The Anointed Community: How Good and Pleasant Is Unity Text: Psalm 133:1-3
Introduction: The War Over Unity
Christian unity is a perilous subject. This is because, with a deep and abiding irony, it is one of the central things that Christians are most divided over. What is true unity? Is it institutional? Is it invisible? Are denominations a standing monument to our disobedience, a constant tearing of Christ's seamless robe? Or are they a necessary feature of our immaturity on this side of glory? Get it wrong, and you either become a schismatic, dividing the church over every little thing, or you become an ecumenical compromiser, trying to glue together what God has determined to keep separate for a time.
Our culture preaches a false unity, a cheap unity. It is the unity of the lowest common denominator, a unity based on sentiment, shared therapeutic grievances, and the suppression of all meaningful distinctions. It is a unity that demands you lay down your Bibles, your confessions, and your conscience in order to get along. It is the unity of Babel, a man-centered project aimed at reaching heaven on our own terms, and God will always come down to confuse it.
But the Bible speaks of a different kind of unity altogether. It is a unity that is simultaneously a gift we must protect and a goal we must pursue. It is a thick, textured, and robust unity. It is good, meaning it is morally right and aligns with God's created order. And it is pleasant, meaning it is a delight, a joy, a true blessing to experience. This psalm, one of the Songs of Ascents sung by pilgrims on their way up to worship in Jerusalem, gives us two powerful, earthy metaphors to show us what this true, God-given unity looks like. It is not a sterile, abstract concept. It is as real as oil running down a beard and as life-giving as dew on a mountain.
The Text
A Song of Ascents. Of David.
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!
It is like the good oil upon the head, coming down upon the beard, Aaron’s beard, coming down upon the edge of his robes.
It is like the dew of Hermon coming down upon the mountains of Zion; for there, Yahweh commanded the blessing, life forever.
(Psalm 133:1-3 LSB)
A Good and Pleasant Reality (v. 1)
We begin with David's exclamation in verse 1:
"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!" (Psalm 133:1)
The word "Behold" is a summons to pay attention. Look here. See this. This is not a trivial matter. David is exulting in a blessing he has witnessed. And notice, he says it is both good and pleasant. Some things are good but not pleasant, like chemotherapy or necessary discipline. Other things are pleasant but not good, like sin for a season. But when the good and the pleasant come together, you have a foretaste of the New Heavens and the New Earth. This is what true Christian fellowship is meant to be.
This is the unity of "brothers." This is covenantal language. We are not talking about the generic brotherhood of man, which is a fiction of the Enlightenment. We are talking about a family, bound together by a common Father. To "dwell together in unity" is not simply to occupy the same space without killing each other. It describes a settled, deep, and harmonious life together. It is the opposite of the strife, envy, and backbiting that James tells us is the source of all confusion and every evil thing (James 3:16).
But we must be precise here. The New Testament speaks of two kinds of unity. First, there is the unity of the Spirit, which we are commanded to keep, to preserve (Eph. 4:3). This unity is a gift, given to every true believer at the moment of regeneration. We are all baptized by one Spirit into one body. We already have this unity in Christ. Our job is not to create it, but to avoid disrupting it through our sin. The primary threat to this given unity is unholiness: envy, pride, gossip, bitterness, and unforgiveness. This is why the basic building block of church unity is the family; a husband and wife who refuse to forgive one another are attacking the unity of the Spirit at its most foundational level.
Second, there is the unity of the faith, which is the goal toward which we are striving (Eph. 4:13). This is the unity of full maturity, of doctrinal precision on all points, of perfect love. We are not there yet, and it is a grave error to pretend that we are. Much of the division in the church comes from people trying to enforce the eschatological unity of maturity in the present, demanding everyone agree with them on every jot and tittle as a condition of fellowship. This is like demanding a three-year-old have the vocabulary of a thirty-year-old. God is easy to please, but hard to satisfy. He is pleased with our faithful efforts to preserve the unity He has given us, even as He works to bring us to the perfect unity we do not yet possess. This psalm is celebrating the first kind of unity, the gift of dwelling together in the bond of peace.
The Anointing of Unity (v. 2)
David now gives us his first picture of this unity. It is a priestly picture.
"It is like the good oil upon the head, coming down upon the beard, Aaron’s beard, coming down upon the edge of his robes." (Psalm 133:2)
This is a direct reference to the consecration of Aaron as the first high priest (Exodus 29:7). In ancient Israel, all priests were anointed with oil, but only the high priest was anointed on the head. This was a special, holy anointing oil, a fragrant mixture commanded by God Himself, and it was poured out in abundance. This was not a dainty dab on the forehead. This was a soaking. The oil ran down from his head, into his beard, and all the way down to the collar or hem of his priestly robes.
What is the point? First, this unity is top-down. It originates with God and flows down from the head. The head of the Church is Christ Jesus. He is the anointed one, the Messiah. He received the Spirit without measure, and from Him, our great High Priest, the blessing of the Spirit flows down to every member of His body. Our unity is not something we generate from the grassroots up; it is something we receive from our Head. We are one because we are all connected to Him.
Second, this unity is consecrating. The anointing oil set Aaron apart for holy service. In the same way, our unity in the Spirit sets us apart from the world. The world is characterized by division, strife, and factionalism. A church that loves one another, forgives one another, and bears with one another is a profoundly counter-cultural witness. It is a holy strangeness. Jesus said the world would know we are His disciples by our love for one another (John 13:35). This visible, fragrant unity is our priestly uniform.
Third, this unity is all-encompassing. The oil flowed down to the very edge of the robes. It covered everything. This means that our unity in Christ is not just for Sunday mornings. It is meant to permeate every aspect of our lives, our families, our businesses, our fellowship. It is a total environment, a fragrant atmosphere that clings to everything we do.
The Fruitfulness of Unity (v. 3)
The second metaphor shifts from the tabernacle to the land itself. It is an agricultural picture.
"It is like the dew of Hermon coming down upon the mountains of Zion; for there, Yahweh commanded the blessing, life forever." (Psalm 133:3)
Mount Hermon is the highest peak in the region, in the north. It is famous for its heavy, life-giving dew, which sustains vegetation through the dry season. Zion, where the temple stood, is far to the south in a much drier region. The image is of the abundant moisture of Hermon miraculously descending upon the mountains of Zion. This is a picture of supernatural blessing and fruitfulness.
The dew comes down quietly, gently, and imperceptibly, but its effect is massive. This is how true unity works. It is not loud or flashy. It is the million small, quiet acts of service, kindness, forgiveness, and faithfulness that, taken together, create a culture of life and flourishing. Where this unity is present, the ground is watered, and things grow. Where it is absent, the ground is hard, cracked, and barren.
And David tells us why this is. "For there, Yahweh commanded the blessing." Where is "there?" There, where brothers dwell in unity. There, where the anointing oil flows. There, on the mountains of Zion, the place of God's dwelling with His people. God does not just offer a blessing in the midst of unity; He commands it. It is a divine fiat. Just as He said, "Let there be light," and there was light, so He says, "Let there be blessing," and life springs forth.
And what is the commanded blessing? It is "life forever." This is not just a long life. This is eschatological life. This is resurrection life. The unity of the saints is the soil in which eternal life grows and flourishes. This points us forward to the ultimate fulfillment of this psalm. The true dew of Hermon is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, which fell upon Zion and from there has gone out to water the whole world. The true commanded blessing is the gospel of Jesus Christ, which brings life forevermore.
Christ, Our Unity
This psalm, like all the psalms, finds its ultimate meaning in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our peace, who has made us one and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility (Eph. 2:14). He is the true Aaron, our great High Priest, from whom the anointing of the Spirit flows down to the whole body. He is the true dew of Hermon, the life-giving water that makes the barren places fruitful.
The reason God is easy to please with our fumbling attempts at unity is because the Father was perfectly pleased with His Son. Not only was He pleased, He was fully satisfied in Christ. And Christ is our unity. We have one Lord, one faith, one baptism (Eph. 4:5). Because God is satisfied with Christ, He can be pleased with us. We are therefore set free to grow up into the unity of the perfect man, without feeling guilty that we are not there yet.
Therefore, our task is straightforward. We are to protect the unity we have been given. You do this by dealing ruthlessly with your own sin. You do this by confessing your sins to one another and by freely forgiving those who sin against you. You do not get to nurse grudges. You do not have the luxury of being sullen, or distant, or angry. You are called to protect the unity, not your pride. And as we faithfully do this, as we walk in the Spirit, God commands the blessing. He makes our fellowship good and pleasant. He causes His life to well up among us, a foretaste of that day when we will dwell together in perfect unity, in the presence of our Father, forevermore.