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.

I don’t know if this will be of interest to many of you or if you will wonder if I have too much time on my hands. Anyway, I want to look at the book of Job. I know there are different ideas on when the story of Job happened. I think we can pinpoint quite closely the time that Job lived.
If we take the genealogy from the time of the flood to the time that Abraham entered Canaan we find it to be 427 years. This can be found in Genesis 11. When Abraham had been in Canaan for 25 years his son Isaac was born: Genesis 21:5.
Isaac was 60 years old when Jacob and Esau were born: Genrsis25:36. Esau was 40 years old when he married the two Hittites: Genesis 26:34.. Eliphaz, according to Genesis 36:10 was Esau’s oldest son. Eliphaz oldest son, as we see in the next verse=verse 11 was Teman.
Remember that Eliphaz was one of the friends of Job. We find him the fiRst time in Job 4:4. It would seem that Teman was Esau’s favorite. At any rate he named a city after him. For this also see Obadiah 9. We do know from Job 6:19 that Tema was existing at this time.
In Job 1:1 we read that Job was in the land of Uz. In Lamentations 4:21 we are told by Jeremiah that Edom was a part of the land of Uz. This would explain why Eliphaz knew Job. They may well have been neighbors. Now if Teman was old enough for Esau to notice him to the extent of wanting to build a city after him his father would be at least fifty or sixty. At least we know from Job 32: 6 that he was no longer a young man. Add all of this up and you come to just over 600 years after the flood. This would be about 30 or 40 years before the Israelites went to Egypt.
Now let’s look at the circumstances of the time. Notice in Job 1:3 all of the goods Job had. What would it not take to maintain this large household and all these animals? We do know Job paid fair wages. We see this in Job 31:13-15. There had to be a market for all these animals and at the same time a large area. As we look at the circumstances it seems that the time when Job lived would not be over two centuries. At this time there would have been a tremendous population explosion. This is why the market would be there. But what of a century or so later.
The story of Job was about 40 years before Jacob and his family went to Egypt. There they greatly multiplied in number. But so had the Canaanites. Look what had happened in Canaan. It was now full of people and cities. There would no longer be room for wandering nomads and their large herds if cattle. The children of Israel came to Edom which was in Uz where Job had lived. It too was filled with people and cities.
I suppose someone could say “so what”. I think my only defense is found in
Proverbs 25:2=It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter. Why do people want to know of the farthest planet and the deepest ocean? Because it’s there.

In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul tells us something of what our heavenly bodies will be like. He likens it to a seed of grain “or of some other”.
In verse 36 we are told that the seed must die first and then comes the plant. Jesus said in John 12:24 “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit”.
For an example let’s take corn. First, all you see is the small kernel. But that little kernel has everything in it needed for something much bigger. As long as the kernel stays in the barn, it will stay alive but it will not develop into something bigger
and better. The kernel must be taken out, put in the ground and die.
The kernel deteriorates and disappears but the life latent begins to develop. The result of the death of the kernel is something much bigger and grander. There is the stalk and also many other things such as the ears, the tassel, the leaves, a hair for each kernel, a host of kernels and the chlorophyll which takes the suns energy and causes the plant to grow.
But there is one more thing which is very important. There are, on the ears kernels exactly like the original that died. What does this tell us? It tells us that not only do we, in heaven, develop bodies which are indescribably beautiful and powerful but also immortal and incorruptible; it also tells us that we never lose a thing. When you were six months old you liked food. You still do and now many different kinds of food. The little girl likes to play with dolls. Some day she will enjoy a real live one.
Now there is something else. In Matthew 13 Jesus said that the mustard seed although the smallest of all seeds becomes the biggest of the plants. In God’s economy the bigger the plant, the greater the difference between the seed and the plant. What is physically the very biggest thing we know of? It is the universe itself. We are told in 11 Peter that there will be new heavens and a new earth. We can’t begin to imagine this one, not to mention the new one. But some day we will rule it according to Revelation 21:7.
There is one thing even bigger to God. We are told in Genesis 1:26 “Let us make man in our image”. For us there will be the greatest difference of all.

If someone wishes to learn about science or history or geography or math there is only one way to progress in knowledge of these things. It is by studying and the more diligently one studies and the longer one studies the more progress he will make. This is true of all things material. It can also be true of Bible doctrine. However, if I want to know God or if I want to have a true grasp of spiritual truths or if I want to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is real and that he speaks through His Written Word this will not be gained by studying, at least not by study alone. This is gained by obedience. I study the Bible to know what God said so that I can obey.

For example John 7:17 reads. “If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine” If you read the context Jesus was speaking specifically to the Jews who doubted whether He was truly of God. John 14:21 is even more pointed, “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them — I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

There are two verses, one in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament, which carry somewhat of a same thought. In Proverbs 8:8,9 we read: All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing forward or perverse in them. They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge. In other words, a Christian reads the Bible and everything sounds so “right to them that find knowledge”. Proverbs 9:10 (and many other verses) sheds light on this “The knowledge of the holy is understanding”. That’s in the Old Testament.

In the New Testament we find the same thought but even more so. Remember that after Pentecost the church has the Holy Spirit. In 1John 2:21 John writes, “I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it” In other words John is saying the Holy Spirit speaks through me to you. The same indwelling Holy Spirit in the believer puts the “Amen” in their hearts. The believer has this built in Amen. Obedience to the Word of God helps to develop it. Hebrews 5:14

If someone wishes to learn about science or history or geography or math there is only one way to progress in knowledge of these things. It is by studying and the more diligently one studies and the longer one studies the more progress he will make. This is true of all things material. It can also be true of Bible doctrine. However, if I want to know God or if I want to have a true grasp of spiritual truths or if I want to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is real and that he speaks through His Written Word this will not be gained by studying, at least not by study alone. This is gained by obedience. I study the Bible to know what God said so that I can obey.

For example John 7:17 reads. “If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine” If you read the context Jesus was speaking specifically to the Jews who doubted whether He was truly of God.  John 14:21 is even more pointed, “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them — I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

There are two verses, one in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament, which carry somewhat of a same thought.  In Proverbs 8:8,9 we read: All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing forward or perverse in them. They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.  In other words, a Christian reads the Bible and everything sounds so “right to them that find knowledge”. Proverbs 9:10 (and many other verses) sheds light on this “The knowledge of the holy is understanding”.  That’s in the Old Testament.

In the New Testament we find the same thought but even more so. Remember that after Pentecost the church has the Holy Spirit. In 1John 2:21 John writes, “I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it” In other words John is saying the Holy Spirit speaks through me to you. The same indwelling Holy Spirit in the believer puts the “Amen” in their hearts. The believer has this built in Amen. Obedience to the Word of God helps to develop it. Hebrews 5:14