Union With Jesus

 The following is from Samuel Logan Brengle's book Heart Talks on Holiness.  Brengle was an officer with the Salvation Army.

"Jesus said, 'I and My Father are one' (John x. 30), and it is His loving purpose that you and I shall be able to say that too, and say it now in this present time, in the face of the devil and in holy, triumphant defiance of a frowning world and of shrinking, trembling flesh.

"There is a union with Jesus as intimate as that of the branch and the vine, or as that of the various members of the body with the head, or as that between Jesus and the Father. This is shown by such Scriptures as that in which Jesus said, 'I am the Vine, ye are the branches' (John xv. 5), and in His great intercessory prayer, where He prays, 'that they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us' (John xvii. 21).

"It is also shown in such passages as that in which Paul, speaking of Jesus, says that God 'hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the Head over all things to the Church, which is His body' (Eph. i. 22, 23), and again that we 'may grow up into Him in all things, which is the Head,  even  Christ'  (Eph.  iv.  15),  and  again,  'For  both  He  that  sanctifieth  and  they  who  are sanctified are all of one' (Heb. ii. 11). It is also shown clearly in Paul's testimony, 'I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me' (Gal. ii. 20).

"This union is, of course, not physical, but spiritual, and can be known to the one who has entered into it by the direct witness of the Spirit; but it can be known to others only by its effects and fruits in the life.

". . . But more perfect, more tender, more holy and infinitely more self-consuming and ennobling and enduring is the union of the soul with Jesus than is any other possible relationship. It is like the union of the bay with the sea. It is a union of nature, a commingling of spirit, an eternal marriage of heart, and soul, and mind."