The Spirit of Jonah and You

There are several people in the Bible where God gives insight into their spirit. Caleb, one of the Israelite spites sent to spy out the promised land in the days of Moses, is one of them. For instance, in Numbers 14:24 we read:

But because My servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows Me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to and his descendants will inherit it.

What we learn of Caleb's spirit is that it was different from that of others, he was obedient from the heart and in other passages we clearly see that he was a fierce fighter -- victorious even in his old age!(See Judges 1:20)

Another bit of insight into a person's spirit is shown in the words of Elisha when he was speaking to Elijah just before Elijah was taken up to heaven by a chariot and horses of fire sent from the LORD in II Kings chapter 2. In II Kings 2:9, Elisha makes the following request of Elijah:

"Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit."

That "spirit of Elijah" was not only the spirit of a prophet, but it was also the spirit of righteousness and a spirit of prayer (I Kings 18 & James 5:17-18). In every way, Elijah exhibited these traits. And they made him one of the LORD's greatest prophets, as his ministry was accompanied by mercy and great miracles!(See I Kings 17 and II Kings chapter 1)

It is important to know that John the Baptist performed his ministry in the "spirit and power of Elijah" (Luke 1:17 & Matthew 17:13). He had that same spirit!

So the "spirits" of Elijah and Caleb were desirous -- very good things!

Before we proceed much farther, let us consider this verse:

"The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the LORD tests the heart." Proverbs 17:3

Crucibles and furnaces were used for the refinement of silver and gold. Intense heat was part of the refining process of those precious metals. God, in His sovereignty, also periodically "turns up the heat" to refine His people -- precious children. Often this testing comes in the form of an event or set of circumstances. But sometimes it is different -- perhaps a person or people group that is much different.

Consider. Jonah was a prophet of God. God was going to "test" Jonah's heart - that is work to refine him by giving him an assignment. His assignment? Go preach to the Ninevites -- the dreaded, violent, and pagan enemies of Israel! The Israelites despised the Ninevites! The sin of the Ninevites was great and had to be addressed with God's word. The LORD told Jonah to go to these people!

What came out of Jonah's heart revealed his "spirit." For Jonah to be more effective as a prophet, these things needed to be revealed and then removed. So what came out?

1. Disobedience -- Instead of going to Nineveh in obedience to the LORD's command, Jonah ran the other way. In essence, he told God: "Don't ask me to do this, because I won't do it!"

2. Judgment -- Though Jonah was fully aware of God's mercy, compassion and grace, his preference for Nineveh was judgment! Destroy the evil beasts! Rain down God's fire and brimstone as in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah! He somehow saw them as being beyond God's grace. Judgment blinded him to the true extent of God's grace and mercy.

3. Prejudice -- This was a national sin of the Israelites. They were the Jews - God's chosen people. The Ninevites were Gentiles -- the unclean dogs of the world! Therefore, the Israelites despised the Ninevites. Jonah was no exception -- even though he was a prophet of God!

4. Anger -- Jonah was angry! Though God revealed Himself as merciful, compassionate, forgiving and relenting from anger, Jonah wanted his will for the Ninevites to prevail over God's will! When Jonah finally became faithful and began preaching to the Ninevites, God was just as faithful by empowering Jonah's preaching to turn the wicked Ninevites away from their sins. That should have produced incredible joy! But.... though Jonah had been covered in seaweed, smelled like dead fish and had been to the depths of the ocean, his spirit had changed precious little! He still wanted God to pour out His wrath upon the Ninevites. When God gave grace and pardon, it angered Jonah severely!

Even Jesus' disciples proved to be prone to the "spirit of Jonah." Look at the following verses and see the disciples' view of the Samaritans:

And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?”
But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” Luke 9:54-56 (NKJV)

So what kind of spirit have you? The Ninevites of today come in many forms. One of the foremost forms in many people's minds are the Muslims. There are Americans that see all Muslims as terrorists. When the subject of Islam is raised, eyes begin to burn with prejudice and anger. When asked about Assad of Syria, Gadhafi of Libya or Ahmadinajad of Iran many Americans would prefer they be destroyed. Hatred emerges. Love and mercy are far from consideration! After all, we must remember 9/11!

My questions are these:

"What if God commanded you to pray for Muslims -- all Muslims -- everywhere?

What if God asked you to give of yourself financially toward the evangelism of Muslims?

What if God asked you to pray for terrorists and the ungodly and murderous leaders in Muslim nations?

What if God told you to witness to that Muslim man or that burqa clad women at the grocery store or gas station?

What would come out of you? What "spirit" of yours would be revealed? Disobedience? Prejudice? Hatred? Judgment? A desire to turn and walk or run away from them?

Do you feel they are beyond God's grace?

Would anger come out of you if God's will prevailed over yours regarding the Islamic world?

If any or all of these are part of you, you just may have the "spirit of Jonah."

But this does not have to apply solely to your dealings with the Islamic world! It may be your neighbor or THAT co-worker. Maybe it's that teenager in black who's pierced everywhere. You know the one! Black fingernails, snake tattoo on her arm and a cross tattoo on the back of her neck. Red racing stripe splitting her raven colored hair. And the nose ring. What about the punk black teen who "sags" his pants and holds his crotch? Then there is Casey Anthony. She was just voted the most hated person in America! Mentally -- have you placed her beyond the realm of redemption? Search your heart. What spirit have you? If you think it is the "spirit of Jonah", then pray that God would refine you to remove this "spirit"!

Jesus said to His disciples prior to His ascension:

"... and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations." Luke 24:47

"Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." Mark 16:15

That covers it all, doesn't it? What will we do to see that this is done? Will we let the "spirit of Jonah" stop us?

Zealotry and the Cause of Christ

He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter)... Simon the Zealot... Matthew 10:1,2 & 4

One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: Simon (whom he named Peter)... Simon who was called the Zealot... Luke 6:12-15

When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter... Simon the Zealot... They all joined together constantly in prayer. Acts 1:12-14

If you are spending time reading this, here's a guess. I bet this could be the first time you've read something regarding Simon the Zealot. Yes, Simon the Zealot. You may be asking yourself: "Who is this guy anyway?"

The above verses tell us some things about this Simon the Zealot.

(1) He was one of the 12 apostles. One of the pillars of the church -- part of the foundation with Jesus being the chief cornerstone. (Ephesians 2:20)

(2) Just like the other 11, he was not chosen haphazardly. Jesus had an all night prayer meeting to determine who would be chosen.

(3) Like all the apostles, Jesus had given this Simon authority -- to heal and to overcome the power of devils.

(4) He was obedient to Jesus. The Lord had instructed the disciples to wait for the promised Holy Spirit to be endued with power for ministry. (Luke 24:49 & Acts 1:4)

(5) He was a man of prayer. In obeying Jesus, he knew that praying was essential for being filled with the Holy Spirit.

But let us talk about how this Simon was referred to in scripture -- the Zealot. What does that mean? Some translations use the capitalized version - Zealot. But it is difficult to know for sure. Is it zealot, or is it Zealot. Let's look at zealot first. It is a word that speaks of one's fervency toward a cause or belief. In the Greek, it carries the idea of being "hot after something". If you are zealous for something, you must really want it bad!

Now, let us look at Zealot. If you were called a Zealot, what did that mean? During Jesus' day, there were 4 groups of Jewish philosophy: Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes and the Zealots. There were a few outstanding characteristics of note regarding the Zealots. Here are some of them.

First of all, they were probably the most passionate about God - the one true God. They believed that only God should be served, only God should rule over them, only God should receive their taxes and if anyone else were to occupy Israel, they would resist them. Why? Because it was unscriptural for foreigners to occupy the land!

Secondly, they believed in a coming Messiah. But the Messiah they hoped for was a powerful military leader who would lead them to victory over all their enemies.

Thirdly, the Zealots were political revolutionists who were zealous in their beliefs. They were not above using violence or even murder to further their cause.

So what might we learn of value from Simon the Zealot? More importantly, what might we learn about the power of the gospel?

One of the other apostles was Matthew. He was a tax collector. As a tax collector, he was considered to be the scum of the earth. Most Jews hated the tax collectors! Why? Because they were working together with Rome to exact taxes upon the populace. And they would often cheat the Jews for their own benefit. Get the picture. Tax collectors worked with Rome and taxation. Zealots hated Rome -- particularly their occupation of the land and their taxation techniques. The deduction is obvious! The Zealots hated the tax collectors maybe more than any group of Jews! And after much prayer, Jesus put a tax collector and a Zealot together as part of the original twelve!

You may ask: "Why would Jesus do such a thing?" I believe the answer is simple. It would provide a good demonstration of the power of the gospel! Paul makes it clear in Ephesians 2:14-16 that through the cross, people across the world who came to Him for salvation became what Paul referred to as "One New Man". According to this passage, hostilities were put to death by the cross! Hallelujah! Think about that during the next church meeting you attend where a believer is there whom you just don't like very much. Having Simon the Zealot and Matthew together is demonstration of the gospel's power to change hearts and to remove barriers!

Another point to be made is that the gospel brings about what I call a "sanctifying grace." What I mean by that is that often there are characteristics of a person before coming to Christ that are used to their detriment -- increasing their sin. But the gospel takes those traits and then begins using them for God's glory. Consider this: Simon the Zealot was zealous for his cause possibly to the point of being violent before he met Jesus. Once saved, that zealotry was turned into passion for the Savior and His cause -- the kingdom and advancement of the gospel. According to "Foxe's Book of Martyrs", Simon the Zealot went to faraway places -- Mauritania and Britain -- to share God's good news. And it was in Britain that he died a martyrs' death -- by crucifixion! He took it for the cause!

Lastly, and I cannot prove it, I suspect that Simon the Zealot may have been a mighty prayer warrior. He is listed in only 3 passges (quoted at the beginning of this short treatise). The Acts passage shows him as being a member of the large group that gathered for prayer in wait for the Holy Spirit's arrival. As we have learned, though they were misguided in their philosophy, Zealots were characterized by a: passion for God, zealousness for God's rule, willingness to submit to His reign and a fervency in their attitude. These were the Zealots' core values. But sanctified and placed under the blood of Jesus, these same core values provide the recipe for a powerful person of prayer!

But there is another thing about Zealots. They were willing to apply force -- even violence -- against the Romans whom they viewed as tyrannical and an unwanted occupier. Consider that Satan is a tyrant who enslaves. He comes to steal, kill and destroy. And he is an undesirable enemy who does not belong! He is to be resisted. The essence of a prayer warrior is He is passionate for God, ready for God to reign, willing to submit to His authority, fervent in attitude and believes that his praying has the capability of doing violence against Satan and his armies of demons!

Now look at the following three passages and view them in light of what you now know of Simon the Zealot:

From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. Matthew 11:12

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Ephesians 6:10-13

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:16

The world has had its share of revolutionaries -- Africa, Asia, Europe, South America, etc. On a contemporary basis, many characteristics of the Zealots would describe the terrorists of today's world. But the power of the gospel can bring change, turn them into leaders and surprisingly unite them with strange bedfellows for the cause of Jesus like the Lord did with Matthew and Simon the Zealot. And they can become among the fiercest of prayer warriors!

Let us pray that some contemporary Simon the Zealots would hear and respond to the gospel and be transformed by its power!