One Unit for the Glory of God
Last week as I dive into the Torah portion on the study of the Tabernacle and all its furnishings, I noticed a consistent theme throughout “of one or one.” As I continued my studies, a myriad of New Testament scriptures began to flood my mind about believers and unity (oneness) in the Messiah. My intention with this teaching is for us to see that from the beginning of creation, God’s desire is for us to be one with Him and each other.
Galatians 3:28 reads, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
From the beginning of time, God’s intention was for His creation to reflect Him and the unity of the Godhead. We see this demonstrated as He made the elements of creation. He separated everything according to its kind so that they could operate as one unit. When He created man, He said “let us make man in our image and likeness.” After putting Adam in a deep sleep and taking one of his ribs to make a helper for him, God brought her to Adam. Adam said of her, “this is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh, she will be called woman because she was taken out of me.” Then God said, “for this cause must a man leave his father and mother and cling to his wife and the two will become one flesh.” Scripture references; Genesis 1:26-28; Genesis 2; Genesis 3:1-20.
God told the people to make contributions for the building of the tabernacle, a sanctuary for Him to dwell among them. The tabernacle is a representation of God’s relationship with man, man’s responsibility in relationship with Him, the life of the believer, and the work of Jesus, and a pattern of God’s Kingdom. It would take a book for me to explain in detail all this but for the sake of this teaching I will zero in on the pattern of the Kingdom. The instructions God gave Moses for the building of the tabernacle and the furnishings were according to the pattern God gave him. He was to make everything to function as one unit.
Exodus 25:1-9 (NKJV) Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring Me an offering. From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My offering. 3 And this is the offering which you shall take from them: gold, silver, and bronze; 4 blue, purple, and scarlet thread, fine linen, and goats’ hair;5 ram skins dyed red, badger skins, and acacia wood; 6 oil for the light, and spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense; 7 onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate. 8 And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. 9 According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.
God created man for fellowship and to dwell with Him. He walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. As a result of their disobedience to His instructions, God put them out of the Garden, but He never stopped talking. Throughout the Bible, we see the demonstration of God’s heart to dwell and fellowship with mankind. He chose the children Israel to demonstrate who He is to other nations and His desire to dwell with His creation. God desires for us to be one with Him just as the tabernacle and all its furnishings were to be one unit. Jesus’ last prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane was “Father make them one, just as we are one,” John 17:11, 21-22. It is not a coincidence that the plea for unity was in a garden, for it was in a garden that man’s separation from God and each other began.
What am I talking about? I am glad you asked. Sin separated man from God because of disobedience; the man and the woman were also separated from each other. When God asked Adam if he had eaten from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil he told him to eat from, Adam replied “it was the woman you gave me.” Up until that point, Adam and Eve were one, one unit so to speak. In saying it was the woman he differentiated himself from her. She was no longer bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh that is why God told the woman her desire will always be toward her husband, yearning to become one flesh again. Scripture reference Genesis chapter three.
In teaching the disciples to pray Jesus told them in this manner you should pray; “our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your Kingdom come Your will be done in earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9-10). Jesus was teaching them the importance of having the pattern of the Kingdom displayed on earth in the same manner as it was important for Moses to build the tabernacle according to the pattern God showed him. Without the correct pattern or design, the presence of God cannot be manifested.
To live according to the Kingdom we must follow the design of God. We must function as one unit. Sin separated us from God but through the Messiah, we are reconciled to Him in fellowship with Him and each other.
The Apostle Paul teaches us in Colossians 2:19-22; “For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight.
The disciples received the promise of the Holy Spirit as they were all in one accord waiting, Acts 2:1-4. There were able to turn their world upside down because they moved as one unity following the pattern, the example of Jesus. The gifts of the Spirit are given to build up the body of Christ as one unit.
Ephesians 4: 11-13 states; And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;”
When we move as one unit according to God’s design nothing will be impossible for us. In Genesis 11:1-6, we read about the building of the tower of Babel. It says that God came down to see what the people were doing. God said, the people are united and of one speech, nothing they set out to accomplish will be impossible. God had to separate them by language because building a tower towards heaven was not apart of His design for man. As the body of the Messiah, we are to move as one unit for God’s glory.
We are to be knitted together in love, just as how the coverings of the tabernacle were knitted together. Paul prayed, “that their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and gaining all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, 3 in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden” Colossians 2:2-3
When we learn to move according to His pattern and design for the Kingdom then we will see a manifestation of His power in our lives. In the words of our Messiah, “if a house is divided against itself it cannot stand” Mark 3:25. His desire is for us to be in unity with Him and each other. When we stand together power is demonstrated.
For further reading on the tabernacle and its furnishings see Exodus 25:1-27:19.