Dean Williams
May 14, 2020
Question: What do the following verses have in common?
“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works” (Hebrews 10:24).
“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” (Psalm 133:1).
“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing” (1 Thess. 5:11).
“We used to take sweet counsel together; within God’s house we walked in the throng” (Psalm 55:14)
“Love one another with brotherly affection” (Romans 12:10).
“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34).
Answer: Among other things, they provide pictures of a call for, or a recognition of people who are physically walking in, love and unity. That is who we were before the pandemic, and that is who we long to be again. We have been loving each other from a distance, but perfect love has a proximity element to it. This notion can be readily seen in Jesus’ high priestly prayer in John 17. Jesus prayed, “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”
Jesus prayed that we might be united as He and the Father were. And how were they united? Among other things, they were united in perfect love, which again, includes an element of proximity. In fact, one of the greatest evidences for the Trinity is the presence of love and proximity in the Godhead. You see, in order for there to be love, there must be an object of that love. So, for it to be said that God “is” love, perfect love, there must be an infinite and eternal object of His love. The Father has infinitely and eternally loved the Son and the Spirit, the Spirit has infinitely and eternally loved the Father and the Son, and the Son has infinitely and eternally loved the Father and the Spirit, and all three are “one.” We are called to reflect this glorious fellowship, and so for many, our spirits yearn to be physically reunited with the rest of our body (I Corinthians 12).
As we reflect on these wondrous truths; we have been united in Christ, we have been made to reflect the love and unity of the godhead, and thus our spirit and souls yearn to be reunited, let us do so prayerfully, asking our Lord to bring us to that day when we are all physically united for the purpose of glorifying His name and loving one another.