January 1: TWO KINDS OF UNITY

As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And the multitudes . . . heeded . . . Acts 8:3-6a

Philip, along with Stephen, was one of the seven deacons chosen by the twelve apostles (Acts 6:5). As one of the scattered, he chose to go and preach in Samaria, in obedience to the Great Commission. Through the Holy Spirit’s power, Philip was very successful.

The forerunner principle had cleared the way for the message of salvation. Remember the divine appointment between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well who ran home to exclaim, “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did!” (John 4:29).

Philip was welcomed in Samaria and a rich harvest was gathered from among those who had earlier been the bitterest of enemies. Only a brief time earlier, both Jews and Samaritans would have said that such could never happen. But the power of God to unify in righteousness those who were previously separated is gloriously on display here!

God’s faithful must hone awareness that our archenemy will exercise as much power as he can muster to counterfeit the unifying power of God. Today, right before our eyes, we see the antichrist power on earth orchestrating a union with the government of the USA, the very country established as a haven (see Revelation 12:16) for those who fled his persecution in recent centuries. Looking back to when Jesus was put to death, we see a similar development of unity between secular government power and apostate religion:

That very day, Pilate and Herod became friends with each other, for previously they had been at enmity with each other. Luke 23:12

Between Jesus’ crucifixion and the stoning of Stephen, which constitutes the second half of the 70th week, multitudes of Jews were won to the Gospel. The apostate Jews made a concentrated effort to silence Peter and John following the healing of a man lame from birth (see Acts 3 & 4). The earnest prayer of Peter and John included these words:

“For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together” Acts 4:27

The unholy union between apostate religion and the governmental powers of earth will be repeated on a worldwide scale. It will be portrayed in the news as a good thing, but in reality it will be ‘Babylon on steroids.’ This union will make havoc of those committed to be faithful to the Lord (see Revelation 12:17). Let us remember the prayer of Jesus and seek the power of His Spirit to clearly discern the difference between righteous unity and its deceptive counterfeit.

“. . . .that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me . . . that they may be perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them as You have loved Me.” John 17:21,23b