Although we have covered some items related to our union with Christ in other chapters, it is a very important topic that needs to be covered in more detail in this chapter. I hope we would pay adequate attention to this truth.
The goal of God’s work is to work Himself into man and to work man into Himself so that we would be joined as one with Him. Our union with God is in Christ and through Christ. Therefore, when we speak of our union with God, we are also speaking of our union with Christ.
In order for us to be in union with God, He first had to be in union with us, that is, with man. He came to be in union with us through His being in Christ (2 Cor. 5:19; Col. 2:9). Christ is the manifestation of God; consequently, Christ’s coming to be in union with us is equal to God’s coming to be in union with us. Christ’s union with man can be seen in four matters.
1. “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us” (John 1:14).
The Word became flesh and tabernacled among men. Since the Word was God, the Word becoming flesh is God becoming flesh. God became flesh in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Christ is God manifested in the flesh to be in union with man (1 Tim. 3:16). Since human beings are flesh, His becoming flesh means that He became one of us, that is, a man. He took on our human nature and partook of our human nature to be in union with us (Heb. 2:14).
2. “Emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man” (Phil. 2:7-8).
Christ is God, and He had the form of God (v. 6), but in order to be in union with us, He emptied Himself and lowered Himself, taking the form of a human slave, becoming in the likeness of men to be found in fashion as a man. He became one with man in form and nature.
3. “In the likeness of the flesh of sin” (Rom. 8:3).
When Christ was incarnated to be in union with us, He did not come in the likeness of created man. Rather, He came in the likeness of fallen man, which was man in the likeness of the flesh of sin, that is, the likeness of the man who had been invaded by sin and mixed with sin. He came in the likeness of the flesh of sin. This reveals that when Christ was incarnated to be in union with man, it was with the intention of being one with fallen man. His humanity was in the likeness of fallen humanity.
Although the likeness that He bore was the same as our fallen likeness, we need to be clear that when Christ was incarnated, He did not have the reality of sin, even though He was in the likeness of the flesh of sin. He was incarnated in the likeness of the flesh of sin in order to be like us, but He did not have the reality of our sin. In His incarnation He had the likeness of the flesh of sin outwardly, but He did not have the reality of sin inwardly (Heb. 4:15). This truth is seen in the type of the bronze serpent in the Old Testament. The bronze serpent, which had the likeness of a poisonous snake outwardly but not the poison of the snake inwardly, typified Christ being in the likeness of the flesh of sin (Num. 21:6-9; John 3:14). In His incarnation, Christ was completely one with us in all things except for sin. The incarnation was the initiation of His union with us. He entered into humanity and put on humanity.
1. “It pleased God...to reveal His Son in me” (Gal. 1:15-16).
When we believed in and received Christ as our Savior, God revealed His Son, Christ, in us through His Spirit. Therefore, when we believed, Christ entered into a union with us personally. He entered into a union with us through the Spirit. Although He entered into union with humanity at His incarnation, He entered into a personal and practical union with us when we believed into Him.
1. “Jesus Christ is in you” (2 Cor. 13:5; see also Rom. 8:10).
Christ entered into us when we believed. Through our initial salvation, He is in us. After He enters into us, He abides in us through His union with us. When He enters into us through our believing, He is joined to us and can never be separated from us.
2. “Christ...is powerful in you” (2 Cor. 13:3).
After we are saved, Christ not only remains in us and is joined to us, but He also wants to manifest His power so that we might experience and enjoy His power.
3. “Christ...lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).
Christ is in union with us and manifests His power in us by being our life. He remains in us as our life so that we might experience and enjoy His power. Thus, He lives in us and is in union with us to the extent that He is our life, living for us and causing us to live.
4. “Until Christ is formed in you” (Gal. 4:19).
Christ is in union with us not only to live in us as our life but also to be formed in us so that He can become our inward element of life, completely changing us into His likeness.
5. “That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith” (Eph. 3:17).
There are many verses in the New Testament that speak of Christ being in us and even living in us, but this verse is the only portion that speaks of Christ making His home in our hearts. Christ desires to live in us and be in union with us to such an extent that our hearts would be full of His living and His love. This speaks of a deep union with Him in our love and emotion.
6. “I in you...I in him” (John 15:4-5).
Christ is in us, and in this union He abides in us as our inward content of life and as our outward expression of life so that He might become our everything. This can be compared to the vine being everything to its branches in its union with the branches.
7. “We will come to him and make an abode with him” (John 14:23).
This verse shows that Christ’s abiding with us to be our everything is equal to the Father and the Son making an abode with us and being in union with us to be our everything. Since Christ is the embodiment of God and is one with God (John 10:30), He is in God and God is in Him (14:10). Therefore, His being in union with us to be our everything is God being in union with us to be our everything.