The zeal of Phineas shown in Numbers 25 was directed toward saving lives by stopping blatant sin among the people of God and it is a lesson for us all living in this dark world today.
Now is not the time to play half heartedly at being a follower of Jesus Christ. Lives are being destroyed by sin, people are literally dying because of their choice to embrace the lies this world tells about lifestyle choices.
Phineas had a Godly jealousy for his people. He knew that 25,000 had been killed because so many of the men of Israel decided to embrace idolatry and sexual immorality instead of choosing the ways of God.
The nation of Israel could not be defeated by outside forces because God was with them. It did not matter how large an army the Midianites raised they could not overcome the Israelites because the Lord protected them.
It was not until Balaam was hired to curse Israel and could not that the secret was found, sin. Balaam told the Midianites that in order to defeat Israel the protection of the Lord had to be removed and the only way that would happen is if Israel choose sin over the ways of God.
The Midianites sent their most attractive women to seduce the men of Israel to come join them for food, drink and guilt free sex as the idols they worshiped included sexual immorality as part of the worship.
It worked like a charm as not only did the men have relations with the women but the men took part in idol worship, forgetting that the God who set them free from slavery told them He was a jealous God and not to have any other gods before Him.
A plague soon broke out among the Israelites as God poured out His wrath on an adulterous people and before long 25,000 people had died.
I retell this bit of bible history because of the dark days we live in when the people of God are once again becoming a remnant, case in point, Turkey. Turkey once boasted millions of Christians just a few decades ago but today claims 125,000 believers in Jesus Christ.
Our Lord Jesus warned the churches of Turkey in the book of Revelation about the doctrine of Balaam and that woman Jezebel. Christian have an obligation to show love and compassion to people in need but we must understand that we should not allow our families to be mixed and consumed by those who hate the name of Jesus.
The same is true for sin in our lives. We are not to give place to the devil or to sin. We are to live by the Spirit and deny our flesh but we have forgotten this fundamental and foundational truth.
We are to remove sin daily by confessing and repenting of it and asking the Lord to forgive and restore us in His strength by His grace and mercy. Many in the church fail to struggle against their sin not willing to admit the weakness that they have.
But just as Phineas was outraged by the Israelite man brazenly walking past the elders and women mourning their dead with a Midianite woman headed to his tent to commit the very sin that was killing so many people, we too must be outraged by our own sin and nail it to the cross to be more than overcomers.
