What separates the zealot from the terrorist? For the believer in Jesus Christ we are called to be zealous for God’s word and zealous for doing good deeds but where can we go astray in living out our faith.
In Numbers 25, we have the story of God allowing a plague to kill many of the Israelites because of their sexual sin and the worship of idols until Phineas, the grandson of Aaron, ended it by killing a couple in the very act of coitus.
It would seem that the Lord condoned the actions of a vigilante stopping sin in its tracks by killing the offenders, but that assessment would be wrong because it would be taking the scripture out of context.
During the days of Jesus, one of his disciples was known as “Simon the Canaanite” which was a poor translation that should have been rendered as “Simon the Zealot”. The term zealot was used in the first century by those using a form of terrorism justified by a misunderstanding of Phineas’ zealotry.
Like today, we know that abortion is murder and only a fool would say otherwise but why would it be wrong to kill an abortion doctor when we know that the punishment for murder is execution?
The answer is law and order. For those who take the story of Phineas out of context it might seem right and good to kill bad guys like a real life version of the comic book Punisher but when we take a closer look at the word of God we find true law and order.
In Numbers 25 where the narrative is found, a careful reading shows that the Lord had commanded Moses to command the judges to carry out an execution order for those found guilty of sexual immorality with the Moabites in this instance.
This was the legal system of the people of Israel that had been agreed to on Mt. Sinai that they would obey God and His commandments and decrees.
It was mere moments after the issue of the command to the judges that the Israelite man and the Moabite woman brazenly walked past the gathered judges including Phineas who executed the lawful command immediately because he shared God’s jealousy or zeal.
The would be executioner of an abortion doctor has not been given a lawful command by God under our constitutional form of government and therefor would not be right in taking the physician’s life.
The terrorist is not related in any way to the zealot because the terrorist is taking the law into his or her own hands, while the zealot is passionately following God in obedience to the law and command of God.
The difference may seem subtle on first glance but in reality there is a world of difference and this is true when confronting sin and presenting the love of Jesus with the forgiveness of sin. We are to show love toward the person but make no apologies for opposing the darkness with light leaving the judgment to the Lord.
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