When my boys were young, they would often battle one another with sticks. Most of the time it was a playful skirmish, but every now and then a real fight broke out.
For centuries, Israel was a divided nation. The Northern Kingdom (called Ephraim, or Joseph, Ephraim’s father) and the Southern Kingdom (Judah) were constantly at war. In Ezekiel 37, God compared them to two sticks that were constantly clashing — beating and bruising one another.
But God was about to do something wonderful, and he had his prophet Ezekiel deliver the good news with a simple but effective object lesson:
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, take a stick of wood and write on it, ‘Belonging to Judah and the Israelites associated with him.’ Then take another stick of wood, and write on it, ‘Belonging to Joseph (that is, to Ephraim) and all the Israelites associated with him.’ Join them together into one stick so that they will become one in your hand. “When your people ask you, ‘Won’t you tell us what you mean by this?’ say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am going to take the stick of Joseph … and join it to Judah’s stick. I will make them into a single stick of wood, and they will become one in my hand.’ (Ezekiel 37:15-19)
Thanks to the Lord, the people of Israel would no longer be divided. Instead of beating and bruising one another, they would support and serve one another. They would be as one stick in God’s hand. He would be their strength, keeping them together by his grace, and wielding them powerfully for his glory. God’s love for them would impel them to love one another and to make a mighty impact on the rest of the world. “Then the nations will know that I am the Lord” (Ezekiel 37:28a).
This prefigured God’s greater work among the Jews and Gentiles, uniting them as one “holy nation, God’s special possession” (1 Peter 2:9). Through the gospel, God has made us into a single stick of wood in his hand!
Right now the U.S.A. is engaged in a real fight over racism - and it cuts both ways. Frankly, to affirm that we are “one nation under God” is a real stretch when we see how many Americans are actually treating one another. Try as it may, the government can never bring about true unity.
But God can, and he does so through the gospel. That truth should be the foundation of all our conversations as believers. Thanks to Christ, we are one stick in God’s hand. As we show God’s power by loving one another, encouraging one another, serving one another, forgiving one another, and by obeying all the other “one another” commands with the Holy Spirit’s help, then all the nations will know that our God is the Lord, whose kingdom rules over all (Psalm 103:19).
