Christ. To
Mary Magdalene He said on that glorious resurrection morning, "But
go and tell _my brethren_, and say unto them, I ascend unto my
Father and your Father, and to my God and your God" (John xx:17).
What joy must then have filled His loving heart. From His gracious
lips there bursts forth a message such as He never gave to His own
before His resurrection.

The great work on the cross had been accomplished, sin had been put
away by the sacrifice of Himself. The Only Begotten of the Father,
God's holy Son, one with God, became Man; then passing through
death, in which He fully glorified God, God raised Him from the
dead. And now He gives the blessed results of His own work for those
who believe on Him. He has brought us into the same relationship
with His Father and His God, which He Himself holds, as the Man
Christ Jesus, raised from the dead. His Father, the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, is our Father; His God is our God. And again we
pause as we write this. Let our hearts repeat it: "My Father, your
Father; my God, your God." He has brought us into fellowship with
His Father; He has brought us to God and the place He has with the
Father and with God, is the place God's fathomless Grace has given
to us. How little our hearts take it in! How little reality we
possess of all this! And yet He wants us to enjoy it as He enjoys
the fulness of joy in His Father's and His God's own presence. May
the Holy Spirit work in us unhindered, that through His power we may
lay hold in faith of this mighty truth and have it as a _practical
power_ in our daily lives. My Father, your Father; my God, your God
and Christ, who loved me and gave Himself for me, Christ, who loveth
us, is with His Father and His God. In such relationship, brought to
the Father and to God through the Lord Jesus Christ and kept there
by His own Grace and Power, how happy we should be.

And because we possess now in virtue of Christ's work this blessed
relationship, He owns us joyfully as His brethren. Hebrews ii:11-12
puts this more fully before our hearts: "For both He that
sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one; for which
cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren. Saying, I will
declare Thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I
sing praise unto Thee." The Lord Jesus Christ is He that sanctifieth
and they that are sanctified by His great work and are in Him, are
believing sinners, reconciled to God by His bloo