Page 19 - The Mark of the Beast

a key work of the day. In the same way man, after confessing faith in Christ Who is the light
of the world, is to be baptized in water, and in doing so he is symbolically demonstrating
that his sins have been separated from him, being washed away. Baptism speaks of joining
with Christ in His death whereby our sins are atoned for, that we might also be joined with
Him in His resurrection life. This resurrection life is the subject of day three of the creation.

Genesis 1:9-13
Then God said, "Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and
let the dry land appear"; and it was so. God called the dry land earth, and the
gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good. Then God said,
"Let the earth sprout vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth
bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them"; and it was so. The earth brought
forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with
seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. There was evening and
there was morning, a third day.

Even as Christ was raised from the dead on the third day, so we see the dry land
arising from the waters of death on the third day. This also symbolizes that man is not to
remain in sin and death after confessing Christ, but he is to be resurrected as a new
creation.

Romans 6:4-7
Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so 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, knowing this,
that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done
away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed
from sin.

What a great deceit is being spread by the enemy today to keep men and women in
bondage to sin. Millions of professing believers are told that they are merely sinners saved
by grace, and that nothing has fundamentally changed in their lives. They have no
conception of their union with Christ, of their victory over sin and death. They continue in
sin believing that this is both normal and expected, while counting on the blood of Christ
to cover them and make them clean. They have failed to understand the words of the apostle
John:

I John 5:18
We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps
him, and the evil one does not touch him.

Multitudes of saints make no attempt to buffet their bodies and keep them in
subjection. They have received the lie that they have no power over sin. Some who were
homosexuals continue in their homosexuality. Some who were liars continue to lie. Some
who were fornicators continue to fornicate. Some who were thieves continue to steal. The
apostle Paul wrote: