Union With Christ
“God considers his to be in Christ, before they had a being in themselves, {Eph.1:4,} and he never looks upon his children out of Him, for they are never out of Him, for they dwell in Christ, and shall ever live, and be found in Him. {Phil.3:8} Christ and all true believers are so united together, that they are but one; one body, one spirit, bone of his bone. Oh what union is like to this, that is so real, full, and entire, wonderful, glorious, spiritual, eternal, and infinite! {I Corinthians .6:17, John 17:22,23} If our faith in Christ were as strong as our union with Christ, we should engross and possess all that is in heaven, and nothing in the earth could trouble us.”
- Samuel Richardson, Saint’s Desire, 1647
That's a great quote. I have often called this our "covenantal union" with Christ as represented in biblical phrases like, “chosen in him before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4-6). Sadly, this truth is little known among professing Christians in our time. I suspect this is the downstream effect of rejecting the doctrine of election in favor of the common false notion that God is trying to save everyone. In turn that makes man the active ratifier of a potential union in time rather than the passive beneficiary of a preexisting union from eternity. This makes man’s willing exercise of faith more determinate than God’s purpose and design.
In contrast with this popular sentiment, the bible says, “But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased” (Psalm 115:3) and that election is “according to the good pleasure of his will.” (Ephesians 1:5). Our covenantal union with Christ by election is part of God's design. It is a blessed bible truth that visits great comfort and stability into the lives of God’s people who embrace it, irrespective of its lack of popularity among professing evangelicals in our day.
- Elder Daniel Samons