There are many unions all over the world, but in only one place is true unity to be found: in the Lord Jesus Christ. The children of fallen Adam have always been divided. Adam’s first two children could not get along together. One killed the other. And now that the race has multiplied, there are about eight billion separate, individual wills in the world. Some of Adam’s children try to get along together amicably and enjoy some measure of success, but this always takes effort. It does not come naturally. Even the dearest lovers must be prepared to yield to each other’s wishes frequently to get along well together. There is no true unity in this world.

But where Adam’s children have been divided by sin, they may be saved and truly united in Christ. As Christ became one with us when He died our death (the wages of sin) at Calvary, so we may become one with Him as in faith we acknowledge that that death was not His but ours. This is what the Apostle referred to when he asked:

“Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?” (Rom. 6:3).

This verse does not refer to water baptism, for no one can be baptized into Christ — become one with Him — by a physical ceremony. The only way to become one with Him is to accept by faith the fact that He died our death on the cross. The meeting place must always be Calvary. And as we acknowledge His death as ours and become one with Him, we automatically become one with each other.

“For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body” (I Cor. 12:13).

Unity in Christ is not something for which Christians are to strive. It is a fact of grace to be recognized and enjoyed by faith. True believers in and out of all denominations have been baptized into one body, whether or not they recognize this.

Now it is for us to appropriate and enjoy this unity in Christ, “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3), i.e., seeking to experience the unity which the Spirit has made. Only those who have been baptized into Christ by faith can appreciate the blessed oneness which believers may enjoy.

In Ephesians 1:6 the Apostle Paul sings a doxology, as it were, “to the praise of the glory of God’s grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved”.

In the story of the Prodigal Son it is touching to see the father accept his wayward son back to his bosom — and so generously! He does not merely admit him back into his home; he clothes him with his best robe, puts a ring on his hand, shoes on his feet and kills for him the fatted calf so that they call all to “eat and be merry” in celebration of his return.

But the prodigal was after all the father’s son, whereas Paul bids us “Gentiles in the flesh” to remember that originally we were “without Christ…aliens from the commonwealth of Israel…strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (Eph.2:12).

Hence it is even more touching to contemplate God’s gracious acceptance of us who were not sons but “aliens” and “enemies” (Col.1:21).

The word “accepted” in the above passage actually comes from the word “grace” (Gr. karis) with which the verse begins: “…His grace, wherein He hath engraced us in the Beloved One”.

Thus God looks upon us now with delight; He delights to favor and bless the believer because He sees him in Christ, His beloved Son.

This passage reminds us how God once broke through the heavens to declare: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt.3:17). And now He is delighted with us and blesses us with “all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies” because we are in Christ, the “Beloved Son”. Not that we have attained to this position, far from it, for “HE hath MADE us accepted” — HE hath engraced us in the Beloved.

To the true Christian one of the most wonderful passages in the Bible is Eph. 2:7, where we read of God’s purpose, “That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” This passage appears the more wonderful when viewed in the light of its context.

Verses 2-6 tell how we were all once the “children of disobedience,” and therefore “by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” But then we read those wonderful words of hope, “But God.” “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love wherewith He loved us…” And the next verses tell how He has taken believers in Christ from the lowest position of condemnation and wrath and given them the highest place of favor and blessing in Christ at His own right hand in the heavenlies.

The simplest, humblest believer in Christ has been given this position in the heavenlies, for God no longer sees him in himself, but in Christ, who died for his sins. This is why St. Paul so often writes about “those who are in Christ Jesus.”

It is for the believer now to occupy this exalted position, to appropriate by faith the “all spiritual blessings” which are his in Christ (See Eph. 1:3). Like Paul, he may be lifted by grace, through faith, above the troubles and sorrows of “this present evil age” and enjoy his position and blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. And even this is not all, for looking far ahead to the future the Apostle, by divine revelation, goes on to say (in Eph. 2:7) that God has done this all for us, “that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”

Scripture Reading:

“And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” — Ephesians 3:19

The passage before us is a treasure chest of truth. Paul contrasts the spiritual knowledge of the believer (“to know”), with human knowledge (“passeth knowledge”). We are living in a time when a high premium has been placed on intellectualism. Technology is advancing so rapidly that a product is barely to the marketplace before it is obsolete. Human knowledge has progressed to the point where man has now created small micro chips, the size of a pencil eraser, that can store volumes of information. While man glories in his accomplishments in the area of high tech, God is still the infinite One in knowledge overall. I read recently that if man were to build a computer capable of performing the functions of the human brain (memory, reasoning, thinking, functional control, etc.) it would have to be the size of the Empire State Building. How would you like to carry that around on your shoulders? While human knowledge has benefited us all in areas of medicine, science, and travel, man through human wisdom can never know God nor understand the things of God (I Cor. 1:20,21).

Those who are saved, however, have at their disposal a spiritual knowledge that far surpasses human knowledge. Having the eyes of our spiritual understanding opened, we are now able to comprehend the Word of God. It is from God’s Word that we first learned of the love of Christ. It was Christ’s love for us that sent Him to Calvary to die for our sins, to redeem us back to God (Rom. 5:8). His love also keeps us secure, for as the Apostle says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Rom. 8:35). The love of Christ constrains us or motivates us to serve Him. We can never repay what he has done for us, but out of gratitude for what He has accomplished for us we should desire to live for Him (II Cor. 5:14,15). With this knowledge of the love of Christ we can enjoy the fullness of God.

“And when they had sung an hymn, they went out…” (Matt. 26:30).

Often have we wondered what might have been the words of that sacred hymn, but God has seen fit to keep this from us for the present.

We have in our Bibles many great poetic expressions: the Song of Moses, the beautiful Magnificat, all the Psalms and many other poems, but the hymn that our Lord and His eleven apostles sang that night before leaving the Upper Room was evidently a well-known song, in which they could all join. We can almost imagine our Lord saying, “Before we leave, let’s sing…”.

We will not know the words of that hallowed hymn until we reach heaven, but we do know this: Our Lord and His apostles did not leave the Upper Room weeping and mourning. Though His soul had been deeply troubled as He approached the dreadful hour of His suffering and death, He could say: “What shall I say? Father save Me from this hour? But for this cause came I unto this hour” (John 12:27). Though deeply saddened by Judas’ base betrayal, “having loved His own…He loved them unto the end” (John 13:1), and His words of comfort and cheer during these last hours are now crowned with the singing of a hymn–a hymn, a song of praise.

Though the words of that hymn are as yet unknown to us, the lesson of its singing should not be lost. If the Upper Room scene closed with the singing of a hymn, surely we may be given the grace to sing God’s praise in the midst of our lesser trials. And if our Lord, “for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame” (Heb. 12:2), surely our burdens may — and should — be lightened through the knowledge that by His grace, “our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17).