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I. THE PERIOD WHEN THIS STATE OF DEGRADATION AND SUFFERING SHALL GIVE PLACE TO THE FULL HOPE WHICH THE GOSPEL NOW SETS BEFORE THEM. The day of the second advent of Christ. This, indeed, will be, in some most important respects, a day of "manifestation" — the manifestation of Him whom the heavens have received, of judgment, of the long-delayed punishment of sinners. But it shall be also the day of "the manifestation of the sons of God."

1. Of their number, which now we possess no mean of calculating.

2. Of persons whom, perhaps, we never anticipated — for many that are last shall be first, and the first last.

3. Of their virtues, which the world slandered.

4. Of that glory with which they shall be eternally invested.

II. THE CHARACTERS UNDER WHICH THIS HOPE IS PRESENTED.

1. Deliverance from the bondage of corruption." See this bondage —

(1)  In the weakness of the body. It has lost its strength and perfection.

(2)  In the diseases of the body.

(3)  In that moral corruption to which the natural corruption ministers.

(4)  In the manner in which this law sports with every feeling, care, interest.

2. The contrast to this is "the glorious liberty of the children of God" —

(1)  From the bondage itself, as resulting from the lapse of Adam.

(2)  From the grave, for Christ opens, and no man shuts.

(3)  From the grossness of the body, for that which is sown a natural is raised a spiritual body.

(4)  From irregular appetites, implying perfect liberty from sin.

(5)  From affliction and suffering, for there shall be no more pain, no more chastening.

(6)  From death.

III. THE MANNER IN WHICH THE WHOLE SUBJECT IS HEIGHTENED. The apostle refers —

1. To the groans and expectations of the creature, i.e.,, the whole race of fallen and unrecovered men. The apostle sees before him the multitudes of mankind. He marks their miseries, groans, struggles against their lot, their aspirations after a something unattained. As a powerful intellect at its first dawn aspires after a knowledge of which as yet it has no conception; as an ambitious spirit tends upwards to a height beyond its gaze; as a heathen in his ignorance feels after a God unknown — so will the soul of fallen man wrestle with its bondage and strive for deliverance. It is a mighty power, though bound, and it sighs, and heaves, and tends, though blindly, to the good which it has forfeited. How elevated, then, the Christian's hope! It is the hope of mankind. But let us attend to some instances by which this truth may be illustrated.

(1) Man feels his miseries more sensibly than any other creature — not only because he reflects, which is itself a heightening of his distress, but because he has a consciousness that he possesses a capacity of perfect bliss. The very poignancy of his misery is in proof of his aspirations after unmingled felicity.

(2) Man carries his desires beyond the limits of any present enjoyment. Winged with desire, he hastens to an object; he obtains it; he stops; he finds it not sufficient, and hastens on to another. Onward, and onward still, beyond all that earth can supply. What, then, is the true philosophy of this? A distant, though unapprehended, good attracts us.

(3) Man is displacent at the very vices which he indulges. And how are we to account for this? Why, but because the soul aspires for liberty from its moral corruption.

(4) Man struggles against disease and death. Life is the object of most passionate desire, and death of equally strong aversion. What is this but a tendency to a state like that which shall be enjoyed at "the manifestation of the sons of God."

2. To the revealed hope of the believer, to which all his longings are directed (ver. 23). "They have the first-fruits of the Spirit." Even this exempts not from the miseries of life, nor is there in them, however glorious they are, anything which can satisfy the vast desire of glory.

(1) True, the soul is reconciled to God, but the bondage of corruption still places them in circumstances of temptation. They may sin against God, and they long for the deliverance which shall make sin no longer possible.

(2) True, the manifested presence of God is the delight of the soul; but even this, in its full extent, is veiled and hidden.

(3) True, there is the glorious attainment of a regenerate nature, but how many imperfections yet remain!

(4) True, there is the presence of heavenly graces, but these are like exotic plants, and an unfit soil prevents their full expansion, their flagrancy, and fruitfulness.

(5) True, there is heavenly knowledge and sacred converse with God, but the wants of the body demand supply, and hence numberless cares and anxieties.

(6) True, there is the communion of saints, but to what interruptions is not this exposed by human mortality!

(7) True, religion strengthens your social affections and heightens domestic enjoyment, but from those whom you love you have been, or you must be, severed.

(8) True, you are saved from the fear of death, but still there is death, the last enemy, and the struggle with him. Thus do we "groan within ourselves," even though we have the hope which alone prevents our sinking in despair. But, while groaning under the pressure of life's burdens, we are "waiting for the adoption," the glorification of the body, and its establishment in the perfect and everlasting joys of heaven.

(R. Watson.)

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

WEB: For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.