Shade of the Moriah Tree

“For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.” – Romans 10:2-3

WE CANNOT DENY the fact that much of what comprises today’s Christianity is one of zeal or enthusiasm, but what motivates that zeal and where such enthusiasm leads to is another thing. One hasn’t to be religious to display zeal; there are countless individuals that exude a zealousness whatever the cause may be.

The apostle Paul in the above verses is referring to his kinsmen which he commences in chapter 9. With anguish – in light of tremendous sacrificial wishing that he was cut off from the covenant of God in order for his own people to taste salvation – Paul recognised a distinguished zeal for God among his own people, yet completely missing the mark in pursuing God by works of the law; faith in its truest essence was absent to where Christ became their stumbling block, a rock of offence. 

Spirit-born appetite for the true Word of God

The Spirit of God guides into all Truth and one of the main hallmarks and evidences of a spiritual rebirth through Him is that we are hungry for Truth. Some of us in the faith may not know everything at once and months or even years may pass until we come to a solid all-round grounding in the Scriptures, but there has to be a relentless pursuing, an undying longing for food that nourishes spiritually. It is inevitable that following our conversion there will be a Spirit-born appetite for the Word of God and a yearning for such words that have already proceeded from the mouth of God – His revealed Word, the Scriptures themselves.

“…they have a zeal for God but not according to knowledge“, and that knowledge is imparted by the Spirit of God that enables us to rightly understand the Scriptures in their setting, context and the revealed mind of God in making us wise unto salvation and sanctification. Remember how the Lord opened up the heart of Lydia to understand what Paul was expounding. They are the unfolding, the revealing of God’s gracious and unmerited covenant with humanity; God’s revealed redemptive plan throughout history in successfully bringing a chosen people unto Himself for His honour and glory.

If the question were asked in the same tone as Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” – What do you say the Scriptures are? What would our answer be?

How do we really view the Scriptures?

Clearly seeing Christ central throughout the Scriptures

In the Scriptures do you see Christ, the beauty and majesty of Him; do you see how God so mercifully provides the way of salvation to escape His perfect wrath and judgement on sin, or are you taken up with numbers, symbols and codes to unlock secrets of certain passages and interpret the future; do you just see a code of incredible ethics to try and live your life by or do you see that the Law of God is meant to bring you to the very end of yourself and all your futile efforts in trying to live up to those humanly impossible standards – “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees you shall never enter the kingdom of God”; do you see Him and embrace Him as your only hope, and do you see yourself now being clothed in His perfect righteousness that takes away your sin and declares you justified in the presence of Almighty God? Do you see that and more so – do you know that beyond any other persuasion? Do you?! If you do not see the Scriptures that way, then you are left with just a zeal void of the knowledge of Him and you remain spiritually dead in your imprisonment under the realm of sin no matter how active you may be in the church or what incredible ministry you may have.

If we do not understand (a mind illumined by the Spirit) the Scriptures, or to drive home the question deeper, if we fail to know the God as revealed in context of Scripture, how are we to worship Him in the way that glorifies Him; how are we to live before Him that genuinely brings Him honour by the fruit we bear unto Him?

If we are blind to the God of the Scriptures, and if the Spirit of God has not enlightened our minds to understand the Scriptures – because that is part of the work of the Holy Spirit in revealing and bringing to remembrance all that Jesus said; “whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you things that are to come… He shall glorify Me” (John 14:26; 16:13-14) – then what kind of god have we established in our minds? Is it the God of the Scriptures, or a god of our own interpretation and imagination?

That last part of those verses, “He shall glorify Me” is powerfully significant. This is the main and central working of the Holy Spirit through redemption, that Christ be the central focus. Anything that deviates from Christ being central no matter how phenomenally spiritual an occasion or movement may be, beware.

Christ is latent in the Old Testament and Patent in the New Testament

All through the Scriptures – through the Old and New Testaments – Christ is either foreshadowed or blatant; latent in the Old and patent in the New; they revolve around Him, in that God has provided reconciliation, refuge, and redemption through Him to escape God’s rightful judgment on sin.

Oh we think we’re zealous for God, but really for who, and is that zeal resulting from a right experiential knowledge of God? “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord” shall enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 7:21-23) is one of the most alarming Scriptures that warns against a false conversion despite many miracles and wonders being performed in Christ’s name, and we see much of mainstream popular Christianity obsessed with that rather than knowing the centrality of God’s will.

A church may be prevalent in manifesting physical healing, demons being subject to the name of Christ and being cast ‘out’, or future times predicted, but there is NO greater miracle and wonder than witnessing a God-hating individual spiritually dead in sin being made alive unto Him in worship and obedience  – a changed nature by the very power of the Holy Spirit. No other move of God in this world should thrill us more than when seeing a person being reconciled to God. It is the very same power manifested that raised Christ from the dead.

What are we really zealous for? What drives us; what leads us; what is it about Christianity that enthrals us? What are our church leaders like? Are they faithful in declaring to us the “whole counsel of God”?

Not many desiring sound expository teaching

Not many desire to hear sound expository teaching these days that glorifies God, that is Christ-centred, lifting our focus from ourselves to Him, longing to please Him, to know His will, breathe His will, knowing that our very breath is meant to be lived for HIM! People refuse to hear it, but they’ll run and even pay substantial amounts of money to hear teaching that elevates their ministry, builds their self-esteem, or makes their name great. How different to the lives such as George Whitefield, who said, “When I die let my name die with me!” such was the desire that Christ alone be made known.

We often hear it that so many people nowadays in society have a short concentration span to study the Scriptures, sit under sound teachers that faithfully and rightly expound the Word of God, thus understanding more of God, but put a celebrity actor/actress or singer before them who they admire and they’re going to read, listen and view all they can in getting to know that person, no matter how much time it takes; time is of no significance. How is it then that there is very little interest shown in knowing the deep things of God revealed through the Scriptures?

The deep things of God that angels long to look into and taste – think of that for a moment. Think over how the angels, mighty in their description, worship the eternal God Whom man/woman cannot and must not see face to face in this life for the brightness, majesty and holiness of Him. It makes our worship services look appallingly trivial in comparison – and yet the angels long to look into this mystery of God condescending, stooping so low to redeem His enemies – you and me. Oh! If we had the same passion to swim in the ocean’s unfathomable depths of Scripture breathed of the Holy Spirit, our lives would no longer be the same; we’d lose ourselves in Him, not being preoccupied with God’s plan for us, but rather in being consumed with a burning desire for His purposes and His plans – for His glory.

That’s the difference in how today’s Christianity has so twisted the Scriptures to its own liking; it is all based around self, self development, self esteem – what believers can get out of God instead of realising God owes us nothing but we owe Him everything. Is it any wonder why Isaac Watts, in his hymn, ‘When I survey the Cross’ penned the words, “Love so amazing, love so divine demands my soul, my life, my all“? 

Losing ourselves in the glory of Christ

It’s in this realm of ‘losing’ our lives – a life of pursuing self-satisfaction, a life of self-autonomy, self-reliance that is the very root of all sin – for Him Who willed us into being that we may eternally share in His glory. Not take from His glory, but being so immersed in it that we realise the epitome of our very existence; we find life itself in beholding His glory and that everything else in comparison is pointless. Sin so reverses what ought to be prioritised and is one of the biggest deceptions of Satan – making a self-governing life look so attractive and so fulfilling while giving the appearance of a life pursuing Christ sorely lacks purpose, solidity, yes, even losing ourselves. And, of course, a mind not illumined by the Holy Spirit will leave us with a distorted view of Christ, left wide open to our own interpretation of Who He is. Nothing has brought more disrepute to the name of Christ than this – a warped view of Him through our own assumptions of who we think He is. Remember Peter who answered Christ’s question, “Who do you say I am?” Peter could never have declared Him to be the Son of God unless God the Father had opened his eyes to see Him, despite all the miracles and wonders Jesus performed before countless crowds – and many in the church today witness such wonders and still do not know Who Christ really is.

Dive into and ransack the Scriptures, cry unto the Holy Spirit to guide you into all Truth, get under sound expository preaching – fill your minds and hearts with the wonders of God and behold the beauty and majesty of Christ. It is never-ending and all eternity will never exhaust the continual revealing of Who the triune God is when we behold Him face to face after we reach glory. We don’t have to wait until then; we can immerse ourselves now in getting to know the God revealed through the Scriptures, our minds being illumined by the Holy spirit to understand Him aright, thus to behold Him and worship Him aright – not just in singing but more so in living as we were made for Him.