Union or Unity?

The Loops of the Tabernacle

You can tie together the tails of two tigers and you will have union, but its guaranteed that you won’t have unity! When a man and woman marry, they enter into a union but are not always in unity.  A church made up of Christians is technically in union but definitely not always in unity. Why is that? Doesn’t union guarantee unity? (Matt 19:5,6; 1 Corinthians 6:16,17; 1 Cor. 12:12-14)

The instructions which Moses received from God for the making of the Tabernacle were very detailed. Of course, all the elements of the Tabernacle stand as types of Christ and our relationship with Him and others. One detail in particular stands out to me: the loops attached to the coverings for the tabernacle. The covering was made in sections with 50 loops attached on the edges. Then the loops were joined together thus causing the curtain sections to be joined. “He made fifty clasps of gold and coupled the curtains to one another with the clasps, that it might be ONE Tabernacle.” (Ex. 36:13 NKJV)

The Apostle Paul asked the church at Corinth: “Do you not know that you are the Temple of God?.” Also this Church is built “on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being ht chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 3:16 and 2 Cor. 6:16; Ephesians 2:21)

Each Christian is vital for this Tabernacle, this Temple, to be built into the dwelling place of God. Each loop of gold or brass “was carefully numbered and guarded by the Levites, for if but one had been wanting, the curtains of the tabernacle or tent would have been insecurely united.” (The Tabernacle”, by Henry Soltau, p.47) We are already in union with Christ and with one another. We must seek Him for love and wisdom as well as work at our unity so that the Temple may be secure and display Him to the world.

“Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” – Psalm 133:1 and 1 Peter 1:22