<p>8:25 <i>But if we hope for what we do not see, then we with patience wait for it</i>- Why does Paul labour his point here- that we don&rsquo;t have &ldquo;see&rdquo; what we know is coming for us, therefore we must patiently wait for it? Maybe to encourage patience in the waiting- perhaps the crux of his argument in these verses is on the word &ldquo;patience&rdquo;. But maybe he is back to addressing the old worry which he know lurks in every reader: Why, then, am I still such a sinner right now, today? Given that reality, how then can I so confidently await the future redemption? And Paul&rsquo;s answer is that yes we have been redeemed, but no we don&rsquo;t see that redemption physically, no, we don&rsquo;t yet see it, but we are patiently awaiting it in confidence. Despite all our weakness and failure in the flesh.&nbsp;Our waiting is paralleled with the awaiting of all creation for the manifestation of God&rsquo;s children the same word is used in Rom. 8:19,23,25. The New Testament associates this &lsquo;waiting&rsquo; with the faithful awaiting of Christ&rsquo;s return (s.w. 1 Cor. 1:7; Gal. 5:5; Phil. 3:20; Heb. 9:28). Yet here in Romans we are awaiting the manifestation of ourselves as the sons of God (Rom. 8:19). Christ is us and we are Him, if we are in Him and He in us. His manifestation or &lsquo;coming&rsquo; (s.w. 1 Cor. 1:7, we wait for the manifestation / coming of Christ) will be the same as the manifestation of the sons of God, all those who are in Him. His manifestation will therefore be ours; His glory shall be manifested in us in that day s.w. Rom. 8:18 just as He personally shall be manifested. And thus we read that in a sense, Christ shall return with all those who are in Him with Him; for the faithful shall be snatched away to meet Him in the air, as clouds (1 Thess. 4:17), and then He shall come to earth with clouds, of the faithful believers (Rev. 1:7). In this sense the second coming of Christ is likened to the new Jerusalem, the spotless bride of Christ, coming down from Heaven to earth (Rev. 21:2). His manifestation is ours, for all that is true of Him is true of us. Our <i>hupomone</i>&nbsp;&lsquo;joyful endurance&rsquo;, AV &ldquo;patience&rdquo; in awaiting the return of Christ is therefore possible because we are awaiting our redemption. We can only joyfully await His coming and&nbsp;<i>hupomone</i>&nbsp;can carry an element of &lsquo;joy&rsquo; within the wide flavour of its meaning if we are confident that His coming means our redemption rather than our judgment to condemnation. If our attitude to the return of Christ is that we shall only then find out, only then will our destiny be sorted out- then we are of all men most fearful and uncertain. But clearly enough for those in Christ, His revealing physically to the world shall be our revealing. His coming is going to be ours. &ldquo;For thee he comes, His might to impart, to the trembling heart and the feeble knee&rdquo;.</p>