A Jealous God
“…for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God” (Exodus 34:14).
A Jealous God
“…I, The LORD your God, am a jealous God…” (Exodus 20:5)
When the Lord God says that He is a jealous God, it means that He is intolerant of unfaithfulness or rivalry. If you have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, you are reconciled back into relationship with God the Father and you are the Bride of Christ.
As the Bride of Christ Jesus, He does not tolerate unfaithfulness to Him. He is to be our number one priority; our first love, the one we desire above all else. When we allow the desires of the world to become more important to us than our relationship with Him, we are unfaithful.
“Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity (hatred, hostility) with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealousy?” (James 4:4-5NKJV) (parenthesis added)
Who can be an adulterer or adulteress? Only those who are married.
If you are a believer and follower of Jesus, then you are the Bride of Christ! We are in a lasting union/relationship with Him. He is our provider, protector, the love of our lives, He is our life! (“I am the way, the truth and the life…” John 14:6). We are expected to behave as a bride does to her husband, in faithfulness and love.
“…for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God” (Exodus 34:14).
When we follow the ways and lusts of this world and treasure things and people more than our obedience and relationship to The Lord, it is as if we are being an unfaithful bride. The desires of the flesh lead to sin and death, because they are the desires of evil. In 1 John 5:19 we are told that “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” (The evil one is Satan or the devil.) And in 2 Corinthians 4:4, the devil is called “the god of this world.” When we, the Bride of Christ, desire what the world offers, and chase after the things of the world, making them our priority, instead of pursuing our relationship with Christ and following and obeying Him, we are betraying Him and committing adultery to our husband, Christ Jesus.
“For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is His name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth He is called. For the LORD has called you like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God.” (Isaiah 54:4-5 NKJV)
The Israelites (God’s chosen people) in the Old Testament, disobeyed God’s commandments and followed the people living among them by worshiping other gods, pagan gods, which are demons. This idolatry, and unfaithfulness, did not go well for them and it provoked the Lord to jealousy and anger.
“For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” (Deut. 5:9).
“for the LORD you GOD who is among you, is a jealous God and His anger will burn against you, and He will destroy you from the face of the land” (Deut. 6:15).
They were given multiple warnings about following and obeying God, they were told over and over that the LORD is a jealous God; however, they did not heed the warnings and time after time they were unfaithful to God.
1 Kings 14:22, “And Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked Him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, more than all that their fathers had done.”
The writer of Proverbs warns:
“For jealousy enrages a husband, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.” (6:34)
“For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is His name” (Isaiah 54:4).
The Lord will judge HIS PEOPLE. The Lord takes disobedience very seriously. He wants a faithful Bride.
· Hebrews 10:30, “For we know the one who has said, Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, and again, The Lord will judge his people.”
As the Bride of Christ, we cannot participate in sinfulness and behave as the world does, we are called to be set-apart - being made holy in the likeness of Christ.
“You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot share in the Lord’s table and the table of demons. Or are we provoking the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
We, the Bride of Christ, are given warnings about disobedience to God. Just as God told the Israelites that He is a jealous God, and ‘Jealous is His name’, God is jealous for us too. His Bride must be faithful to Him. He loves us. He adores us, He is faithful to us, we need to be faithful to Him. We are His Bride!
“So then, my dear friends, flee from idolatry” (1 Corinthians 10:14).
How do we, the Bride of Christ, show our love and faithfulness to Him?
He gives us the same instructions as He did to the Israelites in the Old Testament: Obey, flee from idolatry (anything that takes a higher place in your life than He does), love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul, and love one another… “The one who has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father. I also will love him and will reveal myself to him” (John14:21).
The writer of Proverbs says: “My son, obey my words, and treasure my commands. Keep my commands and live and guard my instructions as you would the pupil of your eye” (Proverbs 7:1-2).
We, the Bride of Christ, must say, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts” (1 Kings 19:10 KJV). We must keep His commands in our heart and obey The Lord God above all else.
Following and seeking after anything else, that sets itself above the authority of Christ, is unfaithfulness to our Bridegroom.
“…He is a Holy God; He is a jealous God…” (Joshua 24:19)
And we are His Bride!
Until next time… Let the Bride of Christ be zealous for the Lord God of Armies! (see 1 Kings 19:14).
Shalom 😉.
Amen ✝️!