Romans 6:1-4 “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? (2) Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? (3) Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? (4) 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.”
And so, although Christ died for all men, not all men benefitted from His death. You say why is that? It is at the death of Christ that the predestination of God is once again manifested, for although Christ died for all, not all died, for the above passage of scripture reveals to us that only those who are baptized into Christ are baptized into His death. In other words, from eternity, God knew those who were His, and so when Christ died, He at that time baptized them into the death of His Son.
Ephesians 2:4-7 “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, (5) even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), (6) and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, (7) that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
And so, as revealed in the above passage of scripture, when Christ Jesus was made alive by God the Father, so were those who had been baptized into His death. And they were also raised together with Him and they were seated together with Him in the heavenly places at the same time. In other words, because it was only the saints who were baptised into the death of Christ, it was only the saints that were made alive with Christ, it was only the saints that were raised up together with Christ and it was only the saints that were seated together with Christ in the heavenly places. None of that was done for the world because although Christ died for them, they did not die together with Christ. Nevertheless, even though God the Father placed the saints in Christ over two thousand years ago, that was only made manifest in the lives of each individual saint when they confessed Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.
Michael E.B. Maher
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