The Goodness of the Groaning of the Sons of God
“This is the posture of their minds who have received the first fruits of the Spirit in the most eminent degree. The nearer any one is to heaven, the more earnestly he desires to be there, because Christ is there. For the more frequent and steady are our views of him by faith, the more do we long and groan for the removal of all obstructions and interpositions in our so doing. Now the groaning is a vehement desire, mixed with sorrow, for the present want of what is desired. The desire has sorrow, and that sorrow has joy and refreshment in it; like a shower that falls on a man in a garden in the spring; it wets him, but with that refreshes him with the savour it causes in the flowers and herbs of the garden where he is, and this groaning, which, when it is constant and habitual, is one of the choicest effects of faith in this life, respects what we would be delivered from, and what we would attain to.”
John Owen, The Glory of Christ, p.186
And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. -Romans 8:23
