17 Oct '14 19:24

Originally posted by roigam

As for the rapture, Paul was speaking of the resurrection of the chosen ones or anointed ones during the Great Tribulation.
They are the ones left on earth who have not yet died.

I agree up this point.

They will die and "be changed in a moment, in the blink of an eye, during the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised up incorruptible, and we will be changed." 1 Corinthians 15:52
They must die as they are baptized into Jesus' death as Romans 6:3 states.

This I do not concur with.

The idea of Christians needing to physically expire in order to be baptized into the death of Jesus cannot be right.

First of all, there must be some who are young or middle age or old who are living on the earth as Christians at the last trumpet. There is no reason to believe that they all must undergo a quick physical death.

Keep this point in mind and perhaps I'll come back to it.

Now, as for being baptized into the death of Christ, that is what Paul told the believers ALL have partaken of whom have been baptized.

"What then shall we say? Should we continue in sin that grace may abound? Abolutely not! We who have died to sin, how shall we still live in it?

Or are you ignorant that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?" (Romans 6:1-3)

Paul is not saying we await to be baptized into Christ's death.
He says as to the PAST - we have been baptized into Christ's death.
And of this fact we should not be ignorant.

Now all the truths of the New Testament are appropriated by faith.
So we must do as the apostle Paul pioneered successfully to do.
We must SEE that we HAVE BEEN baptized into Christ's death when we were baptized.

IE. "Lord Jesus, I thank You. I do not trust my feelings Lord. I do not trust my ups and downs of experience. The FACT of the matter is that I have be baptized into Your death. Lord Jesus thank You that the effectiveness of Your death is available to me. Through Your death so many germs and bad habits of the fallen nature can be killed off. I do not owe the old man anything for I indeed have been baptized into Your death."

This is the way we should praise and pray - in Faith in His word.
This is exactly the same attitude we have about being cleansed of our sins.
We take His word in faith and the Holy Spirit confirms the truth within us.

So too, we take that we are not only forgiven, but we are crucified and buried with Christ. Now look how Paul goes on -

"Or are you ignorant that all of us who have been baptized into Christ have been baptized into His death?

We have been buried therefore with Him through baptism into His death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we might walk in newness of life." (Rom. 6:4,5)

There is nowhere in here the slightest hint that Paul is saying we need to die physically in order to be baptized into Christ's death. The co-death and co-burial with Christ has been accomplished in the Christian's past.

This he or she must stand upon with thanksgiving and praise. "Thankyou Lord. I have been baptized into Your all-inclusive and powerful death. Now the death operates to kill off the things that I cannot overcome in my natural strength."

This is something of our normal yet miraculous daily experience. By faith, we stand not on what we see but on His word. And the faith unleashes the fact in our experience.

Now let's look at one more following verse in that passage -

" ... so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have grown together with Him in the likeness of His death, indeed we will also be in the likeness of His resurrection." (v.5)

The implication of Paul's wording is that this revelation GROWS in us. In other words it is practically applied to deeper and deeper and deeper areas of our lives. We GROW together with Him in the reality that we have DIED with Christ and are RAISED with Christ to walk in newness of life.

This is good for this post. Rapture is set aside for a moment for something very important. We have to applied the divine fact by faith - when we were baptized as Christians we were baptized into the death of Christ.

There is nothing wrong with deciding to be baptized again in order to more solidly rejoice in this vision.

Spirituality

For RJHinds-yes Pre:rapture