Manifestation of Sons of God and Creation

Romans 8:18-20

King James Version (KJV)

18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,

21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.




A story from the earlier part of 2012 reminded me of an experience my wife and I had as we walked on a path along the banks of a river in Kentucky. The story I'm referring to is that of a man named Lawrence Anthony, who was also known as “The Elephant Whisperer.”

He died in March of 2012, and according to his son, the elephants he worked with to rescue and rehabilitate, spontaneously returned to his home when he died, even though they were scattered across the Thula Thula, a reserve in South Africa.

The report said this:

When Anthony died of a heart attack, the elephants, who were grazing miles away in different parts of the park, travelled over 12 hours to reach his house. According to his son Jason, both herds arrived shortly after Anthony’s death. They hadn’t visited the compound where Anthony lived for a year and a half, but Jason says 'in coming up there on that day of all days, we certainly believe that they had sensed it.'

I want to add to that story the experience I mentioned. As my wife and I were walking along the bank of the river - about 15 feet away from the edge - I told the Lord Jesus Christ how I wished that He would allow me to see some fish.

As we walked I saw a couple of large fish and was excited and thankful to see them. There was nothing unusual in and of itself concerning that. But as we got nearer to the first fish we saw, more of them appeared to my eyes, and as we walked on, hundreds of them were sitting on the surface of the river, which was dead calm.

This was the case for about several blocks before there were no more fish. What was amazing was the fish never moved or spooked as we walked.

I'm an expert in fresh water fish, so I knew for a small number of fish, and for a short period of time, it's not unprecedented for them to stay around even if they see or hear you. What is unprecedented is to have hundreds of them laying on top of a river and all facing you for several blocks, with none of them making an attempt to even move as they saw and heard us.

Interestingly, at first I just viewed this as a unique blessing of God to allow us to see His amazing power and superiority over His creation.

After we got home and seemingly prompted a little by the Holy Spirit, I started to think on the event some and realized that it wasn't just for an interesting blessing and response to a prayer of mine that God allowed us to see and experience the event, it was to teach us about the reality of the creation waiting "... for the manifestation of the sons of God."

Now this wasn't revealed to make it look like there was anything special about my wife or myself. That wasn't part of the story or narrative. The purpose of it was to share and help those who truly are born of the Spirit and have Christ within them, see that the creation itself is centered and focused on the work of God within us because "the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God."

The response of God's children to Christ within us, as He works to change us into His image, will result in the release of the entire creation itself, which is eagerly waiting for that day.

When thinking about the fish, I realized they were paying homage to Christ within us ... not to us as having anything inherently special about us.

But Christ has put His people in charge of creation, and ultimately how the people of Jesus Christ go, so will go creation go. Eventually Christ will grow, enlarge and expand within us to the point where creation will be released from the bondage of corruption.

That will happen when we as a people enter into the experience of the "glorious liberty of the children of God."

I have no idea whether or not the "elephant whisperer" was a Christian or not, but it does point to the fact that there is a direct connection to the creation and the sons of God. It will probably be amazing as we continue to respond to the work of Christ within us how it'll impact not only the creation, but effects of the curse upon it, which apparently will be slowly released in conjunction with the image of Jesus Christ being formed within us.

Having said all that, people are first among the Godhead, and no matter how wonderful our effect on the creation, they will by far be the most important focus as we grow in Christ. But when the creation is gradually, slowly released, we'll find that our dominion over it will increasingly result in it yielding its fruit at levels previously unheard of since sin first entered into the world.

This isn't something that should be a goal of ours, but it's mentioned for the purpose of understanding that it will be a byproduct of our faithful and obedient response to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in its fullness.

As the years and decades roll on, we'll continually see the land providing improved crop yields, among many other benefits and changes related to creation because of the fact there will be among the people of Jesus Christ those that are faithful to the call of being willing and obedient in responding to the work of being conformed to the very image of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ isn't going to suddenly appear to a complete discontinuity when coming for His people at the end of this age, rather it'll be like a symphony orchestra building up to a crescendo, where there's nothing else to do but call us to be with Him in response to the faithfulness of those that heed His purpose.