Bible Verses About Religious Zeal: Exemplified by Paul

and immediately he began proclaiming in the synagogues that Yeshua is the Son of God.

All who heard him were amazed. They asked, “Isn’t he the man who in Yerushalayim was trying to destroy the people who call on this name? In fact, isn’t that why he came here, to arrest them and bring them back to the head cohanim?”

But Sha’ul was being filled with more and more power and was creating an uproar among the Jews living in Dammesek with his proofs that Yeshua is the Messiah.

Quite some time later, the non-believing Jews gathered together and made plans to kill him;

but their plot became known to Sha’ul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to do away with him;

but under cover of night, his talmidim took him and let him down over the city wall, lowering him in a large basket.

On reaching Yerushalayim, he tried to join the talmidim; but they were all afraid of him — they didn’t believe he was a talmid.

However, Bar-Nabba got hold of him and took him to the emissaries. He told them how Sha’ul had seen the Lord while traveling, that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Dammesek Sha’ul had spoken out boldly in the name of Yeshua.

So he remained with them and went all over Yerushalayim continuing to speak out boldly in the name of the Lord.

He talked and debated with the Greek-speaking Jews, but they began making attempts to kill him.

So Sha’ul stood, motioned with his hand, and said: “Men of Isra’el and God-fearers, listen!

The God of this people Isra’el chose our fathers. He made the people great during the time when they were living as aliens in Egypt and with a stretched-out arm he led them out of that land.

For some forty years he took care of them in the desert,

and after he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Kena‘an he gave their land to his people as an inheritance.

All this took about 450 years. After that, he gave them judges, down to the prophet Sh’mu’el.

Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Sha’ul Ben-Kish, a man from the tribe of Binyamin. After forty years,

God removed him and raised up David as king for them, making his approval known with these words, ‘I found David Ben-Yishai to be a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want.’

“In keeping with his promise, God has brought to Isra’el from this man’s descendants a deliverer, Yeshua.

Now before the coming of Yeshua, Yochanan proclaimed to all the people of Isra’el an immersion in connection with turning to God from sin.

But as Yochanan was ending his work, he said, ‘Who do you suppose I am? Well — I’m not! But after me is coming someone, the sandals of whose feet I am unworthy to untie.’

“Brothers! — sons of Avraham and those among you who are ‘God-fearers’! It is to us that the message of this deliverance has been sent!

For the people living in Yerushalayim and their leaders did not recognize who Yeshua was or understand the message of the Prophets read every Shabbat, so they fulfilled that message by condemning him.

They could not find any legitimate ground for a death sentence; nevertheless they asked Pilate to have him executed;

and when they had carried out all the things written about him, he was taken down from the stake and placed in a tomb.

“But God raised him from the dead!