I THE LORD THY GOD AM A JEALOUS GOD

The title above is a direct quote from Exodus 20:5. This is God’s statement of Himself. I think that quite often the thought that one is a jealous person has with it negative connotations. We tend to think of one being jealous because his neighbor has something, whether it be a house, car or perhaps a beautiful wife, which are better than what he has. A better word here would be the word “covet”. In fact we find this word in the same passage in verse 17 where we are commanded not to covet anything that the neighbor has.
There is a perfectly legitimate jealousy such as that of a woman who has reason to believe that her husband is seeing another woman. There is also the jealousy of the parent who feels that the grandparents are stealing the children’s affections by giving them things the parents either cannot afford or would rather the children did not have.
The jealousy that the Bible refers to in Exodus is more like that of the parent protecting the child from someone who is catering to the child’s desire or lack of knowledge; with the result that the child will come to harm. The parent will experience a strong feeling of jealousy. This feeling will be even more intense if the parent is helpless to do anything about it. This, then, is the kind of jealousy that we must think of when we say that God is a Jealous God. This is made very clear in this same passage in verse 3: “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me”.
There are many false christs today, which Jesus Himself predicted would come. We expected this to happen, but I don’t think we thought that they would be so subtle. The problem is that when one accepts the false Christ he becomes immune to the Christ of the Bible. An example is the increasingly popular Message Bible. The last versus of the older Bibles use the term: “Lord Jesus Christ”. The Message Bible has changed this to: “the Master Jesus”. In the New Age movement the Master Jesus is one of many false Christs. When one becomes a follower of this Christ he thinks he is saved and will not receive the Christ of the Bible. Imagine the wrath of a jealous God against those who lead people into hell. The same can be said of many religious books today.
The simple gospel is: “there is none other name (Jesus Christ) under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved”: Acts 4:12. In the book of Isaiah we see this gospel in the Old Testament. Israel was at a low point spiritually at this time. “the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint”: Isaiah I:5. But in this same chapter, in verse 18 God tells Israel: “Come now and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;”.. Isaiah 53:6 explains how God can forgive and heal this people: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all”. I know there are theologians who teach that the Lord Jesus died only for some, A jealous God is angry as this doctrine can make some believe that God may not be willing to save them.
Turning to the New Testament:
Romans 3:23: For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. As only one sin against God will send me to hell; then for me to be saved it must be by a gift.
John 14:6: I Am the Way, the Truth, And the Life: no man cometh to the Father but by Me.
John 3:16: for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Do not look for a light from heaven. God has spoken and expects to be believed and obeyed.
I want to add a story I have shared before but it is very relevant here. It shows the importance of finding the true Christ. In the far north there is a rock which is 1,000 miles long, 1,000 miles wide and 1,000 miles high. Every few hundred years a little bird sharpens it’s beak on that rock. When that rock has thus been worn away one day of eternity will have passed.