The Theory of Unity
By John Boda
Anyone who listens or watches the news can't help but constantly hear and see references and comments made about the United Nations, (or U.N.) While I certainly have my ideas and opinions on the role and function of this organization, I don't want to write a negative bashing or critique of the U.N.[That's very easy to do]
This writing will also not attempt to cover any details of the history or practices of the U.N., (except the main function of world unity), but will rather instead focus on unity for the postmodern pilgrim and follower of Jesus. What kind of unity does the Bible command? What does world unity mean in light of scripture?
U.N. = RH2
There you have my equation for the theory of unity right at the start! Almost everyone has seen Einstein's famous equation from his special theory of relativity:
E = MC2 - which states that Energy is equal to M -(The speed of light squared, which is 186,000 miles per second multiplied by itself, an incredible amount of energy!) This was clearly seen in action during the terrible but necessary devastation of Nagasaki and Hiroshima to end world war two.
OK, you may have a grasp on that equation, but what in the heck does MINE mean?!
Well first of all, I am no match for Einstein's brain! However, even though he understood deep concepts of science, he had little grasp of the theological aspect, which is where my tiny brain comes into play.
My equation simply states this:
U.N. is of course the United Nations, and not just the official organization, but rather the entire current mindset and flow towards real world unity among nations.
This equals RH2 -
R = Rebellion
H = Human Heart
2 = Squared (Or a very large amount)
Nowhere in the Bible do we see any encouragement, command, or even anything positive being said concerning world unity! In fact, world unity is in direct opposition to God's kingdom!
Notice carefully, I am speaking of
world unity and NOT unity among believers’ and all true followers of Christ! That is a huge difference!
We are commanded to pursue THIS unity, Jesus prayed for it, and it is something we should be greatly concerned about. However we must see the difference between world unity - and Christian unity.
The Seeds of Unity
Many people, even Christ followers, forget that the entire world was unified once before in history. It is the story of the Tower of Babel, and is found in Genesis chapter eleven. I will get back to Babel and it's meaning, but first let's go back even further to the flood.
God had directly acted in judgment against sin and Satan's plans, and flooded the entire world saving only Noah and his family. When they came out of the ark, God specifically commanded them to: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth." (Genesis 9:1)
Notice that God told them to fill the earth! The original Hebrew means.......to fill the earth! ALL the earth! This sounds like world unity right? I don't believe it does.
To fill the earth means to go all through this huge earth and establish families and communities. it says nothing of one ruling organization in power and control, in fact, the text implies that God would be in control and the supreme ruler over mankind spread out in the earth. God makes a covenant with Noah and says, "I will establish it".
We must remember that God always sees the big picture! This is his big panoramic plan, to rule the world from the New Jerusalem, with total and complete unity of everyone in submission to him, and no sin, or evil of any kind!
While that may sound idealistic, God also knows that will not occur until the culmination of the ages and Satan is destroyed. God also knows that, The human heart is corrupt above all things.."
(Jeremiah 17:9)
Because of that, I believe that; it was never God's intention for world unity among all people and nations. In fact we can see this is clearly the case from this amazing text in Acts 17:26,27;
" And he has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us."
Do you see that it states that it was God himself who divided and made the boundaries of the nations?! Why did he do this - So that they should seek and find the Lord!
The division of nations scattered all through the earth is a God-thing, and a good thing! This is because of the evil and corruptness of the human heart. Remember my equation, U.N., or world unity equals RH2 - rebellion multiplied because of all the corrupt human hearts in unity!
The Tower of Babel
Ok, now let's move forward and see the next move of the two primary movers (God & Satan) and the next move after the flood was Satan on the offensive.
" Now the whole earth had one language and one speech".
Genesis 11:1
This is how the story of Babel begins in the Bible. Even though only nine verses are devoted to it, we can clearly see and learn much from the text if we look closely.
The story of Babel is really the story of the beginning of rebellion on a global scale. Rebellion against God, and a global rebellion which will be repeated again in the near future by antichrist. Both rebellions are similar in their global unity, and the fact that God himself comes to deal and destroy it!
If you take a few seconds to read the nine verses of this account, you will see that a large assembly of people all moved down into a plain to rebel against God and construct a tower to heaven. First of all, this is also similar to the final rebellion of antichrist in the fact that he will assemble much of the world's great armies into another plain, one called Armageddon. There he will lead a rebellion directly against Christ. [Revelation 19:19.]
Many people have speculated on just what this tower actually was, and I don't want to join the chorus! But, we can be clear from the text that it was a literal tower or building and its meaning was to rebel or lead an assault against God. It is important to understand that this was the goal and purpose of the world's first organized union! It could be called an ancient U.N.,as we see that the unified world is not unified for peace, love, joy and brotherhood of man. Rather, the whole world is unified against God! It is my sincere belief that this is the natural result and outcome of corrupt human hearts that are joined together, or to fit my equation.[many hearts joined together, or squared, amounts to massive huge - scale rebellion.]
How do we know that the people at Babel were all unified and one?
Because God himself said so!
"And the Lord said, "Indeed the people are one...."
Genesis 11:6
How do we know that they were all together in rebellion against God?
This answer requires more digging, but we can see that God decides to come down personally to stop their activities, confuse their language and scatter them. By God doing this, we can rightly conclude that their actions were against God!
There actually is more, a lot more, that we can glean and see about this story, but we must veer off into other historical books.
I don't want to get into these in depth as I want to stay focused on scripture and what all believers know and believe is the infallible Word of God - The Bible. But there are other historical books that shed light and can fill in holes on ancient, mysterious events. But we must always remember that we are reading from a source which may or may not be accurate. Only the Word of God is completely true and accurate without error. But this does not mean we should dis-regard these other books entirely!
In fact, some of these other books are actually referenced and quoted from, and some of their writings are now part of the Bible. Do you want an example?
If you turn to the tiny book of Jude, just before the last book of Revelation, look at verses 14-15.
"Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, "Behold the Lord comes with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him."
The words that I have underlined are a direct quote from the old historical book of Enoch. I have the entire book of Enoch, and it has some very interesting accounts of Noah, Abraham, and one very ancient first world ruler by the name of - Nimrod.
Another historical book, also mentioned in the Bible, is the book of Jasher.
Once again, the name Nimrod is very dominant as the first chief, world rebel against God. Although we cannot conclude this from the Bible alone, the other books indicate that Nimrod was the leader of this rebellion at Babel, and the one responsible for the building of the tower against God.
The great, respected historian, Flavius Josephus, wrote that Nimrod gradually turned all people's dependence on himself. Josephus also tells us that the Tower of Babel was dreamed up and constructed from the mind of Nimrod, with the reason that if they built a high enough tower, they could escape the next flood from God, and even reach heaven itself to get revenge on God for destroying all their forefathers!
[Even though God promised that he would never flood the earth again]
The book of Jasher has even more specific details on this first world ruler. Jasher tells us that Nimrod attained the special garments of skin which God made for Adam and Eve. These were handed down and brought into the ark by Noah to preserve and keep safe. Upon exiting the ark, one of Noah's sons, Ham, stole the garments and hid them. He later gave them to his son Cush, who in turn gave them to his son Nimrod.
These garments, according to these sources, were almost like the long hair of Samson, they gave great power to anyone who wore them. Regardless if you think this is rather far fetched, once again, we read of Nimrod's power and fame:
"And all nations and tongues head of his fame, and they gathered themselves to him, and they bowed down to the earth, and they brought him offerings, and he became their lord and king, and they all dwelt with him in the city of Shinar, and Nimrod reigned in the earth over all the sons of Noah and they were all under his power and counsel."
[Quote from book of Jasher]
Later we see a very interesting story of Nimrod, who employs Terah, Abraham's father, begin to have problems with Abraham who turns to the one and only living God. Nimrod ties to kill him, but God rescues him in a very similar story to Daniel who would come much later - out of a fiery furnace.
Jasher even gets into the people's thoughts while building the tower. He says they "imagined in their hearts to war against him(God) and to ascend into heaven".
Another historical book entitled, Pseudo-Philo, once again depicts the same evil, and powerful Nimrod who rules and controls a fully united world against God!
Another book entitled, The Legends of the Jews, also paints the same picture:
"The iniquity and godlessness of Nimrod reached their climax in the building of the Tower of Babel.
This book even tells us it took a mob of six hundred thousand men to build it, all in rebellion against God.
There are even more accounts, if you care to look them up, all in agreement on the same basic facts of world unity, all together united against God and led by Nimrod.
The name Nimrod even means, "valiant" or "strong" in Hebrew. It also is very possible that another name for Nimrod is "Amraphel", who is one of the four kings mentioned in Genesis fourteen who attacked Sodom, and Abraham later defeated.(The book of Jasher clearly identifies Nimrod as Amraphel)
Another ancient title applied to him was, "King Nimrod the Terrible".
Finally, there also is mentioned in various books of even a book written by Nimrod himself entitled,
"How I Corrupted the World"!
So far, it has not surfaced, if it even existed, but once again, the same theme of rebellion, corruption, rule and world unity is clearly linked with Nimrod.
Are you starting to think that this story is a bit too way out there and more sounding like a plot for a good fiction movie?
Well, let's get back to the Bible for a minute to see what we can know without error;
Nimrod IS mentioned in the Bible. It is in the chapter just before our story of Babel in Genesis Ten.
(Nimrod is only mentioned twice in the Bible, here in Genesis, and the other in I Chron 1:10)
We find that he is the great-grandson of Noah. Remember that Noah had three sons that he took with him on the ark? One of those sons was Ham.
Here is the lineage order:
Noah - Ham - Cush - Nimrod.
So far - so good, but there is a little more said about Nimrod:
"...Nimrod - he began to be a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord, therefore it is said, " Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord". And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech,Accad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar. From that land he went to Assyria and built Ninevah and Calah.
Genesis 10:8-12
OK, please notice a few things about this man Nimrod;
1. He was a mighty man!
This indicates that he had power and rule! This does not just mean he went to the gym and worked out, but denotes control over people and events.
2. He was a hunter before the Lord
Most Biblical scholars who are experts in the original language of Hebrew, tell us that the word "before" as in "before the Lord", is better translated - "against"! We can say that Nimrod was a hunter against the Lord. In this context, a hunter would indicate more than just hunting animals for food and sport, but a hunter of souls and people, a conqueror.
3. He had a kingdom!
Don't miss this one! If he had a kingdom, it means that he was a king! Probably, it would make Nimrod the first king and world ruler in history.
4. Babel was part of his kingdom, in the plain of Shinar.
Here we see clearly that Babel in directly linked to Nimrod, and to make it even clearer, it mentions the plain of Shinar!
5. He built and founded Ninevah in Assyria.
The significance of Ninevah and Assyria is this: Ninevah became one of the most wicked and rebellious cities against God in history! Jonah was commanded to preach repentance, (which he did after his big fish detour), the city repented, but it only lasted for a short time. God eventually brought judgment on the city and destroyed it. Assyria is always linked in the Bible with rebellion and wickedness against God and his people Israel. Later, God uses Assyria and Babylon to destroy Jerusalem and take Israel and Judah captive.
So to try to make a long story, a little shorter - Nimrod was the king and leader of the first unified world, which was all together in one purpose and goal against God! Once again, this is the direct result and outcome of any kind of world unity, something that is increasing more and more during our current time and culture.
Nimrod and his rebellious following are a clear type of what is soon to come on the horizon with antichrist. Now let's fast forward to the future of that scenario and see if my theory of unity has any validity for last day events.
Antichrist & World Unity
As we look ahead to soon coming events, we can learn much by keeping in mind what has happened in history. Remember, the first, (Possibly only), time the entire world was unified, was under Nimrod's rule, and it resulted in pure evil and rebellion against God.
World unity will always lead, by default, to rebellion against God!
It will happen once again under Antichrist's rule, who can be thought of as the "antitype" of evil, in other words, he is the fulfillment of all the previous types of antichrist's throughout history beginning with Nimrod.
Based on clear biblical study, largely from Revelation chapter thirteen, we can see three main stages that antichrist must begin and accomplish in order to carry out his plans, and ultimate demise. (Also in this order)
1. Antichrist must unite all the nations of the world under his supreme rule.
2. Antichrist must bring all people on earth to abandon their loyalty and worship of the God of the Bible, to serve and worship antichrist. (This is the worship of Satan)
3. Antichrist must assemble the greatest army of human history, consisting of every nation on earth, to be brought to Armageddon to fight for Satan, against Jesus Christ himself.
These are three distinct stages of the last world ruler which will take place, as many think, sooner than later. Stage three cannot occur until stage two is well underway, so we can correctly state that these two stages are not engaged at this time. However, what about stage one? I believe the preliminary actions of this stage are well under way and moving forward every day! This is part of my "Theory of Unity". It is the belief that there is a clear movement happening right now, in which all nations and people desire to be unified and under one banner. Individual nationalism is discouraged and regarded as politically incorrect.
Of course, while I believe that stage one of world unification is under way, it is also clear that, at the time of this writing, antichrist has not appeared yet on the world's scene. But a unified world with a mindset that is against God would be the perfect welcome mat - so to speak - and totally ready and waiting world scene for antichrist to finish stage one, and quickly move on to the final two stages.
Jesus taught his disciples, and us, to pray,"Thy kingdom come, they will be done in heaven as on earth". While I realize that world unity, antichrist rule, and Jesus' return to bring judgment WILL actually bring God's kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, I also don't believe we are to pray and seek those events. All believers are to do everything towards advancing God's kingdom on earth now, before God comes to bring terrible judgment and untold millions will die and be separated from God forever. THIS is the kingdom come we should be seeking and praying towards, one which is totally against world unity, but totally for believer unity among us.
As I conclude this grace note, I would like to focus on the positive, namely, the good unity which the Bible teaches, commands, and desires for all believers. This final segment could be called, "The Reality of Unity", as it is no theory but clearly spelled out in scripture for all of us!
The Reality of Unity
Throughout my study and research in scripture, as well as checking and utilizing many other well respected source helps, I have concluded that there are three types of good unity in scripture. This type of unity is not optional, but commanded and is considered of the highest importance!
1. God & His People
John 17:23 / Ps. 133:1 / Col. 2:2 /
Romans 15:5 / Acts 2:44
John 17:23 / Phil. 2:1
2. God's People
John 17:23 / Ps. 133:1 / Col. 2:2 /
Romans 15:5 / Acts 2:44
3. Husbands & Wives
Genesis 2:24 / Mt. 19:5 / Ephesians 5:31
The first two, God - people and then God's people among themselves can be easily visualized by the shape of the cross which Jesus died upon.
The vertical beam represents unity between God and mankind, all who accept his free gift of grace. The horizontal beam represents unity between all of God's people, true believers, together among themselves.
The last one, between husbands and wives within marriage, is a deep unity which God desires for all marriage unions, but sadly does not occur at all within people who are unbelievers, and even more sad, occurs less and less frequently even among believing couple within the church body. This is another sign of the last days of world unity creeping in everywhere, as the most basic institution of marriage union is being attacked with increasing frequency.
Jesus & Unity
" I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father keep them in your name which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one."
Jesus - John 17: 11
" I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me. 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 - John 17: 20-23
Of course, any word from Jesus is extremely important, and should weigh heavily upon us. But, possibly these words even more. Why? First, in reading them, you can almost sense the passion and urgent tone in his voice, possibly raising it in louder tones and emotion. Then it is the fact that he repeats himself concerning unity of him and his father, and all true believers with him. Finally, and possibly most important, is the fact that these words are part of what has become known as "The High Priestly Prayer". It is Jesus' "last will and testament", so-to-speak. He speaks these words in prayer to the Father God just before he goes to the garden to be arrested, and then crucified. No doubt, these words were spoken only a few days before his death and resurrection.
It is very significant that Jesus says that he is NOT praying for the world, but rather only for his own believers in this context of unity! Once again, the truth slaps us in the face, the truth that world unity is a farce, and not something that God, or his people, should be praying or looking for to come! But on the other hand, the truth is also obvious that unity among us as believers IS essential! THAT type of unity should be sought after, prayed for, and is one of the clear witnesses to the world of the truth of Christ - namely - our unity!
In a few verses earlier, in John 17:6, Jesus states that God has given him people, "..taken out of the world." In fact, the Greek word for "Church" is "Ekklesia", which simply means, "Called out ones".
Called out of where? The world!
So here is my point, (And I do have one), if we are called out of the world, how can we ever seek to be in unity with it?!
I must also state something very clearly here at this point. Although I believe in being separate from the world, I do not believe in the very dysfunctional condition of the sacred/secular mindset. I agree with Martin Luther, that all truth is God's truth, and we must live, work and interact within the world as real people, yet, also realize that our source and final destination is not from this world. This is the true condition of a Pilgrim, and I have written about this in more detail in other grace notes, (See "The Pilgrim Ponderings")
Conclusion
So that is my theory! Not quite as radical and revolutionary as Einstein's, but one to stimulate our thinking, I hope.
I believe that my thinking is based on solid scriptural support, if not, it won't amount to anything. But if so, I strongly suspect and believe that in the coming weeks, months, and years, we will see more and more of a world movement towards global unity, in every way shape and form. All of this, in opposition to God's program and kingdom on earth. At the same time, all true believer's will move towards more and more of a true, real, and lasting "Ekklesia"[Church] unity among ourselves, which will in turn be one of the most powerful witnesses of the truth of the Gospel to the world that has ever occurred.
It took many years for Einstein’s theory of relativity, and his most famous equation, E=Mc2, to become realized as fact, and not just theory. If I have correctly interpreted the scriptures, then my theory of unity is already fact. Actually, correctly stated, whatever truth we encounter within God's word IS fact, the second it comes from God. When we encounter or believe it, it can become real and true for us personally, but it already was an eternal fact and truth weather we believe it or not!
Once again, here is my equation:
UN=RH2
"United Nations equals Rebellion multiplied by many corrupt human hearts
Thanks for reading along with me, comments or questions are welcomed to connect via e-mail.