“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity,” “…for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.” Psalm 133:1, 3
Most certainly the greatest example and power of unity is found in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. From the creation, when God said, “…let US make man in our image, after our likeness,…” to Isaiah’s declaration of who is this, “…child born unto us is, …this Son who is given, whose name is called: Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace,” (Is. 9:6) we are confronted with God the Father, The Son, and the Spirit, who exists in perfect unity, oneness, and holy peace, there never being any dissention, contradiction, or division among them. They are One, and yet, three.
When Jesus came, and in the flesh, revealed God to men, He began to expound more in detail concerning this unity between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To the woman at the well, he would say that the Father must be worshipped in spirit. He also said that God is a Spirit. And then He declared to the woman that He was the Messiah, the very Christ of God. (Jn. 4) Over and over in the Gospels He will speak of His oneness with the Father, being sent by Him, living in perfect conformity with what He saw of the Father, and accomplishing His works by the Spirit. He would speak of living by the Father, being equipped by Him to accomplish a mission. He would declare that He, like the Father, was not of this world, being from above. (Jn. 8:23) He did nothing independently of the Father, living only to please Him.
There would come a day when Jesus would say to His disciple Phillp: “…he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father,” …the Father being IN Him, and He in the Father. Increasingly, as the time of His departure would approach, Jesus would speak and teach concerning the Spirit of God, this Spirit whom the Father would send in answer to the prayer of the Son. This was the very Spirit who moved upon the face of the waters at creation, the same Spirit which anointed the prophets, and godly men and women of old, filling eventually the disciples at Pentecost with His power. This is that Spirit which joins the Father and the Son, whose names with the Spirit are declared at every baptism of every believer, “…in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” Why are these truths concerning unity, and union, so very important? The answer is found in Jesus’ prayer in John’s gospel: “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word; that they 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.” (17:20,21) The teaching on the Trinity of God, and the Oneness between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is given to us to bring us to worship, for how can a God be so very great and wonderful, that He would choose and make a way to reveal Himself to sinful men, to save them, and to give them access into His holy kingdom of light and life for eternity? The second reason for unveiling to believers this great mystery which cannot be understood, but grasped in some measure by faith, is so that as Jesus “lived” by the Father, being constantly filled, led forth, and enabled by the Spirit, glorifying God by the doing of His will on earth as it is in heaven, and also revealing something of the love of God for all men in His perfect salvation, men might also live in like manner by faith, worshipping and serving God.
Why is oneness, unity, so very important for the believer today? It is because of a promise: “…for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forever more.” God’s blessing is LIFE.
Dear Father, Show us Thy oneness. In Jesus’ name, Amen.