Friday, December 09, 2005

Already there?

The third and fourth truths in this series from the book of Colossians are found in 2:12. We were buried with Christ and raised with Him. One of the great truths of the gospel is that when we come to Christ in faith, we are united with Him and identified with Him in His death, burial and resurrection. God looks on it as though it were our death, burial and resurrection. There is great power for victory in this truth as we shall see. Romans 6:1 asks the question, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” The response is that we won’t because we died to sin. “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized in His death?” Water pictures this great truth of identification with Christ. When we trust Christ, the Holy Spirit places us (baptizes us) into the body of Christ and we become identified with Him. Water baptism pictures our identification with Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. Ephesians 2:5ff tells us that “even when we were dead in trespasses, (God) made us alive together with Christ, and raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” So God sees us as having been raised and seated with Christ where He is. Ephesians 1:20 tells us that he is seated at the father’s right hand far above all principality and power. That’s where we are! We need to believe it by faith just like we believed Christ died for us by faith.

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