open this sweet truth to you a little.
1. That Christ shares with you—and you share with Christ. I shall open this sweet truth to you a little.
[1.] Christ shares with you in your NATURES.
In Heb. 2:16, "For truly he took not on him the nature of angels—but he took on him the seed of Abraham." And by this he has advanced fallen man above the very angels. This is the great mystery spoken of, 1 Tim. 3:16, "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness—God was manifested in the flesh," etc.
[2.] The Lord Jesus shares with you in your AFFLICTIONS.
In Isaiah 63:9, "In all their afflictions he was afflicted, and he personally rescued them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them. He lifted them up and carried them through all the years." It is between Christ and his church as between two lute strings, no sooner one is struck but the other trembles.
The ancients use to say commonly, that Alexander and Hephastion had but one soul in two distinct bodies, because their joy and sorrow, glory and disgrace, was mutual to them both. It is so between Christ and his saints. Their names, which are written in red letters of blood in the church's calendar, are written in golden letters in Christ's register in the book of life, said Prudentius. In my lifetime, said a gracious soul, I have been assaulted with temptations from Satan, and he has cast my sins into my teeth to drive me to despair; yet the Lord gave me strength to overcome all his temptations.
[3.] He shares with you in all SUFFERINGS and PERSECUTIONS.
Acts 9:4-5, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" There is such a near union between the Lord Jesus Christ and the weakest saints, that a man cannot strike a saint but he must strike through the very heart of Christ. Their sufferings are held his, Col. 1:24; and their afflictions are his afflictions, and their reproaches are his reproaches, Heb. 13:13; and their provocations are his provocations, Neh. 4:4-5;