John 11:49-52. But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.” Now he did not say this on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
John 10:16 “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.”
Ephesians 2:14-16 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.

Can the high priest Caiaphas have known the real significance of the words he was given to prophesy? Almost certainly he did not. His prophecy was incomplete however, for the Holy Spirit through the apostle John added these words, ‘and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

There exist countless divisions within the Christian church on earth today. Will it then be impossible for those who have believed unto salvation to ‘become one flock with one shepherd’ until eternity future, or is this Satan’s gigantic lie?

Immediately following the death and resurrection of Jesus, entry into the kingdom of heaven became available to all who will repent of their sins and believe in Him. Surely then, the breaking down of the ’barrier of the dividing wall’ between Jew and Gentile, accomplished ‘through the cross’, was then and forever to be the portion of all the redeemed. Our unity is an eternally established fact and a reality to be enjoyed right now, yet it will only be realized if we as believers individually and as we assemble together will take our stand on this great truth.

In these last days before Jesus returns He is urgently calling ‘those who have ears to hear’ to receive and walk in the absolute unerring and unalterable truths of Scripture, among which is that we are to receive all who have come to Him in repentance and faith, just as He has received each one of us. Romans 15:7. ‘Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God’. Division between individuals and companies of believers is a denial of what our Lord Jesus wrought for God and for us through enduring such unspeakable agonies on the cross.

We must not heed the voices of those today who purport to represent the truth of God yet they themselves are walking in division. Only as we listen to the voice of Jesus, our Good Shepherd, will we ‘become one flock with one shepherd’. As we listen to Him and live by His words we shall bear the true testimony of Jesus before a largely fallen Christendom and before a world that is torn apart with differences and disagreements.

Since the bursting forth of the church at Pentecost, there have always been remnants among God’s people in widespread locations on the earth, who have answered the prayer of the Lord Jesus “that they may be one even as We are.” John 17:11. It is to these that the full authority of God is given. It is these and these alone who are qualified to preach the gospel of the kingdom, for God’s kingdom is one and indivisible.

Later in this prayer of Jesus to His Father He says “that they all may be one.” God is calling us in our age, as His return is now close at hand, to lay aside all doctrinal and other causes of division that we may gather unto Jesus in acceptance of all ‘who have come unto God through Him’. The secret to this acceptance of others and of divine unity lies in the words that follow, “even 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.” John 17:21. Living and abiding in Him is the only way that we shall share in and express the divine unity to be found alone in the Father and in His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.

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