18 Sermon Illustrations on Union with Christ

As Elisha, when he would revive the child of the Shumanite, went up and lay upon him, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his hands upon his hands, and his eyes upon his eyes, and stretched himself upon him; even so, if thou wouldst be revived to everlasting life, thou must by faith, as it were, set thyself upon the cross of Christ, and apply thy hands to his hands, thy feet to his feet, and thy sinful heart to his bleeding heart, and content not thyself, with Thomas, to put thy finger into his side, but even dive and plunge thyself wholly, both body and soul, into the wounds and blood of Christ. Cawdray.

GG2. CHRIST, Beauty of. Some years ago, during a total eclipse of the sun, a poor child in Switzerland was watching some sheep upon the hills. Having no knowledge of what was about to happen, she saw it growing dark by degrees. There was no cloud or vapor to account for the change. When the sun was at the height of its obscuration, the child cried out in terror, and began to weep terribly, and call for help. Her tears were still flowing when some one reached her; and, when the sun appeared again, she clapped her hands, and exclaimed, "O beautiful sun!" How much more beautiful is the Sun of Righteousness to the benighted sinner!

GG3. CHRIST, in the Bible. In ancient times, a celebrated artist made a most wonderful shield, and worked his own name into it so that it could not be removed without destroying the shield. It is just so with the Bible and Christ.

GG4. CHRIST, a Brother. "How many brothers have you?" said a gentleman to a little boy. The child stated the number, adding, "and one in heaven."—"No, my son," interposed his mother, "you have no brother in heaven."—"Yes, I have," said the boy. "Did you not tell me that God was my Father, and that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? Then he must be my Brother in heaven."

GG5. CHRIST, Care of. Even as the eagle, having her young ones shut up in the nest, although she fiefs exceeding high, and pierceth the lofty air, yet she withdraweth not her eyes from her young ones, but still beholdeth them, and they also, crying after their manner, with their stretched-out necks, do look after her,—even so the Lord Jesus, ascending into heaven, did behold his disciples; and they also, hungering and thirsting after him, did fasten their eyes upon him, and did not lose the sight of him until he pierced and broke open the heavens, and entered into the presence of his Father; and although they were divided from him in body, yet in heart and mind they follow him still. Cawdray.

GG6. CHRIST, in the Church. A swarm of bees had flown from a neighbor's garden into that of Gotthold, and settled on a young tree. From this, he took occasion to observe, "These visitors cannot have come over to us for nothing; and, if we please to reflect, they may give us a useful lesson, and thereby pay for their quarters. In my opinion, the device of a swarm of bees hanging upon a branch, and with the motto, 'I will never forsake thee,' would happily represent the Christian Church and their love to Jesus. The whole swarm, as is well known, is governed by a monarch, exercising an authority, not of coercion, but love; and so strong is the reciprocal attachment of the little honey-birds to their prince, that they quit the five with him, and follow and never leave him. When he flies, they do the same; when he alights, they fasten to him; if he remove, they hasten after him; and if, by some accident, his wings be injured, and he fall to the ground, they fall upon and cover him, as I have seen with my own eyes."

As the graft kept in union with the stock by means of the clay which has been applied by the garner, so is the believer united to Christ by faith, which is the gift of God. The clay ment keeps the parts together, but has no virtue in itself: so faith is the means of union

Christ; it shows that the husbandman has in there. When the clay is removed in an ordinary tree, the graft is found united to the stock: so, when faith is swallowed up in sight, then the perfect union of Christ and his people is seen. J. H. Balfour.

An old fable tells us, that the majestic form of Truth once walked the earth, but was dismembered, and that the sundered parts are wandering up and down in ceaseless, weary search, each for the others, since each is still and ever instinct with the old common life; and it is this instinct which impels the search; and this search thus contains a prophecy of the union of all the fragments in one radiant form at last. And so shall it be with the riven body of our Lord; for each separate member is still vital with the memory of the old and loving union, and it will never be at rest till it finds all the others; and bone shall come to bone, and flesh to flesh, and it shall be all clothed upon with the grace of an endless life; and it shall be fairer than any of the sons and daughters of men, all glorious without and within; and it shall be holy and without blemish; love shall distil from its lips, and its words shall be like celestial music; and it shall bear upon its placid brow the victor's wreath, and in its hands the victor's palm; and all this shall it be because it is the bride of the Lamb; and the bridegroom will adorn his spouse, for whom he gave his very life in ransom, with all manner of precious stones, and lead her into the temple of God; and she shall live with him in that heavenly city, and go no more out forever. Prof. H. B. Smith.

Separate the atoms which make the hammer, and each would fall on the stone as a snowflake; but welded into one, and welded by the firm arm of the quarryman, it will break the massive rocks asunder. Divide the waters of Niagara into distinct and individual drops, and they would be no more than the falling rain; but, in their united body, they would quench the fires of Vesuvius, and have some to spare for the volcanoes of other mountains. Dr. Guthrie.

Union is power. The most attenuated thread, when sufficiently multiplied, will form the strongest cable. A single drop of water is a weak and powerless thing; but an infinite number of drops united by the force of attraction will form a stream, and many streams combined will form a river; till rivers pour their water into the mighty oceans, whose proud waves, defying the power of man, none can stay but He who formed them. And thus forces, which, acting singly, are utterly impotent, are, when acting in combination, resistless in their energies, mighty in power. Salter.

As merchants who are partners are partakers of all the profits, losses and damages which grow of their business, so Jesus Christ, by reason of that society we have together with Him, gives us a part, and we, likewise, give Him of all that we have and possess. The difference is in this, that the gains and losses amongst men are equal and common amongst them all; but here we gather up all the fruits that arise of the righteousness of Jesus Christ: He, on the contrary part, chargeth Himself with all the damages and losses that come of our sin and disobedience.

There is an operation in surgery when an organ has gotten detached; the only way for it to be kept in place is to cut it, and cut the near-by muscles, and then sew the two wounds together. In process of healing, the organ grows fast to its support. The surest way for a heart to grow fast to Christ is to bring its own bleeding side to the side of the Christ who was wounded for it, and the two will become one. (Text.)--JAMES M. STIFLER, “The Fighting Saint.”

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One of the Greek poets sings of two devoted friends who visited the shop of Vulcan, and desired to be joined in a closer and indissoluble union. Vulcan took out their hearts, accordingly, laid them on his anvil, and with many sturdy blows with his hammer welded them into one.

A mightier power than Vulcan in a gentler way joins human hearts to one another and all to Himself at a forge whose fire is love. (Text.)

I have seen a heavy piece of solid iron hanging on another, not welded, not linked, not glued to the spot, and yet it cleaved with such tenacity as to bear, not only its own weight, but mine too, if I chose to seize it and hang upon it. A wire charged with an electric current is in contact with its mass, and hence its adhesion. Cut that wire through, or remove it by a hair's breadth, and the piece of iron drops dead to the ground, like any other unsupported weight.

A stream of life from the Lord, in contact with a human spirit, keeps that spirit cleaving to the Lord so firmly that no power on earth or in hell can wrench the two asunder. From Christ the mysterious life-stream flows, through the being of a disciple it spreads, and to the Lord it returns again. In that circle the feeblest Christian is held safely, but if the circle be broken, the dependent spirit instantly drops off.

The electric wire is the spinal cord of civilization. Wherever now we may wander, the electric wire runs by our side and murmurs the music of great joy. Familiarity is said to breed contempt, but it seems impossible to become familiar with this ethereal cord which binds together the ends of the earth, and places any one locality in immediate correspondence with all other localities and peoples. It seems a fairy thing belonging to the region of romance rather than a tangible fact of this everyday world. And yet it is very real, and, as we say, go where we will, greets our gaze, being the most suggestive thing in the landscape, whatever else the landscape may contain.

Not in ponderous masses of steel, but in a delicate needle do we become conscious of the existence and set of the great magnetic currents which silently modify the world; and not in the more noisy and obstructive events and institutions of society do we become conscious of the master forces which shape the character of the nations and determine their destiny, but rather in the trembling string which runs along the hillside, spans the streets, surprises us in solitary places, and which, in fact, seems omnipresent, never being long out of our ken.

Vast and delightful is the significance of the metallic film. It is the symbol of the unity of the nations. Not only do we behold it in our utmost wanderings, but we know it extends to regions we may not penetrate -- mountain paths searched by the eagle's burning eye, ocean depths unseen, unsounded, snowy wastes, desert solitudes. It girdles and intersects the whole earth. If the orator, dwelling on the community of nations, wishes to concentrate his great argument in a single image, he points to the electric wire, and the rudest audience perceives at a glance the force and grandeur of the illustration.

It is, however, not only the symbol, it is also the organ of the unity of the nations. On this wire do we specially practically realize the unanimity of the various climates and nationalities. As the silver cord in our physical organization binds together hand and foot and eye, and gives the sense of unity and community amongst the many different organs and powers of the one complex system, a sense of unity which is immediately lost if that cord be seriously injured or broken, so the electric wire, pulsing with messages from a thousand different quarters, transmitting to great centers of sensation the facts, pleasing or painful, concerning the various people of the wide, wide world, ascertains graphically the unity of the race.

No cord of silver, no thread of silk, no bond of gold, was ever half so significant as that common wire by the modern roadside traversed evermore by the vital spark of the universal human life. It translates sublime theory into sublime fact, and sets forth in practical form the unity of the many-tongued earth, the identity of the apparently conflicting interests of all peoples.

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By J. Wilbur Chapan, “Present Day Parables.”