10/31/26

John 2:17 NASB95 His disciples remembered that it was written, “ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE WILL CONSUME ME.”

Have you ever truly experienced zeal? Zeal can mean something positive or negative. Negative would be a sense of envy and jealousy. However, in our text, zeal is definitely in the positive. Jesus was absolutely positive toward His Father's house. He showed a great desire and respect for the treatment of the place people went to worship God the Father. According to the TDNT, zeal in the positive is almost always in the active form and means “to admire or commend,” with such nuances as “to be enthusiastic for,” “to seek to imitate."

Have you ever truly experienced this form of zeal for Jesus? Most people who are Christians have experienced this at least at the moment of salvation.

This verse is quoted from Psalm 69:9, which says, "For zeal for Your house has consumed me, And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me."

The zeal Jesus had was consuming. The word consume in the New Testament has more of a meaning of to devour, as in eat. However, the Word in Psalm has this meaning plus a meaning of fire completely consuming, so that nothing is left except for the zeal.

With this understanding, have we ever experienced this type of zeal for the Father and His Son? I am no longer talking of His house; I am speaking of the triune God.

In Psalm 69, David, who prophesies of the Messiah, says, that his zeal consume even though all of his family, mothers, brothers, sisters, have left him and become estranged.

He prays that he will not cause others to turn from Jesus, even if they turn from Him. This is the zeal that consumes Jesus. So we ask again have we ever experienced this all-consuming zeal for our Lord.

This is Jesus' example to us; are we following His example?

Lord, I pray we will experience an all-consuming zeal for you today. Amen

Love, Brother Scott