Hebrew Highlights 140 - Unity
Shalom, this is Yuval Shomron coming
to you from Jerusalem.
PSA
133:1-3 “(A Song of Ascents, of David.) Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
for brothers to dwell together in unity!
It is like the precious oil upon the head, Coming down upon the beard,
Even Aaron's beard, Coming down upon the edge of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon, Coming down
upon the mountains of Zion; for there the Lord commanded the blessing-- life forever.”
I recently heard a certain defeated
presidential candidate vow to continue to strive for the unity of America. If I remember my history right, The United
States started out as “one nation, under God.”
So, if it has become divided, who is responsible for that division, and
why?
In Psalm 133, when it says “for
brothers to dwell together in unity”, the Hebrew original says “shevet achim
b’yachad”. Literally, it means “brothers
sitting together.”
Perhaps not so oddly, the first thing
I am reminded of when I read this passage is a license plate we had on our
family car when I was a child. It said
“the family that prays together, stays together.
Obviously, the word “brothers” implies
one common father. It is in this place
where brothers sit together under one common father that the Lord commanded the
blessing of eternal life.
Bear with me while I try to show you
why there simply cannot be unity between people who serve different
fathers. Let’s start by looking at part
of a famous prayer from Yeshua’s heart to His Father.
JOH 17:9-23 "I ask on their
behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom Thou hast given
Me; for they are Thine; and all things that are Mine are Thine, and Thine are
Mine; and I have been glorified in them.
"And I am no more in the world; and yet they themselves are in the
world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep them in Thy name, the name which
Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as We are. "While I was with them, I was keeping
them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me; and I guarded them, and not one of
them perished but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be
fulfilled. "But now I come to Thee;
and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy made full in
themselves. "I have given them Thy
word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as
I am not of the world. "I do not
ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil
one. "They are not of the world,
even as I am not of the world.
"Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth. "As Thou didst send Me into the world, I
also have sent them into the world.
"And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also
may be sanctified in truth. "I do
not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through
their word; 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. "And the glory which Thou
hast given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one; I
in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world
may know that Thou didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love
Me.”
So, as we see plainly here, Yeshua
prayed diligently for the unity of His disciples. However, He spoke of their unity one with
another, while at the same time speaking of their separation from the world.
Now, some would say, “but Jesus was
such a nice guy. Surely He would want
America to be united, not divided.”
Let’s see what He said in LUK
12:49-53, "I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were
already kindled! "But I have a
baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished! "Do you suppose that I came to grant
peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division; for from now on five
members in one household will be divided, three against two, and two against
three. "They will be divided,
father against son, and son against father; mother against daughter, and
daughter against mother; mother-in-law against daughter-in-law, and
daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."
Having read this, I still don’t
believe Yeshua actually sends us out to preach division. He sends us out to preach His Word, which
cuts a certain dividing gash of its own, as we see in HEB 4:12, “For the word
of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing
as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able
to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
If we are left to our on philosophy,
we will assume, like that certain disappointed candidate I mentioned earlier,
that the way to true unity is compromise.
Without being too funny, I’d like you to know that in Hebrew, “p’shara,”
or compromise, is a 4-letter word. It is
never used in the Bible, neither in the Old Testament, nor the New.
As children of our Heavenly Father who
are seeking His eternal blessing, we simply cannot make peace with the
world. JOH 14:15-18 says, "If you
love Me, you will keep My commandments.
"And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper,
that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world
cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him
because He abides with you, and will be in you.
"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
Here are a few more examples to show
my point: JAM 4:4, “You adulteresses, do
you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore
whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
ROM
12:2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which
is good and acceptable and perfect.”
REV
3:15-16, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I would that
you were cold or hot. 'So because you
are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.”
If
we try to create a counterfeit unity by compromising right and wrong, we will
get into big trouble with God.
Now
of course we do know that God does support peace, as we see in ROM 12:18, “If
possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.” However, this statement is clarified in HEB
12:14, “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one
will see the Lord.” There can be no
peace with either God or man without repentance.
In
Summary, my point is this. America can
only find unity by finding the Lord.
When everyone gets saved, there will be unity. God wants to bring unity to the United
States, as well as the rest of the world.
However, He wants His Word to be the common ground, His laws to be the
common guide, and He Himself to be the common Father.
1JO
3:1 reads, “See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we
should be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world
does not know us, because it did not know Him.”
Unfortunately,
a major European newspaper commenting on the recent American presidential
election sported a headline, which said, “How can 59,117,523 Americans be so
dumb?”
It should have said, “How can the other 55,557,584 Americans be so dumb?” How can they continue to reject the free gift of God’s Son, and the eternal blessing He brings? How can they not see that, “It’s the morals stupid”. The majority of the people are tired of comprising God’s commands, and giving in to the wounding and murderous plans of the devil.
Miraculously,
59,117,523 individual Americans, and 31 out of the 50 American states are
united in a bigger way than ever before.
Just as we pray for this nation of Israel, which was also founded on
Biblical principals, we pray that all America would be saved.
Then
truly how good and how pleasant it will be for brothers to dwell together in
unity. There the Lord will command the
blessing-- life forever.
Shalom
Shalom from Jerusalem