THE BEAUTY AND POWER OF HARMONY

 While I was serving as David Wilkerson’s Crusade Director, we always found it a joy to go to Seattle. It had one of the finest fellowships of Spirit-filled churches in the nation and they invited David to conduct a crusade there every year for seven or eight years in a row.

    

During the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, we would conduct a three- or four-day crusade at the Seattle Center Ice Arena. The building seated 7,000 and it would be packed; in fact, often hundreds of people could not get in. Every time we visited Seattle, the altars were filled with hundreds and hundreds of young people receiving Christ.

I was disappointed to find that by the mid-1980s, the Seattle area Fellowship of Churches was no longer as active as it had been. Many of the churches had changed pastors, a few churches no longer existed, and the spirit of individualism had largely replaced the spirit of unity.

A few days ago I was awakened early in the morning, and I have learned to know when the Holy Spirit is nudging me awake. At about 1:00 a.m. I headed into my office and opened my Bible. I had been reading devotionally in the Psalms and the day before had reached Psalm 131. I read Psalm 132 and then I looked ahead to see that 133 had only 3 verses. Great spiritual giant that I am, I thought, “Hey, that’s great! I can read through that chapter in about a minute.” Was I ever wrong about that! The Holy Spirit got me into that psalm and after about an hour, I realized He was not going to let me out. The time there was glorious!

Psalm 133 is about God’s people living in harmony/unity. The most commonly known sentence from this passage is, “How good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.” But the psalm is not about some type of 1960s hippie commune. Rather, it is about the attractiveness and power that comes when believers lay down their differences, join hands with their brothers and sisters, and allow the Spirit of God to flow and work through them.

One of the tragedies of the current American church is the division that exists. We have contemporary churches and noncontemporary churches; we have seeker sensitive and “not so  sensitive” churches; we have denominational and nondenominational churches. And we have allowed doctrinal differences to divide us. The saddest part of this commentary is that there is very little cooperation/unity among the brethren.

Let’s look briefly at what the writer of Psalm 133 (NLT) has to say about the power and beauty of harmony.

¹ How wonderful and pleasant it is
    when brothers live together in harmony!

² For harmony is as precious as the anointing oil
    that was poured over Aaron’s head,
    that ran down his beard
    and onto the border of his robe.

The focus on verse two tends to be that unity is like the anointing and, in fact, it sometimes is referred to as a type of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The word precious, however, lifts that focus to a different level. The meaning of the word precious is “of a sweet-smelling ointment.” This verse is saying that unity between the people of God is like the sweet-smelling, fragrant anointing oil that was poured over Aaron’s head.

Few things are as attractive to the world as God’s people moving together in harmony, and nothing smells as rotten as discord within the body of Christ. Jesus said, “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are My disciples” (John 13:35). And few things inhibit the effectiveness of the church reaching out to a hurting world more than the spirit of individualism. Is it any wonder that evangelism has largely died in America during this period of unrestrained individualism in the church? Where are the cooperative evangelistic efforts of past years? They have been killed by the carnal spirit of individualism!

Individualism among the brethren is the spirit of pride wearing a mask of religion!

³ Harmony is as refreshing as the dew from Mount Hermon
    that falls on the mountains of Zion.

The Bible lands are largely arid, semi-desert areas of wilderness. For reasons that I am not aware, Mount Hermon continually had unusually high amounts of dew — which was known to be refreshing and invigorating.

Mount Hermon and the mountains of Zion are several hundred miles apart, but the writer says that like the refreshing dew that falls on Mount Hermon, it would also fall on the mountains of Zion. The mountains of Zion are a metaphorical reference to God’s people — to the church.

Again the writer likens unity to something very pleasant, and in this case, refreshing. I think I have the right to say I have found this to be true in those times when, like in Seattle, we were with a group of pastors who were moving together in unity: It was refreshing and invigorating — but that is not all!

And there the Lord has pronounced his blessing,
    even life everlasting.

The word pronounced used here is better rendered “commanded.” This verse is often overlooked, especially by those who are busy walking alone and out of harmony with their brothers. God commands a blessing upon harmony. It is the blessing of the flow of eternal life or, as translators have put it, “life everlasting.”

Here is how I read these three verses.

“It’s a wonderful and refreshing sight to see God’s people moving together in harmony. Experiencing unity among the brethren is as refreshing as a pleasant-smelling perfume or the fresh dew when it falls on dry ground. God commands a blessing upon harmony: the blessing of the flow of life, a blessing of life that will be refreshing and quickening to the church, and will result in many being born into His Kingdom and eternal life.”