Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I didn’t consume the children of Israel in my jealousy. Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace. It shall be to him, and to his offspring after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.’”
(Numbers 25:10-13)

“Jesus therefore answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone desires to do his will, he will know about the teaching, whether it is from God or if I am speaking from myself. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but he who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. Didn’t Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill me?” The multitude answered, “You have a demon! Who seeks to kill you?” Jesus answered them, “I did one work and you all marvel because of it. Moses has given you circumcision (not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a boy. If a boy receives circumcision on the Sabbath, that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I made a man completely healthy on the Sabbath? Don’t judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”“
(John 7:16-24)

Phinehas was jealous for God. Even though he was a Levite and NOT to fight, he strove and fought for God. He stood against a man who was thumbing his nose at Moses and the commands of God. He did it in the sight of the people. Like a cancer, he needed to be cut out -this was BEFORE Jesus came and paid the price of Sin (sin could be covered, but not removed). He took a chance and took a stand for the Lord and for what God said was godly. It was worth dying for.

Jesus also came zealously. Jesus was jealous for God. But Jesus came in the age of Grace and was not looking to cut out the cancer of disobedience. He had come to cure it and restore obedience in love. To HEAL. Yet some of the influential Judeans were against Him. Seeking to kill Jesus because He cut to the heart of things. Because He didn’t take the party line. Because He chose to honour the Father and go with what the scriptures actually said – not what the traditions had built up around them. Jesus knew it was worth dying to bring restoration.

Summary

We have the choice to believe the message of Jesus – which was the Gospel of the Kingdom – or not. We can reject Him. We can build up religious traditions about what we think He said. Or we can choose to read the Word and believe what it says. We can be zealous within ourselves and in our lives to become more and more like Jesus by submitting to the Word. By submitting to God and believing Him. True belief changes behaviour. It changes attitude. It changes words. It will make a demonstration of our values. If we get real about what we believe and start living what we say, our lives will change. Yeah, we might get some blowback, but it is worth dying to our Selves in order to become closer to Jesus.