Cosmic Shift

For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. Romans 8:19 NASB

Sons of God – How about you? Do you anxiously await with eager expectation the revealing of the sons of God? Or do you dread the Day of Reckoning? Or, perhaps even worse, you just don’t give it any thought. Paul teaches us that the entire creation looks forward with eager expectation. But not to what you might have thought, for you might have thought that the creation looks forward to the day when the Messiah returns when Torah pours forth from Zion when all the wrongs are made right and evil is put to an end. That’s not what Paul says. Paul says that the creation looks forward to the time when the sons of God are revealed. Not the son, singular, but the sons, plural. Did you realize that the whole creation is waiting for God’s sons to be uncovered.

Yes, that’s right. They are there but they are hidden, concealed, veiled from ordinary observation. That’s the meaning of apokalypsis, “to reveal what is hidden.” And the sons of God are currently hidden, but they will be revealed. Imagine that! God’s sons are not recognizable now. They don’t carry church membership cards. They aren’t designated by a religious symbol on a birth certificate. They can’t be identified by what they say or don’t say. They are hidden. But hidden from whom? I doubt that Paul means no one is able to identify them. It’s just that the typical and usual identifications fail. What you need to look for is how these people live, not the labels attached to them. After all, to be in the Father’s image is to be a son and the image of the Father is what He does. So look for hesed, hen, erek appayim, mishpat, rahum—the unadvertised actions of undercover spiritual agents. But some day all of these humble people will be revealed and we may be quite surprised to find them coming forward from all kinds of places, all walks of life, all ethnic groups, all cultural worlds. In other words, you won’t know who they are publically until that day, but you can certainly keep your eyes open in the meanwhile.

In the end, the real question is about you. Are you hidden, a secret agent of the Lord doing what you need to do without fanfare or recognition? Are you a man or woman of the active image of your Father? Are you invisible to pride, self-esteem, aggrandizing importance, accumulation, and self-regard? The greatest secret agents blend in. They accomplish their missions without being noticed. If there ever were a Messianic secret, it is this: work under the radar to accomplish the will of the Father. Leave the advertising to Him.

Some day the entire cosmos will rejoice to see all who have been His emissaries. Maybe not now, but someday. What a day that will be. The fireworks of that celebration will light up the entire universe. Personally, I can hardly wait.

Topical Index: sons of God, hidden, apokalypsis, reveal, Romans 8:19