God’s Zeal for Us

“Zeal for your house will consume me.”¹ King David had foretold it; the disciples now recalled it. Seeing mass corruption in His Father’s abode, Jesus had taken the time to fashion a whip and, with it, He drove out from the temple “those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there.”² Zeal! “He poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.”³ Zeal! And to the pigeon peddlers, He said, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”⁴ Zeal! Atonement and forgiveness in the presence of God are life itself, and not to be exploited or reduced to a business deal. Then can you feel it, Jesus’ zeal for the dwelling place of God?

Now, the temple was destroyed around 70 AD, so where does God live now? If there is no temple, is there no atonement or forgiveness of sins, moreover has God lost His zeal for us? Hardly. On the contrary, He has revealed His passion for us in a much more intimate way than bricks and mortar: He has made us to be His temple, and He lives in us. Wrote Paul to the Corinthian church, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”⁵ So vital is this truth to the life of the believer that Paul doubled down a mere three chapters later, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?”⁶ God has made us alive with Christ, who sacrificially took our sins away from us and nailed them to the cross,⁷ and He now lives in all who believe on His name.

Then should it surprise us that God is zealous toward us? In great fervor, He expunges the moral corruption from us, His dwelling place. And Jesus calls His church to be as passionate toward Him in our response as He is toward us in His initiation, saying, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.”⁸ God is transforming us into the image of His Son, from one glory to another,⁹ and He who began a good work in us will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.¹⁰ He is zealous about you, His dwelling place. Then may it be that His zeal for you ignites your zeal for Him.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. —1 John 1:9 ESV

Father, help us to realize just how passionate You are for us; liberate us to receive Your love and, in this freedom, to offer ourselves entirely to You today. In Christ we pray. Amen.

¹ John 2:17 ESV, cf Psalm 69:9
² John 2:14 ESV
³ John 2:15 ESV
⁴ John 2:16 ESV
⁵ 1 Corinthians 3:16 ESV, emphasis added
⁶ 1 Corinthians 6:19 ESV, emphasis added
⁷ Colossians 2:13-14
⁸ Revelation 3:19 ESV
⁹ 2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV
¹⁰ Philippians 1:6)