God’s purpose in gathering a people is not only to have them relate to Him on an individual level, but to form those individuals into a people, a race, a nation, and a priesthood dedicated to His purposes.

Holy-nation-building was God’s purpose for His people from the very beginning.  Consider what God said to Abraham in Genesis 12:2.  He said, “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” 

 At the other end of the Bible, John sees the people of God and offers up this description in Revelation 7:9-10, “I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, ¹⁰ and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”[1]

From Genesis to Revelation, God is purposefully and intentionally gathering a people for Himself, not just individuals.  Part of God’s work in drawing people to Himself is drawing His people to one another as well.  Those He saves, He gathers. 

He is often described in the scriptures as a shepherd.  Shepherds don’t isolate the sheep from one another, but gather them into a flock.  There is a website dedicated to training people to care for sheep called Sheep 201: A beginner’s guid to raising Sheep.[2]  In the section labelled “Normal Sheep Behavior,” it says,

“Changes in normal behavior can be an early sign of illness in sheep. The most obvious example of this relates to the sheep’s most natural behavioral instinct, their flocking instinct. A sheep or lamb that is isolated from the rest of the flock is likely showing early signs of illness (unless it is lost).”

If in the Bible, God is compared to a shepherd and if His people are compared to sheep, then this principle from the farm could be true of our lives as well.  The Christian who does not follow the Lord’s leading to fellowship with other believers is most likely either sick or lost.  Isolation in a believer is never a sign of spiritual strength, just the opposite. Both sheep that are isolated in the barnyard and Christians isolated from fellowship become stressed, not strengthened.

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