The Zeal of the Sons and Daughters of God
By G. W. Reaser
As Christ, in childhood and youth, studied the Scriptures, His receptive mind was impressed by the Holy Spirit that He was the Son of God, with a divine mission to accomplish, which mission was, to provide salvation for the human family, even at the sacrifice of His own life. It was written of Him beforehand, “The zeal of Thine house hath eaten Me up”; which meant that He would be controlled by love for the lost members of the human family. He gave oral expression to this consuming fire within, when, at the early age of twelve years, He said to His mother, “Wist ye not that I must be about My Father’s business?” This undying passion for souls was wholly characteristic of His life, and finally led Him to Gethsemane and to Calvary. But He will eventually see of the travail of His soul, and will be satisfied with the great price at which He purchased our redemption. Christ was not a redeemed member of our human family. Therefore the sense of gratitude for personal salvation was not what prompted His life of service and of sacrifice. Yet He was controlled by so great a burden for the lost. Should not every one who has been redeemed, and who has the witness of the Spirit in his heart, by the Word, that he is a son of God, be controlled by a passion to win souls, even though it calls for the sacrifice of his life? Is this not our divine mission, our “reasonable service”? “The love of Christ constrained” us.