August 20, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“The word of the Lord Almighty came to me. This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I AM very jealous for Zion; I AM burning with jealousy for her.‘” (Zechariah 8.1-2)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

God says to Zechariah: “I AM very jealous for Zion; I AM burning with jealousy for her.” I pray that we are struck by a single word in this particular verse. It is a word that permeates the whole of the biblical story from beginning to end. The word is “burning.” It is an all-consuming fire which destroys only that which is unrighteous. Our first experience with it is in Genesis when God created the heavens and the earth. The first act of creation was to “call out” light. God “called out” the light from the darkness. The light did not come from the darkness but from out of the darkness. Where did this light come from? Science postulates that this light is the “spark” creating the Big Bang from which then the universe was born. I would suggest that the universe already existed. We know from scripture that the universe existed in chaos where matter had no form nor order. It was not until the light of God was called out in the darkness that the order of creation became known, functional and accomplished. Within that light, the ruach or fire of God- that is, the Holy Spirit, all matter began to matter. God could not abide by the chaos nor with the chaos. God was jealous and zealous for order, purpose and life. In the darkness there was no life, purpose or order. The elements for it existed in disparate form. It had one thing that it lacked, “the fire of God, the Spirit of God, the jealousy for life expressed in a zealous manner to become accomplished.” How many times have our lives felt exactly like that. All the pieces are there before us, around us and within us but we know that something is missing. There is a spark for recognition and cognition whose absence leaves us in stasis. Some might call it imagination, Paul in his writing to Timothy called it “inspiration.” It is the God-breathed power which is the fire that fuels us to see, acknowledge and become one with the “order, purpose and function” as God is.

While there are many examples of such a “fire’ from Heaven expressed in scriptures such as the pillar of fire which led the Hebrews out of Egypt in the days of Moses or the consuming fire which overtook the priests of Baal in the days of Elijah, we could not fathom them without the experience of Moses with Yahweh Elohim, the God with “no name.” There on Mount Sinai, Moses was witness to the “bush consumed by fire but was not destroyed.” The bush was “immersed” in fire emblematic of the “glory of God.” In that moment, Moses was told to remove the shoes from his feet for he stood on holy ground. I shared the other day my experience with bare feet and hot pavement. If I had worn shoes that day, I would have experienced the heat of the road but not the painful consequence of it. Would something similar have been true for Moses? Would the thick leather of his sandals have protected him from the heated ground on which he stood? Did God have a desire for Moses to experience the consequence of “baring his sole” to the presence of God? Yes, it is conjecture on my part but in my imagination I am inspired to consider such an experience and the consequences of it. To become so “on fire” for God fuels my passion and desire to know more of God and to share the Word of God with others.

We know, of course, that such a “fire from God” as the expression of His jealousy for righteousness, is also a consuming fire. The priests of Baal and their bull sacrifices were obliterated by the “fire from heaven” called down by Elijah. We know of the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah as the “conflagration of fire from heaven” consumed it because of their unrighteousness. (Do not allow the greatest offense to get lost in the midst of their many offenses in those cities, the least of which was not homosexual practices. The greatest offense is that they desired to consume the “strangers” in their midst, the two angelic messengers from God sent to warn Lot of the impending doom.) We are familiar with the requests of James and John, the “Sons of Thunder…and lightning?,” for the judgment of fire and brimstone to be brought against the city who refused to offer food and lodging to Jesus and the disciples. There is little doubt that they believed Jesus, as did Elijah, could call down such “jealousy for righteousness” upon them. Sadly, we see such unholy expressions of “jealousy” which burn in people today figuratively and literally. Their fire is more like the “porneia” which Jesus and Paul warned the people of God against. It was a consuming fire of the flesh reflecting more of what the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah shared in and thus were punished for by a greater “fire.” We should be warned against such things in our own day and age. We should recognize that “porneia,” from where we get the word pornography, is intertwined with lust, greed and avarice. These elements are of a consuming fire which gives no light nor life. These were the elements of character exhibited in the days of Ezekiel and Jeremiah by the priests and leaders in the Temple. Their practices in the “dark” places of the sanctuaries resulted in the “glory of God” to exit the Temple and Jerusalem proper and set up residence on the hill of Gethsemane. With the glory of God removed, Jerusalem and the Temple were thus vulnerable to attack and destruction of foreign nations.

In the words given to Zechariah, we are exposed to the “jealousy of God” for His people. God states “I AM the One who burns with jealousy for her.” He is not speaking of lust as we saw at the foot of Sinai while Moses went up the mountain to commune with God. He is not speaking of the lust of the fornicators who desired to consume the angels of God in Sodom and Gomorrah. He is not speaking of the lust for power and supremacy over God which the priests of Baal committed their lives to and were thus consumed by. He is not speaking of the lust of depravity and the self-absorption which were exhibited by the priests in the Temple in the days of Ezekiel and Jeremiah. He is speaking of the authentic desire to love His people out of darkness and into the light of mercy and grace. God is so connected to them because they exist with the “fire of the Holy Spirit” breathed into them and thus a part of the fabric of their innate being with Him. He has such a great desire for them not to consume them but to enliven them and bring them back to the place of goodness and righteousness. He is expressing His yearning for them out of a heart bound with love of the Creator for His creation. It speaks of a passion of righteousness for His Name’s sake as true as the words of David who sang of the Great Shepherd. These were not the words of praise for God alone who had shepherded him through the fiery tests of both flesh and spirit. These were the words of a messianic foreshadowing of the One who would be known as the Great Shepherd, Jesus the Christ. Yes, Psalm 23 is that expression of the jealousy and passionate desire of God for His people which would cause Him to take His own Son through the Valley of the Shadow of Death not to dwell there but to pass through it, like Daniel and the Fiery Furnace, and come out the other side into the light of authenticated faith, hope and love. The words given to Zechariah were a confirmation of God’s desire to remain as the God of Israel and with them to be the God of the nations who would call upon the name of the Lord forever.

Which “fire” are we tending today in our world? What are the consequences we shall face?

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, before we were conceived in the womb, You had already formed us in Your love and by Your Spirit brought us into being. Each one of us is blessed with the opportunity of doing right, being good and producing the fruit of the Spirit in order that others be fed the truth of that same love so that the two will become one. It is our soul’s sincere desire to embrace the oneness You have in mind so we would know we are Your people and You are our God. Lead us in that discovery of the truth and the manifestation of that love for us all. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.