LIFE LESSONS
SIMON THE ZEALOT
DR. JIM DIXON
ACTS 1:12-14
JANUARY 16, 2005
I know that most of you at some point in your life have played the game “Simon Says.” Simon says, ‘Take two steps backwards.’ Simon says, ‘Take two steps forward.’ Simon says, ‘Stand up.’ Simon says, ‘Sit down.’ Simon says, ‘Jump.’ Simon says, Simon says. This morning we come to a man whose name was Simon and the strange thing about him is he doesn’t say anything. In the Bible, on the pages of scripture, not one word is attributed to Simon. Therefore, you might think it strange that we have a sermon on him today, but we have two very important lessons from the life of Simon. The first lesson is this. If you’re a Christian, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, then you have embraced the reign and the rule of Christ. A Christian is someone who has embraced the reign and the rule of Christ.
In the year 1876, King Otto ascended the throne of the kingdom of Bavaria. He was not fit to reign. His family considered him insane. For the prior 14 years, the family of Otto had locked him in his room. Otto didn’t mind that. He said he had wonderful conversations with the spirits that dwelled in his chest of drawers. Hard to believe but this insane man ascended the throne of Bavaria in the year 1876. His philosophy of life was tragic. He believed that if he killed a poor person, one per person every day, that he himself would never die. A peasant a day keeps the doctor away. That was the philosophy of King Otto. Of course, every morning, historians tells us, he would rise from his royal bed, he would take his rifle, he’d go out to the window and he would look down on the courtyard and he would shoot a poor person walking across the courtyard. He would shoot a peasant.
Were he not insane, it would have occurred to him that something was strange, that he would shoot a peasant in the courtyard every day and yet peasants continued to walk there. That should have occurred to him but it did not. By the grace of God, there were two members of his royal guard who loved the poor, and one of those royal guardsmen would come into King Otto’s chamber every morning and put blanks in his rifle. The other member of the royal guard every morning would put on a different peasant costume, go out into the courtyard and feign death. Such was the reign of King Otto. You probably don’t care about King Otto any more than you do about King Kong. The truth of the matter is, most of you really don’t care about kingdoms. You’re American citizens and you’re citizens of a democratic republic. Perhaps you just don’t care about kingdoms historically or even kingdoms that now exist. But if you’re a Christian, if you’re truly a Christian, then one kingdom must be more important to you than anything and that is the kingdom of heaven which the Bible calls the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is a fact that Jesus looked for people who would embrace His reign. Today, Jesus looks for people who will embrace His reign. Simon was a Zealot. In Luke’s Gospel, the 6th chapter, and in the Book of Acts, the 1st chapter, Simon is called “ho zelotes,” “the zealot.” In Matthew, the 10th chapter, and in Mark, the 4th chapter, Simon is called “ho kananaios,” a word which means, “Canaanite.” It does not mean Canaanite. He was not from Canaan or from Cana. The word Canaanite, the word ho kananaios is a word that came from the Aramaic word “Canaan,” and that word also means, zealot, so in every case in the Bible Simon is called a Zealot. We do not know what kind of zealot he was but the likelihood is, given when and where he lived, that Simon was a member of the Zealot party. Josephus, the great historian, tells us that in Israel there were four philosophies, four parties—the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Assyians and the Zealots. What was most important to the Zealots. What the Zealots cared about was theocracy.
For most of us the word theocracy has negative connotations. We think of an earthly government controlled by ecclesiastical powers. We think of a church-run state. Perhaps, when we think of a theocracy, we think of the world of Islam. We think of Islamic nations, Islamic regimes. We think of the enforcement of Sharia law, top down. Perhaps when we think of a theocracy, we think of the absence of civil liberties, we think of the absence of democratic freedoms, but we need to understand that the word theocracy can have a positive connotation as well. The word was coined by Josephus. It comes from “theos” which means, “God,” and “katean” which means, “rule.” Theocracy simply means, “rule of God.” That’s what the Zealots were passionate about, rule of God.
They were a conquered people. The Jews were a conquered people. They had been conquered by the Assyrians. Then they had been conquered by the Babylonians. Then they had been conquered by the Medo-Persians. Then they were conquered by the Greeks under the forces of Alexander the Great. Then they were conquered by the Seleucids, the armies of Antiochus Epiphanes. Then they were conquered by the Romans. But, you see, in their hearts they believed in the rule of God. The Jewish people believe that God ruled their hearts and that ultimately He ruled their lives. This was more important to them than anything.
In the year 6 AD, the Roman Empire declared Judea a province. They took a census which meant that the Jewish people would be enrolled in the Roman Empire and that they would now be subject to taxation, Roman taxation, and Roman conscription. At least for one Jew, from Gamala called Judas the Galilean, it was an infringement upon the rule of God. Rome had gone too far. They were violating the rule of God, and he formed the Zealot Party.
The Zealots liked to trace their history a little further back beyond Judas the Galilean. They liked to trace their history into the Old Testament. The Zealots liked to trace their history to Phineas, the man who had passion for the rule of God, so much so that he executed those who violated God’s reign. They liked to trace their history back to Elijah who was zealous for the rule of God, so much so that he stood against the 450 prophets of Baal. The Zealot party liked to trace their history back to the Maccabean Period, the events recorded in I and II Maccabees and the Apocrypha. They liked to trace their history back to Judas Maccabees who had such passion for the rule of God that he stood against Antiochus IV, called Epiphanes. He stood against the Seleucid Empire and indeed he drove the Seleucids out. He purified the temple.
In all the events that surround Hanukkah you see the Zealot Party. They believed in the rule of God. It’s a curious thing that as Jesus went forth picking His disciples, choosing them. He said to them, “You have not chosen Me but I’ve chosen you.” As he chose them, he tended to choose Zealots. Did you know that? As Jesus went forth choosing His disciples, he chose Zealots. He chose Simon the Zealot and as we have seen he chose Judas Iscariot and we have seen that the title Iscariot may come from “sikarios” which means, “daggerman,” referring to the radical fringe of the Zealot Party. Jesus chose Judas Thaddeus, who was also called Lebbaeus, Judas the son of James, and we have seen that Thaddeus or Lebbaeus means, “man of heart,” “man of passion,” “man of zeal,” and we have seen that in at least one manuscript Judas Thaddeus is called Judas the Zealot.
Of course, Jesus chose Simon Peter. Jesus called him Bar Jonah which can mean, “Son of John,” but now most scholars believe it comes from the Aramaic “baryona,” another word for “zealot.” We know that Peter bore a sword. Jesus called James and John “Boanerges,” Sons of Thunder. We know the passion they had for the rule of God. It was Jesus who chose Nathanael. He said, “Behold, an Israelite in whom there’s no guile.” Perhaps Nathanael had been a Zealot as well. We do not know. This we know. Jesus, for some reason, was kind of drawn to Zealots and maybe it was because they had passion for the rule of God. You see from the very beginning, Jesus was looking for people who would embrace His reign. He did an amazing thing. He said an amazing thing. He told His disciples that, “the reign of God had come in Him,” that, “in Him, the Kingdom of Heaven had come to earth.” “He was,” he said, “the anointed one,” “the Christ,” “the Messiah,” “the King whose kingdom would never end.” “He had,” He said, “all authority in heaven and on earth.” “The kingdom of heaven is at hand,” He said. “The kingdom of heaven has come.”
He stood in their midst. Perhaps He stood there when He said, “The kingdom of heaven is in your midst.” Jesus said, “He who hears My words and does them is a wise man. He who hears My words and does not do them is a fool.” Jesus said, “Why do you call Me Lord, Lord and not do what I tell you to do?” You see, a Christian is someone who has embraced His rule and His reign.
There’s a false gospel that is out there. It’s all over our country. It’s all over the world. It’s a gospel that invites people to become Christians through simply embracing the cross but that’s not enough, not biblically. It’s not enough to come to the foot of the cross and ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and to thank Him for dying for you. That doesn’t make you a Christian. That’s part of it but it doesn’t make you a Christian. You see, the gospel requires that you embrace His reign. It is clear, everywhere in the Bible, all through the New Testament, the word “Lord, Lord, Lord…” Jesus is Lord. If you’re a Christian, you’ve embraced His reign and you’ve heard Him say follow me and you’ve said, “Lord, I come,” and you are seeking to follow Him today. You come to church because you want to know more about His reign and you want to know more about His kingdom and because you’ve embraced His reign, you want to please Him. You read the Bible for the same reason. You serve in ministry because you want to please Him. You give because you want to please Him. You love and you try to love even your enemy because you’ve embraced His reign and you want to please Him. You share the story of Jesus. You share your testimony. You tell people about Jesus because you know this is what He has asked you to do. You’ve embraced His reign. A Christian.
That’s the first life lesson from Simon the Zealot but there’s a second. The second life lesson from Simon the Zealot is this. If you’ve embraced the reign of Christ, then He demands your supreme allegiance. Supreme allegiance. This means that every Christian in every nation must temper their nationalism, a hard message for a Zealot. Simon was a Zealot and the Zealots were nationalists. Their passion was to see the shackles of Rome cast off. Their passion was to see an independent Jewish state and the restoration of the kingdom. That was their passion and they wanted Israel to become the greatest nation on the earth. They were nationalists and they were Zionists.
We have seen in the past that God prefers nationalism to globalism. When you look at sovereign governments, God would rather see nations with sovereign governments than see one big global government that’s sovereign over the whole earth. We’ve seen from Genesis, chapter 11, and the whole story of the Tower of Babel, that God dispersed the people. He divided them into many languages, people groups, nations. He didn’t want a fallen world to be centralized. Nationalism is dangerous. Globalism even more dangerous because “absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
The Bible prophesies that one day Antichrist will come. We’ve looked at the complexities of the whole concept of Antichrist. We have seen that Antichrist, using biblical language, seeks power over every tribe, tongue, people and nation. He will seek to establish a global government and He will lead the world to Armageddon. We have seen in biblical prophecy that Christ is coming again. The Bible is clear. “Every eye shall see Him. All the nations will cry out on account of Him. He’s coming again. He’ll beat our swords into plowshares, our spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation. Neither shall we learn war anymore.” He is King and He is the King of Peace and He will establish a global government, but until He comes, until that day, God prefers nationalism with all of its dangers.
Of course, the Zealots were dangerous nationalists. The radical fringe of the Zealot party was called the “Sicarii” and they were terrorists. They actually thought they could discourage the Roman Empire through acts of terrorism and maybe Rome would just withdraw, but all of their terrorism just caught the attention of Rome, and they focused more and more on this land of Judea because of their terrorism. You know, as the years passed, the Zealot Party became stronger and stronger and then finally in AD 66 when the Roman Provincial Governor, Gessius Florus issued his declaration that he would take money from the treasury of the Temple of Jerusalem. When he issued that declaration, that caused the daily sacrifices in the Temple to cease, all the Jews in Judea went berserk. The radical party took over and the Zealot movement became a national movement and the Jewish people rose up against Rome and they drove the Roman garrisons out of Israel.
In Rome, the Emperor took notice and he made a decision. He’s going to destroy this little country. He sent legions under the leadership of Titus who would one day become Emperor. So it was 70AD when Titus brought his armies towards Jerusalem and the Jews tried to defend the city. Aristocracy stood on the West Wall. The common people under John Jishula stood on the East Wall. They tried to defend the city as Titus brought his Roman legions down the Mount of Olives. Titus ceased the Antonio Fortress, went up on the Temple Mount and destroyed the Temple and then he sacked the city, laid siege to the Holy City. The Zealot movement was devastated. Zealots fled.
Their last stronghold was Masada, and it was the spring of AD 73 when the final Zealots dies in a suicide pact. They were Nationalists, extreme Nationalists. They were Zionists. This was their passion. I think perhaps they didn’t understand the call of Christ. For sure they didn’t understand the call of Christ. In their zeal and in their passion, they envisioned a nation, a perfect nation in a perfect time.
Yesterday was the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. He was born on January 15, 1929. He would have been 76 years old yesterday were he still alive. Tomorrow is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. We remember his dream of a nation, a nation where people would be judged by their character and not by the color of their skin. It would be a mistake to conclude that Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Nationalist in the extreme. His zeal, his passion, his supreme allegiance, was not to this nation or even to his race. For Martin Luther King, Jr., it was all under God. He longed to please God and he longed to please Christ. Supreme allegiance belongs to Christ. That’s what Jesus wanted the Zealots to understand. Supreme allegiance belongs to God.
I want you to see a clip from a movie called “Glory.” I want to set the stage before you see it. It was a great movie. It starred Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman and Matthew Broderick. It was about the 54th Regiment in the Civil War. The 54th Regiment of the Union Army was an all-black unit consisting entirely of African Americans. Matthew Broderick played the part of their white commander. The 54th Regiment consisted of African Americans, many of whom had been slaves in the South, and they had come to join the Union Army and to fight. As you’re watching this clip, the soldiers have not yet received their uniforms. They’ve not yet received their weapons. The message had just come from President Lincoln for the 54th Regiment. The Confederacy had issued a declaration.
It’s a noble thing to risk your life for a godly cause. Certainly the abolition of slavery was a godly cause. The Civil War was complex in its causes. There were state’s rights issues, economic issues and certainly this core issue of slavery. It was a difficult time for our nation because our nation was divided. We think of ourselves as one nation indivisible and under God. I can guarantee you, and history proves, many of those who fought against slavery did so simply because it was “under God.” They did so out of supreme allegiance to Him.
We’re Christians. We love our country and we pledge allegiance to it, but remember our supreme allegiance belongs to Christ. All that we do here and around the world should be prompted supremely by that supreme allegiance. I think sometimes even Christians do not understand the meaning of the words, “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance. I think some people think that means, “chosen by God,” “that we’re God’s chosen nation,” “we’re His favorite nation.” That not the meaning of the words at all. Under God means, “under His authority.” It’s before Him that we must give an account even as a nation.
Our nation is currently at war in Iraq and all of us are deeply concerned for our women and men in uniform. For some of us it is a just war. For some it is not. But for all of us, there should be this acknowledgement, that we are “under God,” and it’s before God that our nation will stand or fall. What’s true of this nation is true of every other nation. What’s true of nations is true of each of us individually. We’re all under God. Before Him, we stand or fall.
So Jesus came and He told His disciples that in Him the rule of God had come. The kingdom of heaven had come and He invited them to embrace His reign and He wants us to know He demands supreme allegiance and to understand the nature of His call. I think the evidence is that Simon the Zealot moved beyond his Nationalism and his Zionism to understand the call of Christ. Church tradition tells us that Simon the Zealot left Israel and went to Africa as a missionary and there he spoke to men and women and children about Jesus. It must have been a strange thing for a radical Zealot Zionist to go to Africa and invite men and women to become his brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. Church tradition tells us that ultimately Simon the Zealot went to England, to Great Britain. There he was crucified and died at the hands of the Romans but he understood supreme allegiance.
As we close this morning, I want to share a story about a man named William Barkley Masterson. Historians tell us that his real name was Bartholomew Masterson. He’s known to some of you by the name Bat Masterson. He was a famous Indian fighter. He was a buffalo hunter but most of all Bat Masterson was a gunfighter. The strange thing was Bat Masterson never wanted to be a gunfighter and he really wasn’t that good with his guns. You see, in the year 1875, he was in Stillwater, Oklahoma. He was 22 years old. He got into an argument with a man named Sergeant King. Sergeant King was a gunfighter and he was fast. They got into this argument and it became more and more intense. They were fighting over a woman whose name was Molly and eventually they went for their guns. Sergeant King was so fast. He fired his gun and Bat Masterson’s gun was still in the holster, but Molly jumped in. She jumped in, took the bullet and she died. The bullet passed through her body into the hip of Bat Masterson. From that day forth he walked with a limp and with a cane.
They called him Bat because he’d use the cane to tap people on the top of the head. He managed to pull his gun somehow in the midst of that exchange and he shot Sergeant King and killed him. His fame spread. Far beyond reality. Embellished. He was fast. He was supreme. Two years later, at the age of 24, he was hired as the Sheriff of Ford County which included Dodge City. One year after that, when he was 25 years old, he hired his brother Ed Masterson to be the Marshall in Dodge. It was that year, the year was 1878, Ed and Bat were walking together down the streets of Dodge and two drunk men came out. They had guns and they were out of control and they began to fire at Bat Masterson and his brother Ed. They killed Ed Masterson. Somehow Bat Masterson managed to kill these two drunk men. The strange thing is in his whole life those would be the only three people he ever killed. Sergeant and these two drunk guys. But his fame spread. They said he was invincible. They said he always hit what he aimed at.
Of course, historians tell us that in 1879 the James brothers, Jesse and Frank James, left Dodge City because they were afraid to face Bat Masterson. In 1881, it was Bat Masterson who went to Arizona to the town of Tombstone and there with his friend Wyatt Earp, they cleaned up the city but historians tell us Bat Masterson never drew his gun. He never had to draw his gun because of his reputation… because of his reputation. The next year he came here to Colorado. He came to Trinidad, Colorado and became the Marshall there. They asked him to clean it up. They gave him $1,000 a month, $12,000 a year which, in 1882, was an incredible sum of money. He cleaned up the city and he never had to draw his gun. He just looked imposing when he walked down the street with his sombrero and his rattlesnake band around that hat. He had ivory handled pistols, silver belt buckle, a crimson Mexican sash. Just the way he walked, nobody challenged him. He cleaned up the city. He cleaned up the west.
From 1901 to 1909 he was a frequent visitor at the White House because Bat Masterson was a close friend of Teddy Roosevelt’s. Bat Masterson died in 1921 at his desk in New York City. He spent the last 14 years of his life as the Sports Editor of the New York City Morning Telegraph. He’s famous for cleaning up the west without firing his gun.
The thought occurs to me there are a lot of people who think that’s what Christians ought to do. We ought to clean up the west. A lot of people want us to do that. They want us to clean up the west, clean up the east, clean up the north, clean up the south and of course we should do it without firing a gun. Some people want Christians to clean up the world. They think that’s what our job is and of course it is true that we are to have a sanctifying influence on nations and cultures.
We do have this conference coming up called Impact America and I want you to understand it. Cal Thomas is coming. Jennifer O’Neill and so many different speakers. We’re not doing this because we’re Nationalistic Zealots. We love our country and we know we’re under God and we’re concerned. There is a sense in which we’re called to be salt and light. There is a sense in which we’re called to be purifying agents in cultures. There’s a sense in which we’re to be salt in the corruption and light in the darkness.
But we should also understand that Jesus Christ, whose kingdom we have embraced, has called us to a greater task and that’s that we would allow Him to clean up our own lives. I think some Christians forget that. If you’ve really embraced the reign of Christ, it begins with you. If I’ve really embraced the reign of Christ, it begins with me. Am I willing to let Him clean up my own life? Are you willing to let Him clean up your life? Are you willing to lay it bare before Him every moment of every day? Are you willing to let Him change you? Are you willing to go forth then, not just in our nation, but to all nations? Are you willing to go forth even to your neighborhood, your place of work and tell other people about Jesus and invite them to accept Jesus? Let Jesus clean them up. Just tell them about Jesus. This is the primary call of our King and this is what Simon the Zealot came to understand.
If you’re a Christian, you’ve embraced the reign of Christ. If you’ve embraced the reign of Christ, you give Him supreme allegiance, you temper your nationalism and you seek to serve the Gospel all over the world. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.