Through the Gateway of Righteousness

A new identity has been issued—sealed in Christ through God’s appointed gateway.

Devotional Credit:
eManna – Baptism: Accepting the Way Ordained by God

Photo Credit:
Unsplash

Today’s devotional by Witness Lee highlights the righteousness of God as something more than moral correctness—it is aligning with God’s ordained way. Under the Old Covenant, that meant keeping the law. Under the New Covenant, righteousness now means walking in God’s divine arrangement, and that begins with baptism. It’s not about religious duty but about responding to God’s appointed doorway of identification with Christ’s death and resurrection.

Even Jesus, though sinless and divine, submitted to baptism to fulfill all righteousness. He didn't bypass the requirement but embraced it, not as God alone, but as the representative man. By stepping into those waters, He inaugurated the path for us all—dying to the old and being raised to newness of life. Baptism becomes not just a symbol, but a declaration: our natural life has ended, and we have been germinated with divine life.

The devotional also introduces the deep truth that God’s economy is not about improving our old nature but ending it. Baptism visually represents that: the termination of our former way and the beginning of new life. When we walk through this gateway, we are walking in harmony with God’s design—not merely obeying a command, but stepping into the righteousness He has authored.

Righteousness, then, is not earned—it’s received through humble submission to the way God has made. When we say yes to that divine exchange—our death for His life—we become right with God, not just in position but in experience. That’s the beauty and simplicity of baptism: it is God’s appointed entryway into the life that pleases Him.

Journal Entry – Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture

I led you to the waters—not to cleanse your flesh but to end what was old and plant what is new. When you stepped into My death, your history in Adam ended. You were baptized into Christ Jesus and baptized into His death. And if you have been united with Him in the likeness of His death, you shall also walk in the likeness of His resurrection.

The path of righteousness I ordain is not one of striving but of surrender. My Son fulfilled righteousness by yielding to baptism—not because He needed cleansing, but because He submitted to My way. In the same way, I called you to pass through that same gate, not to gain merit but to affirm your union with Him. You died with Him, and now His life is your life.

This is My economy—termination and germination. I did not ask you to renovate your old self. I crucified it with Christ. And now, the life you live, you live by faith in the Son who loved you and gave Himself for you. In Him, you are a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come. This is righteousness in My sight—receiving what I have already accomplished and living out of it by My Spirit.

You are no longer under the dominion of sin or bound by your own efforts to be right. You are in Christ. That is your place, your righteousness, and your peace. Walk in it. Trust that what I have begun in you through death, I am completing through resurrection life.

Scripture References:
Matthew 3:6, 15; Romans 6:3–5; Galatians 2:20; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Romans 8:1–4; Colossians 2:12–14; Philippians 3:9; Titus 3:5; John 3:5–6

Real-Life Analogy

Think of a passport being canceled and reissued. Once the old one is stamped “void,” there’s no returning to it. You travel now under a new name, a new identity, a new citizenship. Baptism is your spiritual passport stamp—your declaration that your citizenship in Adam has been canceled, and you now travel under the authority of Christ.

So when you encounter moments of self-doubt, temptation, or pressure to perform for approval, don’t revert to that old passport. Remember: it’s been terminated. In that moment, yield and trust—“Lord, I trust You to live Your life in and through me right now, in this conversation, this choice, this attitude.” You’ve passed through the only gateway God recognizes for righteousness—your union with Christ.

Prayer of Confidence

Father, thank You for the wisdom and kindness of Your design. You didn’t call me to clean myself up or prove myself worthy. You called me to die with Christ and be raised with Him. I joyfully receive what You have already done. My old life is gone. My new life is in Christ. And that makes me right in Your eyes. What peace, what rest, what joy. I walk in it today, confident in Your finished work.