From “Feast of Tabernacles,” Chapter 8- Tabernacles – The Feast of Unity, continued
IS THIS UNITY POSSIBLE?
It is amazing how unbelieving a believer can become. One might as well call Christ a liar, and his apostles false witnesses of God, as to deny that God is going to have a Body functioning in absolute unity of the Spirit, with each member in his proper place, and all members working together as one harmonious whole. Here again, there is only one reason why “believers” refuse to believe it, and it is because we have never seen it either in our own experience or in the history of the Church, and it is scarcely visible in the days of the early apostolic Church. When will the saints of God realize that the sins of Israel are recorded in the Word “to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted” (1 Cor. 10:6). The story of strife and division and corruption that is recorded in God’s Word concerning God’s people is for one purpose, namely, that we should not follow in their pathway of disobedience. And the Church’s long and bitter history of disunity and strife does not prove that God’s Word means disunity when it speaks of unity. If God said it, it is going to come to pass; and if Jesus prayed for it, not all the devices of Satan can prevent the glorious fulfillment of that prayer of faith.
THE INTERCESSION OF CHRIST
Let us examine briefly John 17, where we have the request of the Son of God for this vital union among the saints:
“Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are…“
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.”
Surely this marvelous prayer needs little comment. The unity for which Christ prayed, and which the Father is duty-bound to create, is going to be fulfilled. It is a unity both inexpressible and exquisite: “Even as we are one…” As surely as the Father tabernacles in the Son, speaking through Him, thinking through Him, walking in Him, working with Him… so shall it be in the Sons of God. They shall have “the mind of Christ,” and therefore they shall be “perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Cor. 1:10; 2:16). The many members shall function as the members of the human body, in unity and harmony of purpose (1 Cor. 12:13, 14). They shall “be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind” (Phil. 2:2). They shall have the mind in them “which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5). Unthinkable! Yes, but God is able to do exceeding and abundantly above all that we can ask or think! GHW
I am going to use a personal illustration today in commenting on this lesson. Those that know me know that I have had health issues over the years that have hindered my ability to be all I want to be by curtailing all I want to do. Diabetes for 20+ years, severe neuropathy in my feet, and more recently liver and kidney issues leave me at times not feeling my best and not able to “run the race” as quickly and consistently as I would like. Some days I experience a lot of pain. Some days I lose in sleep because of exhaustion. Now, I am not ready for the grave and I do enjoy an adequate functionality to carry on most day-to-day activities. I guess what I am saying is that on some days I may be down, but certainly not out.
This is what happens in the body of Christ, when the parts are not working in harmony with one another. It diminishes our effectiveness to be all that God desires for us. This unity of purpose and direction; what we need to do and how we are going to get there, that Bro. Warnock talks about will only come when we are spiritually healed. I encourage us to do what we can do and ask God to do what only He can do. Quitting is not an option.
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