Identifying with Jesus
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20 NIV)
On the cross, Jesus identified with us, taking the consequences of our sin. ‘Identification’ is a spiritual principle. Even in the natural, people become like who they identify with. If our identity is based on our cultural heritage, that’s what we become like. If we identify with a particular sport or sports star, we become like them; we wear the same uniform as them and share in their wins and losses.
Knowing that Jesus died for our sins and believing on him for forgiveness will get you saved and ‘born again’. Jesus identified with us spiritually and physically in his death on the Cross and so spiritual and physically, he bore our sin and our shame.
However, there is more. The same power that raised Christ from the dead is available for us to live a victorious Christian life (Romans 8:11). We are saved not just for eternity, we are also saved for a life of victory in the here and now.
The question is, how do we access that power?
We access the power of God in this life by ‘reverse identification’. Christ identified with us by taking our sin, guilt and shame on the cross: now we need to identify with him in his death and resurrection.
Firstly, we identify with His death, by believing that we have died to our sin and shame. This means we no longer accept the guilt accusation for the wrong things we have done. Be careful here; this is not denial or refusing to acknowledge sin. This is saying “I no longer identify with this sin, it is not who I am because I died to sin in Christ Jesus”.
When guilt and condemnation come against us we must take a stand. We have to speak to our self and speak to the accuser and say, “You’re mistaken, that old sinner is no longer me, that person died with Christ on the cross, I am a New Creation, I am ‘in Christ Jesus’.
Secondly, we need to identify with Jesus in His resurrection. When Jesus rose from the dead he shattered the power and authority of Satan. The Bible says he ‘destroyed powers and principalities, making an open show of them’ (Col 2:15). In identifying with Jesus in his resurrection we receive the benefits and authority of his resurrection (Ephesians 1:16-23).
When opposition comes against us we need to make a stand and take the authority that we have in our new identity, in Christ Jesus. We have to speak to the opposition and tell it that we have been raised with Christ and are now in a position of authority. Speak God’s Word over your life and say; “Because I rose with Christ, I have the authority of Christ over forces of darkness in my life”. The opposition will have to bow it’s knee when we identify with the risen Christ and use our New Creation authority.
Written by Pastor Grant Peterson
