(Colossians 1:12-14 NKJV) (12) giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. (13) He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, (14) in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
Three doctrinal terms we need to know and understand:
- Incarnation – God became man in and through the Lord Jesus.
(John 1:1,14 NKJV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
(Galatians 4:4-5 NKJV) But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, (5) to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
Being equal with God on one hand and united with man on the other, Jesus could bring the two together and bridge the gap between God and man.
Also, being Deity and humanity united, as a man He could assume the obligation of the human treason and pay the penalty, satisfying the claims of justice so that the human race could be freed from the authority of Satan, and given the right to receive the nature of God.
- Substitution – Jesus, through His death did for us that which we could never do for ourselves. He took our place!
(Romans 8:32 TPT) For God has proved his love by giving us his greatest treasure, the gift of his Son. And since God freely offered him up as the sacrifice for us all, he certainly won’t withhold from us anything else he has to give.
(Romans 5:6 TPT) For when the time was right, the Anointed One came and died to demonstrate his love for sinners who were entirely helpless, weak, and powerless to save themselves.
- Jesus became our substitute to pay the price of our sin thus taking upon Himself all we had to offer.
- But in our substitution in the Resurrection, we can receive on us all He has to offer.
- Identification – the believer is identified with Christ in His death and resurrection.
Identification is two-fold. It includes man’s identification with Adam and his identification with Christ.
(Romans 5:12 TPT) When Adam sinned, the entire world was affected. Sin entered human experience, and death was the result. And so death followed this sin, casting its shadow over all humanity, because all have sinned.
We need to not only identify with Jesus’ death on the Cross for us but also what was accomplished for us in His glorious Resurrection.
There are six steps to our identification with Jesus:
- I was crucified with Christ.
(Galatians 2:20 NKJV) 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.
(Romans 6:6 TPT) Could it be any clearer that our former identity is now and forever deprived of its power? For we were co-crucified with him to dismantle the stronghold of sin within us, so that we would not continue to live one moment longer submitted to sin’s power.
- I died with Christ.
(Romans 6:5a AMPC) For if we have become one with Him by sharing a death like His…
(Romans 6:8 NKJV) Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
- I was buried with Christ.
(Romans 6:4a TPT) Sharing in his death by our baptism means that we were co-buried and entombed with him…
(This does not take place in baptism; baptism takes place because one believes this.)
- I was made alive with Christ.
(Colossians 2:13 NKJV) And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,
(Romans 6:11 NKJV) Likewise you also, reckon (view yourself) yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- I was raised with Christ.
(Ephesians 2:6a TPT) He raised us up with Christ the exalted One, and we ascended with him into the glorious perfection and authority of the heavenly realm…
(Colossians 2:13 TPT) (13) This “realm of death” describes our former state, for we were held in sin’s grasp. But now, we’ve been resurrected out of that “realm of death” never to return, for we are forever alive and forgiven of all our sins!
- I was seated with Christ.
(Ephesians 2:6-7 TPT) He raised us up with Christ the exalted One, and we ascended with him into the glorious perfection and authority of the heavenly realm, for we are now co-seated as one with Christ! (7) Throughout the coming ages we will be the visible display of the infinite, limitless riches of his grace and kindness, which was showered upon us in Jesus Christ.
(Ephesians 1:19-23 TPT) I pray that you will continually experience the immeasurable greatness of God’s power made available to you through faith. Then your lives will be an advertisement of this immense power as it works through you! This is the mighty power (20) that was released when God raised Christ from the dead and exalted him to the place of highest honor and supreme authority in the heavenly realm! (21) And now he is exalted as first above every ruler, authority, government, and realm of power in existence! He is gloriously enthroned over every name that is ever praised, not only in this age, but in the age that is coming! (22) And he alone is the leader and source of everything needed in the church. God has put everything beneath the authority of Jesus Christ and has given him the highest rank above all others. (23) And now we, his church, are his body on the earth and that which fills him who is being filled by it!
Jesus is waiting for us in His Name to vitally take what legally is ours and in His Name put every enemy of ours under our feet that we might reign with Him!