Love is the bond of the union between Christ and my soul. Faith is the grace that perceives this union. I now live by the life of the Son of God. I am crucified with Christ. His life for me is my righteousness before God. I live by Him and He lives in me (John 17:23, ‘I in them’). By His resurrection, I am risen together with Him. His life in heaven is my life in God’s presence. His entrance into the holiest with His own blood is my access (Romans 5:2; Hebrews 10:19). He is my hope (1 Timothy 1:1). He is my eternal life (1 John 1:2; 5:11-12). The faith He gives sees Him, the Son of God, in my nature, having given Himself for me. Faith perceives the love which moved Christ from eternity, in time, and for eternity, to give Himself for me. Faith clings to Christ only as all my salvation (2 Samuel 23:5). Faith is the eye that sees my union with Him, the hand that brings a reciprocal love to Him from my soul, my heart, my mind, my affections and my will. The union between Christ and my soul is eternal and real. The life I live now is the life of Christ, because His death was my death and His resurrection was my rising to sit with Him in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). His life for me and in me is more than physical life. It is real life. The grace of faith perceives His love who gave Himself for me, to be the propitiation for my sins (1 John 2:2; 4:10).
This union was complete in eternity, and by faith I now see it, though I grow in the grace of faith to more clearly see and more earnestly rely on Christ and more ardently love Him for His love to my soul (Ephesians 3:16-21). Crucified with Him, risen with Him, living on Him and one day soon I shall know even as I am now known: that Christ, the Son of God truly loved me, really gave Himself for me, and gives Himself to me, and is all my life because I am eternally one with Him.
This union is the basis of His redemption, His substitution and His Suretyship for me. It is the basis of all life and blessings from Him to my soul. Truly, as branches are one with the vine, every believer is one with Christ. As the body is one with the head, every member of Christ is joined to Him. As the wife is one with her husband, and as the bond of this union is love, every believer is one with Christ and eternally bound to Him by His everlasting love. Joined to Him in eternal election, saved by His eternal redemption, born of God by His Spirit, all flowing from His love, issuing in faith, causing me to draw life from Him. “I now live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
This union was complete in eternity, and by faith I now see it, though I grow in the grace of faith to more clearly see and more earnestly rely on Christ and more ardently love Him for His love to my soul (Ephesians 3:16-21). Crucified with Him, risen with Him, living on Him and one day soon I shall know even as I am now known: that Christ, the Son of God truly loved me, really gave Himself for me, and gives Himself to me, and is all my life because I am eternally one with Him.
This union is the basis of His redemption, His substitution and His Suretyship for me. It is the basis of all life and blessings from Him to my soul. Truly, as branches are one with the vine, every believer is one with Christ. As the body is one with the head, every member of Christ is joined to Him. As the wife is one with her husband, and as the bond of this union is love, every believer is one with Christ and eternally bound to Him by His everlasting love. Joined to Him in eternal election, saved by His eternal redemption, born of God by His Spirit, all flowing from His love, issuing in faith, causing me to draw life from Him. “I now live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Rick Warta
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