August 18,2021
And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel . . . Colossians 1:21-23a
Our self-imposed separation from God is the reason for which He so faithfully and completely displays His divine plan of reconciliation. The complex nature of sin’s deception calls for our willingness to be immersed into the process. Another word for reconciliation is atonement, which literally means at-one-ment with God. The light of His love, faceted like a diamond, has the power to chase away every shadow of darkness and deception laid out by the enemy of our souls.
The pathway of salvation, illustrated for us in the sanctuary (see Psalm 77:13), shows us the Father’s love in the giving of His Son. Every detail in the earthly tabernacle pointed to Jesus. Too often, the problem is that we are satisfied with only a partial understanding. It is His desire to unite us with Himself and each other in the whole counsel of God’s Word. Satan delights in obscuring and altering the meaning of the elements of the sanctuary. The laver of washing, which is the second article of furniture in the outer court of the sanctuary, provides a picture of the burial of Jesus. He identified with our sins, taking them upon Himself, and suffered the punishment of total separation from His Father. This broke His heart, which was the cause of His death. Oh, beloved, may your own heart be broken for your sin which has so deeply hurt our Lord!
Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 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. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. Romans 6:3-6
Satan’s attack on the laver of washing, which points to cleansing through the death and burial of sins, has been to trivialize baptism into a ritual that is divorced from repentance. During the Dark Ages, the concept of baptism was altered to be a ceremony of infant sprinkling instead of the immersion of those repentant ones who were old enough to understand that they had broken God’s Law. To compound the error, the church of this period taught that babies who died without being subjected to this ritual would be subjected to living throughout eternity in a fiery chamber of torture. This horrendous teaching is a multifaceted attack on God’s character; He is maligned as evil. The doctrine of repentance, turning from wrongdoing, and cleansing is obliterated. Obedience to church tradition replaces obedience to the Word of God. In every way, acknowledgement of God’s loving instructions for the preservation of life is overshadowed by false doctrines intended to make people forget the true God and trust in falsehood (see Jeremiah 13:25). The LORD who sees all says, “Woe to you . . . will you still not be made clean?” (v.27) Beloved, have faith in the working of God in you! His awesome power can recreate your heart if you are willing!
. . . buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses . . . He has made alive together with Him. . . Colossians 2:12-13