Baptism, it is a death and resurrection in our spiritual lives, but as I read my morning devotional (Oswald Chambers) regarding it, I began to think about how baptism is much more than a symbol... it is actual death.
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Baptism, it is a death and resurrection in our spiritual lives, but as I read my morning devotional (Oswald Chambers) regarding it, I began to think about how baptism is much more than a symbol... it is actual death.
Death is not a topic that we as people like to dwell on, but it is one of the central themes to us as Christians. It goes hand in hand with resurrection. We symbolically recognize this in our baptism by being immersed, or dying to our old selves, and it concludes with our being raised up out of the baptismal water, resurrected, to live as new creations. Without Jesus suffering, bleeding, and carrying our sin into death, then rising again righteous and glorified from the grave, what hope would we have of salvation and eternity? How would our sin have been absolved? The Angels sang in celebration at His birth, and all of heaven and earth stood still at the moment of His death, but we are not privy to what transpired in heaven at the moment of His resurrection; it remains a mystery to us now, just as it did then, and all we hear on this subject is divine silence. We do know that our sin died, and we weren’t made one with Him.
We have experienced the excitement, and anticipation that leads up to baptism, but once we have been buried with Christ, and raised to put on warm dry clothes, what comes next? What do we feel and do the day after our baptism? Some feel a bit of a let down as the excitement ebbs, others feel like they are charged with electricity, but many have a sense that something big is about to happen, yet they just don’t know what. This is what every pilgrim feels once they reach the starting point of their pilgrimage, and so it is with every Christian as they begin their journey of faith, walking with Jesus in the newness of life.
The old and unrighteous in us dies, and the new sanctified person rises up. From the living waters of baptism springs forth the people of a new covenant, like babies they have been washed, and are lifted joyously for all to see. They have become an image of the Risen Christ, with the Words of the Father ringing in their ears, and a new song bursting forth from their hearts… “Glory to God on the highest, and come quickly Lord Jesus!” These are now the heirs of the Prince of Peace! These are the children of God! On them rests the Holy Spirit, and in them their Father is pleased.
Peter preached the gospel of Jesus to the Jews, and told them how they had crucified the Son of God. When they came to understand this as truth they were distraught, and asked what they could do to save themselves. Today we hear the same gospel, and find that we are just as lost to sin as they were. When we come to understand this truth we are equally distraught, but brothers and sisters, fear not, because the solution that Peter preached to the Jews in his day is still sufficient to save us today.