We were not only raised together with Christ but also seated together with Him in the heavenlies (Eph. 2:6b), in the highest place in the universe. This is the third step of God’s salvation in life. God’s salvation is to save us to a position that is far above all the enemies of God. This is the highest position into which we have been brought in Christ. Hence, we have been identified with Christ in His death, His burial, His being made alive, His resurrection, and His ascension.
In Romans 11:17-24 Paul speaks about God having grafted us as branches from a wild olive tree into Christ as the cultivated olive tree. The believers have been grafted into Christ to be joined to Him. As a result of this grafting, the believers, as branches from the wild olive tree, and Christ, as the cultivated olive tree, grow together organically. Originally they were two trees, each having its own life; but now these trees have been grafted together, and these lives grow organically together and have one issue. The believers’ life is, therefore, a grafted life, a life in which two lives are grafted together to become one life, a life that is joined to Christ and grows organically with Him. Thus, by being grafted into the reality of Christ, the cultivated olive tree, the believers are joined to Christ.
God attaches the believers corporately unto Christ, the anointed One, to share together the anointing of Christ which He has received of God (2 Cor. 1:21; Heb. 1:9b). As God’s appointed One, Christ was anointed by God to accomplish God’s purpose and eternal plan. God has anointed Christ with Himself as the consummated Spirit, and He has attached all the believers unto this anointed One that they may share with Him in this anointing for the fulfillment of God’s eternal plan.
The believers are joined to Christ intimately to become one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17). This indicates that the believers are in Him, and He in them. The believers have been organically mingled with Him and have become one with Him in life. Christ, as the embodiment of the Triune God, has passed through all the processes to become the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17). Now this pneumatic Christ has entered into the believers and is mingled with their regenerated spirit to become one spirit. Thus, the believers are intimately joined to Christ to become one spirit with Him, never to be separated from Him.
The issue of the believers’ believing into Christ and being joined to Him is their exulting in Him (1 Pet. 1:8). Although they have not seen Him, they love Him; and in the proving of their faith they are able to exult in Him with unspeakable and glorified joy. This glorified joy is joy immersed in glory; hence, it is full of glory, that is, full of the Lord expressed. This is the manifest result of the believers’ being joined to Christ.
After we have believed and been baptized, we are joined to the processed Triune God. God the Father is the source of the divine Trinity, God the Son is the embodiment of the processed Triune God, and God the Spirit is the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God. We, the believers, are joined to God the Father by turning to Him through repentance, by being baptized into Him, and by being born of Him to possess His divine life and nature; thus, we have an organic union with Him. We are joined to God the Son, Christ, by God the Father’s shining Him into our hearts, by our receiving Him, and by God’s revealing Him in us; thus, we are brought into an organic union with Him. Furthermore, through baptism we have been put into Him and have put Him on; we have been transferred by God into Him to be identified with Him in His death, His burial, His being made alive, His resurrection, and His ascension. We also have been grafted into Him, the cultivated olive tree, to grow together with Him organically; attached corporately unto Him, the anointed One, to share together the anointing which He has received of God; and intimately joined to Him to become one spirit, never to be separated from Him. As a result, we exult in Him with unspeakable and glorified joy that He may be expressed through us.