Spurgeon: December AM
* 12/28/AM
"The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of
the Son of God."
--Galatians 2:20
When the Lord in mercy passed by and saw us in our blood, He
first of all said, "Live"; and this He did first , because life
is one of the absolutely essential things in spiritual matters,
and until it be bestowed we are incapable of partaking in the
things of the kingdom. Now the life which grace confers upon the
saints at the moment of their quickening is none other than the
life of Christ, which, like the sap from the stem, runs into us,
the branches, and establishes a living connection between our
souls and Jesus. Faith is the grace which perceives this union,
having proceeded from it as its firstfruit. It is the neck which
joins the body of the Church to its all-glorious Head.
"Oh Faith! thou bond of union with the Lord,
Is not this office thine? and thy fit name,
In the economy of gospel types,
And symbols apposite--the Church's neck;
Identifying her in will and work
With Him ascended?"
Faith lays hold upon the Lord Jesus with a firm and determined
grasp. She knows His excellence and worth, and no temptation can
induce her to repose her trust elsewhere; and Christ Jesus is so
delighted with this heavenly grace, that He never ceases to
strengthen and sustain her by the loving embrace and
all-sufficient support of His eternal arms. Here, then, is
established a living, sensible, and delightful union which casts
forth streams of love, confidence, sympathy, complacency, and
joy, whereof both the bride and bridegroom love to drink. When
the soul can evidently perceive this oneness between itself and
Christ, the pulse may be felt as beating for both, and the one
blood as flowing through the veins of each. Then is the heart as
near heaven as it can be on earth, and is prepared for the
enjoyment of the most sublime and spiritual kind of fellowship.