CHAP. X. The Glory of Christ in the Communication of himself to Believers.

Another instance of the glory of Christ which we are to behold here by faith, and hope to behold by sight hereafter, consists in the mysterious communication of himself and all the benefits of his mediation to the souls of those who believe, for their present happiness and future eternal blessedness.

By this he becomes theirs as they are his — which is the life, the glory, and the consolation of the church (Song of Solomon 6:3; 2:16; 3:10). He and all that he is being appropriated to them by virtue of their mystical union, there is and must be some ground, formal reason, and cause of this relation between Christ and the church, by which he is theirs and they are his — he is in them and they are in him — in a way that is not the case between him and other men in the world.

The apostle, speaking of this communication of Christ to the church and the union between them which follows from it, affirms that it is "a great mystery; for I speak," says he, "concerning Christ and the church" (Ephesians 5:32).

I shall very briefly inquire into the causes, ways, and means of this mysterious communication by which he is made to be ours, to be in us, to dwell with us, and all the benefits of his mediation to belong to us. For, as was said, it is evident that he does not thus communicate himself to all by a natural necessity, as the sun gives light equally to the whole world; nor is he present with all by a ubiquity of his human nature; nor, as some dream, by a diffusion of his rational soul into all; nor does he become ours by a carnal eating of him in the sacrament. But this mystery proceeds from and depends upon other reasons and causes, as we shall briefly declare.

But yet before I proceed to declare the way and manner by which Christ communicates himself to the church, I must premise something of divine communications in general and their glory. And I shall do this by touching briefly on the harmony and correspondence between the old creation and the new.

1. All being, power, goodness, and wisdom were originally, essentially, and infinitely in God; and in them, with the other perfections of his nature, consisted his essential glory.

2. The old creation was a communication of being and goodness by almighty power, directed by infinite wisdom, to all things that were created for the manifestation of that glory. This was the first communication of God to anything outside himself, and it was exceedingly glorious (Psalm 19:1; Romans 1:21). And it was an intricate structure framed in the subordination and dependency of one thing on another, without which they could not subsist or continue in their being. All creatures below live on the earth and its products; the earth for its whole production depends on the sun and other heavenly bodies, as God declares (Hosea 2:21–22): "I will answer," says the Lord, "I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth, and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel." God has given a subordination of things in a linked chain of causes on which their subsistence depends. Yet,

4. In this mutual dependence on and supply to one another, they all depend on and are influenced from God himself, the eternal fountain of being, power, and goodness. He answers the heavens; and in the continuation of this order by constant divine communication of being, goodness, and power to all things, God is no less glorified than in the first creation of them (Acts 14:15–17; Acts 17:24–29).

5. This glory of God is visible in its substance and is obvious to the reason of mankind — for from his works of creation and providence they may learn his eternal power and Godhead, in which he is essentially glorious.

6. But by this divine communication God did not intend only to glorify himself in the essential properties of his nature, but also his existence in three persons — Father, Son, and Spirit. For although the whole creation in its first framing and in its perfection was and is by an emanation of power and goodness from the divine nature in the person of the Father (as he is the fountain of the Trinity, from which he is said peculiarly to be the Creator of all things), yet the immediate operation in the creation was from the Son, the power and wisdom of the Father (John 1:1–3; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:3). And as upon the first production of the mass of creation, it was under the special care of the Spirit of God to preserve and develop it, until the production of all distinct kinds of creatures (Genesis 1:2), so in the continuation of the whole there is a special operation of the same Spirit in all things. Nothing can subsist one moment by virtue of the dependence which all things have on one another, without a continual emanation of power from him (Psalm 104:29–30).

By these divine communications in the production and preservation of the creature does God manifest his glory, and by them alone in the way of nature does he do so. Without them, although he would have been forever essentially glorious, yet it was impossible that his glory should be known to any but himself. Therefore on these divine communications depends the whole manifestation of the glory of God. But this is far more eminent — though not in the outward effects of it so visible — in the new creation, as we shall see.

1. All goodness, grace, life, light, mercy, and power — which are the springs and causes of the new creation — are all originally in God, in the divine nature, and that infinitely and essentially. In them God is eternally and essentially glorious, and the whole design of the new creation was to manifest his glory in them by external communications of them and from them.

2. The first communication of and from these things is made to Christ as the head of the church. For in the first place, it pleased God that in him all the fullness of these things should dwell, so that the whole new creation might consist in him (Colossians 1:17–19). And this was the first expression of divine wisdom for the manifestation of the glory of God in these holy properties of his nature. For,

3. This communication was made to him as a repository and treasury of all that goodness, grace, life, light, power, and mercy which were necessary for the constitution and preservation of the new creation. They were to be laid up in him, hidden in him, dwelling in him; and from him to be communicated to the whole mystical body designated for him, that is, the church. And this is the first emanation of divine power and wisdom for the manifestation of his glory in the new creation. This constitution of Christ as the head of it, and the treasuring up in him of all that was necessary for its production and preservation — in which the church is chosen and predestined in him to grace and glory — is the spring and fountain of divine glory in the communications that follow from it.

4. This communication to Christ is (1) to his person, and then (2) with respect to his office. It is in the person of Christ that all fullness originally dwells. On the assumption of human nature into personal union with the Son of God, all fullness dwells in him bodily (Colossians 2:9). And thereupon, receiving the Spirit in all fullness and not by measure, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge were hidden in him (Colossians 2:3), and he was filled with the unsearchable riches of divine grace (Ephesians 3:8–11). And the office of Christ is nothing but the way appointed in the wisdom of God for the communication of the treasures of grace which were communicated to his person. This is the end of the whole office of Christ in all its parts — as he is a priest, a prophet, and a king. They are, I say, nothing but the ways appointed by infinite wisdom for the communication of the grace laid up in his person to the church. The transcendent glory of this we have in some weak measure inquired into.

5. The decree of election prepared, if I may so say, the mass of the new creation. In the old creation, God first prepared and created the mass or matter of the whole, which was afterwards by the power of the Holy Spirit formed into all the distinct beings of which the whole creation was to consist, and animated according to their distinct kinds.

And in order to the production and perfecting of the work of the new creation, God from eternity in the holy purpose of his will prepared, and in design set apart for himself, that portion of mankind of which it was to consist. By this they were only the peculiar material to be worked upon by the Holy Spirit, and the glorious fabric of the church to be erected out of it. What was said perhaps of the natural body by the psalmist is true of the mystical body of Christ, which is principally intended (Psalm 139:15–16): "My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them." The substance of the church of which it was to be formed was under the eye of God as proposed in the decree of election, yet as such it was imperfect — not formed or shaped into members of the mystical body. But they were all written in the book of life. And in pursuance of the purpose of God, there they are fashioned by the Holy Spirit throughout the whole course and continuance of time in their several generations into the shape designed for them.

6. This therefore is the glorious order of divine communications: From the infinite, eternal spring of wisdom, grace, goodness, and love in the Father — all the effects of which to his end were treasured up in the person and mediation of the Son — the Holy Spirit, to whom their actual application is committed, communicates life, light, power, grace, and mercy to all who are designed parts of the new creation. By this, God glorifies both the essential properties of his nature — his infinite wisdom, power, goodness, and grace as the only eternal spring of all these things — and also his ineffable glorious existence in three persons, by the order of the communication of these things to the church, which are originally from his nature. And in this the glorious truth of the blessed Trinity — which some oppose, some neglect, and most look on as something so far above them that it does not belong to them — is made precious to those who believe and becomes the foundation of their faith and hope. In a view of the glorious order of these divine communications, we are in a steady contemplation of the ineffable glory of the existence of the nature of God in the three distinct persons of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

7. According to this divine order, the elect in all ages are by the Holy Spirit — moving and acting on that mass of the new creation — formed and animated with spiritual life, light, grace, and power to the glory of God. They are not called accidentally according to the external occasions and causes of their conversion to God; but in every age, at his own time and season, the Holy Spirit communicates these things to them in the order declared, to the glory of God.

8. And in the same manner is the whole new creation preserved every day. Every moment there is vital power and strength, mercy and grace communicated in this divine order to all believers in the world. There is a continual influence from the fountain, from the head, into all the members, by which they all consist in him, are moved by him who works in us both to will and to do according to his good pleasure. And the apostle declares that the whole constitution of church order is suited as an external instrument to promote these divine communications to all the members of the church (Ephesians 4:13–16).

This in general is the order of divine communications, which is for its substance continued in heaven and shall be so to eternity — for God is and ever will be all in all. But at present it is invisible to eyes of flesh, and indeed to the reason of men. Hence it is despised by most; they see no glory in it. But let us consider the prayer of the apostle, that it may be otherwise with us (Ephesians 1:16–23). For the revelation made of the glory of God in the old creation is exceedingly inferior to that which he makes of himself in the new.

Having premised these things in general concerning the glory of divine communications, I shall proceed to declare in particular the grounds and way by which the Lord Christ communicates himself, and therewith all the benefits of his mediation, to those who believe, as was before proposed.

We on our part are said herein to receive him, and that by faith (John 1:11–12). Now where he is received by us, he must be offered, given, granted, or communicated to us. And this he is by some divine acts of the Father, and some of his own.

The foundation of the whole is laid in a sovereign act of the will, the pleasure, and the grace of the Father. And this is the order and method of all divine operations in the way and work of grace — they originally proceed all from him, and having effected their ends, return, rest, and center in him again (Ephesians 1:4–6). Therefore that Christ is made ours, that he is communicated to us, is originally from the free act, grant, and donation of the Father (1 Corinthians 1:30; Romans 5:15–17). And several things concur to this: (1) his eternal purpose which he purposed in himself to glorify his grace in all his elect by this communication of Christ and the benefits of his mediation to them, which the apostle declares at length (Ephesians 1); (2) his granting all the elect to Christ to be his own, so as to do and suffer for them what was antecedently necessary to the actual communication of himself to them — "Yours they were, and you gave them to me" (John 17); (3) the giving of the promise, or the establishment of the rule and law of the gospel, by which a participation of Christ, an interest in him and all that he is, is made over and assured to believers (John 1:12; 1 John 1:1–4); (4) an act of almighty power working and creating faith in the souls of the elect, enabling them to receive Christ as so exhibited and communicated to them by the gospel (Ephesians 1:19–20; Ephesians 2:5–8).

These things which I have only named have an influence in the glory of Christ here, for this communication of him to the church is an effect of the eternal counsel, wisdom, grace, and power of the Father.

But it is the acts of Christ himself in this that we principally inquire into, as those which manifest the glory of his wisdom, love, and condescension.

And 1. He gives and communicates to them his Holy Spirit — the Holy Spirit as peculiarly his, as granted to him by the Father, as dwelling in him in all fullness. This Spirit abiding originally as to his person, and immeasurably as to his effects and operations in himself, he gives to all believers to inhabit and abide in them also (John 14:14, 20; 1 Corinthians 6:16–17; Romans 8:8). From this follows an ineffable union between him and them. For as in his incarnation he took our nature into personal union with his own, so here he takes our persons into a mystical union with himself. By this he becomes ours, and we are his.

And in this he is unspeakably glorious. For this mystery of the indwelling of the same Spirit in him as the head and in the church as his body, animating the whole, is a transcendent effect of divine wisdom. There is nothing of this nature in the whole creation besides — no such union, no such mutual communication. The strictest unions and relations in nature are but shadows of it (Ephesians 5:25–32). In this also the Lord Christ is precious to those who believe, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to the disobedient. This glorious, ineffable effect of his wisdom and grace — this rare, peculiar, singular way of the communication of himself to the church — is despised by many. Some of them may know what it is to be joined to an immoral person so as to become one flesh, but what it is to be joined to the Lord so as to become one spirit, they do not know. But this principle and spring of the spiritual life of the church and of all vital spiritual motions toward God and heavenly things, in and by which our life is hidden with Christ in God, is the glory, the exaltation, the honor, the security of the church, to the praise of the grace of God. The understanding of it in its causes, effects, operations, and privileges is to be preferred above all the wisdom in and of the world.

2. He communicates himself to us by the formation of a new nature — his own nature in us — so that the very same spiritual nature is in him and in the church. Only it is so with this difference: in him it is in the absolute perfection of all those glorious graces in which it consists; in the church it is in various measures and degrees, according as he is pleased to communicate it. But it is the same divine nature that is in him and in us, for through the precious promises of the gospel we are made partakers of his divine nature. It is not enough for us that he has taken our nature to be his, unless he also gives us his nature to be ours — that is, implants in our souls all those gracious qualities, as to their essence and substance, with which he himself in his human nature is endowed. This is that new man, that new creature, that divine nature, that spirit which is born of the Spirit, that transformation into the image of Christ, that putting him on, that workmanship of God to which in him we are created — all of which the Scripture so fully testifies (John 3:6; Romans 6:3–8; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 4:20–24; 2 Peter 1:4).

And that new heavenly nature which is thus formed in believers, as the first vital act of that union between Christ and them by the indwelling of the same Spirit, is peculiarly his nature. For it is so both as he in himself is the pattern and exemplar of it in us — inasmuch as we are predestined to be conformed to his image — and as it is wrought or produced in our souls by an emanation of power, virtue, and efficacy from him.

This is a most heavenly way of the communication of himself to us, in which of God he is made to us wisdom and sanctification. Thereupon he says of his church, "This now is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh" — I see myself, my own nature in them, from which they are comely and desirable. By this he makes way to present her to himself as a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and without blemish. On this communication of Christ to us by the forming of his own nature in us depends all the purity, the beauty, the holiness, the inward glory of the church. By this it is really, substantially, and inwardly separated from the world and distinguished from all others who in the outward forms of things, in the profession and duties of religion, seem to be the same with them. By this it becomes the firstfruits of the creation to God, bearing forth the renewal of his image in the world. In this the Lord Christ is and will be glorious to all eternity. I only mention these things, which deserve to be far more fully dwelt upon.

3. He does the same by that actual engrafting or implantation into himself which he gives us by faith, which is of his own operation. From this two things follow: one by the grace or power, the other by the law or constitution of the gospel, which have a great influence in this mystical communication of Christ to the church.

And the first of these is that thereby there is communicated to us, and we derive continually, supplies of spiritual life, sustenance, movement, strength in grace, and perseverance from him. This is what he himself so divinely teaches in the parable of the vine and its branches (John 15:1–5). By this there is a continual communication from his all-fullness of grace to the whole church and all its members, for all the ends and duties of spiritual life. They live, yet not they, but Christ lives in them; and the life they lead in the flesh is by the faith of the Son of God. And the other, by virtue of the law and constitution of the gospel, is that thereupon his righteousness and all the fruits of his mediation are imputed to us — the glory of which mystery the apostle unfolds (Romans 3–5).

I might add to this the mutual indwelling between him and believers in love — for the way of the communication of his love to them, being by its being poured into their hearts by the Holy Spirit, and their returns of love to him being wrought in them by an almighty efficacy of the same Spirit, there is that which is deeply mysterious and glorious in it. I might mention also the continuation of his discharge of all his offices toward us, on which all our receiving from him, or all the benefits of his mediation of which we are made partakers, depend. But the few instances that have been given of the glory of Christ in this mysterious communication of himself to his church may suffice to give us such a view of it as to fill our hearts with holy admiration and thanksgiving.

Another aspect of Christ's glory that we are to behold here by faith — and hope to behold by sight hereafter — consists in His mysterious communication of Himself and all the benefits of His mediation to the souls of those who believe, for their present happiness and future eternal blessedness.

By this He becomes theirs as they are His — which is the life, the glory, and the consolation of the church (Song of Solomon 6:3; 2:16; 3:10). He and all that He is are made over to them by virtue of their mystical union, and there must be some basis, formal reason, and cause for this relationship between Christ and the church — by which He is theirs and they are His, He is in them and they are in Him — in a way that does not exist between Him and other people in the world.

The apostle, speaking of this communication of Christ to the church and the union between them that follows from it, declares that it is 'a great mystery; for I am speaking,' he says, 'with reference to Christ and the church' (Ephesians 5:32).

I will very briefly examine the causes, ways, and means of this mysterious communication by which He is made to be ours, to be in us, to dwell with us, and by which all the benefits of His mediation belong to us. As noted, it is clear that He does not communicate Himself to all by natural necessity, as the sun sheds light equally on the whole world; nor is He present with everyone through a ubiquity of His human nature; nor, as some imagine, through a diffusion of His rational soul into all; nor does He become ours through a physical eating of Him in the sacrament. This mystery proceeds from and depends on other reasons and causes, as we will briefly set out.

Before I proceed to explain the way and manner in which Christ communicates Himself to the church, I need to say something first about divine communications in general and their glory. I will do this by briefly tracing the harmony and correspondence between the old creation and the new.

First, all being, power, goodness, and wisdom were originally, essentially, and infinitely in God; and in these, together with the other perfections of His nature, His essential glory consists.

Second, the old creation was a communication of being and goodness by almighty power, directed by infinite wisdom, to all things that were created to display that glory. This was the first communication of God to anything outside Himself, and it was exceedingly glorious (Psalm 19:1; Romans 1:21). It was an intricate structure in which one thing was ordered under and dependent on another — without which things could not subsist or continue in existence. All creatures below live on the earth and its produce; the earth, for its entire output, depends on the sun and other heavenly bodies, as God declares: 'I will respond,' says the Lord, 'I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth, and the earth will respond to the grain, the new wine and the oil, and they will respond to Jezreel' (Hosea 2:21-22). God has ordered things in a linked chain of causes on which their existence depends. Yet,

Fourth, in this mutual dependence on and supply to one another, all things depend on and are sustained by God Himself, the eternal fountain of being, power, and goodness. He responds to the heavens; and in the continuation of this order through God's constant communication of being, goodness, and power to all things, God is no less glorified than He was in the first act of creating them (Acts 14:15-17; Acts 17:24-29).

Fifth, this glory of God is visible in substance and accessible to human reason — for from His works in creation and providence, people can learn of His eternal power and deity, in which He is essentially glorious.

Sixth, but by this divine communication God did not intend only to glorify Himself in the essential properties of His nature, but also in His existence as three persons — Father, Son, and Spirit. Although the whole creation in its original framing and its perfection was and is by an outpouring of power and goodness from the divine nature in the person of the Father — as He is the fountain of the Trinity, which is why He is specially called the Creator of all things — yet the immediate work of creation was carried out by the Son, the power and wisdom of the Father (John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:3). And just as upon the first production of the created mass, the Spirit of God took special charge of it — preserving and developing it until the distinct kinds of creatures were produced (Genesis 1:2) — so in the continuation of the whole creation there is a special operation of the same Spirit in all things. Nothing can subsist for a moment, given the dependence all things have on one another, without a continual outpouring of power from Him (Psalm 104:29-30).

Through these divine communications in the producing and sustaining of the creature, God manifests His glory — and in the natural order, this is the only way He does so. Without them, although He would have been forever essentially glorious in Himself, His glory could not have been known to any but Himself. The whole manifestation of God's glory therefore depends on these divine communications. But this is far more remarkable — though not as visible in its outward effects — in the new creation, as we shall see.

First, all goodness, grace, life, light, mercy, and power — which are the springs and causes of the new creation — are all originally in God, in the divine nature, and that infinitely and essentially. In these, God is eternally and essentially glorious, and the entire design of the new creation was to manifest His glory in them through outward communications of them and from them.

Second, the first communication of and from these things is made to Christ as the head of the church. For God was pleased that in Him all the fullness of these things should dwell, so that the whole new creation might hold together in Him (Colossians 1:17-19). This was the first expression of divine wisdom for the manifestation of God's glory in these holy properties of His nature. For,

Third, this communication was made to Him as a storehouse and treasury of all the goodness, grace, life, light, power, and mercy needed for the constitution and preservation of the new creation. These things were to be laid up in Him, hidden in Him, dwelling in Him — and from Him to be communicated to the whole mystical body appointed for Him, that is, the church. This is the first outpouring of divine power and wisdom for the manifestation of God's glory in the new creation. The appointment of Christ as its head, and the storing up in Him of all that was necessary for its production and preservation — in which the church is chosen and predestined in Him to grace and glory — is the spring and fountain of divine glory in all the communications that flow from it.

Fourth, this communication to Christ is first to His person, and then with respect to His office. It is in the person of Christ that all fullness originally dwells. When human nature was assumed into personal union with the Son of God, all fullness came to dwell in Him bodily (Colossians 2:9). And receiving the Spirit in all fullness and without measure, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge were hidden in Him (Colossians 2:3), and He was filled with the unsearchable riches of divine grace (Ephesians 3:8-11). The office of Christ is nothing other than the way appointed in the wisdom of God for communicating the treasures of grace that were given to His person. This is the purpose of Christ's entire office in all its parts — as priest, prophet, and king. These offices are, I say, simply the ways appointed by infinite wisdom for communicating the grace stored in His person to the church. We have looked into the transcendent glory of this in some small measure already.

Fifth, the decree of election prepared — if I may put it this way — the material of the new creation. In the old creation, God first prepared and created the raw material of the whole, which was afterward formed by the power of the Holy Spirit into all the distinct kinds of beings that the creation was to contain, each animated according to its kind.

And in preparation for the production and completion of the new creation, God from eternity — in the holy purpose of His will — prepared and set apart for Himself that portion of humanity of which it was to consist. These people were the particular material to be worked on by the Holy Spirit, so that the glorious structure of the church might be built from them. What the psalmist said perhaps of the natural body is true of the mystical body of Christ, which is the primary meaning intended: 'My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them' (Psalm 139:15-16). The substance of the church from which it was to be formed was before God's eyes as determined in the decree of election — yet at that point it was unformed, not yet shaped into members of the mystical body. But they were all written in the book of life. And in fulfillment of God's purpose, they are shaped by the Holy Spirit throughout the whole course of time, in their various generations, into the form designed for them.

Sixth, this then is the glorious order of divine communications: from the infinite, eternal fountain of wisdom, grace, goodness, and love in the Father — all whose effects toward this end are stored up in the person and mediation of the Son — the Holy Spirit, to whom their actual application is entrusted, communicates life, light, power, grace, and mercy to all who are appointed as members of the new creation. By this, God glorifies both the essential properties of His nature — His infinite wisdom, power, goodness, and grace as the only eternal source of all these things — and also His inexpressibly glorious existence in three persons, through the ordered communication of these things to the church, which originate in His own nature. And in this, the glorious truth of the blessed Trinity — which some oppose, some neglect, and most regard as so far above them that it doesn't concern them — becomes precious to those who believe and becomes the foundation of their faith and hope. In contemplating the glorious order of these divine communications, we find ourselves in steady contemplation of the inexpressible glory of God's existence in the three distinct persons of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Seventh, following this divine order, the elect in all ages are formed and animated by the Holy Spirit — moving and acting on the material of the new creation — receiving spiritual life, light, grace, and power to the glory of God. They are not called by chance, according to the outward occasions and circumstances of their conversion; but in every age, at His own chosen time and season, the Holy Spirit communicates these things to them in the order described, to the glory of God.

Eighth, and in the same manner the entire new creation is sustained every day. Every moment, vital power and strength, mercy and grace are communicated in this divine order to all believers in the world. There is a continual outflow from the fountain, from the head, into all the members, by which they all hold together in Him — moved by the one who works in us both to will and to act according to His good pleasure. The apostle declares that the entire structure of church order is fitted as an external instrument to promote these divine communications to all the members of the church (Ephesians 4:13-16).

This, in broad terms, is the order of divine communications — an order that is continued in its essential nature in heaven and will be so to eternity, for God is and always will be all in all. But at present it is invisible to physical eyes, and indeed to human reason. This is why most people despise it — they see no glory in it. But let us take to heart the apostle's prayer, that it may be otherwise with us (Ephesians 1:16-23). The revelation God has made of His glory in the old creation is far inferior to what He makes of Himself in the new.

Having laid out these general considerations about the glory of divine communications, I will proceed to explain in particular the basis and manner by which the Lord Christ communicates Himself — and with Himself all the benefits of His mediation — to those who believe, as proposed earlier.

On our part, we are said to receive Him — and to do so by faith (John 1:11-12). For us to receive Him, He must be offered, given, granted, or communicated to us. And this is accomplished through certain divine acts of the Father and certain acts of His own.

The foundation of the whole is laid in a sovereign act of the will, the pleasure, and the grace of the Father. This is the order and pattern of all divine operations in the way of grace — they all originate from Him, and having accomplished their ends, they return, rest, and center in Him again (Ephesians 1:4-6). Therefore, that Christ is made ours — that He is communicated to us — flows originally from the free act, grant, and gift of the Father (1 Corinthians 1:30; Romans 5:15-17). Several things contribute to this: first, His eternal purpose, purposed in Himself, to glorify His grace in all His elect through this communication of Christ and the benefits of His mediation to them — which the apostle sets out at length (Ephesians 1); second, His giving of all the elect to Christ as His own, so that Christ might do and suffer for them what was first necessary to the actual communication of Himself to them — 'Yours they were, and You gave them to Me' (John 17); third, the giving of the promise — the establishment of the rule and law of the gospel — by which a share in Christ, an interest in Him and all that He is, is made over and assured to believers (John 1:12; 1 John 1:1-4); fourth, an act of almighty power working and creating faith in the souls of the elect, enabling them to receive Christ as He is offered and communicated to them through the gospel (Ephesians 1:19-20; Ephesians 2:5-8).

These things — which I have only named — bear on the glory of Christ here, for this communication of Him to the church is an effect of the eternal counsel, wisdom, grace, and power of the Father.

But it is the acts of Christ Himself in this that we are chiefly concerned with, as those which display the glory of His wisdom, love, and condescension.

First, He gives and communicates to believers His Holy Spirit — the Holy Spirit as distinctly His, as granted to Him by the Father, as dwelling in Him in all fullness. This Spirit abides originally as to His person, and immeasurably as to His effects and workings in Christ Himself; and Christ gives this Spirit to all believers to dwell and abide in them as well (John 14:14, 20; 1 Corinthians 6:16-17; Romans 8:8). From this follows an inexpressible union between Him and them. For just as in His incarnation He took our nature into personal union with His own, so here He takes our persons into mystical union with Himself. By this He becomes ours and we are His.

In this He is unspeakably glorious. The mystery of the same Spirit dwelling in Him as the head and in the church as His body — animating the whole — is a transcendent effect of divine wisdom. There is nothing like it anywhere else in all creation — no such union, no such mutual communication. The closest unions and relationships found in nature are only shadows of it (Ephesians 5:25-32). Here too the Lord Christ is precious to those who believe, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to the disobedient. This glorious, inexpressible effect of His wisdom and grace — this rare, unique, singular way of communicating Himself to the church — is despised by many. Some of them may know what it is to be joined to an immoral person so as to become one flesh, but what it is to be joined to the Lord so as to become one spirit, they do not know. Yet this principle and source of the church's spiritual life — and of all its vital spiritual movement toward God and heavenly things, by which our life is hidden with Christ in God — is the glory, the exaltation, the honor, and the security of the church, to the praise of God's grace. Understanding it in its causes, effects, workings, and privileges is to be preferred above all the wisdom the world has to offer.

Second, He communicates Himself to us by forming in us a new nature — His own nature — so that the very same spiritual nature is in Him and in the church. The difference is only this: in Him it exists in the absolute perfection of all those glorious graces in which it consists; in the church it exists in various measures and degrees, according to His pleasure in communicating it. But it is the same divine nature that is in Him and in us, for through the precious promises of the gospel we are made partakers of His divine nature. It is not enough that He took our nature to be His own, unless He also gives us His nature to be ours — that is, implanting in our souls all those gracious qualities, in their essential nature and substance, with which He Himself in His human nature is endowed. This is the new man, the new creation, the divine nature, the spirit born of the Spirit, the transformation into the image of Christ, the putting on of Christ, the workmanship of God to which in Him we are created — all of which Scripture so fully attests (John 3:6; Romans 6:3-8; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 4:20-24; 2 Peter 1:4).

The new heavenly nature thus formed in believers — as the first vital expression of the union between Christ and them through the indwelling of the same Spirit — is specifically His nature. It is so both because He Himself is the pattern and model for it in us — since we are predestined to be conformed to His image — and because it is produced and shaped in our souls by an outpouring of power, virtue, and energy from Him.

This is a most heavenly way of His communicating Himself to us — the way in which God has made Him to be our wisdom and sanctification. Because of it, He says of His church: 'This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh' — I see myself, my own nature in them, and for that reason they are beautiful and dear to me. By this He makes the way to present the church to Himself as a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and blameless. All the purity, beauty, holiness, and inward glory of the church depends on this communication of Christ to us through the forming of His own nature in us. By this the church is truly, substantially, and inwardly set apart from the world and distinguished from all others who, in the outward forms of religion and the duties of profession, appear the same. By this it becomes the firstfruits of creation to God, bearing into the world the renewal of His image. In this the Lord Christ is and will be glorious to all eternity. I only mention these things, which deserve to be dwelt upon far more fully.

Third, He also communicates Himself through the actual grafting or implanting into Himself that He works in us by faith — which is His own operation. From this two things follow: one through the grace or power He gives, and the other through the law or constitution of the gospel — both of which have great bearing on this mystical communication of Christ to the church.

The first is that through this grafting, supplies of spiritual life, sustenance, movement, strength in grace, and perseverance are communicated to us and continually drawn from Him. This is what He Himself teaches so beautifully in the parable of the vine and its branches (John 15:1-5). By this there is a continual communication from His inexhaustible fullness of grace to the whole church and all its members, for all the purposes and duties of spiritual life. They live — yet not they, but Christ lives in them; and the life they live in the flesh, they live by faith in the Son of God. The second, by virtue of the law and constitution of the gospel, is that His righteousness and all the fruits of His mediation are thereby imputed to us — the glory of this mystery the apostle unfolds (Romans 3-5).

I could also add the mutual indwelling between Him and believers in love — for the way His love is communicated to them (being poured into their hearts by the Holy Spirit), and their love returned to Him (being worked in them by the almighty power of the same Spirit), is deeply mysterious and glorious. I could also mention the continuation of His exercise of all His offices toward us, on which everything we receive from Him — all the benefits of His mediation — depends. But the few examples of Christ's glory in this mysterious communication of Himself to His church that have been given here may be enough to give us a view of it sufficient to fill our hearts with holy wonder and thanksgiving.