Many people observe Advent by lighting candles. Others open small doors on an Advent calendar to reveal a picture or Bible verse, or even a piece of candy. But creation also observes a kind of Advent! Romans 8:19 says that “creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.” The apostle pictures creation as “groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” as it waits for the return of Christ and the new creation (v. 22).

This groaning is figurative, echoed in a number of Old Testament passages (Isa. 66:8; Jer. 4:31; Micah 4:8–9). Jesus spoke of “the beginning of birth pains” (Mark 13:8), including false messiahs, wars, famines, and earthquakes, which would take place before His Second Coming.

These vivid images do not help us predict the day and time of Christ’s return, but they do indicate the end toward which all human history is moving. Jesus Christ’s first Advent is the axis upon which it swings, and His second is the climax toward which it moves. Creation’s anticipation of Christ’s return did not begin with the incarnation but with Adam’s fall when “the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope” (v. 20).

Creation’s groaning is filled with both lament and anticipation. Life in a fallen world is often marked by trouble and sorrow, including those of us who know Christ. The experience of salvation does not make us immune to the damage caused by sin. There are times when we groan with longing for the new world. We may even feel frustrated by nature’s continuous cycle of birth, decay, and death, which is beyond our control (v. 20).

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