Religious Zeal: Exemplified

So Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made gods of gold for themselves.

Yet now, if You would only forgive their sin.... But if not, please blot me out of the book that You have written.”

Then Moses said to Hobab, the son of Moses’ father-in-law Reuel the Midianite, “We are setting out for the place of which the LORD said: ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will treat you well, for the LORD has promised good things to Israel.”

But Moses replied, “Are you jealous on my account? I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would place His Spirit on them!”

Then I fell down before the LORD for forty days and forty nights, as I had done the first time. I did not eat bread or drink water because of all the sin you had committed in doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD and provoking Him to anger.

For I was afraid of the anger and wrath that the LORD had directed against you, enough to destroy you. But the LORD listened to me this time as well.

Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; cast aside the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. …

David asked the men who were standing with him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

…for they will hear of Your great name and mighty hand and outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this temple,

…then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by Your Name.

But Micaiah said, “As surely as the LORD lives, I will speak whatever the LORD tells me.”

…then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by Your Name.

It still brings me comfort, and joy through unrelenting pain, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

Rise up, O LORD, do not let man prevail; let the nations be judged in Your presence.

Lay terror upon them, O LORD; let the nations know they are but men. Selah

Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—it is written about me in the scroll: …

Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will return to You.

For I have endured scorn for Your sake, and shame has covered my face. …

O God, You have taught me from my youth, and to this day I proclaim Your marvelous deeds.

Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, until I proclaim Your power to the next generation, Your might to all who are to come.

How long, O God, will the enemy taunt You? Will the foe revile Your name forever?

Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O LORD, how a foolish people has spurned Your name. …

Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will stand for me against the workers of iniquity?

Every morning I will remove all the wicked of the land, that I may cut off every evildoer from the city of the LORD.

Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to Your name be the glory, because of Your loving devotion, because of Your faithfulness.

Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”

Rage has taken hold of me because of the wicked who reject Your law.

It is time for the LORD to act, for they have broken Your law.

My zeal has consumed me because my foes forget Your words.

I look on the faithless with loathing because they do not keep Your word.

Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law resist them.

Not only was the Teacher wise, but he also taught the people knowledge; he pondered, searched out, and arranged many proverbs.

The Teacher searched to find delightful sayings and to record accurate words of truth.

And many peoples will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

Come, O house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD.

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: “Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?” And I said: “Here am I. Send me!”

He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on His head; He put on garments of vengeance and wrapped Himself in a cloak of zeal.

For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep still, until her righteousness shines like a bright light, her salvation like a blazing torch.

Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people. …

But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.

But I have not run away from being Your shepherd; I have not desired the day of despair. You know that the utterance of my lips was spoken in Your presence.

Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before You to speak good on their behalf, to turn Your wrath from them.

If I say, “I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name,” His message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones, and I become weary of holding it in, and I cannot prevail.

But Jeremiah said to all the officials and all the people, “The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard. …

“Go throughout the city of Jerusalem,” said the LORD, “and put a mark on the foreheads of the men sighing and groaning over all the abominations committed there.”

But the Levitical priests, who are descended from Zadok and who kept charge of My sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from Me, are to approach Me to minister before Me. They will stand before Me to offer Me fat and blood, declares the Lord GOD.

If the God whom we serve exists, then He is able to deliver us from the blazing fiery furnace and from your hand, O king.

But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden statue you have set up.”

As for me, however, I am filled with power by the Spirit of the LORD, with justice and courage, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.

Woe is me! For I am like one gathering summer fruit at the gleaning of the vineyard; there is no cluster to eat, no early fig that I crave.

The godly man has perished from the earth; there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; they hunt one another with a net.

How long, O LORD, must I call for help but You do not hear, or cry out to You, “Violence!” but You do not save? …

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!

But Jesus would not allow him. “Go home to your own people,” He said, “and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy He has shown you.”

So the man went away and began to proclaim throughout the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And everyone was amazed.

And He was amazed at their unbelief. And He went around from village to village, teaching the people.

Peter declared, “Even if all fall away, I never will.” …

And they went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked through them, confirming His word by the signs that accompanied it.

…for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He shall never take wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb. …

As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it

…and said, “If only you had known on this day what would bring you peace! But now it is hidden from your eyes.

Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John’s testimony and followed Jesus. …

Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the One Moses wrote about in the Law, the One the prophets foretold—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

“Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.

Jesus explained, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work.

Do you not say, ‘There are still four months until the harvest’? I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ripe for harvest.

…greatly disturbed that they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of the people! …

Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. …

After they had prayed, their meeting place was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

With great power the apostles continued to give their testimony about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And abundant grace was upon them all.

At daybreak the apostles entered the temple courts as they had been told and began to teach the people. When the high priest and his associates arrived, they convened the Sanhedrin—the full assembly of the elders of Israel—and sent to the jail for the apostles.

Then someone came in and announced, “Look, the men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people!”

But Peter and the other apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men. …

Every day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they did not stop teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.

…and will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

…but they could not stand up to his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke.

Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.

But when they believed Philip as he preached the gospel of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

And after Peter and John had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many of the Samaritan villages.

So Philip ran up and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.

Then Philip began with this very Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

But Philip appeared at Azotus and traveled through that region, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Meanwhile those scattered by the persecution that began with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the message only to Jews.

But some of them, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks as well, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus.

Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

…and when he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. So for a full year they met together with the church and taught large numbers of people. The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.

Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, well versed in the Scriptures. …

For I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you,

I speak the truth in Christ; I am not lying, as confirmed by my conscience in the Holy Spirit. …

Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is for their salvation.

I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed, …

If Timothy comes, see to it that he has nothing to fear while he is with you, for he is doing the work of the Lord, just as I am.

So we aspire to please Him, whether we are at home in this body or away from it.

We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians. Our hearts are open wide.

Now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the churches of Macedonia. …

But thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus the same devotion I have for you. …

For I am afraid that when I come, I may not find you as I wish, and you may not find me as you wish. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, rage, rivalry, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder.

I am afraid that when I come again, my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of their acts of impurity, sexual immorality, and debauchery.

Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one another.

“Be angry, yet do not sin.” Do not let the sun set upon your anger,

Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.

Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you everything, so that you also may know about me and what I am doing.

Now I want you to know, brothers, that my circumstances have actually served to advance the gospel. …

But you know Timothy’s proven worth, that as a child with his father he has served with me to advance the gospel.

For he has been longing for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill.

…because he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for your deficit of service to me.

Yes, and I ask you, my true yokefellow, to help these women who have contended at my side for the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life.

You learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf,

Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a beloved brother, a faithful minister, and a fellow servant in the Lord. …

We always thank God for all of you, remembering you in our prayers …

So when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left on our own in Athens.

We sent Timothy, our brother and fellow worker for God in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith,

Therefore I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are established in the truth you now have.

I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of my body,

And I will make every effort to ensure that after my departure, you will be able to recall these things at all times.

For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them deep into hell, placing them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;

…if He did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on its ungodly people, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, among the eight;

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. …

Beloved, although I made every effort to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt it necessary to write and urge you to contend earnestly for the faith entrusted once for all to the saints.

Those I love I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.