Today’s Encouragement is Romans 6:5,8 “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. [8] Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.”
A resurrection like His –
We understand that our earthly baptism is a symbolic act of worship, that we are symbolically dead to our old life, buried with Christ and raised to new life in the act of believer’s baptism.
We understand that we walk (we now live) as His forgiven children saved by His Grace and free from sin.
But what could this verse mean? “We shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His?”
Could this refer to our resurrection after our earthly death? We clearly believe that we are eternally saved and thus, after our earthly death we will live eternally with Him. But my friends, Jesus’ resurrection occurred on this earth, in this earthly realm, and it was not exclusively a ‘heavenly hereafter’ type of existence. He remained here with His people for 40 days after His resurrection.
Is it possible that our new life in Christ, which begins with our acceptance of His free gift of Grace, is also the beginning of our resurrected life on this earth, and as once-dead-now-alive-in-Him (resurrected) people… our lives are now, already, the early days of our Eternal life?
That is, just as Jesus was a new creation after His resurrection, so are we also new creatures after our resurrection in baptism.
Father please help us to understand rebirth; how we are new creations through Christ. And help us to live freely in the new life You’ve granted us.
New Creations
Josh Baldwin
Today’s Encouragement 