We have seen that on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, we should count all things loss that we may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having our own righteousness out from the law, but the righteousness that is God Himself lived out of us (Phil. 3:7-9). The purpose of this is that we might know Him, the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings. But Paul does not stop here; he continues by saying, "Being conformed unto his death" (v. 10). The excellency of the knowledge of Christ, the counting loss of all things, the gaining of Christ, being found in Him, knowing Him, knowing the power of His resurrection, and knowing the fellowship of His sufferings all issue in one thing—being conformed to His death. Thus, the burden in this message is to consider this matter.
In Philippians 3 the Apostle Paul considered the death of Christ to be a model, a form, or a mold. For example, when the sisters make cakes or cookies, they put the dough into a mold. By being pressed into the mold, the dough eventually is conformed to the shape of the mold. This is precisely Paul's meaning here. He regards the death of Christ as a mold and us as the dough to be put into the mold and pressed. The result is that we are conformed to the death of Christ.
The death of Adam is terrible, and we loathe it. The death of Christ, however, is precious and lovable, and we all should treasure it. According to the Bible, the wonderful death of Christ is symbolized by baptism. In the Gospels the Lord Jesus experienced two baptisms: the first at the beginning of His ministry, when He was baptized in water by John, and the second at the end of His ministry, when He was baptized on the cross. Both baptisms symbolize the lovable death of Christ.
Baptism signifies both burial and resurrection. When a person is baptized in water, he is buried. A person who believes in the Lord Jesus comes to realize that he is dead and needs to be buried. Thus, we bury him by baptizing him in water. However, we do not leave him there. After burying him, we immediately raise him up. Burying signifies termination, and being raised up signifies germination. Thus, baptism clearly has two meanings: burial, signifying termination, and resurrection, signifying germination. This is the profound significance of baptism in the Scriptures.
The Lord Jesus passed through two baptisms. In the eyes of God, to be baptized like this is the highest righteousness. According to God, righteousness means to be right according to God's commandments. In the Old Testament times, God gave His people ten commandments. If anyone kept these commandments, he would be right before God, and God's righteousness would be with him. If anyone broke a commandment, he had to present a trespass offering in order to be brought back to the right position and to maintain his righteousness before God. Moses came with two tablets of commandments and charged the people to keep the commandments so that they might be right with God and have the righteousness required by God according to His law. But John the Baptist came and told people that they had to be baptized. By this we see that with John the dispensation was changed. God's economy in the New Testament is different from that in the Old Testament. According to God's economy in the Old Testament, His people were required to keep the law in order to be righteous in His sight. But in the New Testament God does not require us to keep the commandments of the law; rather, He has ordained that we be buried. This means that He requires that we be terminated and germinated. This is God's New Testament ordination. If anyone in the New Testament economy keeps the ten commandments but refuses to be baptized, he is a rebel against God's ordination. Therefore, in the New Testament the highest righteousness is to be baptized.