I’m well aware that all of these Christian unity Bible scriptures, and especially the ones about brotherly love, are interpreted by many who call themselves Christians, and by quite a few who certainly are Christians, as *not* referring to any kind of unity with all believers in Christ, of all Christian denominations and groups. They find a myriad of alternative interpretations of these scriptures, some also true interpretations, some singularly false, but all bearing the common thread of logic that Christian unity beyond the boundaries of their own Christian denomination or group, unity with all Christians of other Christian denominations or groups, is somehow either non-existent, or merely relatively unimportant.
It seems to them non-existent or unimportant in scripture, because they didn’t die for them all like Jesus did.
Don’t get me wrong. There’s absolutely nothing wrong, in fact there’s everything right, with having an understanding of some scripture that has no direct bearing on Christian unity, and to teach such as important in your denomination or group, whether others do or not. But there is no Christian doctrine that justifies refusal to unite in the self-sacrificial love of God for all His children, in every Christian denomination and group, and no Christian doctrine justifies refusal to recognize the fact that such Christian unity is shown throughout the scriptures to be required of us all.
Yes, scriptures about loving your brethren in Christ must be applied to believers in your congregation. And, of course, scriptures about loving your brethren in Christ must be applied to believers in your denomination, or other Christian group or association of churches to which you belong. But Jesus died for all believers who believe, to repentance, in the Christ of the Bible for their salvation, and though not all of those believers are in your own Christian denomination or group, they yet remain your brethren in Christ. And while your own Christian denomination or group may indeed have some particular doctrine that is true and that the rest of the believers have not yet found, they will never find the truth of that doctrine in anything you say or do, until you first find them in the many scriptures about loving all your brethren in Christ, as explained throughout this Christian Unity Prophecy.
Christian unity in love means loving with your life laid down all of those believers of all of those other Christian denominations and groups because they all believe in salvation to repentance, in holiness and brotherly love, by the same Jesus of the same word of God in which you and your group found Him. Yet any doctrine can be used to avoid Christian unity, including the doctrine of unity in salvation by faith in Christ, itself, to which you can choose to either add salvific requirements in order to exclude others, or you can choose to exclude others who do add salvific requirements.
For just one example of this, salvation by faith in Christ is the basis of Christian unity. But if you deny that those others believe in their own salvation by faith in Christ at all, simply because they don’t yet believe in salvation by faith in Christ, “plus nothing”, then which of them do you convince otherwise? If you merely claim that the understanding of salvation by faith in Christ, “plus nothing”, is your own, superior doctrine, who listens? Why not be charitable, and let all claim to know salvation by faith in Christ, whether they add “plus nothing”, or “plus baptism”, or “plus baptism under the water”, or “plus speaking in tongues”, or “plus the Holy Spirit going out from the Father, or from the Son”, or any other plus, as long as they stand in Christ, in holiness and brotherly love, fully persuaded in their own minds of the truth of their own faith for themselves?
Romans 14:5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind
Put another way, how many are actually persuaded to agree with your doctrine by the scriptures but must refuse to give voice to their belief in that doctrine that you espouse, simply because you and your Christian denomination or group have already “staked your claim” on that as being doctrine that you found first, making your worship better in God’s eyes than their worship? Or how many would actually give voice to the fact that they do believe in the same doctrine espoused by your Christian denomination or group, if you would simply allow or acknowledge the fact that many other believers, in many other Christian denominations and groups outside of your own, may in fact already believe it so, without you ever mentioning how many decades you taught it that way?
Romans 14:13 Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.
Do you make sure you speak the truth, always in love, and in all humility, and speak only that which results only in edification of your brethren, so that you don’t drive them away with your own haughty attitude from the real truth of God’s word you offer? If it is true doctrine that you have in your Christian denomination or group, who gave it to you?
1 Corinthians 4:7 For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?
And how are you willing to humble yourself to get them to listen to God’s word? Consider this. Suppose for a moment that it was to turn out that through your humility and love in presenting the word of God to Christians in some other denomination, not your own, they eventually came to agree in the truth of that doctrine in which they formerly disagreed with you. Now they see it exactly as you do. Now, suppose that they never once realized, remembered, or acknowledged that you and your denomination or group both believed and taught that doctrine first, before they ever understood it correctly. Suppose only God knew that you had led them into that truth. Would you be satisfied? Is it enough that only God knows now, and will reward you later?
Luke 15:29 And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:
Luke 16:15 And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
Matthew 23:5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,
John 3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
Ecclesiastes 9:15 Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man.
Galatians 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
Finally, as long as your brethren's doctrine isn’t unrighteous or without brotherly love, and as long as they do it to glorify Jesus with the honor and love in their hearts for the one Master of us all, then why do you care how they interpret the Bible? That believer in one of those other Christian denominations or groups is your brother in Christ, not your servant.
Romans 14:4 Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.
But if you obey Jesus, you are his or her servant.
Luke 22:26 But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.
Or do we look for another, greater than Jesus, in you?
Luke 6:40 The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.
All believers believe in salvation by faith in Christ. All Christian denominations and groups teach salvation by faith in Christ. If you truly believe in salvation by faith in Christ, then, in love, agree that you believe with them in that first, so maybe they will eventually hear your other, true doctrine. You would convince more of the others of the truth of that other doctrine, by first obeying the new commandment of Jesus to love them with your life laid down, and then let God do the exalting of doctrines as He chooses. If you and your Christian denomination have a better doctrine that you truly believe, then have faith that God will do the exalting in due time.
Luke 14:11 For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Peter 5: 5 ¶ Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
Philippians 2:3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
In Christian unity, we need to start together in Christ, in His word in the Bible, in His name, and in His blood given for us all, while we bear the fruits of the Spirit to one another before we add requirements to the salvation of others, or before we exclude those others who do add requirements to salvation. The doctrine of Christian unity is different in this way from all the doctrines that separate us, or cause divisions, or strife. Here’s why:
If it is eventually shown that those other doctrines are correct, and Christian unity is wrong, then those separate Christian denominations or groups who had the right doctrine are glorified as being the best among all the Christian groups or denominations. And if God does the glorifying, so be it.
But if the doctrine of Christian unity is right, then there are believers of *all* the different Christian denominations and groups that are correct in their doctrine by believing in Christ, and no single denomination or group of Christians can ever take credit for it, but Jesus alone gets all the glory. In unity we all show the world together that *not one* of the members of our denominations or groups has any righteousness except the righteousness that Jesus gives to us all, and not one has any better worship to offer God than the faith in the one Christ by whom all claim salvation, in which claim all love one another as brethren in Christ.
1 Corinthians 13:2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
That is the salvation message that the lost and dying world needs to hear in Jesus, and the one message for which God now uses the glory of His power to work miracles to reveal to the world.
John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
John 17: 22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
23 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.
Among the Christians who oppose Christian unity, some greatly prefer to hang on to the notion that the members of their own denomination or group hold an elevated status above that of their brethren in Christ, brethren outside their own group, by reason of offering to God a better worship, based on better Bible doctrine. They prefer such elevated status, based on elevated doctrine, to the equality of status in the righteousness of God, that comes to us all in equal measure from Christ, by the gift of His grace through faith in Him. I predict that God, Himself, will change their minds, and will certainly fulfill this scripture again in the near future.
Jeremiah 33: 14 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.
15 In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.
16 In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness.
Jesus makes it clear, by the only commandment He ever called “my commandment”, and the only commandment He ever called “a new commandment”, that He’s the kind of God who wants worship only in Christian unity, so much so that He gave His glory to us for it. But instead, we’ve all got a better worship to offer Him, based on the better doctrine we’ve each, variously figured out, within our various Christian denominations and groups. We all effectively tell Jesus that we’ll get to Christian unity some other time (like maybe when those hardheads in all those other Christian groups straighten up).
John 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you
John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
John 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
Isaiah 65:5 Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.
Jesus reveals the Father to us all, and commands us how to worship Him, namely, in unity of self-sacrificial love for all our brethren that believe in Him. And in return, we tell Him we want to worship another God, one that recognizes the better worship we offer, in the better doctrine we understand, more than all our brethren in those other Christian denominations and groups.
Luke 10:22 All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.
Psalms 16: 2 O my soul, thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee;
1 Samuel 15:23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
We want a God that honors the worship of doctrinal masters, not one that honors servants of all their brethren, and certainly not lowly, washers of feet, taking care of intimate matters of personal cleanliness.
Matthew 23:10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.
11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
John 13: 13 Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.
14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.
15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.
16 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
We surely don't need to wash the feet of all other believers, do we?
John 13:14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.
15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.
Having now read through most of this Christian Unity Prophecy, if you thought that there was made a reasonable effort at various points herein of presenting the scriptural case that might serve primarily to dissuade all those Christians who prefer to oppose Christian unity, then you missed the point of this prophecy entirely. I'm quite sure that some will not be persuaded by this writing. I’ve discussed with such people long enough, and often enough, to know that in some cases, they are so practiced at promoting their own Christian denomination to the exclusion of all others, that neither scripture, nor reason, nor even my love, reaches them directly. They live in a doctrinal Alice-in-Wonderland, Through-the-Looking-Glass theological world, where words only mean what their own Christian denomination or group says they mean, and that meaning changes as time goes on. Such a war of words cannot be won. And the rancor of such debate, itself, is wholly counter-productive to Christian unity and without merit, edifying no one.
It makes it hard to call such self-appointed older brethren in Christ my brothers at all. Such brethren overflow with the carnality that causes divisions, while I reach out to them only in holiness and brotherly love, only in the word, name, and blood of Jesus, and bearing only the fruit of the Spirit.
Psalms 120:6 My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace.
7 I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war.
Or at least, it *would* make it hard, if I didn’t have my own, extensive, first-hand, past experience, at the practice of lukewarm, double-minded, Christian living, myself.
Luke 7:47 Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.
The way I see it, God’s got us all on a sort of grace-for-grace point system, where forgiveness is all a gift from Him, but only in proportion to the forgiveness we give to others, and I figure I’m going to need all the points of grace I can get.
John 1:16 And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
Matthew 18:33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?
34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
So I’m working on forgiving all, loving all self-sacrificially, and washing all the brotherly feet I can get my hands on, in confidence of a judgment of no judgment at all. Of all the jobs I could ever have in the house of the Lord, I’m happy to just have one of them.
Luke 6:37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:
Psalms 84:10 For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
I’m committed to find a way to reach out to all my brethren in Christ. But there are those Christians who will only be reached and brought to understand the need for Christian unity of all believers when God, Himself, shows them His glory to make us one. Thank God, He has more than promised us His glory to do so, He has already *given* us His glory to do so. Praise be, forever, to the one God of all glory given for unity in God’s love for all His children in Jesus! Amen.
John 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
It is to that end result that this Christian Unity Prophecy is directed, so that God can show to the doubting ones the glory the Father gave Jesus, that Jesus gave us to make us one, and thus make known to them His love for all of His children, as for them. It’s Jesus’ love for such hard to reach Christians that motivates me to write this Christian Unity Prophecy, in an effort to reach the least of these, His brethren, right down to the littlest carnal babe among them. Sure, I’d like for them to be persuaded by hearing what’s been said here, in the meaning of God’s word. But if they have to first see with their own eyes the glory of God to make us one in love for all believers, then I herewith pray God to use this prophecy to show it to them.
John 20:29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
It’s not my job to make Christians believe the message of the scripture about Christian unity, but just to make the message of the scripture known. God is going to have to prove it to those who don’t want to agree in these Christian unity scriptures, not me. I’ve seen God’s miracle-working glory in Christian unity, and others have seen it, with signs and wonders following. I’ve seen it continually growing in the power of the Holy Spirit to work miracles by the glory of Jesus to make us one. But if you don’t behold it, then I urge you to continually and prayerfully reconsider your belief in the supremacy of the doctrine of your own Christian denomination or group, which, in your mind at least, enables you to serve God without loving with your own life laid down in self-sacrifice, for all the brethren in Christ, in all the Christian denominations and groups.
For my part, if I’m going to lay down my life, and I have so decided, then I’m going to make sure it goes to *all* the members of the body of Christ; to all the same ones for whom Jesus laid down His. I refuse to lay down my life for just the ones who have the best understanding of doctrinal truth, but rather for every single one that knows that Jesus is the truth, and turns to Him, away from the lie of sin. Jesus was thankful for babes who only managed to believe in Him, not for the wise and prudent leaders of religious thought.
Matthew 18:6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
Matthew 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Matthew 18:10 Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.
Matthew 11:25 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
In Jesus, God’s eternal love didn’t miss a one, whosoever believeth; and I don’t plan to let my love, just as eternal for all my brethren in Christ, miss one either.
The Spirit of Christ is the spirit of love for every single one of God’s children, of every Christian denomination or group, all of whom are God’s children by believing in Christ for their salvation, and by no greater doctrine than the blood of the cross. For each of these, God’s children, the faith of Christ is made living by works, in which each does both righteousness, and also does the works of laying down his life in love for all brothers and sisters in Christ, who so believe.
1 John 3:10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
John 15:9 ¶ As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
John 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
Abiding together united eternally in the Spirit of Christ, all of God’s children are, as a body, all of God’s self-sacrificial love, for each of God’s children. That is the how the power of God’s love for His children is amplified, ad infinitum, in and through the body of Christ.
“If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.” (Joh 15:7-10 AV)
“Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and [that] your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. These things I command you, that ye love one another.” (Joh 15:16-17 AV)
In Christian unity in love and holiness, God's love for each member goes from God to the whole body, and from there, back from each member to the whole body again, the body of Christ. Round and round the love goes among all God's children, as God gives the increase in the fruit of the Spirit, which is love; the eternal, glorious love for all God's children; the love from the God, who is love, going from God to child, from child to child, and back to God again, through all the children He loves so much: one in love and holiness for all eternity.
Jesus is that love, and that love is the Spirit of Christ in me, if I lay down my life, and I do, in love for all the brethren, regardless to which Christian denomination or group they may belong. God is love, and Jesus is God’s self-sacrificial love for all His children. I am one of the loved children of God, and I love every one of them, too, with my whole life laid down. That self-sacrificial love I have for all God’s children is the Spirit of Christ in me; and as a child of God, I am forever in the Father’s self-sacrificial love for all His children; wherein, in Jesus, and with Jesus in me, my Father and I are one.
John 17:23 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 17:26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
Heavenly Father, in Jesus’ name, unite us. Amen.
END OF CHRISTIAN UNITY PROPHECY