To Encourage You

1 Samuel 11:7 “Then the dread of the Lord fell upon the people, and they came out as one man.”

One of the marks that should distinguish the people of God from the people of this world is unity.  Everywhere we look in the Scriptures we see the church described by this theme.  For example, the church is described as a united body made up of many members (1 Corinthians 12:12).  With this metaphor we see the awesome truth that although there is vast diversity within the kingdom of God, there is a marvelous oneness of purpose and mission.  The church is made up of people of every nationality, income level, social standing, mental and physical ability, age, sex, and types of spiritual giftedness, yet it all functions as a unit doing the work of the Head of the body, Who is Christ. 

The church is likened to a building, a temple, if you will, each person functioning as a part of the whole structure, a building that has been constructed on the foundation of the teaching of the apostles and prophets, and all of it tied together by the cornerstone, Who is Christ (Ephesians 2:19-22). 

We see another shadow of this in the Old Testament account above from 1 Samuel 11. Here the enemies of Israel, the Ammonites, were threatening the nation.  In response, Israel’s first king, Saul, calls the nation together to war. To do this, he cuts up a yoke of oxen and sends the pieces throughout the land with the warning “Whoever does not come out after Saul and Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen!” (1 Samuel 7:7).  In other words, if the nation did not unite as one, they would suffer great loss.  They were facing a fierce enemy, and it was only in unity that they could have victory. The result?  We are told that they came out as one man, and the Ammonites were defeated.  It was then that Israel “sacrificed peace offerings before the Lord, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly” (1 Samuel 11:15). 

Similarly, it is in unity that the people of God wage war, in a sense, against the enemy of our souls.  It is as the body of Christ functions in unity that victory is secured.  Conversely, it is in sinful division within the body that defeat often comes.  That’s always Satan’s strategy, to divide and conquer, for even he knows that if a kingdom or a house is divided against itself, it cannot stand (Mark 3:24-26).  Thus, Paul’s message to the Corinthian church, “I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete” (2 Corinthians 10:2-6).  It’s all “a war of words,” if you will, a war of the truth of God against the lies of Satan.  It is as Satan’s lies infiltrate our thinking and influence our behavior in the forms of hypocrisy, doubt of God’s promises, and erroneous beliefs about God and His Word, that churches are weakened and destroyed, but it’s in the bold proclamation of the Truth, belief in that Truth, and lives lived in consistency with that Truth that the Word of God and the kingdom of God advance to the glory of God. 

Diversity of function but unity in mission and obedience to the Captain of our souls: it’s the great E Pluribus Unum of the Church.  It’s oneness in service to Christ, a great unity of love, that guides the Church to be all that God would have it to be.  It’s a life of unity here on earth that will one day culminate in an eternal unity in heaven. Thus, the promise, “and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:17-18).

On the other hand, while the enemies of God may be united for a time in their opposition to Christ (remember how, in their conspiracy against Christ, Herod and Pilate, who had been enemies, suddenly became friends (Luke 23:12)), the time is coming when eternal separation will result. Again, looking at the Old Testament shadow of the Ammonites, the Bible tells us that the result of their ultimate routing by the Israelites was that they “were scattered, so that no two of them were left together” (1 Samuel 11:11). That will be the ultimate end of those who oppose God.  There will be eternal separation from Him and from one another.  It’s a destiny of destitution, loneliness, and isolation in the end versus the joy of loving unity and fellowship for those Who follow the God Who is the Three in One. 

May the Lord help those who are His to fulfill the desire of Christ, Who prayed, “that they may all be one, just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that you have sent Me” (John 17:21). For you see, it is that very unity that is the hope of the world.