Dear Baptized Ones,

       This Sunday we will get the opportunity to participate in the baptism of Elijah Blackman. Chris Blackman will have the great joy of baptizing his youngest son as part of our worship service in which we will celebrate the promised return of Christ from Mark 13:24-27. In preparation for this, please reflect on how baptism reflects both comings of Christ and the gifts they afford us as God’s children. J.C. Ryle helpfully compares both advents in his Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Vol. 1: Matthew—Mark:

The second coming of Christ shall be utterly unlike the first. He came the first time in weakness, a tender infant, born of a poor woman in the manger at Bethlehem, unnoticed, unhonored, and scarcely known. He shall come the second time in royal dignity, with the armies of heaven around Him, to be known, recognized, and feared by all the tribes of the earth. He came the first time to suffer—to bear our sins—to be reckoned a curse—to be despised, rejected, unjustly condemned, and slain. He shall come the second time to reign—to put down every enemy beneath His feet—to take the kingdoms of this world for His inheritance—to rule them with righteousness—to judge all men, and to live forevermore.

Just as Jesus came in weakness and suffered death, the Holy Spirit encounters us in our greatest weakness: our separation from God because of sin. The purpose of this redemptive encounter is to put that sin to death in Christ alone and cloth us in the righteousness of Christ alone. Just as Jesus rose triumphantly from the grave and will return to gather His people, the Holy Spirit makes us more than conquerors in the resurrection of Christ alone. The fruit of the resurrection begins in our justification, grows in our sanctification, and will be fully realized in glorification at the return of Christ alone. Baptism signifies the arc of this beautiful process!

       Please take time to reflect on the particular fruit born of your sin being put to death in Christ that frees you from slavery to sin and its resultant shame and guilt. Please also reflect on the unique fruit being born in resurrection power as you grow further into the image of Jesus. Come expecting the Holy Spirit to work through this means of grace!

In Christ,
Cameron