"In Christ"

Just a quick good word from John Murray, author of Redemption Accomplished and Applied. I thought about this chapter cited below as I read - and was moved by - Galatians 3:26-29 this morning.

The incredible news of the gospel - All the blessings that come to you as a Christian come because you stand "in Christ", that is, so deeply connected in the Son of God that as the Father looks on Christ you are seen in Him, that all the love and blessings the Father gives to Christ are given to you because you are so deeply one with Christ.
(A side note - this has major implications on our view of other believers -- race, social status, etc... every dividing wall of man is broken down based on this... Gal 3:28)

Murray:
"... Nothing is more central or basic than union and communion with Christ.
"... union with Christ has its source in the election of God the Father before the foundation of the world and it has its fruition in the glorification of the sons of God. The perspective of God's people is not narrow; it is broad and it is long. It is not confined to space and time; it has the expanse of eternity. Its orbit has two foci, one the electing love of God the Father in the counsels of eternity, the other glorification with Chrst in the manifestation of His glory. The former has no beginning, the latter has no end. Glorification with Christ at His coming will be but the beginning of a consummation that will encompass the ages. 'So we shall ever be with the Lord' (1 Thess. 4:17). It is a perspective with a past and with a future, but neither the past nor the future is bounded by what we know as our temporal history. And because temporal history falls within such a perspective it has meaning and hope. What is it that binds past and present and future together in the life of faith and in the hope of glory? What does the believer entertain the thought of God's determinate counsel with such joy? What can he have patience in the perplexities and adversities of the present? Why can he have confident assurance with reference to the future and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God? It is because he cannot think of past, present or future apart from union with Christ. It is union with Christ now in the virtue of His death and the power of His resurrection that certifies Him to the reality of His election in Christ before the foundation of the world--he is blessed by the Father with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ just as he was chosen in Christ from eternal ages (cf. Eph. 1:3, 4). And he has the seal of an eternal inheritance because it is in Christ that he is sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise as the earnest of his inheritance unto the redemption of the purchased possession (cf. Eph 1:13, 14). Apart from union with Christ we cannot view past, present or future with anything but dismay and Christless dread. By union with Christ the whole complexion of time and eternity is changed and the people of God may rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory."