March 6 - Resurrection to New Life

"Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." – Romans 6:4 (KJV)

The repentant believer, who takes the necessary steps in conversion, celebrates through baptism the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Just as Christ was buried, the believer is immersed in the water, symbolizing His death and burial. When they rise from the water, it symbolizes Christ's resurrection – not to resume a life of sin, but to live a new life in Christ Jesus.

The One who said, “I lay down My life, that I might take it again” (John 10:17), arose from the tomb to the life that was within Himself. Humanity died, but divinity did not die. In His divinity, Christ had the power to break the bonds of death. He declared that He has life in Himself and that He can give life to whom He will.

All created beings live by the will and power of God. They are recipients of the life of the Son of God. No matter how skilled or talented they are, and no matter their capabilities, they are endowed with life from the Source of all life. Christ is the source, the originator of life. Only He who has immortality and dwells in light and life could say, "I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again" (John 10:18, KJV).

Christ was granted the right to bestow immortality. The life that He laid down as a man, He took up again and gave to humanity.

Christ became one with humanity so that humanity might become one with Him, in spirit and life. By this union, in obedience to God’s Word, His life becomes their life. He says to the repentant, "I am the resurrection and the life" (John 11:25, KJV). Death is seen by Christ as sleep – silence, darkness, rest. He refers to it as though it were of little consequence. “Whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die” (John 11:26, KJV). "If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death" (John 8:51, KJV). And for the believer, death is of little importance. For them, to die is simply to sleep. “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him” (1 Thessalonians 4:14, KJV).

This is the hope of all who walk in the newness of life that Christ offers through His resurrection.