Union With Christ by C. M. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park, Washington, D. C. · Jul 25, 1912

Union With Christ

By C. M. S.

THE union which Christ teaches us should exist between himself and his followers is comprehended in the one word, Love. Humanity had severed the cord that should have held it to the Heart of the universe, and infinite Love came down to join again the broken band. God was offering his grace to a world that was turning its back upon him, and he holds it forth still.

There is infinite harmony in that union. Christ declares, “I and my Father are one;” and again, “that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.” “All mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.” In that union with God through Christ there is no bitterness, no oppression, no envy, no malice, toward any.

Christ illustrates that union by the vine and the branches. “I am the vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.” In that union there is life. It flows from the vine to the branches, and they bring forth fruit as a result of that life union. Separated from it, the channel of that life stream is cut off. The branch withers, the fruit decays, and the keeper of the vineyard finds nothing but fuel for the flames where there might have been glorious fruit.

In that illustration is the story of the gospel work and its results. There are the two classes, the one in union with God, bearing fruit to his glory; the other cut off from that union, withering into self and perishing. The union of the human with the human for the purpose of accomplishing selfish ends or forcing one selfish purpose against another, is for a fragment of time only, and when adhered to, the birthright of eternity is sold for a mess of pottage. It struggles for self, fights for self, exalts self to be its god, and then lies down in the ashes of its idol to wake no more forever. How insignificant, how worthless, how transient, are the fruits of such unions! In the working out, class is arrayed against class, company against company, hatred against avarice, man against man, to force the coffers of other men; and when it is worked out, all that might have been is lost, and the full coffers of eternity are bolted and barred against them. Is it worth it?

How much better, how infinitely much better, is that union which Christ is instituting among men! Running all through it are the golden threads of love, and hatred and strife and accusation have no place. Selfishness is sacrificed; but in its place we have all working for the good of one another, and the hearts and interests of all twined and intertwined and woven into one harmonious web of love and peace, stretching out in undimmed and unending beauty as long as the universe holds and God lives; works of love and mercy here, and all the riches and blessings of eternal life when Christ shall come.

That is a union which is God-ordained, a union which brings together heaven and earth, God and man; that mollifies the wounds that sin has made, and pours in the healing oil and wine. It brings back the lost sheep to the fold of eternal security. It puts the best robe on the shoulders of the prodigal, and makes him again the unquestioned member of his Father’s household. It puts joy in the place of sorrow, smiles in the place of tears, exultation in the place of despondency, life in the place of death, an eternal inheritance in the place of a forfeited estate, and in the day of God’s completed purpose it puts a loyal and united universe under the benign sway of the God of love. All that, and more which never has entered the mind of man, is wrapped up in that union with Christ which the Word teaches, and which he himself invites us to enjoy.

C. M. S.