Our Awesome God is Jealous

Our Awesome God
Is a Jealous God
2 Corinthians 11:2-4

INTRODUCTION:
In the story Little Women Amy, the youngest March sister, in a jealous rage that she has to stay home while her two eldest sisters go to the theater, burns her sister Jo’s manuscript while she’s out. What’s most chilling, though, is Jo’s reaction when she realizes her sister isn’t kidding: “‘What! My little book I was so fond of, and worked over, and meant to finish before Father got home? Have you really burned it?’ said Jo, turning very pale, while her eyes kindled and her hands clutched Amy nervously.”

In this series of studies, we are looking at the qualities of God’s nature, the God who created the heavens and the earth. Today, I want us to meditate on the quality of jealousy as it relates to God.

It is interesting that “jealousy” is one of the few qualities which are used as distinct names for God.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN THAT GOD IS JEALOUS?
First, the word itself means “to be desirous of” or “to be zealous about.” It can mean “to be excited to anger over” or “to execute judgment because of…”

God is jealous: Exodus 20:5 -

God’s jealousy works in tandem with God’s holiness and God’s anger.

Let’s meditate on the God who created the heavens and the earth…

The nature of God’s jealousy - Again it is connected to God’s anger and wrath: Deuteronomy 29:20; Zechariah 8:2; Isaiah 42:13.

The subjects of God’s jealousy - Because His jealousy is connected to His anger and zeal, then it comes as no surprise that God’s jealousy is directed at sin. Specifically, images which attract man’s devotion: Psalm 78:58; 1 Cor. 10:19-22; Deuteronomy 32:16; 1 Kings 14:22.

The objects of God’s jealousy - God is jealous of His nature: Exodus 34:14.

God’s name: Ezekiel 39:25.

His people: Zechariah 8:2.

His land, which symbolizes His people and their worship of Him: Joel 2:18.

His city, which symbolizes the faithfulness of His people for the preparation of the coming Messiah: Zechariah 1:14.

Please observe this series of thoughts:

1) God is unique and supreme.
2) God is holy, loving, and morally perfect.
3) God is, then, uniquely and supremely, holy, loving, and morally perfect.
4) These qualities ought to be preserved with the strongest zeal.
5) God’s jealousy is His zeal to preserve His own holy supremacy.
6) He is, then, justified in His jealousy. In fact, His jealousy is demanded by His very nature. His name is “jealous.”

POSITIVE RAMIFICATIONS TO GOD’S JEALOUSY:
First, there are contexts in which it is appropriate for human beings to be jealous. The reason why the Bible often forbids jealousy is because we get jealous over things that do not belong to us. God is jealous for what belongs to Him, His nature, as we have seen. But God can be jealous over everything because God owns everything. Again, it is appropriate to be jealous if the jealousy is a godly jealousy, such as Paul mentions in 2 Corinthians 11:2. In that context, Paul was jealous for the Corinthians’ affection, not toward himself, but toward Jesus Christ and His Gospel and there were false teachers in Corinth who were deceiving Christians and leading them astray. We need to be jealous for true doctrine, the pure doctrine of Jesus Christ.

Now, a positive ramification of God’s jealousy is that God loves us with that intense jealousy and He will defend us. When Jesus says no one will snatch a disciple out of His hand (John 10:27-28), that exhibits His jealousy for His people. He will guard them and protect them. When Jesus strikes Saul of Tarsus blind on the road to Damascus in Acts 9, it is because Saul of Tarsus was persecuting Jesus by persecuting the church / Christians. Jesus is jealous for His church because we carry His name.

If we live godly lives, we are reflecting the nature of God and He is jealous over that effort. If we worship God in spirit and in truth, honoring God through our worship according to His word, He is jealous for that worship. It belongs to God.

NEGATIVE RAMIFICATIONS TO GOD’S JEALOUSY:
We must use God’s name with the most absolute holiness: Leviticus 24:10-12, 23. Since we, as Christians, carry the name of Christ every where we go, our lives need to be clothed with holiness because God is jealous of His name. Since we carry the name of Christ as a church, we need to behave as a congregation with absolute holiness because God is jealous for His name. You know, the work of the church will not thrive if the church does not support the work of the church.

Because God is jealous for His worship, all those examples in the OT where God kills people because they don’t respect His limitations in worship - like Nadab and Abihu (Lev. 10), King Saul (1 Sam. 15), and Uzzah (1 Chronicles 13), and King Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26) - scream loud and clear that we need to keep God’s worship holy, completely focused on Him and not on ourselves.

Because God is jealous, we need to make sure that we are showing our love and commitment and dedication to God in our love for Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. His nature needs to be our nature; we need to imitate His qualities as closely and as accurately as we can. And then when we fail, we need to ask His forgiveness. Because God is jealous. We cannot allow anything to take the place of God in our hearts and our lives. And we can talk about seeking first the kingdom until we are blue in the face, but until our actions show it, our talk is worthless.

Because God is jealous, we must love His words, His truth, His gospel, with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. The psalmist wrote: “From Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way” (Psalm 119:104). We need to hate every false teaching with the zeal of Jesus Christ, because it reflects on the truthfulness and holiness of Jehovah God. Remember, God killed false teachers in the OT. We should take the truth of God very seriously.

Finally, we need to make sure, as sure as we can, that our wholeness is found in God. He is the ultimate good and we need to make sure that He is our ultimate good on a personal level. Solomon tried everything under the sun in Ecclesiastes and he tells us that it is all pointless, ultimately. But Jesus came to give us an abundant life (John 10:10). David wrote that the “fulness of joy” is found in the presence of God (Psalm 16:11). We won’t enjoy that presence until we grasp the significance of God’s jealousy.

Take home message: Stay grounded in God’s holiness and reverence, for His jealousy is a power to be reckoned with.