CHRIST'S BURIAL
"Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and THAT HE WAS BURIED, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures" - 1 Cor 15:1-4

Devotion 13 of 15

WE ARE BURIED WITH CHRIST
      In salvation, we become identified with every aspect of the Gospel. We DIE with Christ, and we are RISEN with Him (*Rom 6:8; Eph 2:5-6; Col 2:20) . We are also BURIED with Him, praise the Lord! With all of the controversy about baptism, it remains the revealed point at which we are "buried with Christ." If that is all we knew about the ordinance--and it emphatically is not!--we should joyfully be baptized, even as those at Pentecost (Acts 2:41)!

The Place of Baptism
      The place of baptism is clearly proclaimed in the Word of God. There is no need to be intimidated by religious sophists who choose to exalt tradition over revelation.  What is more, the baptism to which the Spirit refers is an initiatory act, not the so-called baptism in the Holy Spirit. Only baptism in "water" (Acts 10:47; 1 Pet 3:21) is referred to as a "burial." "Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection" (Rom 6:4-5, NASB). 

      Here is an ordinance that identifies us with the past. We "are buried with Him." Thus, we assume identity with the Gospel of Christ! That burial puts us "into death," or the region where sin no longer dominates. The language here is arresting. Normally you think of death preceding burial, but here death is the environment into which we are buried. It is the death of Christ, of course, with
which we become identified in our burial. There we come into the marvelous  benefits that flow from His vicarious death. "Buried with Christ," out of the world of darkness, and into the kingdom of God's dear Son (Col 1:13).

PRAYER POINT: Father, I thank You, in Jesus' name, for the glorious identity you have given us with Your Son. Give me grace to live consistently with that identity, and thereby bring glory to Your wonderful name.

-- TOMORROW: FAITH IN DIVINE WORKING --