SECOND BIRTH/FIRST DEATH

I do not mean to be an alarmist.  The Bible directs us away from making ignorant speculations. However, I am alarmed.  America is facing a brutal enemy in ISIS.  They are here.

We have this grand knack of telling ourselves that threat from enemy powers is always over there or at least wherever we are not.  Such days are fading.  Catastrophic days will not come with slow warning.  Terrorists strikes will be sudden...and devastating.  Our current conditions are all of the warnings that we will most likely receive.

Therefore, I wish to give direction and support as to how we win with these conditions.  For the hopeful, there are two births as well as two deaths.  The first birth is earthy; the second of heaven.  The first death is of heaven; the second earthy.  We are born and then born again.  We die in baptism in Jesus.  Later we die to be buried in the local cemetery.

Just as seedlings die only to bear a new standard of life (bulb to flower), nature assures us that we are not foolish to believe that there is life after death.  Each person is to be born a second time (Jn. 3:3-5) to become a new creation (II Cor. 5:17); as the old things pass away.  Second birth by first death; born again by being baptized (buried) into Jesus.

Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death?  Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.  For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection (Romans 6:3-5).

Man is born once of flesh and is to be born a second time of the Spirit.  In the rebirth process, one dies a first death to self.  A second death will occur where breath leaves the body and burial into the ground is the final state of the flesh.  At the first death; sin leaves the body.  In the second, breath exits.

Two births.  Two deaths.  No one wants to be found with only one birth and one death.

Every person has the option to win over this temporary life of mere decades in count.  Even facing the strongest of attacks, we are free to choose a perfect hiding place; that of Jesus, buried in him at baptism and riding out all of life within him.  For you have died and you life is hidden with Christ in God ( Col. 3:3) is the perfect plot to escape a final earthy death.

While this is a rather simple process (born over and pre-die in a watery grave), it is equally intimidating.  There is resistance from many sides.  Some don't want to appear religious.  Others are simply timid.  Yet, others will find excuse by delay with intent on someday; maybe.  This, however, is an urgent matter for each of us personally.  There are no barriers to our acceptance of this process except for the ones we conjure ourselves.

Whether terrorism hits our countryside, death lurks in the meantime for every person.  At that window, we will not be concerned about what others think.  Our stubborn resistance will melt into love for the One who created us, died for us, and was resurrected to show us the eternal living hope.

I do offer caution.  Baptism is not our god.  God is.  This burial in a watery grave symbolizes we are to enter the tomb of Jesus.  It was there from where he arose.  As we immediately arise from that grave of which God speaks, sins are removed (all forevermore) and the Holy Spirit of God enters us (Acts 2:38).  It is the entrance into and the exit out of a God-designed grave; an exit strategy by God Himself.

The Bible is not vague.  God is real.  He signals us each Spring in the vineyards, timbers, and cornfields that life emerges from dead appearances.  He has been consistent to bring on the Sun following every dark night; without exception.

It is time for each of us to get serious.  For certain we have already experienced the first birth; the natural one.  And the final death approaches.  What can one do to avoid the crushing blow of the latter?  Enter the second birth which is the first death (to ourselves).  Hidden in Jesus, we have life abundant from here on out.

If you have yet to be baptized into Christ, it is time for you to seriously ponder a second birth/first death.

(If you would find this post helpful, please forward as there are many who would ponder these thoughts and find them useful.  Thank you.)