The union of the Lord Christ and His people is the truth conveyed in the phrases 'in Christ', 'in Christ Jesus' 'Christ in you' 'joined unto the Lord'. It is the truth of the Head and Body, the Limbs of the Body, the Branches and the Root; words which are but shadows of the solid and eternal realities behind them.

And thus all views of Gospel doctrines that take no account of this are inadequate. It is inadequate, and it is a spiritual loss, to terminate our faith or teaching within such phrases (true phrases and holy, when truly used) as "The Lord has loved me," "has sought me," "has found me," "has saved me," "has shed His blood for me," "has given His grace to me," "has changed me," "leads and guards me." Happy the soul for which such words are solid and well-grounded certainties! But that soul still loses what it might have, to its rich blessing, if it never sees all these things to be linked to the holy Union as their underlying secret of peace and power.

Truly this truth is a thing which, if revealed, must be worth the grasping. Is it a divine certainty for every human being who really accepts God's witness about His Son, yes, for every such being, that he is not only very near Christ, but in Christ, and Christ in him? Is he not only touched and held by the Lord but "joined unto the Lord, one spirit"? If so and so it is, here is no remote, superfluous item in our secret of peace and life. Here is the root, the centre, the repose. Out of this sacred well flow the rivers, clear as crystal, of righteousness, sanctification, and eternal redemption.

How full is the divine testimony to the fact, to the blessings, of this royal truth! How frequent is that phrase, full of eternal life "IN CHRIST"! "In Christ" the true Church was chosen, and "blessed with all spiritual blessing," before the Universe began. "In Christ" "the Beloved," was given to it acceptance before the Holy One. "In Christ" we have "redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." "If any man be in Christ it is new creation." "In Christ Jesus" the believer is "created unto good works."

"In Christ Jesus" he has been sanctified. "In Christ" he has "access" unto the Father. "In Christ" the whole company of such is one. "In Christ" the strengthener, each member of it "can do all things." "In the LORD" the saint dies, and is blessed. "In Christ" shall all be made alive. And on the other side, "the hope of glory" is "Christ in You"; "Know ye not that Jesus Christ is IN You, except ye be reprobates," ‑ counterfeits?

Here indeed is a truth full, in all its blessed aspects, of "life and peace." Whether it points us to union with the Life of our Head, or interest in His Covenant, it is a truth as rich and fruitful for daily use as it is strong and solid for "everlasting comfort and good hope."

My reader may possibly be one of those sincere disciples who, having firmly grasped some precious "truths of the threshold," yet shun to go forward deeper into the Sanctuary. Perhaps he thinks that this or that revealed truth is only for the learned Christian, or for the aged, or for those who can find time to theorise and discuss. Whether there be any such revealed truths or no, this great central truth is not one of them. It is high and deep as eternity, indeed, in its issues and its foundations. But it is also fit to come down, like the noonday sunshine, upon the very stones and dust of the hourly path. Nothing ought to be more intensely and directly practical than a clear apprehension and firm hold of my oneness with Jesus Christ, oneness in spiritual life, oneness in interest and standing. It is a truth of heavenly gold, but coined for daily traffic. It is for the young Christian, the unlearned Christian, the Christian of narrowest sphere and most earthly outward calling. To grasp this deep yet simple fact is to pour into the heart, and through it into the life, in all its parts, a new light, a new power, "I am in Christ, and He in me; I am the branch, the limb, of my living Lord; He and I are, at this moment, one spirit; I belong to Him, not merely as my table or chair belongs to me, but as my hand does; I am His bondservant, and I cannot realise too deeply that He is my absolute and despotic Master; but it is after all not merely as the chained African stands related to his captor, or his buyer; it is rather as my finger stands related to my head, a thing useless and without a reason except for the purposes of the head, and in relation to the head, but full of life and freedom within that relationship." Truths like these, and truths they are for every true Christian, are not things for the study only, and the lecture, and the arm-chair. They are exactly fit to go out with us into common life and to give a new meaning and greatness to its little details, in the interest of our Head. They are the very things to fill with lasting and glowing life every thought of gratitude and love as we review our conversion, or our revival, or our blessed hope. They are things which can equally uplift the believer's soul in view of his heaviest trial or most difficult duty, and bring his perceptions of the will of God down into the minutiae of the ordinary day, into thought and care for punctuality in engagements, fidelity in little trusts, unselfish kindness in little needs, decorum in the little things of the room, the person; the manner. For the "obligation of nobility" extends over everything, when that nobility is oneness with Jesus Christ, the being a limb to that sacred Head, everywhere and always.

H.C.G.Moule 1885