Unity

by Martin Dyer, Edinburgh, Scotland | Category: General | Dec 1994

In many areas of human activity today, there are those who pursue the goal of union. The main spheres of politics, commerce, finance and religion all display this trend. We can surely see in these developments, shadows of that greater worldwide association of nations yet to come under the uniting leadership of the man of sin. This article, however, seeks to explore some aspects of unity seen in the Scriptures.

Against the background of present trends and future developments Genesis chapters 10 and 11 make interesting and instructive reading. Here we have the origins of man's quest for unity outside of and in opposition to the purposes of God. In Genesis 10 we have the unveiling of divine purpose in the spread and division of the descendants of Noah in their lands, every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations. God's purposes in all these movements had a future nation in view, as Deuteronomy 32:8 makes clear:

When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,

When He separated the children of men,

He set the bounds of the peoples

According to the number of the children of Israel.

It is at this point in the development of divine purposes in the spread of nations that Nimrod appears on the scene. There is something sinister in his name (a rebel). His introduction in Scripture says: "He began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD" (Gen. 10:8,9). Nimrod began to gather men to himself and formed a kingdom which had its beginnings at Babel. This seems to suggest that Nimrod set out on a course that was opposed to the purposes of God in separating the peoples. So we have the origins of the kingdom that was opposed to divine purposes in the past and will be again in the future.

Chapter 11 gives a detailed account of when men gathered together to build a city and a tower and to make themselves a name lest they be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth (verse 4). Note the "let us" in verses 3 and 4, indicating a common purpose that did not take the Lord or His purposes into account. In all this we have a distinct type of the lawless one to come who oppose and exalts himself against all that is called God (2 Thes. 2:4-8).

The "let us" of Genesis 11:3,4, makes an interesting contrast with Genesis 1:26 where we have the divine "let Us" indicating a unity of purpose in the Godhead. In verse one of chapter one (in the Hebrew original) "God" is in the plural and "created" is in the singular. These verses suggest that the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were One in thought, purpose and character in the work of creation. This unity is emphatically stressed to Israel in Deuteronomy 6:4:

Hear, 0 Israel: the LORD our God (plural) is one LORD: and thou shalt love the LORD thy God (plural) with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Right at the beginning of the Word of divine revelation, the Lord the Spirit brings before us the fact of divine unity. This is reinforced to us in the earthly life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.

At the beginning of the Lord's ministry when He had been baptized and was praying, heaven opened and the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form as a dove upon Him, and the Father's voice declared, "Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased" (Luke 3:22). This was followed by the scene in chapter 4 when Jesus full of the Holy Spirit was led by the Spirit in the wilderness and declared to Satan, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve" (verse 8). Divine unity is shown in the lovely words of testimony from the Lord at the close of His ministry in John 17:

All things that are Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine: and I am glorified in them... that they may be one, even as We are... I kept them in Thy Name which Thou hast given Me ... that they may all be one; even as Thou Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us: that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me (vv. 10, 11, 12, 21).

A consideration of scriptures dealing with the realm of angelic beings shows a marked unity in what they say and do. In Psalm 103 verses 20 and 21 there is a demonstration of the unity of the heavenly host in fulfilling the Word of the Lord, in furthering His purposes and blessing His Name. What united strains of angelic praise arose at the wonders of creation (Job 38:7), and when Emmanuel was born! (Luke 2:13,14).

The first corporate unity on earth glorifying to the Lord is seen in Israel:

Moses commanded us a law, an inheritance for the assembly of Jacob. And He was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people were gathered, all the tribes of Israel together (Deut. 33:4, 5).

Here was a nation dwelling alone and united in divine order. "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" (Ps. 133:1). It is interesting to note that this good and pleasant state of unity was associated with Aaron. Israel's unity therefore seems to be viewed by God as being expressed in a singular way through their high priest, and having a special fragrance to Him like the precious oil that ran down Aaron's beard, that came down upon the skirt of his garment (verse 2). It is also a lovely thought to consider the breastplate of judgement that Aaron wore, with its twelve precious stones, bearing before the Lord the twelve tribes according to their names (Ex. 28:21). How precious was that unity so displayed before His eyes! So it was that the blessings that God commanded upon Israel were conveyed through the priestly ministry of Aaron and his sons (Lev. 9:22; Num. 6:22-27).

In this day of grace God has made provision for unity amongst His children, and further to this He desires a unity before Him expressed by a gathered together people. The unity of all believers, both Jews and Gentiles, in the body of Christ, is one of the glorious truths of the New Testament Scriptures. The new relationship is described by the precious expression "in Christ". The Gentiles:

were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus ye that were once far off are made nigh in the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, who made both one, and brake down the middle wall of partition (Eph. 2:12-14).

How complete the work of Christ that reconciles men to God and reconciles them to one another in one Body through the Cross! (verse 16).

The New Testament Scriptures also show a way of unity for disciples on earth: a visible unity of believers gathered together in Churches of God, a

community of churches united in doctrine and practice and bound by a united elderhood, forming a spiritual dwelling place for God:

Being built upon the foundation of the apostles 'and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the chief corner stone; in whom each several building, fitly framed together, groweth into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God in the Spirit (Eph. 2:20-22).

In these verses we have expressed the unity that the Lord prayed for "that they may all he one" (John 17:17-23). One of the things that will delight us in a coming day will be the unity and the peace of heaven. God expects that the atmosphere of His heavenly dwelling place will characterize His spiritual house on earth - a place where the unity of the Spirit is kept in the bond of peace (Eph. 4:3):

The things which ye both learned and received and heard and saw in me, these things do: and the God of peace shall be with you (Phil. 4:9). The Lord's reign on earth during millennial days will be marked by a remarkable unity among the nations in their attitude to Him: "All kings shall fall down before Him: all nations shall serve Him ... men shall he blessed in Him; all nations shall call Him happy" (Ps. 72:11,17). Isaiah chapters 60 and 66 give indications in their recognition of the Lord and the pre-eminent place that will be given to Israel and Jerusalem. Some will "yield feigned obedience" and will be dealt with at the

conclusion of the Millennium (Ps. 66:3 RVM).

Believers can contemplate with pleasure that glorious eternal day to come when "the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His peoples, and God Himself shall he with them, and be their God" (Rev. 21:3). Perfect unity and peace are associated with the holy city, New Jerusalem, yet to he revealed: "'1ations shall walk amidst the light thereof: and the kings of the earth... bring their glory into it" (Rev. 21:24). Perfect concord indeed when the Son "shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father ... then shall the Son also Himself he subjected to Him that did subject all things unto Him, that God may be all in all" (1 Cor. 15:24,28).

Martin Dyer, Edinburgh, Scotland | Dec 1994
General