Unspeakable Blessedness of being IN CHRIST: Ark of our Salvation

"A man in Christ." -II Corinthians 12:2 [KJV]

My soul! thy last evening's meditation was sweet, (was it not?) in contemplating thy Jesus, as glorious in His own person, and as glorified in His people. Wilt thou add to that subject, for it is part of the same, for thy present thoughts, what is suggested in this motto, "a man in Christ?" Dost thou fully enter into the pleasing apprehension of what the phrase implies? Now, who shall fully describe it; or who is competent fully to conceive the whole extent of it? "A man in Christ," must imply every thing connected with a oneness, an union, a part of Himself; yea, "a life hid with Christ in God." "A man in Christ" is as much a part in Christ's mystical body, as the head, or hand, or foot, is a part of that body to which those members belong.  

Hence, (which is indeed a sweet part of the subject) every one who is "a man in Christ," is, to all intents and purposes, interested in all that belongs to Christ, as the Christ of God. Hence also, it must as undeniably follow, that every member of Christ's body, the least, as well as the greatest, the humblest as well as the highest, becomes a part in Him, is equally united to Him, and participates in what belongs to Him. The life of grace here, and the life of glory hereafter, being both derived from Christ, and enjoyed wholly from an union with Him, are therefore equally enjoyed; just as the smallest leaf or branch united to a tree becomes a part of that tree, as much as the largest branches.  

Dost thou enter, my soul, into an apprehension of these outlines of the subject? Art thou "a man in Christ," by regeneration, adoption, justification, and grace? Oh! then, turn over the transporting thought, with holy and unceasing delight, in thy constant meditation. Calculate, if thou art able, the blessed inheritance, to which thou art begotten by it, of grace here, and glory to all eternity. "A man in Christ," is accepted in Christ, justified in Christ, sanctified in Christ, and must assuredly be glorified in Christ. Oh! who that thinks of these things, and through the Holy Ghost is conscious of an interest in them, can suffer the exercises of a dying world to bring affliction into the soul?  

What a life of dignity, is "a man in Christ" brought into! He is brought nigh unto God, through the blood of the cross. What a state of security is "a man in Christ" placed in! "Because I live," (saith Jesus) "ye shall live also." And what an endless prospect of glory, hath "a man in Christ" opening before him; when Christ hath said, "Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, that they may behold the glory which Thou hast given Me!" O the unspeakable blessedness of "a man in Christ!" 

-Robert Hawker (1753-1827 A.D.)  


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