ZEAL: Websters’ Dictionary uses the following synonyms to define zeal: ardor, verve, passion, enthusiasm, eagerness, devotion, spirit, heart.

The Holy Scriptures have much to say about zeal. On the one hand, zeal can be a God-sanctified, Christ-exampled virtue. On the other hand, it can be a negative, even destructive characteristic which is also displayed in the name of God and Christ. The key to the proper use of zeal is in knowing which is which and concerning what one’s zeal is being displayed. As this series will reveal, religious zeal, of which there is much in religious circles, is most often exhibited while exalting in God’s name that which God condemns in His Holy Scriptures. Like so many ironies within professing Christendom, while unholy zeal is exalted in order to please the Biblical God, zeal based on His Holy Word is believed by the vast majority of zealots to be anti-God. Only Satan could orchestrate that idiocy. A good example of this phenomenon took place a few years ago when I was talking with a lady whom God had sent me to tell her His truth about His Sabbath. She had severely injured her knee and could barely walk. God told me to pray for her, if she would allow it, and that He would heal her as a sign that I was telling her His Truth. This bastion of the faith did not believe in “divine healing,” which her church believes is a thing of the past. She did, however, allow me to pray, though I’m sure she allowed it in order to prove me wrong. True to His Word to me, He healed her instantly and totally. Then, in keeping with her church’s “truth” concerning divine healing, she accused me of healing her by witchcraft. By doing so she blasphemed the Holy Spirit. She also rejected God’s Saturday Sabbath. She died shortly thereafter for no medical reason.

The zeal in play during that situation was on my part. Like everything else in my life, I keep my zeal to myself. In a personality contest, I would be voted “the dullest of the dull.” But when I am doing the Lord’s work I am internally in a zone in which time passes and events happen without my realizing it. For example, when I am writing these website series, hours pass as if they are minutes. I am exhibit #1 for the expression: “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”

In Ezekiel 5:13 and Isaiah 37:32 we are told by God Himself that He has zeal which He directs in both positive and negative directions. The same can be said about Jesus of Nazareth after whom we are to pattern our lives. Recall that He wept upon hearing that His friend Lazarus had died, and that He went into seclusion upon hearing of John the Baptist’s beheading. On the other hand, He went into a destructive rage when He saw what merchants were doing in the Temple. Perfect examples of the Lord’s zeal in both rewarding and punishing people whom He refers to as “My people who are called by His name” are found in Second Chronicles 7:13,14, Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. Both sheep and goats are found in His church. Both have zeal. Read about them by using the key word Goats. In Ezekiel 5 the Lord tells us what He will zealously do TO people who disobey Him. Isaiah 37 He tells us what He will zealously do FOR those who obey Him.

The true saint’s zeal extends in several directions. Outwardly he is to have zeal 1) toward the Lord and 2) toward other people. Equally important, 3) he is to have zeal inwardly toward himself. The saint’s zeal toward the Lord and His Word is fulfilled by his obedience to God’s Holy Word, by which he honors the Godhead. We must do this in order to have any chance for entrance into the earthly Kingdom of God following the first resurrection. One’s zeal toward God is revealed in his love toward Him which the saint proves by his obedience to His Ten Commandment Law. Read John 8:31; 14:15,23; 15:10/ Matthw 19:17 and First John. 2:5. God summarized the Law in the first two commandments. Commandment number one involves man’s loving zeal toward the God.

Secondly, the true saint is zealous toward his fellow man. The second commandment speaks to this very important focus of one’s zeal. The Lord said that the entire Law (Genesis to Revelation) is summarized in first two commandments. The Ten Commandments cover every sin mankind can commit. Commandments one and two comprise a summary of the other eight. Without them there is no God-defined sin (1 Jn. 3:4). To do away with the Law enables man to make his own rules of behavior, which is what Adam and Eve thought they had accomplished. The Institutional Church claims that “the Law was nailed to the cross” of Christ, which nullifies God’s inspired Words found in First John 3:4. This act of godhood enables the hundreds of so-called “churches” to make their own rules. And Satan smiles as he orchestrates their various “right and wrong” decrees.

The third aspect of zealousness involves the zealot himself. God’s true saints are zealous when it comes to obedience to God. By comparing their zeal to the Word of God the true saint works out his own salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12). The Apostle Paul speaks to this important issue in Second Corinthians 7:11 and 9:2 where he commends the Corinthians whom he had found to be zealous about their own conduct, making sure that their zeal was in line with God’s zeal. The Corinthians had made some dramatic moves of late.

Previously there had been a church scandal concerning a man in the congregation who had been having an affair. The congregation had allowed it to go on without taking action against him. Paul had dealt with them forcefully. As a result of his chastising them they had done a spiritual about-face. I will allow him to tell you his reaction to their change of heart: “You sorrowed (for their sins) after a godly sort–what carefulness (to obey God) it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourself (of sin), yea, what indignation (over what they had done), yea, what fear (of God), yea, what vehement desire (to obey God), yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge. In all things you have rid yourself of the problem.” In 9:2 Paul writes that he had shared their moral victory with other churches who, following his report, had become zealous for the things of God.

Lastly, we come to Romans 10:2 where we find that many religious people have zeal, “but not according to knowledge,” meaning knowledge of God’s Word. Having zeal is not the key; we can be zealously wrong. Also, neither numbers nor time affect the rightness or wrongness of zeal. It matters not how many people are zealous over an issue, or how many centuries such zeal has existed. The only thing that matters is the source of the zeal. In my youth I had much zeal for attending Sunday church services. Only later did I learn that my zeal had not been “according to knowledge” of God’s Word. Instead, my zeal had been geared to church doctrine which rarely agreed with the Holy Scriptures. One of my most powerful memories is of a Sunday morning when, as I was picking cotton, I watched my mother drive off to church. I remember distinctly how guilty I felt. I “knew” I was displeasing God. The effect stayed with me for weeks. Only later did I learn that Suday is just another work day for God’s true saints.

Understand this, Satan can make you feel guilty, happy, proud, assured, right, wrong, positive, negative, etc. Adam and Eve undoubtedly felt right, positive and happy as they made their way to the forbidden tree. And when she saw it, Eve was doubly assured that their positivity was well-founded (Gen. 3:6). The ultimate question is: Who gave them that assurance? Whose word did they embrace regarding that tree? GOD RECORDED, THEN PRESERVED HIS HOLY WORD FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS SO THAT WE WOULD HAVE HIS WILL IN PRINT WITH WHICH TO PROVE AN ISSUE’S RIGHTNESS OR WRONGNESS. IT IS THE SOURCE OF THE INFORMATION THAT MATTERS. WE MUST USE THE HOLY BIBLE TO PROVE THE RIGHTNESS OR WRONGNESS OF WHAT WE ARE HEARING AND FEELING. EVERYTHING COMES BACK TO THE WORD OF GOD. IF IT ISN’T BIBLE, IT ISN’S GOD. Read All That Glitters. Key word–Glitters. L.J.