"Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God." (Romans 8: 21)
Our lives are meant for greater things than what the world would have us believe.
God intended for man to be fruitful and multiply on the earth:
"28And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 29And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat." (Genesis 1: 28-29)
God granted man great abundance and life as well as authority and dominion over all the creation.
When Adam sinned against God, and brought all of creation down with Him, the corruption of sin and death entered into the world.
At the same time, God provided the way for man to be redeemed, restored, and even promoted to greater standing through His Son, Jesus.
To the Israelites in bondage, God said:
"And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians." (Exodus 6: 7)
Even when the Israelites had sinned repeatedly, enough that God had no choice but to uphold his end of the Old Covenant and allow the Babylonians to take them away, God promised to restore them to the land and give them a new heart and direction from within:
"But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." (Jeremiah 31: 33-34)
and also
"Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. 18And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence. 19And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:" (Ezekiel 11: 17-19)
When Jesus came, He did not offer a pathway to victory or glory, but Himself:
"The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10: 10)
and also
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14: 6)
Today, as new creation in Christ, we still groan and feel strain in our bodies (Romans 8: 23), but we can look forward to the following:
"For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day." (2 Corinthians 4: 16)
and also
"2Beloved, 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." (1 John 3: 2 )
Because of all that Jesus has done for us, and today ministers on our behalf, we know that we have His glory:
"13But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: 14Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. " (2 Thessalonians 2: 13-14)
We have been delivered to glory because of Jesus, and in Him we reign in life (Romans 5: 17)
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