We’ve seen it in the movies. People searching the globe for hidden treasures to fill their lives. If only we can find the Holy Grail (the Cup of Christ) will we receive healing and eternal life (Indiana Jones). If only I can find the ancient lost treasure will I secure a legacy (National Treasure). These adventures are entertaining, but they sure miss the mark. The blessings they scour the earth for are only found in one place—in union with Jesus Christ.

Union with Christ is a phrase used to describe the relationships we have with Jesus where every benefit of salvation from God is received.¹ Name a salvation benefit of God—forgiveness, regeneration, adoption, the Holy Spirit, sanctification, glorification—these are all found exclusively in union with Christ. God has placed His favor and blessings simply, conveniently, and mercifully in one place. And when we repent of our sin against God and believe upon Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we enter into union with Him and inherit every blessing God has for us.

Romans 6:3–8 describes this union. Paul says,

³Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. ⁵For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷For one who has died has been set free from sin. ⁸Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

By faith in Christ God unites us to Him in His death and resurrection. Therefore, the accomplishments of Christ in those areas are now considered ours. It is as if we were transported back in time to experience His death, resurrection, and new life with Him. What an amazing reality! And God did not just give us blessings, as if they were a transaction of strangers, but He gave them to us in a relationship—a union— with Jesus. John Calvin says, “Therefore, that joining together of Head and members, that indwelling of Christ in our hearts—in short, that mystical union—are accorded by us the highest degree of importance, so that Christ, having been made ours, makes us sharers with him in the gifts with which he has been endowed.”²

Let us hold fast to and celebrate our union with Christ Jesus, the place where God has graciously given us every spiritual blessing. Let us rest there, hope there, and boast there alone.

Here is a hymn that sings of our union with Christ Jesus, written by Henry Harbaugh in 1850.

1 Jesus, I live to Thee,
The Loveliest and Best;
My life in Thee, Thy life in me,
In Thy blest love I rest.

2 Jesus, I die to Thee,
Whenever death shall come;
To die in Thee is life to me,
With Thee I’m ever one!

3 Whether to live or die,
I know not which is best;
To live in Thee is bliss to me,
To die is endless rest.

4 Living or dying, Lord,
I ask but to be Thine;
My life in Thee, Thy life in me,
Makes Thee forever mine.