, and fellow heirs with the Messiah, as long as we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

This is how I work it out. The sufferings we go through in the present time are not worth putting in the scale alongside the glory that is going to be unveiled for us. Yes: creation itself is on tiptoe with expectation, eagerly awaiting the moment when God’s children will be revealed. Creation, you see, was subjected to pointless futility, not of its own volition, but because of the one who placed it in this subjection, in the hope that creation itself would be freed from its slavery to decay, to enjoy the freedom that comes when God’s children are glorified.

Let me explain. We know that the entire creation is groaning together, and going through labor pains together, up until the present time. Not only so: we too, we who have the first fruits of the spirit’s life within us, are groaning within ourselves, as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our body.”

These verses speak of a revelation and experience of the fullness of the Spirit alive in us in such a way that we experience full freedom and creation itself is free from decay under the law of entropy where disorder is established and spreads.  Another order is at hand.   We have received a deposit towards this and the children of God are pregnant and birthing forth this new Kingdom order.  Instead of things moving towards death and disorder in entropy, they move toward flourishing as they glorify God.  

 

Paul makes the differentiation that all who are led by the Spirit are these children of God.   If we have accepted Christ by faith, we must also accept His Spirit that He gives us.   This means that if we are not being led by the Spirit, perhaps we are not His children.  Or at least we are carnal minded.  We know from Romans 8 that if we have not accepted His Spirit, we have a dead religion of works.

 

The full manifestation of creation as it is meant to be, will come about as the children of God come into revelation and manifestation of their full inheritance of the Spiri.t  As they do, everything gets put in order and flourishes under the hand of God. 

 

Clark H. Pinnock, in his book Flame of Love: A Theology of The Holy Spirit notes about this verse that the direction of Christian existence is to become Christlike, entering into union with God and becoming more aware of the liberty we have as children of God.  He writes, Spirit is leading the natural world to a higher condition.  Creation is destined to obtain the glorious freedom of the children of God (Rom. 8:22).” [1]

 

We were made and designed in such a way to carry the Spirit of God and live under submission to Him.  Anything less than this is out of divine order.  Pinnock writes that we are made to live in relationship with God as the Spirit gives us ability for our human spirit to encounter the divine Spirit and graces us with a capacity to know and respond to God. [2] Being His children, as in the Garden of Eden, our feet are meant to be planted in two worlds with the Kingdom realm dictating what manifests in the earthly realm.

 

But in this manifestation of being children of God, comes this place of unity with other believers as the church is forged through this union with the Spirit.   Pinnock points out that more than churches full of people, God wants (and the world needs) people full of the Spirit.  He goes on to note that the Spirit is the life-giver who moves in and shapes the material realm.   Through the church, the spiritual and material world flowed together. [3] 

We are invited to watch the birthing of this Spirit era of the Church in Acts 2, where the Holy Spirit came like a mighty rushing wind and dancing tongues of fire rested on the heads of the believers.  They began manifesting the Spirit and unbelievers mocked them as drunk.  Peter corrects them and proclaims that it is the era that the prophet Joel spoke of where God’s people would prophesy, have dreams, vision and see manifested signs on the earth.  

 

As a result of this manifestation and Peter’s proclamation by the Spirit, about three thousand souls accepted Christ and came part of the church, receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit.  But they were not just individual believers, they formed as the Church, sharing everything in common and eating meals with each other as they “were of one heart and soul” (Acts 4:32).   The power of the presence of the Spirit was so evident in this that people feared them, while holding them in high esteem.    

 

It was the church of Christ performing the works of Christ and manifesting the presence of Christ to the world around them.  As Pinnock notes, “Christ is present in the world by the Spirit.”   It is the Resurrected Jesus that lives in the believers individually and as a community, releasing His Spirit, and drawing others in. [4]

 

Pinnock points out that spiritual and the physical are not antithetical but cooperative and synergistic [5].  The creative Spirit that birthed the physical earth by the Words of the Father is present and active in the church and believers to manifest His splendor both spiritually and physically.  He may heal someone’s eyesight or a broken bone in the world, provide for the practical needs of those who are hungry, or simply whisper a word of encouragement to someone who needs it.  

 

He is found everywhere.    We need only look around us to see the Spirit of God among us.  Pinnock notes that He is the Spirit of life and at work in the world everywhere.   He should not be degraded to only operating in the church.   Joy and vitality, radiance, and the embrace of the dance are all brought by the Spirit. He writes, Spirit is the ecstasy that implements God’s abundance and triggers the overflow of divine self-giving.” [6]

 

It is through the Spirit that we live, move and have our being (Acts 17:28).  I love the invitation that Pinnock paints of the Spirit in living a vibrant and full life that is not filled with self-indulgences and comforts from wants, but a lifegiving overflow of the abundance of God through the Spirit. 

 

I have heard it said about Madam Guyon and some other mystics that they are too spiritual to be any earthly good.  But shouldn’t we be more fearful concerned about being too natural to be of any spiritual good?  The end of the natural is death.  Where the end of the spiritual is eternal life.  Perhaps people limiting themselves to the natural realm is why there is so much lack of joy in the body of Christ.

 

In the Spirit being everywhere, I am reminded of a vacation I went on in Safe Harbor, California.   Everywhere I looked, everything was teaming with His life and presence.  It was noted on a sign that the place we were staying in had been a previous site of a powerful revival.  I felt blessed to come upon such a place with an incredible history.  From my hotel room, I looked out my window to see the sunrise across the ocean and the music I had playing turned to a song about seeing Him in the sunrise. I felt such a sense of awe for the experience.

 

It makes me think of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poem:

Earth is crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees
Takes off his shoes –
The rest sit around it and pluck blackberries.

                As I write this, “You make everything so beautiful in it’s time” sings in the background 😊

Not only is life teaming all around us as we stop and slow down to invite and look for the Spirit among us, but we also see Him manifest through our lives individually as we submit to Him and let Him lead us. Encircled in His love, we grow in this transformation into Christlikeness.  And as we make room for the Spirit, He manifests through us in holiness, fruit of the Spirit and gifts of the Spirit.  The more we make room for Him, the more He manifests. 

Pinnock writes that we receive one baptism of the Spirit but can receive multiple fillings.  In the baptism, Jesus has a special sense of being God’s Son but would also invite others into that relationship by adoption.  He writes, “Being baptized in the Spirit means he was endowed with power and equipped for mission.” [7]

The verses being reflected upon today from Acts implies that it is in the revelation and receiving our inheritance that we step into the fullness of the Kingdom restoration work that God is doing among us in the world.  We become life-giving forces of the Spirit that are growing ever more in His power and fruit while encircled in His love and care.  In this viewpoint, we are ever growing into maturity in Christ where more of His Kingdom is manifesting through us.

As we connect more into the work of the Kingdom and come into greater unity with it, our lives overflow in greater measure with the Spirit.  The Spirit not only manifests through us corporately as a Church, reflecting Christ, but individually, bringing forth physical manifestations of a Spiritual Kingdom and furthering God’s purposes.

Pinnock writes, God is the ever-expanding circle of loving, and the Spirit is the dynamic at the heart of the circle.  Through Him we all have access in one Spirit to the Father, on behalf of whom Spirit and Bride says, ‘Come!’ Let us all join in the dance.” [8]

As an example of this, going on in Acts, we see Peter and John coming to the temple for the hour of prayer.   They see a man who laid daily at the gate called “Beautiful Gate” to ask for alms.  Rather than giving him alms, as the man gazed up at them with expectations to receive, they imparted the Spirit and the man rose and walked.   He went in leaping and praising God! (Acts 3:1-10)

We also see Paul speak of an impartation of the Spirit at various points in Scripture. He tells Timothy not to neglect his gift, which was given to him through prophecy when the body of elders laid hands on him (1 Timothy 4:14).   And in Romans 1:11, Paul told the church in Rome that he longed to see them so that he may impart some spiritual gift to strengthen them.

Prophesy and laying hands on someone are ways that we can manifest the Spirit inside us in the physical world.    Another way the Holy Spirit manifests to us and through us is strengthening and encouraging the body of Christ.  Right before the verse on the realization and manifestation of who we are in Christ and what the Holy Spirit is giving to us, we see that they point out that the present sufferings are not worth comparing.

Having the Holy Spirit, we are a target for suffering.  But rather than causing us harm, it all works together for our good and God’s glory.  We grow in faith, dependence, surrender and humility while we suffer which puts us in a better position to be comforters to those around us.  I had a dream recently about suffering and felt like comforting and strengthening the body was an important priority. 

Lord Jesus, I am not sure what you are doing in my life now but I trust you.  Help us to be those that always land sunny side up and bring joy to every difficulty we encounter.