‘Being Conformed To His Death’

‘Being Conformed To His Death’

‘…that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death…’

Philippians 3:10

In order for us to thoroughly know Christ, we must identify with Him in His death.  We cannot know Christ unless we clearly understand that the end goal of His earthly ministry was to make ‘his soul an offering for sin.’  If we are going to know Christ, we must know Him at this level and in this arena. Hence, Paul declares that he wants to ‘know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.’ What does this mean to us in real terms? How exactly will this look in real time? For the justified person, saved by Free and Sovereign Grace, sanctification is an ongoing process of being conformed to the likeness of Christ. This means having a definitive identification with Christ in His death. Hence Paul says, ‘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.’ Our union with Christ includes all which relates to Him. When Christ died, we died. When Christ arose, we also arose. As He is exalted and seated in heavenly places, so we also sit with Him there. Our Divinely ordained experiences of life enable us to learn to die to self. As we become ‘conformed to His death,’ we become more selfless and more self-sacrificial. All that Christ did, He did for others. So, in ‘being conformed to His death,’ we live, not unto ourselves, but unto Him Who lived and died to make us like Himself.

Our Gracious Master and Our God,
We rejoice in Your Atoning Death,
We praise You, that by it, You have made Atonement for all our sins.
We count it a high privilege to be able, by Your Power,
to be conformed unto Your death.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning