There was 120 different individuals in the upper room on the day of Pentecost. Each one with their own distinct personalty. There was impetuous Peter, destined to become the leader of the young church. Thomas, who doubted, but was quick to repent, when he saw the nail prints and felt the wound in his side.
John, who was so close to Jesus, that he felt that Jesus loved him more then the others. Philip, who said Lord show us the Father and it will satisfy us, to who Jesus replied, have I been so long with you Philip, and you still do not know who I am? He who has seen me has seen the father. Then there was Nathanial, he of whom Jesus said, here is an Israelite in whom there is no guile.
120 human beings, each one different in their own way, yet the Bible says that they were in one mind and one accord. How could this be? It is almost impossible to get two people to agree on just a few things, let alone 120 on everything.
I heard a story one time that if you were to put 100 different grand pianos together into a large concert hall then attempted to have them play together in harmony, that it would prove to be impossible, unless every piano was tuned by the same tuning fork. In the case of the 120, the tuning fork, or common denominator was that they had been with Jesus.
Many had watched his miracles. A few had watched him die. They had seen him after his resurrection, and most had watched his Ascension up into Glory. They were in one mine and one accord, not because of foolish human attempts to become that way, but because their memory of Jesus obscured everything else, and his face was all that they could see. All their differences became insignificant because of the intensity of their focus on the King of Kings, and the Lord of Glory.
Their Love for Christ had become blinders that obscured everything that divided them. You and I my friends have many differences as well. Some of us were raised in different nations, with different values and customs. We attend different denomination and congregations. Yet it is essential in this last day, that the body of Christ comes together in one mind and one accord, and the only way that we can achieve this miracle, is to return to our first Love.
Do you remember your first Love? When your lovers face was all that you could see. If together we can focus on Jesus, and press in until his face is all we can see, then the beauty of his countenance and the brightness of his Glory will obscure all differences that divide us. We can do this, and when we do the fire will fall, and no man will be able to quench it.
The blue flames of its heat will be of such intensity, that it will consume the prison walls of church traditions that have separated and imprisoned us. It will reach into the alleyways and byways of our nations. Everyone that is hungry and hurting will be drawn to its brightness as moths to a flame, for the Glory of the latter house shall be greater then that of the former. Lord let us burn together until there is nothing left but you alone Jesus.
Posted by brother Gary Northington in Living Hope ~ 1 Peter 1:3 · on 17th of May 2012.
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