This passage in Romans 8 talks about the sufferings of believers in this life because our lives and this world spiritually are cursed or damaged by sin. This for the Christian or true child of God should make us weary of this world with all its brokeness and imperfection and cause us to long for a more perfect world. We also groan and the creation - the universe, the earth and all that is in it - the mountains, hills, waters, humans, animals and plants and ecosystems groan. This is because of the damage and brokenness that it still endured by the world and us in our bodies and minds due to God's curse on creation after the sin against God of Adam and Eve who had dominion over the earth and later by the world of the time of Noah. This sin of the people of Noah's time that compelled God to judge the world of Noah's time with a worldwide flood that also dramatically altered the earth's environment and life. The rebellion of Satan or Lucifer and his angels against God through pride before the rebellion of Adam and Eve could have also caused God's curse or brokenness on the universe such as some effect on radioactivity or making some planets like Mars more inhospitable. Although it won't be a totally new heavens and earth that will come later God through the Lord Jesus Christ will remove most of the curse from this Earth and its components and living things and perhaps in the heavens. This will result in better conditions for long healthy life in the Messianic Age as was the case before the flood of Noah when people often lived almost 1000 years.
For the Christian we groan because of our quickly aging and disease prone bodies for which we look for the resurrection bodies or the redemption of our bodies as God's solution. For Christians or believers of the present Church Age this will happen any time soon at the rapture of the Church.
God often in His Word sees and treats as polluted ground areas of Earth where there is much immorality, idolatry, deception, violence, pride, unbelief, covetousness or other sin. God would see His judgment of sin as a necessary step to the removal of the curse of sin from the physical environment of Earth or perhaps also of the Heavens due to the evil actions of the heavenly host - Satan and demons. This judgment of sin and some actions on the earth such as earthquakes in the tribulation will prepare for an environment more conducive to long, healthy and godly and peaceful life of people, animals and plants in the Messianic Age.
A woman has more and more severe and frequent labour pains as she approaches her time of giving birth. Similiarly there will be more and more natural in addition to moral and spiritual upheavels and instability in creation as the time of God's removing the curse caused by sin approaches. This will give birth to a creation freed from the ravages of sin and decay at the beginning and throughout the 1000 year Messianic Age. This will not be completely the case as in the eternal age when people and probably animals and plants will last forever however as people will still have sinful natures who populate or who are born in the Millennial Kingdom. Also in the Millennial Kingdom people and animals and plants will still die but after much longer lifetimes than at present or since the fall of man in the garden of Eden. Part of the reason people and animals and plants will live longer and more peacefully in the Messianic Age is that God through the Lord Jesus the Messiah(Christ) and his saints or believers of all ages will be ruling and reigning over all the earth. Also the devil and demons who cause so much violence, fear and destruction and sickness in this world since the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden will be bound and have no effect on people or things on Earth for the entire 1000 years of the Messianic Age. The scripture passage in Romans 8 of God's lifting the curse of sin on the Earth and all living things on Earth at the beginning of the Messianic Age is as follows:
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. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 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 the body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Romans 8:18-25
John the Baptist said something like Isaiah 40:3 at Jesus the Messiah's first coming. However he was only in the spirit and power of Elijah who will come again himself in the tribulation to prepare the way for Jesus the Messiah's Second Coming in power and great glory at the end of the tribulation to set up God's Kingdom on Earth. Although some of the following verses might have happened spiritually or symbolically in Jesus' first coming they will happen also literally and physically leading up to Jesus' second coming and at His second coming. The effect of every valley being exalted and every mountain and hill brought low will be to make the rainfall more even over the land areas without mountains blocking the moisture from clouds or rainfall. Another effect would be to provide for flat or plains areas where agriculture would be more practical. This would also lead to more prosperity, peace and joy in the Messianic Age. The rest of verse four adds other details but could also mean that righteousness will be better established and ungodliness taken away at Messiah Jesus' Second Coming to set up God's rule over all the Earth. Verse 5 says the glory of the LORD shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together. This most likely refers to the glorious appearing from Heaven of Jesus with God the Father (the LORD), the holy angels, Church age believers (true Christians) and martyred tribulation saints. All people on Earth will see Jesus coming in glory with all these persons from Heaven and will humble them with Jesus the Messiah's power and glory. They will then become more willing to accept or receive Him as the rightful ruler or king over the Earth and all its people. The reference to God changing the mountains and other geologic features of Earth for the Messianic reign of Jesus and His believers in Isaiah 40 is as follows:
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. Isaiah 40:3-5
In one of the last judgments of the tribulation a mighty angel of God pours out his vial or bowl of judgment into the air of Earth. Then there were voices and thunders and lightnings symbolizing God's presence and power and a great earthquake. This earthquake was targeted especially at the non-christian or false christian religious system of religious Babylon headed by the Roman Catholic Church and centred in Rome. Also the earthquake will be aimed at the covetous or greedy and godless world economic system for which Rome also has a part with a demand for much real estate and jewels, precious stones and metals. God is also upset with the ungodliness, immorality, idolatry, selfishness, covetousness, violence, deception, pride and other sin of the other cities of the world and destroys them with the same earthquake. The scripture says great Babylon came in rememberance before God meaning they got to the point of pushing God too far with their sin that He had tolerated and given them chance to repent for a long time but they refused or neglected to do this. It is also mentioned there wasn't an earthquake so great since men were on earth. This means God was carrying out a long term judgment of sin against the idolatry of the Babylon system including the mother child cult. This mother child cult that started with the original Babylon referring to Nimrod and his mother but that then followed in many names and forms including one of its current forms in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and some other branches of professing Christianity. In this system there is an excessive emphasis of the mother Mary and Jesus as a weak, dependent baby that is not God's desired emphasis concerning Jesus (or Mary). This earthquake's probable good point is that it caused the mountains to not be found and the islands to be moved. Especially the mountains not being found because they were brought lower would mean rainfall would be more even on the land and the land could be more easily farmed or used for other economic purposes in the Messianic Age. This will be for the people who come to God in the tribulation and survive it to populate the Earth in the Messianic Age. This judgment will be a little before the battle of Armageddon at Jesus' Second Coming in power and great glory but only a short time before. This judgment will also get rid of the spiritual pollution of the idolatry and sin of last days Babylon and the other ungodly cities of the world so God can better bless the Earth and its people in the Messianic Age. The reference to God's judging religious and commercial Babylon (Rome) and the cities of the world with this earthquake and preparing the Earth and its godly or come to be godly inhabitants for God's rule over the Earth from Jerusalem through His Messiah Jesus in Revelation 16 is as follows:
And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon man a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men (men and women and children) blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great. Revelation 16:17-21
Although Israel uses quite a lot of violence against the Palestinians and other Arabs these days it is mostly in self-defence and most Jewish people don't believe in Jesus as the Messiah or the New Testament and many secular Jews do not even believe in a literal interpretation of the Old Testament. However God still loves them and honours the covenants He made with His Earthly chosen people the Jews the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel). This includes God's covenant to give the Jews the land of Israel and protect them there forever especially when they are obeying God. Therefore God will still be very angry when Gog(Russia) (and many other nations) invade Israel at the end of the tribulation or 70th week of Daniel to try to get their strategic land. There will then also be a Satanic striking out at the people who had brought the Saviour of the world Jesus and most of the word of God the Bible to the human race. This is when God decides to personally judge these nations for trying to destroy the land and people of Israel by coming from Heaven and throwing down the mountains of Israel on the invading armies of the world including Gog. God will then also throw down other mountains of the world at the same time with other judgments in Israel and other parts of the Earth. These judgments again will address the pollution of idolatry, pride, violence, hatred of God and His people Israel and other sins of these invading armies and other ungodly or unrepentant people on Earth. These judgmentst will also prepare the world and its remaining godly people and beings physically and spiritually for God's rule through His Annointed One Jesus and His saints or believers of all ages. This will be a reign of righteousness, peace, and prosperity and long life in the 1000 year Messianic Age. The scripture reference in Ezekiel 38 of this part of the Battle of Armageddon and God's Judgement of these invading armies and His preparing the land for the Messianic Age is as follows:
And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face. For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. Ezekiel 38:18-20
The LORD (God the Father in His Shekinah Glory) and His Messiah and Divine Son Jesus will come from Heaven and shake the heavens and the earth including bringing down mountains in Israel and other parts of the Earth as in some of the other scriptures. The LORD will also partly by this means and other means destroy the invading ungodly armies and deliver his threatened people the children of Israel. The LORD (God the Father in His Shekinah glory) will then enter into and dwell in the Millenial Kingdom Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. God's co-divine Messiah Jesus will come with the LORD(the Father) from Heaven and will rule the Earth from the House of God on Mount Zion (the Temple Mount) and elsewhere in Jerusalem for the 1000 year Messianic Age. God's Temple and the Temple Mount will be holy and no (unbelieving or hostile) strangers or people of the nations will pass through it any more. However other scripture make it clear that especially at the Feast of Tabernacles all the people of the nations will be expected to come to God's holy mountain of Zion and the 4th or Messianic Kingdom Temple to worship God then and there. Partly because in Israel and other parts of the world God will then have judged and removed all types of sin and unrepentant people and spiritually cleansed the land of sin and partly because God will then have brought the mountains down lower and otherwise made better living conditions for plants and animals and people, the mountains shall drop down new wine. Unlike in the reference in Revelation 16 where the wine is symbolic of grapes trodden down and make into wine symbolizing God's wrath, here the new wine refers to God's giving joy to the people although it will also be literal grapes and wine in abundance too. God will also bless Israel with milk(dairy cows), water(rain) and miraculous living water from the house of the LORD. This living water from the house of the LORD will be a literal but also supernatural river of living water although a secondary meaning of the Holy Spirit coming from the house of the LORD the Messianic Age Temple on the Temple Mount or Mount Zion could also be meant. The scripture reference in Joel 3 of God's delivering Israel by destroying the invading armies of ungodly people of the nations and shaking the land to prepare for His blessing His faithful people of Israel and the nations during the Messianic Age is as follows:
The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim. Joel 3:16-18
The LORD (God the Father) and Messiah Jesus will first allow the ungodly nations to come against Jerusalem at the end of the tribulation and rifle (loot) the houses and ravish (rape) the women. Then He and Messiah Jesus will come from heaven to fight against the ungodly nations at the Battle of Armageddon. Then His (the LORD(God the Father)) and Messiah (Christ) Jesus will set their feet on the Mount of Olives just to the east of Jerusalem. This will cause the Mount of Olives to split in two with half going to the east and half to the west and will also split it with half moving towards the south and half towards the north. This will cause a new great mountain that will extend from the current location of the Mount of Olives to Azal which was and will be to the south of and nearby to Jerusalem. All the believers of the Church Age, at least some Old Testament saints and tribulation martyrs and holy angels will come with the LORD (God the Father) and His Messiah Jesus to the Mount of Olives and then to Jerusalem and the Temple or House of the LORD there through the East Gate. In the house of the LORD the LORD and His Messiah Jesus will dwell in, rule from and receive worship of Israel and the nations there during the Messianic Age. The scripture reference in Zechariah 14 of God allowing the nations to come up against Jerusalem and then His coming from heaven with His Messiah and saints and angels to fight against those ungodly nations, split the Mount of Olives and establish His Kingdom on Earth from His Temple in Jerusalem or on Mount Zion in the Messianic Age is as follows:
Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. Zechariah 14:1-5
In Isaiah 2 God says the mountain of the Lord's house or the mountain with His Temple or Mount Zion will be lifted up above all the mountains of Earth. This will be not only because Mount Zion or God's Holy Hill will be lifted up but also because all the other mountains or hills of Earth will be brought down or brought low as in Isaiah 40 and Revelation 16. This latter action will be due to the great earthquake at the end of the tribulation at the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ with God the Father at the Battle of Armageddon. This event will also immediately precede and prepare for the Messianic Age. God the Father and Messiah Jesus will then dwell in, rule from and receive worship over the Jews and the nations from the Messianic Temple on Mount Zion. The Messianic Temple on Mount Zion will be lifted up in Jerusalem in the Messianic Kingdom and God will then send forth His word and laws from the Temple in the Messianic Age. God will also judge the nations at the beginning of the Messianic Age and convince them to destroy their weapons of war and give them a new heart with which they won't have a desire to learn war any more. The scripture reference of the LORD (God the Father) and Messiah Jesus dwelling in, ruling from, sending forth His word and law and receiving praise and worship from Israel and the nations from in His Holy Temple is in the following paragraph. Also Jerusalem on Mount Zion that will be lifted up above the mountains of Israel and the world in Isaiah 2 as follows:
The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all the nations shall flow into it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nations shall not lift up sword againt nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD. Isaiah 2:1-5
In Ezekiel 47 an angel brings Ezekiel to the door of the temple and shows him a miraculous spring of living water that proceeds from the threshold of the temple in an eastern direction which was also in the direction the temple was facing. This was also the direction of the Mount of Olives which at that time will just have been split by the LORD and His Messiah's coming from Heaven with His saints and holy angels. The waters will come from the right side of the house or temple at the south side of the altar. The waters could be seen from the east gate running to the right side which is towards the east. The scripture reference from Ezekiel 47 of the miraculous spring or river of living water proceeding out of the house or temple of God in the Messianic Age is as follows:
Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from the south side of the altar. Then brought he me out of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side. Ezekiel 47:1-2
Towards the east from the Messianic Age Temple or House of God or the LORD an angel brought Ezekiel along this mirculous river of living water that originated from under the temple. The angel then measured the depth of the river at 1000 cubits from the temple which is approximately 1500 feet since a cubit is approximately 1 1/2 feet or 18 inches. At that distance the waters of the river were up to the ankles. The angel then took Ezekiel a further 1000 cubits or 1500 feet and the waters were up to the knees. The angel then took Ezekiel a further 1000 cubits or 1500 feet from the temple and they were up to the loins or waist. The angel then took Ezekiel yet another 1000 cubits or 1500 feet for a total distance of 4000 cubits or 6000 feet from the temple or house of God and it was a river he could not pass over but had to swim in meaning it was probably over the head in depth. This is quite miraculous that the river gained greater depth with increasing distance and was probably partly due to God supernaturally bringing more water to the river along its course from the temple or house of the LORD. The scripture reference from Ezekiel 47 of the angel showing Ezekiel the increasing depth with distance from the House of the LORD or Temple of God in the Messianic Age is as follows:
And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins. Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over. And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the river. Ezekiel 47:3-6
The living water of this river from the temple will provide water for many trees to flourish on the banks of either side of its waters. The angel tells Ezekiel that this river goes to the east country that is east of Jerusalem into an area that was formerly desert or wilderness and into the sea. This causes the waters of the sea to be healed or support life. This river has the property to bring or newly cause to support life wherever it goes as it brings a new source of water to areas that were formerly desert and too dry to support much life. This river will probably have tributaries or streams flowing into it as it is called rivers plural and waters plural in verse 9 and will enable it to water more land than without river branches. This will result in an abundance of fish and other life in the river and in the sea which is the Dead Sea that will be caught by fishers and most likely be used for food in the Messianic Age for the people of Israel. The sea can be identified as the Dead Sea not just because it is near Israel in a wilderness region but also because Engedi is well known to be about half way up its west coast and was a significant Israeli town for some time. Eneglaim was probably a town on the east or Jordan side of the Dead Sea. That fishes will probably be caught and eaten in the Messianic Age must mean that people will not be total vegetarians at that time although they probably won't eat land animals from Isaiah 11. God then states in his word that many different trees will grow along the banks of this river that will have fruit that can be used for food and that the source of this river from the sanctuary or temple of God is what will give this river its life-giving nature. The scripture reference from Ezekiel 47 of this life giving river from the House of the LORD in Mount Zion in Jerusalem to the Dead Sea in the Messianic Age is as follows:
Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the river. Now when I had returned, behold, at the brink of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. Then said he to me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed. And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh. And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from Engedi even unto Eneglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many. But the miry places thereof and the marishes (marshes) thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt. And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring new fruit according to the months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat (food), and the leaf thereof for medicine. Ezekiel 47:7-12
For more information, comments, advice or questions contact Doug at skyeyes@canada.com
Removal of the Curse on Creation and the Messianic Age Part 2