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C O V E R S T O R Y
Identification With Christ Via the Cross
* This article is taken from Chapter Six of The Irresistible Kingdom, available from TheSchoolOfChrist.Org."For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God... For though [Christ] was crucified through weakness, yet He lives by the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1:18; 2 Corinthians 13:4)Christ is a deep well in which every spiritual blessing and treasure can be found, but we need something with which to draw upon those depths and bring them up to the surface so we can partake of them. How can we draw upon those depths? The Cross is the means through which this is accomplished. The Cross is the key that unlocks the door to every provision and remedy available in Christ. In the Cross we know that God laid on Jesus "the iniquity of us all." He was made to suffer the penalty for our sins. In other words, Jesus identified with fallen man in His crucifixion. He was accounted as sinful, though He had done no wrong. That is the principle of identification. Identification was necessary to accomplish the work of redemption. As glorious as this is, the opposite is equally true: that just as He was identified with us in our sins, so we were identified with Him in His righteousness. "He made Him Who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." Thus, the identification is complete. We are now joined together, made one in Christ through His Cross. This explains some most peculiar language in the New Testament concerning the Lord Jesus and our relationship to Him. The early believers were not just taught that Jesus died for them, but in addition, they learned that they died with Jesus. This is certainly a mystery, but when one traces it through the Scriptures it becomes increasingly clear. "He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit," and just as the husband and wife are joined together and "the two shall become one," so it is with the Lord and His people. Once we see this we understand why the words of Jesus take on an increasing urgency as He moves towards the Cross: "Abide in Me." That is, "Continue to dwell in Me, live in Me, stay in union with Me. Even as I go to the Cross - especially now more than ever! - remain in Me." Disciples of Jesus are the crucified, dead, buried, resurrected, ascended, and seated branches of a crucified, dead, buried, resurrected, ascended, and seated Vine. In Him there is Life, Light, Love, spiritual fruitfulness and steady growth. But outside of Him, apart from Him, it is a different story. To be outside of Him is to experience Death, Darkness, Fear, spiritual unfruitfulness and lack of growth. In the language of the Vine, Jesus says those who do not abide in Him are "withered" and eventually "burned." But how is this union accomplished? How does God make us to be one spirit with Christ? We cannot say how it is done, but we can say with all confidence that it is so. Where and when does this happen? That we do know: it happens in the Cross. This is why the Cross is not only the necessary prerequisite for following Jesus, it is the absolutely essential component of our daily walk together with Him. For the disciple, the Cross must be a continuous, constant, consistent state of being in, relating to, and identifying with the crucified, dead, buried, resurrected, ascended, and seated Christ. This is what it means to take up the Cross - not as a teaching or a philosophy, but as a matter of spiritual life and death. The Scriptural teaching concerning our identification with Christ can be categorized into five distinct stages. Let us look at each one individually. 1 - Crucified With Christ Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin… (Rom. 6:6) I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me..." (Gal. 2:20a) This is the beginning point of our identification: crucifixion with Christ. Here Paul tells us the secret of what it means to be a disciple. A Christian is not someone who believes certain things about Jesus and tries to live a good life. A Christian is someone who is crucified with Christ and has no life of his own. "Not I, but Christ" is not just the secret of living the Christian life, it is the goal and the end result of all God's dealings with us along the lines of discipleship. He must increase. I must decrease. Follow this process out to its inevitable, irresistible conclusion and you see that eventually there is none of me; it is all of Him in me. Not I, but Christ. That is the goal, and the Cross is where the process begins. The crucifixion of Christ is inexorably, inescapably linked to the crucifixion of the disciple. It cannot be otherwise. This is where everything that is Christ's becomes ours as well. On the Cross the two are made one, and the destiny of the One is linked forever with the destiny of the Many. There in the Cross the Head is joined to the many members of the Body; the Vine is made one with the many branches. "He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him." Where are they joined? At the Cross. Paul was not there physically when Christ was crucified; yet Paul says, "I am crucified with Christ." Obviously this is a spiritual union, a spiritual oneness. People frequently ask how the actions of Adam six thousand years ago can have an effect on them today, or how the death of Christ two thousand years ago can make a difference to them now. The answer is that spiritual things are not bound by time and space. Though you may be many years and many miles away from the original event, there is no time or distance in spiritual matters. Spiritual realities do not fade or diminish with the passage of time; they are eternal, ageless, and unchanging. And so, when you take up the Cross today, it is a spiritual transaction between yourself and the eternal, ageless, and unchanging God - just as real, just as powerful, just as effective! We may not fully understand how it is so, but we can rejoice in the fact that it is so. For the apostle it was a present reality. "I am crucified with Christ," not "I was crucified." This is not a historical event taking place at a fixed location sometime in the distant past. It is a spiritual happening that forever remains part of the unceasing Now of the Spirit. I am crucified with Christ. Every blessing, every provision follows after this moment-by-moment identification. 2 - Died With Christ Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him... (Rom. 6:8) For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died... (2 Cor. 5:14, ESV) If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations? (Col. 2:20, ESV). The one who is crucified is assured of only one thing: death. No one survives a crucifixion. So if we were crucified with Christ, it must follow that we died with Him also. 3 - Buried With Christ Do you not know, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? 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. (Rom. 6:3,4) Buried with Him in baptism... (Col. 2:12a) The crucified, dead Branches of a crucified, dead Vine must of necessity be buried along with the Vine when the Vine is buried. We were crucified with Christ, we died with Christ, and now we are buried with Christ. In most situations that is the end of the story. We do not bury people until we know for sure that they are dead. Burial signifies that we have given up all hope for recovery. Notice how the Bible connects baptism with burial. This is the true significance of baptism - not the physical act of immersing someone in water, but what that immersion represents. Going down into the water represents going down into the earth and being buried with Christ. Of course, you cannot survive for long under water. To complete the spiritual picture there must be a raising up. So baptism represents going down in death and coming up again in resurrection. 4 - Resurrected With Christ For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection... (Rom. 6:5) Even when we were dead in sins, [God] has made us alive together with Christ... (Eph. 2:5) You are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who has raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses... (Col. 2:12,13) Now the hidden wisdom of the Cross begins to come forth. Why the Cross? Why is God so determined to have us identified with Christ in His crucifixion, death, and burial? Why such a thorough death? Resurrection is the reason. However dark the crucifixion may appear, the glorious light of resurrection makes it all worthwhile. Whatever we seemed to have lost at crucifixion is restored in resurrection but in glorified form. Practically speaking, it is seen in the musician who sacrifices his talent on the Cross, putting it completely in God's hands, only to receive it back from Him again - but how different it is after having passed through death! When the Cross has done its work there is a greater power as well as a greater humility. Before the death of the Cross there is plenty of room for fleshly pride and foolish boasting; but after the Cross, everything is transformed. And so it must be with everything we hold dear. 5 - Ascended and Seated Together With Christ [God] has raised [ascended] us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Eph. 2:6) If you are risen [ascended] with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God. (Col. 3:1) To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne. (Rev. 3:21) There is no higher place in the universe than to be seated together with Christ in the heavenly places. To be with Him in His throne: who can touch you there? There is nothing any man or devil can do to you in that place. And so the Christian life is not a struggle to try to ascend above the earth and reach the heavens. We are already ascended with Christ, and we are already seated together with Him. Just as surely as you have been crucified, dead, buried, and resurrected with Christ, you have also ascended and are seated together with Him. You will find that the whole strategy of the adversary is to bring you down from your heavenly position in Christ and engage you on a fleshly, carnal, earthly level. To overcome one need only maintain the ascended position with Christ. We are not trying to get the victory. Instead, we have been made one with Victory. If I enter into a room and sit down in a chair I do not have to wonder how I will enter the room. God has already seated us together with Christ; therefore, we do not have to try to enter in, rise up, or "get" the victory. Having already obtained this triumph through the Cross, we no longer have to attain it in our own strength. The Cross of Christ! What a marvelous provision it is! † Chip Brogden is the founder of The School of Christ and the publisher of Christology Journal. His writings and audio messages are available through his website at TheSchoolOfChrist.Org. |
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