To me the ultimate purpose of man is clearly to be the dwelling place of God where He resides in union with our spirit. The Bible is rich in symbolism that tells the same story over and over revealing that mystery which is Christ in us. For instance, we were recently studying the ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s supper. In both I see the same revelation. Let’s start with baptism in this article and save the Lord’s supper for another.
First, remember that all symbolism is conveying to us spiritual truths in earthly garb so keep your eyes open. It’s not required for salvation but it is symbolic of something that happened. The question beyond the obvious is what?
There are three things depicted in baptism: death, burial, and resurrection. We know it’s a picture of what happened to the Christ, but why do we act it out in baptism? Are we going through the motions because we were told to . . . to be obedient? Is it simply to remember the sacrifice He made for us? Yes, all these things but it’s much more than that.
You see when Jesus hung on the cross, so did we! When Jesus died and was buried, so were we. That is what we are showing when we follow Him in baptism. How, you ask? Don’t ask me — I don’t’ know. It’s just so. That is what the Bible says. Remember Galatians 2: 20 “I am crucified with Christ?” It says what it means and means what it says. It may be mystical, but we were there joined spiritually with Christ. We died with Him and we were buried with Him. You could say that Jesus hung there “as us”, each one of us individually that believes, yet he took the fall.
What about the resurrection? Were we there for that? Most people stop at the foot of the cross, but it’s clear we are meant to be way beyond that if we have eyes to see. Ephesians 2 vs. 5-6 says, “5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, . . .”
Heavenly places! That’s pretty lofty do you agree? And Romans 6: 1 sums it up, “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”
There you have it. We are showing not only what happened to Christ, but ourselves when we believe.
But that doesn’t really answer all the questions. To truly appreciate what Christ did and why we had to join Him in His death, burial, and resurrection we have to see beyond the act find out what it means spiritually. Why did we have to die as Christ died? Why did we have to join Him in this death, burial, and resurrection?
Paul spells it out in Romans 7 explaining how through the law we are freed from the law. Now this is pretty technical. He says in v.2 “For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.” In v. 3 he says, “But if her husband dies, she is free from that law . . .” which means she is now free legally to marry another and no longer bound to her previous husband.
So what does that have to do with us? Well, spiritually we have always been in union with, married to, another. We were born married to, in union with, the not-god, the spirit of Sin. We take on the nature of our Master and it is his desires that we do. To understand how that happened, read the article “What Just Happened?” The reason most have a problem believing that is they look back and do not quite see themselves as being “that bad.” You better take a closer look if you don’t believe me.
You see we were never independent persons. That is a delusion. We were always in union with – joined to – a Master, a husband. When Paul says we are slaves either to sin or to righteousness, that is what he is talking about. Our only choice is who that Master is but one thing is for sure, if you don’t like the husband you were born with, there is only one way out of that very bad relationship — death! Unlike earthly marriages so easily dissolved, the spiritual laws of marriage and divorce don’t work that way. You are bound to that husband as long as he lives. The only way out is death.
As macabre as that sounds, it’s not as bad as you think. Christ provided the way. He did it for us. The only thing we have to do is believe. When we believe, we join Him on the cross, we are crucified with Him, buried with Him, and raised with Him. We are now free to marry another, the true bridegroom — Christ. The two of us joined together as one.
Corinthians 6:17 says, “ But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.” We are now joined to and one with Christ and we now take on His nature and it is His desires that we do. Praise God for that wonderful act of grace there to be freely received! We are finally free!
