When we think about Pentecost, we think about the beginning of the Church, the giving of the Holy Spirit, and the oneness that rested on those devout believers in Jerusalem (Acts 2:1, 46). The Jewish tradition for the Day of Pentecost or Shavuot talks about the giving of the Law. When Moses rehearsed the laws and statutes to Israel, he began with the Shema prayer: “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!”[1] So here you have the expression of the oneness of God being tied to Pentecost.
In Mark the twelfth chapter, one of the scribes came to the Lord and asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?” (Mark 12:28). The scribe wanted to know, “What is the greatest commandment in all the Law of Moses?” And Yeshua (Jesus) answered, “The foremost is, ‘HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH’” (Mark 12:29). With everything that Yeshua could have chosen out of the Law, He chose this idea that God is One and we are to love Him.
Oneness is God. It is not a doctrine or something we try to achieve. If we say, “God is love,” we must also say, “God is One.” So when we talk about oneness, we are talking about coming into the very nature of God and being transformed into His personality. When God created us, He said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). So in our being one, we actually reflect God. “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27). That is beautiful. God actually created two distinct things in the image of God, which is one. He said, “I am One. So now let Me create man in My own image.” The Father is showing us that in all He is in His expression with the Holy Spirit and with the Son, He is One. He created man in His own image, and there will be a time in our humanity when that oneness will prevail.
The Church is to be the expression of God’s oneness in the earth. So our lack of oneness is more than a sin. It is an absolute rejection of God Himself and of His nature; it is refusing to become like Him. That is why the Body of Christ must get out of rejecting God’s oneness. We are to love one another because God is love (1 John 4:16). We must be driven to be filled with His love. If we achieve that, then we are in God and God is in us. This transcends the concept of commandments that we have to comply with; it is about becoming the very nature of God.
Everything you hear in the news is trying to divide us along the lines of race, culture, or gender. But God cannot be in that because He is One, and He will only promote oneness. Wherever we find division, we find those who are refusing to come into the nature of God. But when we become one, we will be His witnesses, and the world will believe (John 17:21).
[1] All Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995).