Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church, pastor
The jealousy of God speaks of God’s noble and passionate desire for His people to worship Him exclusively. The Lord whose name is Jealous is a jealous God (Exodus 34.14). This is part of God’s essential being which flows out of His infinite goodness, perfections, joy and preeminence. Because of who God is and how beautiful He is, He longs for pure and total devotion from His creatures. Not only does He long for this devotion but He fully deserves it. Thus, for God to be jealous means that He longs for His people to have highest joy and infinite pleasure in complete devotion to the highest pursuit of their affections — God alone!
The holiness of God and the love of God fuel His jealousy. He knows Himself fully and He cares for His creatures deeply and He jealousy calls for submission, devotion, and affection in every area of life. God can and should do this because He is the highest good and His own glory and honor is the most soul-satisfying and happy pursuit that man could ever attain. God’s jealousy does not consist of a passing or passing mood swing. Rather, it is the very essence and core of His worthy and excellent Being to earnestly desire His magnificence to be enjoyed by all His creatures!
The LORD is a jealous fire and a consuming God. Even looking at the example of God’s passionate and jealous love in the book of Hosea, we see God’s passionate pursuit of His people and His love for their truest devotion (Hosea 6.1-3). The prophet Nahum preached and spoke of God being a jealous and avenging God (Nahum 1.2). Thus, when His creatures do not worship Him appropriately, God rightly responds with jealous anger and wrath because He fully deserves it; and indeed, He made them for infinite delight in Him (Nahum 1.2-6).
Most practically, then, the jealousy of God means that He passionately longs for your full and total devotion. He wants you to submit to Him and to delight in His Lordship (Luke 9.23). He wants you to confess Him as Lord, bow to Him as King, trust Him as Father, and give your ultimate allegiance and ardent love to Him as your Bridegroom (Deuteronomy 6.4-5).
Further, it has been well stated that God’s jealousy speaks to his holy commitment to his honor, glory and love seen in the salvation of his people and the just condemnation of all who oppose him. His fervent passion is for His own to find ultimate happiness not in the things of this world but in Him alone! Contemplate your God and His loving jealousy for you to love Him and serve Him and speak of Him. Consider your God whose open arms invite you to find your happiest joys in Him and in Him alone. His perfections and holiness and excellencies fuel His jealousy and at the same time invite you to exult in Him. Consider Him. Reaffirm your love for Him and submit to His Lordship in every area of your life.
