Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

by Rankin Wilbourne

another way to picture what it means for you to be in Christ. You are completely safe, hidden in him. He represents you before the Father. He covers you—your sin, your shame, your weakness. But he covers you in a very real way, not as a temporary fiction.

being in Christ is to discover our true, God-given identity. You are alive in him, moving with him through this world, clothed in all his benefits and blessings.

To be found in Christ means you don’t have to prove yourself anymore.

Being a Christian is not about absorbing certain doctrines about God. Nor is it about being a better or different kind of person. The goal is having a personal, vital, profoundly real relationship with God through Christ by the Holy Spirit. The goal is enjoying communion with God himself. Union with Christ is not an idea to be understood, but a new reality to be lived, through faith.

So, what is the Bible all about? The Bible is the grand story of God restoring our communion with him. Everything between the opening of Genesis and the end of Revelation is part of God’s plan for how that restoration will take place. God’s purposes have never changed. His original intent is his final intent: that the people of God might dwell in the place of God, enjoying the presence of God—this is the arc of the whole biblical story, from Genesis to Revelation.

Only union with Christ allows us to read James not as a crushing burden but as an uplifting possibility. The letter of James is a litmus test—are you in Christ? If you are, then James becomes encouraging, even beautiful to you. You can persevere under trial (ch. 1), have a living faith (ch. 2), tame your tongue (ch. 3), rest in not knowing what tomorrow will bring (ch. 4), and love the poor (ch. 5), because you are married to Christ. James describes the life that Christ died to enable you to live.

Sin is abiding in something other than Jesus to give us significance and joy.

“You are in Christ” gives you assurance. “Christ is in you” gives you power. Together they help us move out in confidence.

Where does the strength come from to move out in joy and peace? It begins with the assurance that God is for you—that’s your anchor! And the knowledge that God is in you—that’s your engine! And the confidence that God is with you and not disappointed in you—that’s the hand on your back. These can only come from laying hold of your union with Christ.

we naturally fall into the trap of assessing the security of our union (Does God really love me?) on the strength of our communion (How am I feeling? How am I doing?).

The highest good of human life, indeed the purpose of creation and redemption, is communion with God. By rooting and grounding our lives in something so much greater than ourselves, God convinces us, beyond our ability to comprehend, that we are loved in a way “that surpasses knowledge” (Eph. 3:19).