Background⤒🔗

During the century drawing to a close, not many subjects have focussed the attention of the global church more intensely than that of Church unity. But to imagine for a moment that concern for church unity has suddenly emerged this century betrays a spiritual ignorance and poverty so radical that it raises a doubt as to whether one has had any personal Christian experi­ence at all, other than in an ex­ternal sense.

Each and everyone who re­ceives the Spirit of Christ is introduced into the fellowship of the church which is his body. This is increasingly a matter of experience — not as an abstract concept or in any external uni­formity — but in the very new affection by which our hearts have been taken captive. This affection is not a duty merely into which we have been coerced by external authority: nothing is more a part of our own person­ality and disposition. The love for the brethren by which John knew he had passed from death to life has something new and compulsive in its own very na­ture. We do not and cannot love only as a result of learning al­most mechanically — even from the Bible — that this is our duty. We love because we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. "And this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:10 [N.I.V.]).

It is also because God's love has effected our new birth: our loving in this way is the im­mediate result of our being born of God — our partaking of the divine nature. Our former, cor­rupt nature was incapable of this love which issues freely and spontaneously from our new nature. There is an inevitability then about church unity. By their very nature as true Christians, people not only are concerned about church unity but have experienced the possession of it. Unity and catholicity are char­acteristic of the church of Christ.

As Christians grow they be­come more and more aware of the divisions in the militant church. No desire is stronger in them than that the breaches in the ranks of Christ's disciples should be healed. There are other characteristics, however, that mark out the true church. For example, devoted submission to the authority of the Head of the church, both as their moral and their spiritual lawgiver and also as the Governor over all. Thus they do not seek the fulfilment of their desire for outward unity in any but a legitimate way, that is, in accordance with God's will in his Word and in providence. Assessing the state of the church now, are we to conclude that the obvious failure to attain perfect external unity has been the absence of the desire for it — or the inability to do what was necessary on the part of men? Are we to say that so many centuries of Christian saints fell short of the present generation in loyalty to their Lord and to one another? Are we to say that God himself in fact failed to supply the grace to accomplish his own purpose?

Can we honestly believe that any of these is the answer? Were our predecessors more sinful than we? May not the fact of the matter be that, so far at least, the divine plan is such that the wonderful desideratum of external church unity is not at­tainable here? For very many has it not required death — an entrance into glory — to enjoy it?

It would seem that I am advocating passivity as far as church divisions are concerned. But no conclusion can be more illogical! The preceding, in fact, means that it is of the essence of true spirituality to work towards the unity of the church. Every step of progress in the Christian life has a united church in view at not as a desideratum only, but as a guaranteed experience.

The time of its attainment as a matter of universal experience has been held from us. Those who strive for it in sincerity are folk who live in obedience to God's will. They seek for answers to all their questionings in respect of their duty, as for others, in God's Word. Their efforts towards achieving unity are thus never at the expense of truth — but, on the contrary, our expression of truth in action.

The Psalm←⤒🔗

Let us now turn to this Scripture — Psalm 133 — said, by an old saint "to have the fragrance of a lovely rose". Perowne says of it: "nowhere has the nature of true unity been more faithfully described, nowhere so gracefully illustrated, as in this short ode. True concord is a holy thing, a sacred oil, a rich perfume, which, flowing down from the head to the beard, from the beard to the garment, sanctifies the whole body. It is a sweet morning dew ... em­bracing all and refreshing all with its influence."

Some have conjectured that it refers to the time of David's coronation at Hebron. The tribes, after years of warfare, came to David, saying, "Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh" (2 Samuel 5:1). Others think it was suggested by watching the large numbers that came up to Jeru­salem to the Feasts. Perowne says a majority ascribe the Psalm to the return of the captives as they were again incorporated into one state. Perowne quotes Ezra and Nehemiah as con­firming the oneness among the tribes.

There is in fact no date given. It may have been a vision that charmed the Psalmist's heart with reference to any time in the church's history. And remember it can apply to a large or small number.

1. Those who are specified←⤒🔗

Brethren←↰⤒🔗

First then, they are called "brethren". When all the tribes came to David, they said: "Be­hold, we are thy bone and thy flesh". At all levels, the concept of unity in diversity, is charac­teristic of the Christian faith.

1. The very highest example of all is in the Godhead itself. God's self-revelation lays great emphasis on our supremely mysterious truth, that there is in the One Being a Trinal Nature. The church's doctrine imparts this revelation as the doctrine of the Three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who are one God.
2. The second example is in the person of the Saviour, the one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. No Chris­tian can deny that he is one person; nor deny that he has two natures, the divine and the hu­man. He alone speaks and acts as the divine Son in the Godhead. He alone speaks and acts by the human nature born of Mary, crucified on Calvary and risen on the third day after burial in Joseph's tomb and exalted to God's right hand, to return as Judge of all at the last day.
3. Again, the Scriptures partake of this distinguishing quality: "By whom were the Scriptures first written?" One answer is, by man. Another is, by God, the Holy Spirit. And both are cor­rect! No other answer does jus­tice to the Old and New Testa­ments. "Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost".
4. There is, further, a peculiar unity between Christ and the church which is the body of which he is the Head.
5. There is lastly a unity that obtains in the church itself (Ephesians 4; 1 Corinthians 12; Ephesians 2; 1 Peter 2).

The unity←↰⤒🔗

Think then of this unity of God's people

1. It includes all who have be­lieved from the beginning. The writer to the Hebrews has no hesitation in going back to the very first family and including Abel, son of Adam and Eve, among the examples of ancient believers. There is no excuse for attributing to those ancients any other faith than that which jus­tifies and by which the righteous live, in all ages. Indeed, in Galatians 3:13-14, Paul points out explicitly that the purpose of Christ's death was that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ. Who can deny that the inclusion of sinners in the future, in this one body, is the purpose of extending the gospel influence throughout all the earth?
2. Therefore it surpasses all distinctions among men. It shall include members of all nations, kindreds, people, tongues. It is thus a global oneness.
3. It actually surpasses the wide bounds of this globe. So limited are we, that we can hardly take in a unity that circles the earth. But the church of Christ passes the bounds of time and space, into another world. It includes the spirits of just men made perfect around Heaven's Throne.

The reason I address you today is that last year's Modera­tor, whom I invited to take this chair, has been royally invited into the company of the saints above. It is a solemn thought that he, I hope, knows me and you as brethren, better than we know him or one another. Surely therefore an evidence of grow­ing in grace is that we become more deeply aware of a unity in love, with Biblical saints and others whose characters we en­counter in our reading — and in the more recent past men and women who upheld the standard of the gospel in our own and other lands. So far are we from belittling such that we regard them as beloved, the choicest, the excellent of the earth. Do we, fathers and brethren, remember with love and respect, those who preceded us as Christ's brethren on earth and who now are our brethren in God the Father's house of many mansion?

4. Each one of these is a brother of all God's people. All of them are brethren of Christ, all have the Spirit of adoption. Oh! That more of this had been manifest in all our lives. There is reason to fear that we are in a genera­tion of God's people where much of this is wanting, in which these essentials of the faith are seen as notions, fig­ments of imaginations, or carnal worldly thoughts. There was nothing worldly about John's love for his brethren. It was of such a spiritual, holy, heavenly nature that it was sure evidence of his having eternal life. "We know," says he, "that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother, abideth in death."

2. The two illustrations←⤒🔗

Now we may look at the two illustrations of that precious privilege: precious ointment and the dew of Hermon. Now these may, at first sight, yes and in­deed after some consideration of the Psalm, seem mysterious to us.

The precious ointment←↰⤒🔗

We can't but think that we find this in the ceremonial law. (I think all of us who preach, should study the previsions in the ceremonial law and use them in our sermons.) Concerning this oil, we read in Exodus 40:9, "And thou shalt take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and all that is therein and shalt hallow it, and all the vessels thereof; and it shall be holy". In v.13, we read: "And thou shalt put upon Aaron the holy garments, and anoint him and sanctify him; that he may minister to me in the priest's office".

There we are given the pur­pose of the anointing. Aaron was the one called and consecrated to the office of High Priest. But he was a typical High Priest. And, moreover, the anointing oil was a type also. Around 800 years later, the Head and Saviour of the church was to identify him­self, in prophecy — in the words of Isaiah 61:1: "the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to build up the broken-hearted, to pro­claim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." How do we know these are our High Priest's words? He himself tells us, as he told his hearers in the Naz­areth synagogue (Luke 4:17-18) when he applied these very words to himself, Messiah, the Anointed One.

In our Psalm, the inestimable blessing of the unity of brethren in Christ is likened to the precious ointment poured out on the head of the High Priest and that ran down on his beard, down to the skirts or fringes of his garments. Several things characterised this ointment that are worth noting for our in­struction.

1. It was a unique kind of ointment. Moses was com­manded to make none other like it (Exodus 30:32). There is no anointing identical to that of the Holy Spirit. Therefore there is none to compare with the Saviour — anointed without measure. Moses was emphati­cally warned against making this ointment for any personal or other purposes.
2. It was composed of a variety of sweet spices according to divine instruction both as to na­ture and measure. The divine person, the Holy Spirit, in anointing our High Priest im­parted to him in human nature all the fruit of the Spirit without measure.
3. The pouring of the Spirit on Christ is revealed in connection with his work as Mediator. In Abraham Kuyper's words it is to be considered

• in the devel­opment of his human nature;
• in the consecration to his office;
• in his humiliation unto death;
• in his resurrection, exaltation and return to glory.

Thus Christ proved his fitness to be the Head of the Church. All who know him confess, "his name is as ointment poured forth". There is in him an unfathomable depth of life, of light and of grace, of glory.

4. How do we understand the flowing down of this oil to the edge of his garments? All for whom Christ is appointed High Priest will share in the blessing of the Holy Spirit. We are made partakers of the divine nature, in this way. He partakes of our nature, now glorified in order that we should partake of the glorious divine nature, through sharing in his unction. We are blessed with all spiritual bless­ings in him.
5. Having the oil flowing to the edge of Aaron's garments en­courages me — as I follow Paul into the depths of spiritual beggary — less than the least of all saints — yea, the chief of sinners. There is in the person of our High Priest, by the shedding of his own blood, an infinite merit for the hell-deserving, to put them in possession of his Holy Spirit or the sanctifying Spirit of adoption to mature them for glory.
6. If anything distinguishes those who are spiritual followers of the great High Priest, it is dependence on himself. This Psalm shows us, for example, the truth of this testimony in the Poet's own experience. So does Paul: "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his". And Paul goes on "...if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness." One of his conclusions is: "if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live."

"Blessed," says Christ, "are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." We must see the possession of one Holy Spirit in men's hearts as a certain guarantee of oneness with the children of God.

Hermon's dew←↰⤒🔗

The second illustration is the dew of Hermon which descends upon the mountain of Zion. Hermon was in the north; Zion in the south of the Promised Land. How is this a fit illustration of brotherly concord and unity? One commentator says: "that which renders it to the poet's eye so striking an image of brotherly concord is the fact that it falls alike on both mountains: the same dew falls on lofty Hermon and also on the humbler Zion. High and low drink in the same sweet refreshment." Thus it is exactly parallel to the former — the oil descends from the head to the beard and thence to the skirts of Aaron's garments: the dew from the higher to the lower mountains. Luther says, "whereas the mountains often seem, from afar, to reach up even unto heaven, the dew which cometh from heaven seems to fall from the high mountains unto the hills which are under them".

3. The source of this blessing←⤒🔗

In coming to the final point of this very important subject, let us focus on the source of this great privilege. "For there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore."

We must note, first, for our good and edification. This was not, repeat not, man's doing. We must beware of the God-dishonouring principle of expecting blessing by commending ourselves to God, by our own doing. It is to be feared that this is a plague, spiritually, in much of the so-called evangelical world of our day. What do the innovations in worship aim at? What do the attempts at modernising God's praise have in view? Yes, what about the constant carping criticisms of preachers, elders, and commu­nicants — the poor in spirit and having the promise of God's delighting in them? What is behind the demand for the tal­ented educated to be given special recognition in the family of God? Is it not often to hasten the advance of Christ's kingdom by human effort?

Let me add that our church has sought to channel the talents of our members for years now and let us encourage them to do so more and more, remembering that only God commands the blessing. Holy angels were not the source of blessing. Nor was the church itself — either leaders or led. But, but, oh, let us take to heart "there the Lord com­manded the blessing, even life for evermore". Jehovah it was — he who had every reason to withhold his favour — to punish rather than bless. Jehovah who is holy and sovereign in dominion over all. He had "looked down from the height of his sanctuary ... to hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death; to declare the name of the Lord in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem, when the people are gathered together to serve the Lord."

Note also Jehovah did not merely permit, he commanded. And it was done. God said: "Let there be light and there was light". And when the blessing is said to be life for evermore we know that it is Jehovah working for the glory of his grace. And when God commands life we can be sure life is created. Not that God abolishes the threat of death against disobedience. No! He has sent another to die, the Son who is co-eternal with God, laid down his life. The threat of death has been commanded and accomplished in Christ for these brethren. Now life everlasting is the gift of God.

As we were united with Christ in his dying for sin, so we are united with him in his resurrection. God bath quickened us to a lively hope by the res­urrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. This command — to rise — he had from the Father. Thus our life in union with the Risen Christ is at God's com­mand also.

Having this blessing, we are in life in union with Christ and with all who are one with him. We can't be one with the Head, without being one with the body.