Perhaps a more twenty-first century word for the fire of God would be “passion.” The very word somehow stirs our inner emotions and arouses something inside us. It is amazing at how often we run across the term “passion” in our daily reading. It appears almost every day in various contexts concerning sports, politics, and regular news articles. Even movie reviews occasionally mention The Passion of the Christ as a comparison when reviewing the religiously based movies that have recently become popular. Not only is the sheer frequency of the appearances of the term notable, the number of different contexts in which the word appears and the wide variety of meanings it carries are also astounding.
Let’s begin with the movie reviews and look at Mel Gibson’s use of the word. In the title of his movie, “passion” is used with its old English meaning of suffering that we often see used during Lent and the Easter season in such terms as “the Passion Week” or “Passion Play.” This use of the term appears once in the King James Bible in Acts 1:3, “To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” The Bible in Basic English also uses this wording in Job 6:2, “If only my passion might be measured, and put into the scales against my trouble!” The Greek word pascho, which is translated as “passion” in the passage in Acts, appears fifty-two other times in the New Testament and is consistently translated to speak of suffering. (See Appendix II)
A second use of the term which often comes as a surprise is the meaning as it is used in such references as “crimes of passion,” denoting anger. This usage of the term appears frequently in The Bible in Basic English, and occasionally in other versions such as Montgomery’s New Testament, Darby’s Translation, and Weymouth’s New Testament. (See Appendix III)
Another use of the word that might seem a bit unusual is its connotation of human qualities as opposed to any divine or supernatural character. Based on the Greek word homoiopathes, literally meaning “with the emotions of a human,” this term appears once in the King James Version of the New Testament, “And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein,” (Acts 14:15) and once in the Modern King James Version, “Elijah was a man of like passion as we are. And he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for the time of three years and six months.” (James 5:17)
The term also denotes emotion, frequently in a negative light. While the King James Version renders the term in Mark 14:31 “more vehemently,” The Bible in Basic English translates the passage, “But he said with passion, If I have to be put to death with you, I will not be false to you. And they all said the same.” At least a dozen times each, the term is interpreted to mean either jealousy or envy. (See Appendix IV)
Probably the most common idea conveyed by the word “passion” is the thought of sexual desire and lust. Though the King James Bible does not use the term when translating these passages, such versions as the Twentieth Century New Testament, Montgomery’s New Testament, the Revised Standard Version, Weymouth’s New Testament, The Bible in Basic English, Darby’s Translation, the American Standard Version, and Young’s Literal Translation use “passion” in an abundance of such passages. But let’s leave that discussion for another context and focus on the passion God places inside us for His work. The Bible in Basic English uses “passion” in a number of verses to communicate the concept of zeal or driving motivation.
Through Phinehas, and because of his passion for my honour, my wrath has been turned away from the children of Israel, so that I have not sent destruction on them all in my wrath. (Numbers 25:11)
Then the king sent for the Gibeonites; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but were the last of the Amorites, to whom the children of Israel had given an oath; but Saul, in his passion for the children of Israel and Judah, had made an attempt on their lives:) (II Samuel 21:2)
I am on fire with passion for your house (For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up—KJV); and the hard things which are said about you have come on me. (Psalms 69:9)
The passion of my soul’s desire is for the house of the Lord (My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD—KJV); my heart and my flesh are crying out for the living God. (Psalms 84:2)
And it came to the minds of the disciples that the Writings say, I am on fire with passion for your house. (John 2:17)
Notice the wording of Psalm 69:9 and its New Testament counterpart in John 2:17: “I am on fire with passion.” The idea of being set ablaze with passion is reminiscent of Jeremiah’s summation of how the Word of God was the driving force in his life. (verse 20:9) A similar thought is suggested in the story of the two men who walked with the Risen Lord on the road to Emmaus when they summed up their encounter with Him, “Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?” (Luke 24:32) John Wesley echoed their testimony when he chronicled a journal entry concerning his conversion to Christ on May 24, 1783:
In the evening, I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.
In each of these cases, something kindled a fervent motivation for a cause or purpose in their hearts. The question is, “How does this happen and what is it that can set a person’s heart ablaze with such a passion for his cause?” If we can find any consistent point in each of these examples, it would be the Word of God. For Jeremiah, it was the internalized Word; for the disciples on the road, it was the preached Word; for Wesley, it was the written Word. Certainly, Phinehas, King Saul, and the Psalmist also shared this one common factor of the Word of God as a kindling force for passion in their lives. Phinehas, as the grandson of the high priest Aaron and the great nephew of the lawgiver Moses, had been raised in an environment saturated with the Word of God. Saul, as the king of Israel, had handwritten a personal copy of the Torah as his own personal guidebook for life. (Deuteronomy 17:18) David had not only studied the Word for his own correction and instruction (Psalm 119:11), he also authored a major portion of the book of Psalms. Just as passion in marriage is kindled by our words to each other, it is God’s Word to His church that ignites passion in our lives. Just as the way we talk to our mates determines the passion in our relationship, it is the Word that we allow the Lord to speak into our hearts that determines the passion we will have in our relationship with Him.
Some two millennia ago, the Apostle John was serving time on the penal island of Patmos when the Risen Lord visited him and gave him messages for the seven churches in Turkey that he served as overseer.
Many Bible scholars have analyzed the messages given to the seven churches in chapters two and three as a prediction of the history of the church. They see the church at Ephesus (chapter 2:1-7) as depicting the zealous newly birthed church during its first century and a half (AD 30 to AD 170). The Smyrna church (chapter 2:8-11) is seen as representing the period of great persecution under the iron fist of Rome (AD 170 through AD 312). The compromising church of Pergamos (chapter 2:12-17) is designated as a representative of the period when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire and, therefore, made many concessions to the secular government (AD 312 to approximately AD 600). Thyatira (chapter 2:18-29), at least to the Protestant authors, represents the thousand years that the Roman Catholic Church–in their mind, the harlot church–dominated the scene (AD 600 until 1517). The church at Sardis (chapter 3:1-6) is spoken of as being dead even though it was seen as alive and as needing to strengthen the things that were ready to die. To the scholars who have characterized these churches as depicting various stages in church history, this church stands for the Reformation period when the church was struggling to come back to life (AD 1517 through AD 1750). The Philadelphia church (chapter 3:7-13) which had an open door set before it is seen as representing the period of great mission expansion beginning with William Carey and continuing through the twentieth century (AD 1750 through AD 2000). The last church in the sequence is the lukewarm Laodicean church (chapter 3:14-22) that Jesus sees as so detestable that He vomits it up. Unfortunately, the only period of history left to relegate to this church is our present generation.
In each of these letters, the Lord addressed issues that are not unique to the churches distanced from us by two millennia nor characteristic to only certain periods of history. The real truth is that He exposed conditions that have existed throughout the history of the Christian church and continue in congregations today. Those words of correction and encouragement are just as vital for us today as they were when the ink was still wet on the apostle’s parchment. In fact, that is why He ended each letter with the admonition that those who have ears to hear must hear what the Holy Spirit is saying to the churches. Notice that He did not instruct us to hear what the Spirit is saying to any individual church depicting our specific pigeonhole in history; rather, He directed us to hear what He is saying to all the churches.
It is no coincidence that each of these messages ended with the command that those who have ears should hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. It was the power of the Word of God that was to affect each church and bring about the desired spiritual result. Interestingly enough, if we look carefully at the message to each church we can discover that each letter centers around one of the meanings of the word “passion.” I believe that we can make our own decision as to which letter best fits our individual lives by choosing which definition of “passion” to focus on. Personally, I choose the Philadelphian church as my role model. And I believe that that choice will help me to actually achieve my goal of accomplishing the Great Commission.
The letter to the church at Smyrna speaks of the passion of suffering when it describes the church as enduring tribulation, being tried, and being cast into prison. (Revelation 2:8-11) Passionate anger is expressed in the letter to the congregation at Pergamos when God Himself expresses His hatred against the doctrine of Balaam and of the Nicolaitans and when He threatens to come personally and fight against them. (Revelation 2: 12-17) Passion as human nature as opposed to divine nature is revealed in the letter to the church at Laodicea where the congregation was so human or carnally minded that they could not even perceive of themselves as God saw them. Their human evaluation of themselves was that they were rich, increased with goods, and in need of nothing. Unfortunately, the truth was that they were actually wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. They were so caught up in their human emotions that they had actually locked Jesus out of their lives. (Revelation 3:14-22) When Jesus addressed the church at Sardis, He found that they had works but that these works were not perfect before God. Even though they had passion in that they were working for the Lord, it seems that this passion must have originated from hearts that were less than perfect. Perhaps theirs was the negative passion of jealousy and envy. (Revelation 3:1-6) The letter to the church at Thyatira goes even one step further in addressing the negative nature of passion when the spotlight is focused on the issue of the perverted passion of lust. In this letter, the Risen Lord exposes the problem of a self-proclaimed prophetess who seduced the people into committing fornication and adultery. (Revelation 2:18-29)
The favorable nature of passion as a driving force for a cause is discussed in the two remaining churches. Although both these churches had the positive kind of passion, one had it in a positive way while the other possessed it in a negative way. The church at Ephesus had a misdirected passion in that they loved the work of the Lord but not the Lord of the work. It seems that they had invested so much of their time and energy in fighting heresy and exposing hypocrisy within the ministry that they had let the most important fire of all dwindle—they had left their first love, their passion for Christ Himself! (Revelation 2:1-7)
Our one remaining church, the one in Philadelphia, demonstrates passion as God would desire it to operate in the lives of His people. (Revelation 3:7-13) The first thing that we notice about this church is that the Lord has nothing negative to say about it. It is only this church and the persecuted church in Smyrna who escape accusation and correction in their addresses from Jesus. The second notable characteristic about the letter to this church is the open door that Jesus has set before them. But before we discuss this door, it is necessary that we consider the key that Jesus had used to unlock it. This key is called the “key of David,” an apparent reference to Isaiah 22:22, “And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.” In this verse, the prophet is making reference to Eliakim the son of Hilkiah as the one who was to receive this supernatural key. This biblical character’s historic role is recounted twice: in II Kings chapters eighteen and nineteen and again in Isaiah chapters thirty-six and thirty-seven. His significant contribution was the stance he took against the Assyrian messenger who tried to intimidate the people of Jerusalem into surrendering to his army. Eliakim stood up to him with faith and confidence in God until the Lord caused the invading army to miraculously retreat. Though the scriptures do not specifically identify what this key was, it is easy for us to look back into the life of David and find one characteristic that seems to stand out in his life that could have made the difference between him and any others who lacked this quality. It is likely that we need not go any further than the criteria set for his selection for the throne of Israel. After Samuel had surveyed the seven older sons of Jesse without finding a worthy candidate, the Lord revealed to him that he was looking at the wrong score card when evaluating his options. God made His point that the heart of the matter is actually the matter of the heart.
But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. (I Samuel 16:7)
David obviously understood that this was his key to success and determined to keep his heart in a perfect relationship with His God. “I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.” (Psalms 101:2) Even after he sinned with Bathsheba and had her husband killed, the king’s prayer was that God would re-establish his heart before Him. (Psalms 51:10) Consequently, the New Testament characterizes David as being a man after God’s own heart. (Acts 13:22) He also desired to pass this spiritual key on to his son Solomon who was to succeed him on the throne. First Chronicles 28:9 records David’s instructions to Solomon that he serve the Lord with a perfect heart. In verse nineteen of the following chapter, we find David in prayer for his son, interceding that the Lord will give him a perfect heart. Unfortunately, the biblical summation of Solomon’s life is that “his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.” (I Kings 11:4)
In the testimony of one of the subsequent kings, we get a glimpse of the problem that also plagued the Ephesian church—misdirected passion. Second Chronicles 25:2 records that Amaziah did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not with a perfect heart. Like the saints at Ephesus, he was passionate in his campaign to stamp out idolatry, yet he failed to passionately pursue the Lord Himself. Because of this he, like Asa before him, failed to obtain what is likely the greatest promise in the scripture: “The eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.” (II Chronicles 16:9) This is the universal blessing and promise of intervention by God that can only be unlocked with the key of David—a perfect heart before the Lord—and was the promise extended to the church at Philadelphia.
One other unique quality that we notice about the church at Philadelphia is that, of all seven churches, they are the only one indicated as having any relationship to the Word of God. Not only that, they are twice commended for their faithfulness to God’s Word. (verses 3:8 and 3:10) It is obviously more than a coincidence that the one significant trait we observed when we studied the passionate zeal of Phinehas, Saul, David, Jeremiah, the disciples on the road to Emmaus, and John Wesley was the Word of God! Though all seven churches are admonished to hear what the Spirit is saying, apparently only this one listened and heeded. Like David, they recognized that the key to having a perfect heart was to hide God’s Word in their hearts. (Psalms 119:11) For them—and for us—the key to the kingdom is a passionate love for the Word of God and the God of the Word.
The Philadelphia church had an open door to the world set before them because of the passion that burned inside them. We, too, will find that no door can be shut if we are really passionate about the Great Commission—but, more importantly, for the One who gave it to us. (I Corinthians 16:9. II Corinthians 2:12, Colossians 4:3) Passion will make the Commission doable!