Read Zechariah 8:20-23 and Revelation 5:9; 7:9-10
I think the idea of unity is a bit deceptive sometimes. Often, when I read Scripture about people from every tribe coming together in worship of the Lord, I picture a group of worshipers sitting in a sort of kum ba yah circle, mysteriously singing in English all together. But when I began to read these passages, I noticed something about unity in the Old and New Testaments. Unity takes work: it requires people to move, to journey with one another. People from all walks of life, and specifically people from different tribes and languages. Zechariah 8:21 says “the inhabitants of one city will go to another and say ‘let us go at once to entreat the Lord and seek the Lord Almighty. I myself am going.’” In this passage we see that the goodness of God and the greatness of His power is stirring up a desire for worship so strong that it not only causes people to journey to the house of the Lord, but also to reach out to others; to bring anyone and everyone along in this act of seeking God and asking for His blessing. Unity in Christ in the Old Testament, New Testament, and today requires believers to reach out to others, from every nation and tongue, to hold open our hands and say, “come with me to the house of the Lord! He has blessings for you too.”
The best part about all of this though, is that Christ is the only one who is qualified to bring people from every tribe, tongue, and nation and create a genuine community of worship around the throne of God, because of the way that He radically loved others and sacrificed His life for us all. This is a relief to me, because left to me, unity in all tribes probably would just look like that kum ba yah circle I mentioned earlier. But because of Christ and His sacrifice, He is not only worthy to take the scroll and open it, He is also able to teach us how to reach out to one another in love; to extend a hand and invite someone into the goodness of God.
DIG DEEPER:
- Spend some time thinking about the sources you use in your devo- tional/ worship times… are you spending most of your time learningfrom, listening to, and worshipping with other believers who look, talk, and act like you? If so, ask God to open your eyes to ways that you might be able to connect with someone different from you, to begin a relationship with that person, and together discover more of what this Biblical picture of unity across the nations might be like. Identify devotional resources from another cultural perspective you can use to expand your understanding of God’s Kingdom.
written by Rachel Daun
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