Unity In and Under Christ

 

 

Good day! I’m Duane Matz and this is Today’s Living Word:

 

Isa 11:13 Also the envy of Ephraim shall depart, And the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, And Judah shall not harass Ephraim.

 

In that day, (the Messianic period) the division between the northern (Ephraim) and southern (Judah) kingdom will be over. No more warring against each other, but unity. This is spoken of elsewhere in the prophets.

 

Jer 3:18 "In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, (Ephraim)  and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given as an inheritance to your fathers.

 

And in one of the lesser-known miracles of the Bible. The Lord will turn two sticks into one in the hands of Ezekiel to make the point!

 

Eze 37:16 "As for you, son of man, take a stick for yourself and write on it: 'For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions.' Then take another stick and write on it, 'For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions.'  17 "Then join them one to another for yourself into one stick, and they will become one in your hand.

 This unity is meant to be a picture for us of the unity of the church under the banner of Christ, and it has been God’s plan from the beginning!

 

Eph 1:10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth--in Him.

 

It is as Eph 4:5,6 states:  one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

 

Now let’s stop our petty bickering and allow the Holy Spirit to reign in our lives and live like it!

 

I’m Duane Matz and that’s Today’s Living Word.