“And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock.
Zechariah 11:7
Our Great Shepherd Jesus Christ feeds our hungry hearts daily during our wilderness journey with the two staffs of Beauty and Bands. Other translations call the two staffs Favor and Union, or Mercy and Unity. These two staffs speak of the Grace of God and our relationship with God through the Person of Jesus Christ.
Whether we prefer to call it Beauty, Mercy or Favor, the first staff of God is His Grace that is fueled by His Unwavering Love. Words cannot truly begin to describe the Grace of God and all of the Beauty and Favor that is wrapped up in the infinite flow of our Holy God’s Grace to us as undeserving human beings. All we truly deserve and are entitled to in life is Hell, but it is the Grace and Love of God that gives us Heaven tomorrow and life more abundantly today. It is the Grace of God that covers our guilty souls in the Beauty of Jesus Christ and His Holiness. As Grace covers our guilty hearts, God does not see our guilt, but instead sees His Beloved Son embracing our heart and soul identifying us as His very own children to freely inherit the Kingdom of God with Christ in that Glorious Day. It is not by our own goodness, but the Goodness of God that is His Beauty of Grace.
The second staff Bands, speaks of our union in Jesus Christ. Before coming to the Revealing Knowledge of the Salvation and Redemption of Christ, sin separated us from God putting us at odds with Him, but Jesus Christ through the shedding of His Blood reconciles our relationship with God and unites us with our Father in Heaven giving us a deep, intimate love for God. The moment we said “yes” to Christ, we became reunited with God through Jesus Christ and oh it felt so good!! We now have a loving relationship and a personal fellowship with God giving us access to our Father in Heaven 24 hours a day, 7 days a week which was the Lord’s intention from day one to dwell and have fellowship with us all. It is in that fellowship He can walk alongside us giving peace, direction, protection, and blessings at every turn. In this holy union we can connect with Him in the closet of prayer and know with full confidence the Lord hears our every word and knows our every need. When we read our Bible, we know without a shadow of a doubt we are entering into the deep thoughts of our Creator and being fed His Wisdom to live a life of purity and holiness that is well pleasing to Him. When we lift up our hands to praise the Lord and get on our knees to worship our God, we are expressing to Him how much we love Him for who He is, what He has done, and what He will do for us in the future. We have only the first-fruits of our fellowship with God now, but it will be at the Rapture we will then be in FULL fellowship with God and have the ability and privilege to look upon His Face in Full Glory. Through mortality and immortality, we will forever be in Unity with God as the Blood of Christ is the glue that will eternally hold and never break that union with Him.
The two staves of Beauty and Bands come together at one place, in one person, and is based on the principle of faith. Faith in Jesus Christ and what He did for us at the Cross of Calvary allows the Holy Spirit to shed forth the Beauty of God’s Grace into our hearts and allows us to have that deep Union of relationship, fellowship, and connection with God through the Finished Work of Christ. The Cross of Christ is where we as an unholy people must come and place our faith to receive Grace and Unity with a Holy God. God awaits us there today and all of our tomorrows if we will come in the unity of faith to the place where the Love and Grace of God was on full display for the entirety of the world. It was for you and for me. God loves us all and holds us together with Him if we will just come to Jesus Christ and place our faith in Him who makes Divine Favor and a Heavenly Union possible!
