That they may all be One

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Opening Prayer

Jesus, You went to the cross with a prayer for unity on Your lips. You paid this brutal price for this prayer to become reality.

Read Ezekiel 37:15-28

^[15] The word of the LORD came to me: ^[16] “Son of man, take a stick of wood and write on it, ‘Belonging to Judah and the Israelites associated with him.’ Then take another stick of wood, and write on it, ‘Belonging to Joseph (that is, to Ephraim) and all the Israelites associated with him.’ ^[17] Join them together into one stick so that they will become one in your hand. ^[18] “When your people ask you, ‘Won’t you tell us what you mean by this?’ ^[19] say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am going to take the stick of Joseph-which is in Ephraim’s hand-and of the Israelite tribes associated with him, and join it to Judah’s stick. I will make them into a single stick of wood, and they will become one in my hand.’ ^[20] Hold before their eyes the sticks you have written on ^[21] and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. ^[22] I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms. ^[23] They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God. ^[24] “‘My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. ^[25] They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your ancestors lived. They and their children and their children’s children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever. ^[26] I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. ^[27] My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. ^[28] Then the nations will know that I the LORD make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.'”

Meditate

“Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3).

Think Further

Once again Ezekiel performs a piece of street theatre (15-17; compare 4:1-5; 5:1-4; 12:1-7). In chapter 4 Ezekiel played toy soldiers; here he becomes a sign writer. Each stick may have been a wooden board coated with beeswax–a common medium in the ancient Near East for writing non-archivable formal messages. The prophet’s actions symbolize a promised reunification of the two nations in their own land (21,22). It is not difficult to extend the acted parable to the Christian church, which today is divided, not into two, but 45,000 denominational groupings (International Bulletin of Missionary Research). Surely such multiple division cannot be the will of God (John 17:20,21), yet sadly we accept it as normal and permanent.

We perpetuate disunity when we look at other Christians as inferior because of their worship style or traditions that have nothing to do with core biblical belief. Beyond this, there is much disunity that exists even within denominations or churches. All of this is out of line with all we are to stand for.

Ezekiel’s prophecy (22) was only partly fulfilled. Judah returned to the land in 538 B.C., but Israel didn’t. Perhaps Israel’s failure to return might parallel the interpretation of the land as a type of the new heavens and the new earth (Rom. 4:13; Heb. 11:9,10). In that case this passage may be suggesting indirectly that the full unity of the people of God will not be manifested until the new creation is completed. However, this reading of the text in no way excuses indifference to the fractured nature of today’s church. The church is the harbinger of the new creation (Phil. 3:20) and the followers of Jesus are called to relate to one another today as they will then.

Apply

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). Pray for the unity of the churches and within them, and ask God how you are called to promote it.

Closing prayer

Lord, You have existed through eternity as a community of love. You have invited us to enter and to extend this reality. Make us one as You are one.

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