A WORD IN SEASON TO THE WEARY

🌷🌷October 15🌷🌷

..IF WE HAVE BEEN PLANTED TOGETHER IN THE LIKENESS OF HIS DEATH, WE SHALL BE ALSO IN THE LIKENESS OF HIS RESURRECTION (Rom. 6:5)

In Heb. 6:2 we read about the doctrine of baptisms. Why is it written “baptisms”? When we are born again we are baptized into one Body, by the Holy Spirit. That is the first baptism. “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond of free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:13). The second one is the water baptism.

In the Bible the word baptism is never used for fullness. Baptism means washing or dipping or bathing. When we take bath we wash our whole body. If we wash our hands or feet only, it is not a bath. In the same way, in baptism we are immersed into water by which we testify that the Lord Jesus Christ has completely washed all our sins away.

Secondly, through baptism we declare our union with the Lord Jesus Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death.. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection” (Romans 6:3-5). As we have already seen, when we are saved we are baptized by the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ, which means we are joined in Him. We become members of His Body and His life begins to flow in us. In water baptism we declare this spiritual union with the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our Creator, He gave us His life. In other words our life was in Him. “In him was life; and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4) . That is why when He died, we died with Him. When He was buried, we were buried. When He rose again, we too were raised with Him.