We must remember the joys of our Christian faith, which are rooted in the resurrection of Jesus Christ over two millennia ago. We should daily reflect on the profound significance of the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. We should identify with Christ and His cross.
By Identification we mean that God identified us with Christ in His redemptive work (death, burial, and resurrection). Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary says to identify means to make identical, to consider or treat as the same.
God considered us to have died with Christ, to have been buried and raised with Him. This identification of us with Christ is based on two key facts:
1) Jesus was our Substitute. He acted in our place so that we were accredited with what He did.
- The scripture tells us that God demonstrated His love for us beyond all doubt by the fact that Christ died on our behalf while we were still
sinners. Rom. 5:8 (20th Century NT).
2) Jesus became exactly what we were in spirit, so that God viewed Him as being us. He was treated as though He were us. We were identified with Him.
- 2 Cor. 5:21 - For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Additionally, we must understand seven important facts about our identification which are clearly outlined in the New Testament.
1) We were crucified with Christ.
- Gal. 2:20 - I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
- When Jesus was crucified over two thousand years ago, in God’s mind we were with Him being crucified on that cross. Jesus was not deserving of that punishment. He was punished for us.
2) We died with Christ.
- Rom. 6:8 - Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him
- Again we need to understand that when Jesus died we died with Him. In God’s viewpoint we who are born again, were with Jesus at the time of His death on the earth.
3) We were bured with Christ.
- Rom. 6:4 - Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. - So we see that we were also buried with Him. This is only possible in the spirit because there is neither time nor distance in that realm.
Next month, we will outline the last four important facts about our identification.
These wonderful truths are not only for us but for all children of God to enjoy. As we reflect on these realities we see the awesome things God has done for us through His son. It keeps us fixed on the commission to tell others of this wonderful news. We need to be those wonderful relationship builders.
As with every month, say the following with great confidence in our God... “I’m believing to be at the Right Place, at the Right Time saying the Right Thing and the right thing to say is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”