rother, Jesus
who was incarnate in sinful flesh for us; and we must also rest it on
Him as God's anointed, who came in human flesh to fulfil the divine
loving-kindness and purposes, and in that flesh to die. A faith in a
Jesus who was not a Christ would not sanctify; a faith in a Christ who
is not Jesus would be impalpable and impotent. We must take the two
together, believing and feeling that we lay hold upon a loving Man, 'bone
of our bone and flesh of our flesh'; and also upon Him who in His very
humanity is the Messenger and Angel of God's covenant; the Christ for
whom the way has been being prepared from the beginning, and who has
come to fulfil all the purposes of the divine heart.

And notice, too, how there is suggested here also, the blessedness of
that faith, inasmuch as it is a faith _in_ Christ. The New Testament
speaks in diverse ways about the relation between the believing soul
and Jesus Christ. It sometimes speaks of faith as being _towards_ Him,
and that suggests the going out of a hand that, as it were, stretches
towards what it would lay hold of. It sometimes speaks of faith as being
_on_ Him, which suggests the idea of a building on its foundation, or a
hand leaning on a support. And it sometimes speaks, as here, of faith
being '_in_ Him,' which suggests the folded wings of the dove that has
found its nest, the repose of faith, the quiet rest in the Lord, and
'waiting patiently for Him.' Such trust so directed is the one condition
of such tranquillity. Then, again, note a Christian is all that he is
because he is 'in Christ.' That phrase 'in Him' is in some sense the
keynote of this Epistle to the Ephesians. If you will look over the
letter, and pick out all the connections in which the expression 'in
Him' occurs, I think you will be astonished to see how rich and full are
its uses, and how manifold the blessings of which it is the condition.
But the use which Paul makes of it here is just this--everything in our
Christian life depends upon our being rooted and grafted in Jesus. Dear
brethren, the main weakness, I believe, of what is called Evangelical
Christianity has been that it has not always kept true to the
proportionate prominence which the New Testament gives to the two
thoughts, 'Christ for us,' and 'Christ in us.' For one sermon that you
have heard which has dwelt earnestly and believingly on the thought of
the indwelling Christ and the Christian indwelling in Him, you have
heard a hundred