No Longer Groaning, but Glowing and Growing

"For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." (Romans 8: 22)

God never meant for the earth to be fallen, or for man to fall.

In Revelation,  Jesus assures John, His Beloved disciple, that He restores all things:

"And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful." (Revelation 21: 5)

This statement is a prophesy as well as a fulfillment, of course:

"Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare it? I have shewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them." (Isaiah 48: 6)

On the Day of Pentecost, Peter preached to his Jewish brethren, and to us today:

"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; 20And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: 21Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." (Revelation 3: 19-21)

Today, we witness the upsets and tumults in the world, yet we know that no matter what may happen around us, we have the protection of God Almighty because of His great love for us:

"But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." (Proverbs 4: 18)

and then

"Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness." (1 Thessalonians 5: 5)

Jesus is our Light today (John 8: 12), and in Christ we shine in this dark, groaning world, glowing in His love, and growing in His grace:

"Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." (Hebrews 12: 11)

"For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." (Hebrews 2: 10)

Grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus (2 Peter 3: 18), and He will transform you from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3: 18).