The Great Unifier and the Great Divider . . .

Jesus – The Great Unifier and the Great Divider – Part 1

   The Lord Jesus Christ is viewed as being the essence of love, and peace, and also as the great unifier of men. In order to understand the love and peace of God that the Lord Jesus Christ spoke of, one must be born-again; and therefore, one has a personal relationship with a personal God. At this point the topics of love and  born-again should be discussed, however, I cannot allow myself to be diverted from the title of this article.

   He is truly the only Unifier of the earth. He alone united men to God, He brought God to man through His Person. Being God — He brought God to man; being man — He brought man to God. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Only, true GodMan. Behold a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. Matthew 1:23 He constantly declared who He was, through miracles, through parables, and through His Word. 

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.

I and my Father are one.

Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.

Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?

The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. (John 10:27-33)

 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.

And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.

 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. (John 17:9-11)

Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may  And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. (John 17:20-23)

   Herein is a fundamental interaction between God and His children, a solid union, a sure nearness and a secure and true binding unification.

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

   Through the death of Christ on the cross, men have been brought into a place of reconciliation with God; the choice of acceptance or rejection is laid at the feet of each individual. To agree with God, to repent, to believe God, and to be born-again by the Spirit of God is the only way that men can understand the love of God and have peace with God; and thus, be united to God.

Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.

But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

 And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.

 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

 He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. (Matthew 10:32-40)

I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?

Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:

For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.

 The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. (Luke 12:49, 51-53)

For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

   Our Lord Jesus Christ is the great Unifier and He is the great Divider. The two-edged sword not only cuts both ways but it also separates. When men hear the gospel, the Word of God, they either accept it and find peace, or they reject the message, and therein is the sword and the wrath of God. One or the other, there is no fence-sitting in Christianity — accept and live, or reject and endure the wrath of a Righteous and Holy God. The Lord Jesus is not only a unifying power through the Spirit of God in the invisible church of God, but He is also the separating power – He separates His own from the world, the flesh and the devil.; consequently, He is both the great ultimate Unifier and the great ultimate Divider. The body of Christ, the invisible church, is separated from the world because it is united with Christ. The principle is unity through separation – united with God through Christ, separated from the world. The reverse side, or the other edge of the sword, is the principle of united with the world, separated from God. This is the fourth principle set forth in the book of Genesis, the Separation Principle. And God saw the light that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. (Genesis 1:4) For those of you who are curious, I am not going to write what the first three principles are in Scripture — work for it. Read Genesis 1:1, 2 and 3.  

   His ministry either drew men to Him, or drew men to hate Him. His convicting words and powerful miracles either united men to Him, or separated men from Him. The Pharisees, the scribes, the lawyers, and the Sadducees called him: Lord, Master, Good Master, and Rabbi, yet they hated Him because He said He was God. The hearts of men have not changed throughout the centuries; today, the world reluctantly acknowledges Him as merely a good man, or a teacher, or even a prophet, yet they refuse Him as God, they mock Him as Savior, His name is a curse word, and they reject Him as God’s peace-offering towards all of humanity.

   The Scriptures and Christ are organically connected. Just as the written living Word of Scripture is mocked, ridicule, cursed and rejected; Christ is also refused, mocked, rejected and ridiculed as God’s eternal Word to the world. Christ, as the Eternal Word of God, and the Scriptures, as the living Word of God, continues to draw men or to antagonize men.

 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: (Matthew 25:32)

   As long as men refuse to accept the Sovereignty, Authority and Righteousness of a Holy God, as long as men refuse to acknowledge the Person of God the Father, the Person of God the Son, and the Person of God the Holy Spirit there will always be secular and religious feuds, constant divisions, and heedless opposition against the people of God and against God Himself. Jesus the Christ came to set the souls of men free from the bondage of a raging devil, to set men free from the slavery of sin, to release men from the power of death, and to bring them into a place and a state of peace with God. Christ came to be our Peace-Offering, to unite men to God, and to satisfy God’s judgment against sin.

© Copyright 2017, Mary Haigh

Article may be used, but not for gain. Freely have ye received, freely give.

All Scripture references are from the authorized King James Bible (KJV)