Suffering on Earth Will End
Suffering is associated with earthly life and arises in proportion to the extent to which we and those around us do not know or reject the Good News of the Kingdom. Some of our brothers are especially fraught with suffering and must endure untold anguish at the hands of those who could potentially be our brothers, but have not heard or responded to the ministry of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:18-20) Thus we can minimize some suffering by spreading this Good News throughout our communities.
This type of suffering has been the plight of mankind since Adam and Eve defaulted in their commission to uplift and subdue our planet. (Genesis 1:28) But this detour only delayed the Father’s purposes. There has always been hope:
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”
– Romans 8:18-25
It is by means of our sonship that we will have our freedom from all ‘groaning’ and suffering. So while it may take some time for our planet to be transformed into a paradise-like environment, we know that upon ‘the release from our fleshly bodies,’ all our suffering will end.
