844. More than others, Jews are unaware that they are in the spiritual world; they think they are still in the physical world. The reason for this is that they are thoroughly external people who do not think about religion in an inward way. Therefore they still say the same things about the Messiah that they used to say in the world.

Some say the Messiah is going to come with David and, glittering with gems, will go before the Jewish people and bring them into the land of Canaan. Along the way he will lift his rod and dry up the rivers they will cross. Christians (in private communication Jews refer to them as gentiles) will seize the hems of their garments, begging to be allowed to come with them. Others who are rich enough will also be allowed to join them as their servants.

They convince themselves that this is how it will be because of Zechariah 8:23 and Isaiah 66:20, and because of the statements in Jeremiah 30:9 and Ezekiel 34:23-25; 37:23-26 that David will come and be their king and shepherd. They are not at all open to hearing that David in these passages means our Lord Jesus Christ and that Jews here mean people who will belong to the Lord's church.

A company might have executives setting policy and strategy, engineers designing products, managers handling personnel and others handling various functions. They all do different things -- but if they're doing them with a shared underlying purpose, the company -- and the individuals in it -- will likely be successful. The Lord wants all human society to function in a similar way. We have different skills and individual loves, but if we all share a mutual love -- a love of serving others -- then society will function as one, will be a reflection of heaven and will be a good receptacle for the Lord's love. This can also happen within each of us, as we unify our talents and ideas around a central love. And in an abstract sense, it illustrates how a wide collection of varying ideas can be unified around a shared good intention. That is the kind of love pictured when “one” is used in the Bible, either as a specific number or in the sense of several people or objects “being one.” In more casual references -- when used to identify a specific person or object -- the meaning is relatively literal, and is connected to that person or object.