“Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God drives you, and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you.”
- Deuteronomy 30:1-3
Perhaps the greatest revelation of the true desegregation of mankind in the Old Testament, these verses from Deuteronomy 30 clearly state God’s eventual intention of drawing men and women from all nations back together into a true brotherhood. The over-riding condition referred to here is that we all return to God, the one true God, and obey Him, obey His every law. 6,000 years of recorded human history show us that such a feat is humanly impossible. That while we may do good works and righteous things, we still fail to be ultimately righteous in our hearts and minds. “As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.’” - Romans 3:10-12.
Genesis 11 spells out the reason for God’s decision to scatter us abroad over the face of all the earth. The story of the Tower of Babel is timeless and points us to the erroneous idea that mankind could ever work toward justice and equality when failing to operate under the auspice of God’s will. History has since shown us incapable of working together for very long specifically because of cultural, ethnic, racial, and national differences . . . just as God intended it to be in Genesis 11! Because we decided to worship the creature (“ourselves,” see Genesis 11:4) rather than the Creator we have been bridled with the curse. “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.” - Romans 1:24-25. And while our title verse clearly marks the way for a return to the blessing God had in store for us, the reprobation of mankind still rules us even to our very way of thinking.
Men have tried in vain to develop world organizations which would by law bring us together, i.e., the League of Nations, the United Nations. Such enterprises have always failed due to the fallacious origin or central weakness of the endeavor - the autonomy of man; the notion that as men, we are capable of accomplishing anything we choose to accomplish - a patently execrable foundation. “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” - Galatians 5:19-21.
The blessing contained in Deuteronomy 30:1-3 is not based on anything outside of the parameters set by God Himself. We must if we ever hope to see a communion of mankind exist in peace, adhere to the words of verse 2 - “return to the Lord (our) God and obey His voice!” There simply is no other way. It was God who separated us; it is only God who can reunite us. Not since Genesis 3 has man found his place with God, nor have we obeyed His voice.
We have set our teeth on edge against one another just as God decreed. Even our blood types are at variance. Despite the notion that “O negative” is the only universal blood type, the truth is that there is only one blood that is common to all men. There is only one blood type that mends the rift between man and man and God and man. There is only one blood type that obeys His voice. And that is the blood of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is only through His blood shed for us that He has atoned for our sins. It is through the blood of Christ that we are justified in the eyes of our holy God. It is only through this blood that mankind can ever find the commonality that makes us all brothers and sisters. It is only through His blood that bigotry and hatred will fall to the wayside. It is only through the blood of Christ that mankind is reunited, God’s way, not man’s!
God, as it has been stated in Scripture is no respecter of persons. “Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality.’” - Acts 10:34. God doesn’t see skin color or ethnicity or national boundaries. With God, there are no natural boundaries either. With God, there are only His chosen and the reprobate. Those chosen by God weep in contrition, kneeling beneath the cross while those left in their sin stand at a distance, point their crooked fingers and blaspheme the Lamb of God. This is the only separation of mankind that God sees! Those He has chosen for salvation and those He has left to die in their sin. And no international court or charter will ever force the two together.
Let us pray that God’s light shines brilliantly and brightly upon those who have chosen Christ over the world and love over bigotry and hatred. Truly, when we return to the Lord our God and obey His voice He will gather us again from the captivity of our racism and prejudice where we have been scattered. “Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” - 1 Corinthians 1:10. This is the will of God for his people.
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