O Man of God, Be Zealous

O Man of God, Be Zealous

In honor of Sean Morris, Ryan Ringnald, and Jake Gardner

O man of God, ask me to come with you, yes, to ride in your chariot, and see your zeal for the Lord! (2 Kings 10:16) O man of God, seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men. (Prov 22:29) Would you, o man, stand before the King of kings? Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good solider of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please Him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. (2 Tim 2:3-4) This King calls you to take the arrow of the Lord’s deliverance from the powers of darkness, to smite the ground as you will, not thrice, but five or six times that you may consume them! (2 Kings 13:17-19) Be not as the faint-hearted Balak who regarded Deborah’s accompaniment as being of utmost necessity. For the journey that thou takest shall then not be for thine honour. (Judg 4:8-9) Would you, o man of God, be zealous for your God, putting away that evil person from among you, and thus make atonement for the children of Israel that He would not consume His children (1 Cor 5:13, Num 25:11,13). Would you make us bloody saints by administering the Word that would circumcise our hearts when our King is wroth with us? (Ex 4:25-26) Would you, in the power of the Lord Jesus, hand the sinful soul unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord Jesus? (1 Cor 5:4-5) Please save me with fear, o man of God! Pull me from the fire, hating my garment spotted by the flesh! (Jude 1:23)

O man of God, cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew the Lord’s people their transgression, and the house of God their sins (Is 58:1). Cursed be the man that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully, in laxity, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood (Jer 48:10). Do you fear containing within you ungodly zeal, that zeal which is not according to knowledge? (Rom 10:2)  For the reckless words that overflow from such ignorance are like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health (Prov 12:18). What is the tongue of the wise, of those who possess the true zeal of the Lord? For these false prophets ran, yet He had not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in His counsel, and had caused His people to hear His Words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings. (Jer 23:21-22). O man of God, be ye like that prophet Ezra, who when he had seen the mingling of the holy seed with the people of those lands, he rent his garment and mantle, plucked off the hair of his head and beard, and sat down astonied! (Ezra 9:2-3) O man of God, contend with us, curse our sinful flesh, pluck off our hair, and cause us to swear by God not to commit abominable idolatry, great evils, and adultery with the world. O man of God, He will remember you, for good! (Neh 13:25-31) 

The King of kings seeks for a man among us, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before Him in the land, that He should not destroy it: but He found none. (Ez 22:30) Rise up, o man of God, and be this man! Surely your zeal for His house will eat you up; and the reproaches of them that reproached Him are fallen upon you because your enemies have forgotten His Words (Ps 69:9, Ps 119:139). Do you become our enemy by telling us the Truth? For we have been zealously affected by the false prophets, but not well; yea, they would exclude us, that we might affect them. But it is good for us to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when you, o man of God, are present with us. Do you not travail in birth again until Christ be formed in us? For you desire to be present with us now, and to change your voice, for you stand in doubt of us! (Gal 4:16-20) Your love is without dissimulation. You abhor that which is evil; you cleave to that which is good. O man of God, you are not slothful in your business, but you are fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. (Rom 12:9)

O man of God, your zealous words of conviction bring forth our sorrowing after a Godly sort. They bring forth a carefulness, yea, a clearing of ourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things we will strive to approve ourselves to be clear in the matters in which you have rebuked us. (2 Cor 7:11) For Christ has given Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous for good works (Tit 2:14). As many as He loves, He rebukes and chastens, commanding them to be zealous therefore and repent (Rev 3:19). We applaud you, o man of God, for you always labour fervently for us in prayer, that we may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. This is your zeal. O be zealous! (Col 4:12-13)

From where does your zeal come forth, o man of God? For it was our Christ Who put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon His head, and He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak to bring forth salvation to His people. (Is 59:17) Are you not clothed in this Lord Jesus Christ? For He has called the chosen people as serpents and the generation of vipers. How could they escape damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, He sends prophets, wise men, scribes, yes, all zealous men of God, and some of them they killed and crucified, others were scourged in the synagogues, and others were persecuted from city to city: that upon them would come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom they slew between the temple and the altar. Verily, He promised that all these things would come upon this generation. And yet, here is the heart out of which flowed the piercing Words of the zealous Christ: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” (Matt 23:33-37)

O may you seek to destroy the sinful flesh, and save my soul, o zealous man of God, that I may make peace with my Maker by the blood of the Lamb! For if you shall convert the sinner from the error of his way, you shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins. (James 5:20)

In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.² In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine.³ I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.⁴ Fury is not in Me: who would set the briers and thorns against Me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together.⁵ Or let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; and he shall make peace with Me. Is 27