TRULY BURIED - Water Baptism

Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
John 3:5
The NAS Strong’s Version

Have you been baptized? Did you truly understand the significance of water baptism at the time? Water baptism is a faith declaration of victory. To truly understand it will reinforce, fortify and strengthen victory in the heart and mind of the believer. It is truly a work of the Spirit of God.
The first question to address is what is baptism? It is derived from a Greek word which means “to dip”, or the act of immersing a person in water. It consists of the processes of Immersion, Submersion and Emergence. These processes are used to describe the Christian or believer’s baptism. Immersion is defined as, “to plunge into, under, or within anything especially water.” Submersion, or to submerge means “to put or sink below the surface of water, to cover or bury; subordinate.” It includes the word merge which means to combine or unite with something to form a single entity, or to blend together two or more things. Finally, baptism includes the process of emergence, or “the act of emerging”. It is the act or process of coming out, or to appear out or from behind (under) something.
To sum these things together, baptism includes the process of immersion, which signifies the believer’s death. It is the moving from old life to death, or dying to his old nature. Once immersed or put under, the submerged believer is merged/united with Christ. This signifies the believer’s association with Christ, the abandonment of the old life and taking on the new life. This new life is attained and has provided to those who believe and trust in Christ. The “merged” believer rises or emerges from the water, not the old person he once was, but as a new man, into new life and a new nature. Romans 6:4 states, “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism unto death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
Furthermore, water baptism is an outward, physical expression of an inward, spiritual reality. It is a public declaration of a Christian’s desire to be a disciple of Christ. Have you associated yourself with Christ through baptism? It is the believer’s faith declaration of victory over death and the rising again to new life.