In Part I of this article, we learned that a sealing will take place before the close of probation. By this time, some effort and a process is going to be involved just as there had been effort and a process in Israel’s family. When Joseph brought all the brothers together, he seated them by birth order, and when he set the food before them, giving Benjamin five times the amount that he gave the others, he was watching to see if they were going to be bitter, if they were going to start finding fault or start fighting among themselves. Those were the dispositions in his brothers with which he was familiar; that is what they had done when he lived with them—that is why they sold him into captivity, because they had been fighting and bickering. Joseph wanted to see if there had been a change since they had sold him years before. When he saw that a change had taken place in them, he then revealed himself to them. It took a process, and for God’s people it is also going to take a process, but they will be a united company.
Some very interesting information is given about this in the Old Testament. In Isaiah 11:11, a description is given of the Lord setting His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people. This is the second gathering or recovering of the Jews at that day. Then, in verse 13, it says, spiritually speaking, “The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.” The tribes of Ephraim and Judah were both strong. The last of Israel’s history after Solomon, with Solomon’s son, was a divided kingdom. In this passage of Isaiah this was the condition; it was a divided kingdom, and Isaiah was looking prophetically into the future. Isaiah saw a time when there would be a united company.
Referring to this, Ellen White counsels: “O that all might repent and do their first works. When the churches do this, they will love God supremely and their neighbors as themselves. Ephraim will not envy Judah, and Judah will not vex Ephraim. Divisions will then be healed, the harsh sounds of strife will no more be heard in the borders of Israel.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 385.
Soon the time is coming when the divisions will be healed and “the harsh sounds of strife will no more be heard in the borders of Israel.” Oh, how we need that time! That is one of our greater needs today, because the 144,000 are going to be a united, not a scattered or divided, company.
“Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion.” Isaiah 52:8. The watchmen will see eye to eye! There is going to be agreement; there is going to be unity. If we see eye to eye, we are seeing the same way, are we not?
Achieving Oneness
Our early pioneers had a similar experience. They came from the Methodist, Baptist, Congregational, and Presbyterian churches, just to name a few. Coming from all these different churches but uniting on the belief that the Lord was coming soon, in 1844, there were still a lot of different backgrounds and ideas. They had to be bold to step out in that period and brave the opposition of the clergy and the world, and the sarcasm of the newspapers. They had to have some strength in their backbone.
Such strength is good, but it can also create problems! Here were strong-willed people who desired to come into unity—people with a wide variety of backgrounds and ideas. Did these people come into unity? Yes, to a large degree they did come into unity and come to see eye to eye. How did it take place? For several years the believers were studying together, and when there were disagreements on issues, they prayed and went their separate ways to study individually, and then came back together again. When somebody’s spirit became a little bit ruffled, they would pray and end the meeting right there. Sometimes they would be praying and studying throughout the night, striving for unity and striving to see eye to eye.
To a greater degree and in a greater manner, God’s end time people are going to come into a unity in which they can see eye to eye. There will no longer be envy or vexing.
Another prophecy is given in Jeremiah 3:18: “In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.” Once again the promise is given that Judah and Israel would walk together. This prophecy, as well as others, are conditional prophecies that could have been fulfilled by the literal nations of Israel and Judah, but they were not. Now they will be fulfilled spiritually.
Jeremiah 50:4, 5 reads: “In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, [saying], Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant [that] shall not be forgotten.” Once again Israel and Judah were coming together. Most importantly, they were going together to the Lord.
Coming together but not coming to the Lord together is misguided unity. This passage says, “they shall go and seek the Lord”; they will “join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant.” This was indeed a joining together to the Lord in a perpetual covenant; those who had been divided were coming together.
Take a Stick
Have you ever had Mormon missionaries come to your home? Two of them came to my home recently. I shared with them that I had grown up in their church, but as I investigated things, I came to the realization that there were some problems with what the Mormon Church was saying and what they were teaching. They listened as I told them about the Sabbath, and they accepted a copy of the National Sunday Law (A. Jan Marcussen, Amazing Truth Publications, Thompsonville, Illinois, 1983). In any case, the following passage of Scripture is one the Mormon Church frequently uses.
From Ezekiel 37:15–17, we read: “The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and [for] all the house of Israel his companions: And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.”
There were two sticks—Judah and Ephraim—and the Lord said, “Join them together, and they will become one in your hand.” Our friends from the Mormon Church would tell us that one of the sticks is the Bible and the other is the Book of Mormon, and they are joined together; they become one. There is, however, no evidence for that; it is just their interpretation.
As we look at each of the above passages, we see Judah not vexing Ephraim and Ephraim not envying Judah—certainly a unity Scripture for the last days. We see Israel and Judah coming together and walking to seek the Lord together—a united, not a divided, company picture. And in Ezekiel 37, the same thing is being illustrated; it certainly does not represent the Book of Mormon by any means!
But notice verses 19–22: “Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which [is] in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, [even] with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand. And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes. And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.”
Revival Precedes Unity
A unity of God’s people is predicted. We are in need of that unity today. What is to bring about that unity? Tragically, unfortunately, we have right now, just as in the days of the children of Israel, a very divided people. How does unity come? How are the sticks joined? How does Judah not vex Ephraim and Ephraim not envy Judah? How do the watchmen see eye to eye? The answer is given in Ezekiel 37:1–10: “The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which [was] full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, [there were] very many in the open valley; and, lo, [they were] very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I [am] the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but [there was] no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.”
Quite a picture, is it not, Ezekiel’s valley of dry, scattered bones? Then Ezekiel speaks the word of the Lord, and the bones come together. As they come together, sinews, ligaments, tendons, muscles, all of those things are put upon them. Flesh, skin is put upon them. They are no longer a valley of dry bones; they look like human beings again. But the breath that gives life was still lacking.
“Ye shall know that I [am] the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken [it], and performed [it], saith the Lord.” Verses 13, 14. What was lacking spiritually? God’s Spirit.
All the mechanism was there; all the coming together of the bones was there, but one important element was still lacking. God said that He would put His Spirit in them, and they would live. That spark of life, God’s breath, is still a medical mystery today! God is still needed to make this army of dry bones live. When He put His Spirit upon them, they stood on their feet, an exceeding great army.
“The whole earth shall ring with the tread of the exceeding great army of every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.” The Great Controversy, 644. This exceeding great army is the 144,000 who have been revived and have received God’s Spirit. There is a revival, a coming together, a receiving of God’s Spirit; the Spirit is breathed onto them, and they live, this exceeding great army.
Revival precedes unity. An outpouring of the Holy Spirit precedes unity.
“A revival of true godliness among us is the greatest and most urgent of all our needs.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 121.
As we have this revival of godliness and as God gives more and more of His Spirit, there will be more and more coming into unity. Ephraim will not envy Judah; Judah will not vex Ephraim; the watchmen will be able to see eye to eye. But we need a revival of primitive godliness; we need God’s spirit, because the 144,000 are going to be a united company. They are not going to be divided; there are not going to be two sticks; there will be only one stick. To prepare our hearts for this revival is the greatest of our needs.
Of One Mind
“Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, [being] of one accord, of one mind. [Let] nothing [be done] through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 2:2–5. Paul says to “fulfill my joy that you be likeminded, of one accord, of one mind.” What does it mean to have one mind? We are to have one motive, one purpose, one goal, and we are to have one mouth to say the same thing. “That ye may with one mind [and] one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 15:6.
Instruction is then given as to how this is achieved: “[Let] nothing [be done] through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.” Verse 3. Is this natural? No, we naturally esteem our own powers, our own ideas, better than those of others. An example of this is given in the disciples.
“[Judas] himself had a high opinion of his own qualifications, and looked upon his brethren as greatly inferior to him in judgment and ability. They did not see their opportunities, he thought, and take advantage of circumstances. The church would never prosper with such shortsighted men as leaders. Peter was impetuous; he would move without consideration. John, who was treasuring up the truths that fell from Christ’s lips, was looked upon by Judas as a poor financier. Matthew, whose training had taught him accuracy in all things, was very particular in regard to honesty, and he was ever contemplating the words of Christ, and became so absorbed in them that, as Judas thought, he could not be trusted to do sharp, far-seeing business. Thus Judas summed up all the disciples, and flattered himself that the church would often be brought into perplexity and embarrassment if it were not for his ability as a manager. Judas regarded himself as the capable one, who could not be overreached. In his own estimation he was an honor to the cause, and as such he always represented himself.” The Desire of Ages, 717.
Judas was esteeming himself better than others, but in the revival movement, in the coming into unity, and to receive the Holy Spirit, the exact opposite is necessary. Learning to esteem others better than ourselves cuts against the grain of humanity. Paul does not just say to esteem those that are better than ourselves, but we are to have such a low opinion of ourselves that we can esteem each and every one better than ourselves.
Paul continues, in verse 4: “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.” Once again, this is not natural. “Jesus worked to relieve every case of suffering that He saw. He had little money to give, but He often denied Himself of food in order to relieve those who appeared more needy than He.” Ibid., 86. Is this what you do, when you are hungry? When our hunger has been satisfied, we may give some food to somebody else, but to give our food to someone else when we are hungry is looking out for others and not ourselves.
“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” Verse 5.
The 144,000 are going to be a united company; there will be no envy or vexing. Battle-axes will be buried, because they will be one in purpose—to take the Three Angels’ Messages to the world and to be ready for Jesus when He comes. The closer we follow and imitate Jesus’ example and strive to put those things behind us that cause division, the closer we are going to come into that desired revival and unity.
This is not just going to fall into place, however. Paul used the word endeavoring: “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:3. Endeavoring means, “striving, attempting, putting forth an effort.” We could read this passage from Ephesians as, “Putting forth an effort, striving to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” We are assured that unity is coming. The 144,000 will be sealed and will be perfectly united.
Unity is coming! Are we going to be a part of the untied company, of the victorious, guileless, and united company? We have to follow the steps in Philippians 2 and the steps of humiliation that Jesus took for us, humbling ourselves to come and to seek for that unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. The more we follow those steps, the more unity we will have, and the more unity we have, the more of God’s Spirit we will receive, until we experience that great revival and unity of the Spirit, and we march with that great army, singing the victory song. May the Lord grant us that experience as we strive for it, endeavoring to keep the unity. May we humble ourselves that we may be a part of that united company.
Cody Francis is currently engaged in public evangelism for Mission Projects International. He also pastors the Remnant Church of Seventh-day Adventist Believers in Renton, Washington. He may be contacted by e-mail at: cody@missionspro.org.