Simon Zelotes Confronted By Christ

~The New Jerusalem~

..PDF Version	Chapter:# 41
	Simon The Zelotes (Canaanite) – Confronted By Christ

And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him. And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils: And Simon he surnamed Peter; And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder: And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite, And Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him: and they went into an house. Mark 3:13-19

But I say that so long as the heir is a child, he differeth nothing from a bondservant though he is lord of all; but is under guardians and stewards until the day appointed of the father. So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the rudiments of the world: but when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Galatians 4:1-6 ASV

Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. Servants, be in subjection to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. For this is acceptable, if for conscience toward God a man endureth griefs, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye sin, and are buffeted for it, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye shall take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that ye should follow his steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: who his own self bare our sins in his body upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were going astray like sheep; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. 1 Peter 2:17-25 ASV

( 2 Visions )

( 1^st Vision )

“ I saw Simon the Zelotes walking forward carrying the tablets of the law of Moses when suddenly he came to a complete stand still. Before Him was The Lord Jesus Christ. I could see the back of Jesus and the face of Simon. He stood in amazement at the confrontation he just had with the Living Word of God in a body of flesh. Gently and with much fear he put down the tablets of the law and stood up again. Christ reached forth His hand with a morsel of bread in His fingers offering it to Simon. Simon took the bread unto Himself and then followed the Living Christ.

( End Vision )

( 2^nd Vision )

“And I saw the 12, each ordained by the Living Christ standing with Him upon a paved work in the old Jerusalem. A wooden table was set with three bowls, one with grapes, one with figs and one with pomegranates. Between the table and the Lord and His disciples stood forth Simon the Zelotes. He took the fruits of the bowls and handed them into the hands of Jesus first then into the hands of the other 11 to partake of the fruits thereof, first the grapes, then the figs and last the pomegranates.”

( End Vision )

There is debate amongst the scholars and historians as to the lineage of Simon the Zelotes as to whether or not he too was a flesh brother of the Lord Jesus. It matters not as the main reason for this disciple being chosen was to represent “leaving the old order to enter a new and a living order”. Simon was called the Canaanite, not because he was of a lineage of some Gentile nation in the land of Canaan when Joshua brought the children of Israel in to inherit the land, but because he was branded as such by the politics of the day. The Zelotes were a sect of Jews who jealously guarded the law of Moses and defended it and used the law of Moses as a political ploy to reinforce their desire to rid their nation of Roman rule. So the Zelotes were a sect within the Jewish sect, a part of the scribe order who resisted the rule of the Roman Empire and their brash rejection of the law of Moses. The Zelotes immediately stoned any Jew who was caught in anything outside the law of Moses, slaying them with no mercy immediately if the Jew was caught in an act of sin against the law. This was a pretended form of zeal for the Mosaic ritual that they tagged themselves with and the hard stone tablets of the law were the same stones by which they ‘stoned’ the disobedient. The Jew at the time of Jesus not only had the law of Rome to contend with, but the lawful ambitions of the Zelotes. The Zelotes were not accountable to any court or judiciary and were often touted as extremists. During the siege of Jerusalem by the Roman Empire historical accounts of numerous murders and horrible wicked acts were committed by this sect.

So we first see Simon the Zelotes mentioned as one of the twelve. How he was chosen by the Christ does not seem to be recorded, but why he was chosen is! For this is a pattern for us who are awaiting the promise of God to be fulfilled, even His judgments in the earth which will signal His soon appearing. For Jesus comes on the scene in the midst of much confusion of the day and in the midst of Roman oppression and He brings a new living order to this world, which He eventually commits to His disciples. Remember that each one of the twelve disciples was ORDAINED by Jesus for a certain work including Judas Iscariot! And I can full well surmise that Simon the Zelotes and Judas Iscariot would have been quite the pair for the Lord to chose! Simon’s place in the foundation of The New Jerusalem is in this place so that we begin to understand the confrontation Christ brings to a person who desires to do the will of the Lord.

I see The Lord Jesus Christ in a confrontation three times in scripture.

The first encounter Jesus does is here where He stops the Zelotes in his tracks as he holds to the law of Moses, for one greater than the law is now revealed, in fact, the author of the law itself. Simon, going on his way to destroy any law breaker, suddenly encounters the living Christ who calls him to follow and be a disciple. What is amazing about this is that this is the first confrontation we see of Jesus in scripture against someone who is misdirected by the religious zeal of the law.

Christ now takes this one who is overburdened with the dictates of the law and makes him a disciple, plucking ears of corn on the sabbath day, doing all His marvelous miracles and works and raising the dead ON THE SABBATH in total contradiction to the law that once zealously held Simon to such a path. The mighty works of the Lord Jesus in His time of ministry on the earth was done outside of the requirements of the law. Everything Jesus did went against the establishment. All He taught, all He preached, all He did in the form of miracles came in direct opposition to the religious efforts of the lawful Jew who knew of no other mandate from God until this one carpenter from Nazareth comes on the scene. And Simon the Zelotes was made a disciple of Jesus and right against all that his conscience held dear and true and trustworthy according to the law was broken by the revelation of Christ who now confronted Simon’s religious effort under the law.

Many years ago I was wearied about all the talk amongst Christian circles about not being ‘under the law’. But the law was said by the Apostle Paul to be holy as he stated in Romans 7:11-13. “For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.” What Simon experienced was not the rejection of the law, but the confrontation with He who was greater than the law. This was the truth I was thirsting for. The PERSON of Jesus who was more than what religious ambition could offer to me. The law then was that standard by which I could understand the person of the Christ. For He was contrary to it. Yet in that contrariness He caused it to be fulfilled in His very life.

That is the first time we see Christ confronting someone in the world of men.

The second time I see Christ confronting someone in the world of men is in your own experience if you are indeed an Overcomer.

For Jesus now confronts YOU. He comes to you in your past or in your present and confronts everything you held as established Christianity and as a standard of one being “born again.” This confrontation is the true joinery of stone to stone in the chrysolite green layered foundation of the City. Christ comes to you dear Overcomer and says “Come out from among them and be ye separate and I will receive you and be a Father unto you and you shall be my son/daughter”. 2 Corinthians 6:17. So here is the confrontation. We suddenly don’t fit in to the status of Christendom. We can’t abide ‘churches’ or ‘denominations’. We cannot fit in because their doctrine eats at us like a canker. Rather than helping men to build man’s dominions and establishments we end up walking away from the entire thing. The whole thing becomes to us UNCLEAN. It is vain effort. In fact, the whole ambition in this hour of Christianity is to those who are Overcoming a vain thing. The confrontation of Jesus to the Overcomer is the second confrontation I see. By it the Lord takes the Overcomer outside the walls of earthly fellowship, outside the parameters of kinship places and motivations based on plans to ‘win the lost’. Out from money grabbing preachers and mortgage laden denominations. Out from those who preach eternal torment and a vengeful God whose wrath is going to eternally destroy the sinner. Out from building programs and schemes and plans and programs to bring the Lord to the lost no matter the cost. Out from they who are building their fellowships around an escapism mentality. From all of this the Lord confronts us and calls us out.

We come out and finally, at last, we view the living Christ AS HE IS. We see Jesus in our faith, we know Him, we discern His Spirit and His love which will fail no man. We come out to Him and learn that He is indeed in control of our lives and that our lives are in His capable hands. From the depths of the earth we ‘cry unto Him and He saves us’. We come apart to Him, abandoning man’s governments, kingdoms, building efforts and most of all man’s religious efforts. We come as Overcomers to the Living Christ who enables us to see Him as He is at the right hand of God forever exalted and given a name above every name and in seeing Him there in our faith He becomes all the answer we will ever need.

Not just that, but when we come out unto the Lord this way we begin to experience true tribulation. We begin to experience the hand of correction and chastisement fitting us into perfect order in the Army of the Lord, preparing us for that even greater thing which is ahead of us, the manifestation of the Sons and Daughters of God in bodies glorified. We come into a strange calling. We become part of His Army, the like which has never been seen before nor ever again. As Joel wrote; “a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.” Joel 2:2. When we are confronted by the living Jesus alone we become prepared NOT FOR ESCAPISM, but to set in the earth THE VERY KINGDOM OF GOD. This is the fruit that will come from this second confrontation that Jesus brings.

But it is the third confrontation that will be the most powerful. The third confrontation is the one I am waiting for, this is the promised one which will come in the fullness of time and for one reason alone, to exalt alone the Lord in the midst of all creation.

Here is the third confrontation.

The Lord will come in the lives of they that Overcome and will glorify their flesh. They in perfect company will come together to form this full image of the Lord Himself. As ONE MAN so they will walk forward in this present earth filled with confusion, the slime of men’s mortar and plans, the overabundance of religious effort, the vanity of politics and the lie of commerce. Into this mix called ‘the world’ the Lord will emerge seen without measure on the very persons of the Overcomers. In perfect concert these will emerge as one body of the Lord, the Spirit of Christ within and upon them with no measure. As ONE GLORIFIED GIANT THAT GOD IS RAISING UP, so shall they stand upon the earth.

And that will be the third confrontation. For the entire world will see THE LIVING CHRIST. This will be the ending of the world as we know it and the beginning of His reign in this age that is dawning, even the Kingdom of God in the earth through His Holy governmental authority. The world will stop in its tracks at the sight of this one who is holy and perfect as one man, even this Army of the Lord in perfect unity who will destroy all that is of the fall.

Jesus alone will be exalted in this, at last men shall know the true honor that was given to Jesus when He ascended on high. Although the Lord will glorify the overcomer, IT IS CHRIST ALONE THAT WILL BE SEEN. The world WILL STOP IN THEIR TRACKS.

If you think that in our day the politics and the powers that be are facing fierce problems, think again. Far more disastrous than the threat of nuclear war or of kingdom rising against kingdom and nation against nation, global warming, pollutions of many kinds, conspiracies too numerous to mention. Far more destructive will be this little Army of the Lord’s Overcomers. When Christ confronts this world through this company of people, the destruction of this world as we know it now politically, economically and religiously will be far worse than any nuclear war or atomic explosion. The manifestation of God’s Sons and Daughters will be more destructive than any other force in existence. For it will spell the end of the second world in a more horrendous fire than the water floods of Noah’s day. The death of the second world will be far worse than that of the first. The Army of the Lord will totally discomfit everything that is related to this world as we see it now. Nothing will escape this Army.

So the final confrontation of Christ will bring an end to the old, but usher in the new. It will indeed be something that has never been before, and never will be again. Nothing will survive this, but everything will live through it. Amazing indeed will be this third confrontation given as type by Jesus saving Simon the Zelotes and giving him a morsel of bread. For the Lord will now prepare the world to receive THE NEW JERUSALEM.