II Corinthians 1:18 “Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; 22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.”
The common binding for all Children of God is that “God” and “God” alone “stablisheth us with you in Christ”! Paul makes it clear that both the Apostles and all Children of “God” are securely stablished, bound to “Christ” by the will and power of God. To be stablished “in Christ” is to have been so securely attached to our Lord that nothing can separate us from Him. It began before the “foundation of the world”, when God our Father Chose us in His Son, Christ Jesus and sent Him to stablish us “holy and without blame before him in love” (Ephesians 1:4). It is true that “by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12) and Isaiah told Israel that “your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2). While our sins can separate us from the Lord’s blessings in this present life, the good news is that God our Heavenly Father sent His blessed Son, our Savior, to remove our “iniquities” and “sins” from us so that now there is no separation; for, we are firmly and eternally stablished with our Lord Jesus Christ. In the angel’s words concerning our Lord, “thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20-21). In saving “his people from their sins”; “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12), He “hast cast all” our “sins behind” His “back” (Isaiah 38:17), He has “cast all” our “sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19), and He has declared that “I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 8:12). Our Lord said it this way, “I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 39 And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.” (John 6:38-39) and “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” (John 10:28-29). In a practical sense, our God “stablisheth us with you in Christ” in this present life by bringing us to know and rejoice in the truth of Jesus Christ and His blessed Church-Kingdom, in which we joyfully worship and serve together as Children of the Most High God! It is no wonder that David wrote, “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.” (Psalms 122:1)!