14.2 Eaten with Zeal
© 2017 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
I trust fully that you receive the last lesson, “An Impossible Salvation,” as Paul meant Romans 7, that is, ourselves separate from Christ our only life, trying to “make it” with God. Yet the full reasons why we flee from ourselves, that we would have no sufficiency in ourselves, fleeing into all that is Jesus, must be placed clearly before our understanding again in order for us to comprehend the audacious Action God is doing now through us – Pro-Determination.
Pro-Determination is the Energeia that takes God Himself out through the Veil once again, now our flesh, to seize for Himself His entire Church. And in obedience to the gospel, it is not fearfully that we enter into the Holiest, but boldly, speaking Christ boldly.
God Himself. We see across the earth today that God has brought millions of Spirit-filled believers close to Himself. Yet we do not discount those of His own still in the outer court or still unregenerate. Yet, having brought His Church close to the Holiest, we see that, for whatever reason, they will not enter.
Here is God’s determination. God pro-determines to symmorphose them with Jesus as the revelation of Father. The “event” that most imagine to be “Jesus up in the sky” is, in reality, this moment when God Himself steps once again through the veil, through us His elect, and shows His own ones that, yes, the Veil is wide open – they can freely enter. That entrance is not into death (heaven) as they now imagine, but into the fullness of Christ.
Pro-Determination in Action. In order, then, to grasp this Pro-Determination that takes God once again through the Veil, God manifest in the flesh, we must turn again to the Bond of the Covenant, Jesus Sent. If you want to see the Pro-Determination of God in Action, then observe the one time and place inside creation where God showed Himself AS HE IS – the walk of Jesus from Gethsemane to the Resurrection.
I take the title of this lesson from John 2:17 and Psalm 69:9. This line comes just after Jesus drove the money changers the first time out of the temple. Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.”
Zeal for Your House. Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up. The Hebrew words are identical to the Greek, though the Greek express a deeper meaning and can be tied more easily with other elements in the New Testament.
Zelos (zeal): (a) eagerness, zeal, enthusiasm, (b) jealousy, rivalry. From zeo, to boil. It means boiling from heat, boiling anger, love, zeal for what is good or bad (Thayer).
Oikos (house): (a) a house, the material object, (b) a household or family.
Oikos is used many times through the New Testament, but especially Hebrews 3:6, whose house we are. The verb form, katoikeó, is Ephesians 3:17 – Christ DWELLS in our hearts.
Ferociously Consume. The word, “house” is used in the Greek as we would use the word “house,” that is, a common dwelling place. This is in contrast, then, to the more formal, naos, or temple. It is God’s common dwelling place that Jesus is concerned with here, not His more “grand,” shall we say, temple.
Katesthió (consume): to eat up. I eat up, I eat till it is finished, I devour. From katá, "down," and esthíō, "eat") – that is, to eat all the way down; to ferociously consume until nothing remains.
Zeal and Pro-Determination are speaking of the same quality inside the Being of God. The –orisen part of proorisen has become our English word, horizon, that is, the outline or scope of one’s destination.
Having Boldness to Enter. Let’s bring all this back into our picture. Jesus walked the path of the atonement to show us God as He is, and thus, to win our hearts for Himself. In the midst of that path, the Veil keeping all out of the Holy of Holies was torn in two from top to bottom.
Then, the gospel states very clearly – Having boldness to enter the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus consecrating for us a newly sacrificed and living way through the Veil, which is, in fact, the flesh of Jesus (Hebrews 10:19-20). And this boldness is based on the preceding statements in Hebrews 10: one sacrifice for sins forever – for by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
I Will NOT! Augustine gives us the words, then, of all Christians, in response to the invitation to enter NOW into all that is God. “Because I am a burden to myself, because I am evil, because I am still imperfect – I will not enter into the Holiest entirely by faith.”
Now, Christians say, “cannot,” but they mean only “will not,” for God says, “Freely enter.” And in saying “cannot,” Christians then re-define “the Holiest” as our being able to ask God for help now and then, placing all that God really means by the Holiest into “heaven” when they are dead. And thus they continue weeping over the flesh.
Weeping over Appearance. Of course, as with Augustine, they define God through the lens of the highest angel of heaven, the serpent, and thus imagine that being filled with all the fulness of God must mean outward perfection and the power to zap and control. Since they do not see this angelic “perfection” as their “image” of themselves, they continue convinced that they cannot be filled with all the fullness of God, regardless of anything God says that Jesus is. They continue weeping over their outward form in the exact same sickness of Adam. “Why did You make me like this, God?”
Jesus, seated upon the throne of heaven, their own hearts, is filled with tender compassion, most certainly, but after their season in the Altar is sufficient and they still won’t enter, His zeal starts eating Him up.
Merchandising the Sacrifice. Let’s understand the setting. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” (John 2:14-16).
Jesus was NOT talking about selling books in the foyer of the church, for Paul said that laborers are worthy of their living. There was something far deeper going on here.
Not Holy Enough. God had instructed through Moses that each individual Israelite was to bring their own offering to give of themselves to God. That lamb or that dove was to have been one they themselves had raised, or that they had obtained from their neighbors who had raised them.
Basically, the priesthood of Israel in Jesus’ day had developed the same system as the Catholics developed later on. “You, your sacrifice (mass), is not ‘holy enough’ for God. You have to get the ‘correct’ sacrifice (mass) from us. But we can’t sell you the ‘correct’ sacrifice (mass) for your money, for your money is not ‘holy enough’ for God. You have to get the ‘correct’ money from us.”
“Representing” Jesus. Thus the Jews had to pay for the “correct” money in order to buy the “correct” sacrifices.
We must understand this. God had established clearly that the sacrifices once offered to Him then became the property of the Levites, their food and drink. Thus Jesus was not against the Levites obtaining their living from their work. The evil that made Jesus angry was the lie spoken to each one coming before God – your sacrifice is not “good enough” for God, you have to get the “correct” sacrifice from us. Two Christians breaking bread together IS the Eucharist of God, the presence of Jesus, the revelation of Father.
The evil was this claim: “We represent Jesus, who is far away right now, you must come to God through us.” God is NOT here, God is NOT now, God is NOT Personal inside of you. You must come to our little group, and we will show you the “correct” way for you to “go to” God after you are dead.
I Would Rather Be with Father. You see, there comes a moment when our very patient Savior, Himself enthroned in the hearts of each one who belongs to Him, including the false shepherds turning God’s people away from the Holiest, there comes a moment when the Zeal for God’s common dwelling place EATS JESUS UP.
Now, you and I go with God straight to the Bread of Life to give to God’s people Jesus as the Word sustaining them. But Jesus Himself, by His own arm, does have a thing or two to say to those false shepherds. I have seen it. And I would rather be with Father in the Table than be near what He says next.
No Strings Attached. It’s not a very good idea to be a preacher of the gospel, as Paul said. Yet the Lord does know those who are His and there are those who, not knowing the Lord very well, still, they give what they do know to His sheep faithfully.
Let me use Joel Osteen as an example. I could continue receiving God’s Word to me through Pastor Joel for seven years, God’s perfect season for me, because of one primary reason. Joel never limits God, nor does he ever tie anyone to his own take on God. Very often Joel states, “Whatever God’s intentions for you are,” in such a way that always left God free to be ALL in me. And Joel states in almost every service, “You don’t need to attend here, but go to any good Bible-believing church.”
A Minority. Those words are simple, but they are declarative of God and of vital importance to be spoken into the heavens of those hearing Joel speak. Then, in that clear context, Joel gives the little bit of word, always out of the Bible, that God has given him to feed His sheep, nothing more and nothing less, with no limit on God and no binding to himself.
There are many shepherds like Joel Osteen, who move in that same way, but they are in a minority. In fact, a small minority. And when I look momentarily at those on Facebook who get their excitement out of denouncing Pastor Joel as a heretic, I see immediately the words reflecting what they really mean – “Don’t you DARE enter into the Holiest; you are forbidden.”
Not Allowed to Enter. The ministry I sat under for many years made it very clear that we were NOT allowed to enter into the Holiest through Jesus BECAUSE we continued to commit acts of sin. Thus God required us to cease from sin to become righteous ourselves before He would ever allow us to enter LIFE. And even worse than that, they made it very clear that if we did not continue to connect with God through them, we were in rebellion and thus rejected by God. I am not speaking of an isolated cult, but of all sects and denominations in Christianity.
And in my earnest desire to stay as far away as I can get from the wrath of God, I never discount the awfulness of the account these false shepherds will give.
Seizing All. There is no greater iniquity than to stand before the very Presence of the Holy, in the anointing and demonstration of the Spirit, and to turn God’s people away from Life and to human performance and control (strange fire). This is exactly what Jesus drove out of His Father’s common house with whips, and He will do it again.
But that is the negative side of Jesus’ zeal, important, yes, but not to us. To us, the other side of Jesus’ zeal consumes us. Jesus is the Determination of God to seize you and me into Life. And you and I, having accepted that Determination into our hearts as the only life we are, then turn, with Jesus, to seize ALL whom the Father has given to Him into Life together with us.
We Believe in Jesus. Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5:25-27).
Jesus is All Here Now, the becoming known of Father in every heart where Father is becoming known. And this Church is His body, the fullness of Jesus who fills all in all. That He might present her to Himself a glorious church. – His own arm brought salvation. Jesus accomplishes all of the Father’s will in all who belong to Him. – We believe in Jesus.
Forgetful and Disconnected. Now, I am not a passionate man, a desperate man at times, yes, but not overly passionate. I have never had a “burden for souls,” I guess I just figure that all whom the Father has given to Jesus will come to Him, as Jesus said. I do care about people, most certainly. But unless you are in my sight, I don’t think much about you. When you do send me an email, I know that I care for you. But otherwise I am quite forgetful and somewhat disconnected. But I do have one unusual quality. I believe that what God says is true, and I believe that Jesus is what God says.
(Asperger's people are not “without feeling” as some falsely assume. Quite the opposite, Asperger's feel way too much, and thus, at a young age, they learn to shut off the overwhelming feeling just to survive, an ability I am losing as I am getting older.)
Fire Burns Inside of Me. Here is what I am saying. God says that Jesus lives in my heart. God says that the Zeal of God’s house EATS Jesus UP. And God says that He creates and sustains all things through Jesus. And thus, because I believe that God is telling me the truth, I believe and confess, regardless of any feeling or lack of feeling, regardless of anything I think, say, or do, that the PASSION of the Almighty to seize into Himself millions of Spirit-filled believers right now on this earth, that Father might be seen and known to His creation through them, that this GREAT FIRE, Jesus Himself, burns inside of me, and flows out from me as burning Rivers of Fire.
I am sitting here in my pajamas, my arms crossed on my belly with my coffee cup in front of me – outward appearance.
Zeal Consumes Us. But in all of my substance, I am a man on Fire and Fire flows out from me. Because God says. The Zeal for God’s dwelling place, His Church, consumes me.
My flesh IS the flesh of God, my foolish form is His Holy of Holies, the throne of heaven. Every moment of my life is God through me reconciling the world to Himself, not regardless of, but THROUGH the very weakness that I am.
And the same with you as you also know that God speaks the truth. Your flesh is the flesh of God, and the Zeal for His Church, Jesus Himself, consumes you. – Don’t “feel” it, believe it.