It is sad to think how few, comparatively, of God's dear children understand, and enjoy the blessedness of their position as " in Christ " before Himself. With many the thought of "in Christ or out of Christ," as it is often put, goes no further than being saved or lost, and, even, as to this question of salvation, many are rather hoping that they are "in Christ," than enjoying the effect of such a standing, in the certainty of salvation. To be " in Christ" is most certainly to be saved beyond the possibility of ever being lost, and most blessed is the knowledge of such salvation, but to be in Christ" involves infinitely more than the being saved out of a state of death and judgment. Salvation carries the heart no farther than the thought of what I am brought out of, it tells me nothing of what L am brought into. Most sweetly does it speak peace to the troubled conscience, and a song of glad praise rises to the lips concerning Him who has thus saved, but there it ends, and, like Israel of old, the murmurings of the wilderness alas, too often, take the place of the song of triumph so freely poured forth on the shores of the Red Sea.
It was one thing for the Israelite to sing his song of salvation as he entered on his wilderness journey, and quite another thing to appear before Jehovah with his " basket of first fruits," and rejoice before him, as enjoying the pro-, duce of the land of Canaan. The one spoke of what he had been brought out of; the other of that into which he had been brought. So it is with the Christian now. To enter into the value of the cross of Christ, as " the power of God unto salvation, to every one that believeth " is one thing, and to enter into the enjoyment of our place before God in a risen Christ, as " blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ," is quite mother.
As a sinner, coming to the cross of Christ, I find a work that has put away all my sins, and which has saved me out of all the condition of wretchedness in which as a sinner I find myself to be. As a believer, looking at Christ risen, I find a Person in whom I am accepted before God. It is as contemplating the double work of God for us in Christ, " who was delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our justification, that, being justified by faith we have peace with. God through our Lord Jesus Christ:" but this is not all, the Apostle adds " by whom also we have access by faith in this grace, (properly favor,) wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."
It is only as realizing my connection with this risen and glorified Christ that I can adopt the Apostle's language. We cannot, for blessing, separate this work of Christ for us on the cross from Himself as risen before God, but by not sufficiently discriminating between the effects that flow from one, from those that flow from the other, we do not- see clearly the difference between that out of which we are brought by the cross, which is salvation, and that into which we are brought by a risen Christ, which is our standing in blessing.
Having thus shortly noticed the difference between the two let us dwell a little upon what, as scripture sets it before us, it is to be " in Christ." It is only as we look at Christ, as He now is risen at God's right hand, that we can apprehend the blessings, into which, as believers in Him, we are brought.
In the proper sense of the word, to be a Christian, is simply to be " in Christ," and so the Lord when speaking, of what, for his disciples, would be the effect of the coming of the Holy Ghost, says, "In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you." All that believe truly in Christ are Christ's. God sees all that are Christ's in Christ " and as Christ. We look at Christ and the testimony of the Holy Ghost to us through word, is that we are in Christ and as Christ.
Are we thinking of the righteousness of God dealing with us as responsible creatures, in the language of Scripture we say, " there is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ." Does the day of judgment dawn upon our souls we declare, we have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He (Christ) is, so are we in this world."
Do we think of the ruin in which, as children of Adam, we are involved, it is only to say that, " if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new." Our personal history and estate in the first creation being completely blotted out, nothing but Christ and that in which He lives, as head of the new creation, is true of us.
Are the affections of filial relationship stirring our hearts, not only do we say, we " are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus," but we affirm we are " to the praise of the glory of His grace wherein he has made accepted in the- Beloved." Our souls are at home now in the bosom of divine love, as being now in the Son of His love, and if the future glory comes before us, "in' the dispensation of the fullness of times when God will gather in one all things in Christ, both which are in Heaven and which are on earth, even in Him," it is but too add, " In Whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will, that we should be to the praise of His glory."
To be, then, in Christ, is simply to be all that Christ, as man, is, and to be possessed of all that He stands possessed of. This is not to boast of what we are, but it is to set aside all that in which the flesh could glory. " Of Him," says the Apostle, "are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that, according as it is written ' He that glorieth, let him glory hi the Lord.'"
So completely, as the effect of divine grace, is the believer identified with Christ, that all that can be said of Christ can be said of him. To be something lower than Christ is, is the desire of the flesh to be something in itself aside from Christ. It may look like humility to think that I am not so fit for the presence of God as Christ, but it really is to think something of myself, as fit in measure for God's presence, though not so fit as Christ; this is pride of heart and not humility. If I think of myself, not only as guilty of some bad things, but so bad that God can't even look upon me at all, save to damn me, and shut me out from His presence forever,' make my entire boast in Christ and His cross. By the latter my guilt and evil are completely blotted out of God's sight, and in the former I stand before God in another, outside myself altogether, and thus what He is occupies my heart, and I think of myself before God simply as He is, and, outside all condemnation, enjoy all the favor and blessedness in which Christ Himself stands.
" No condemnation? " O my soul,
'Tis God that speaks the word,
Perfect in comeliness art thou
Through Christ the risen Lord..
" No condemnation! " precious word?
Consider it my soul:
Thy sins were all on Jesus laid;
His stripes have made thee whole.
Then teach me God, to fix mine eyes
On Christ, the spotless Lamb,
So shall I love Thy precious will,
And glorify His name.