A Jealous God

A Jealous God
A Sermon
(No. 502)
Delivered on Sunday Morning, March 29th, 1863, by the
Rev. C. H. SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
"For the Lord, whose name is jealous, is a jealous God."–Exodus 34:14.
THE PASSION OF JEALOUSY IN MAN is usually exercised in an evil manner,
but it is not in itself necessarily sinful. A man may be zealously
cautious of his honor, and suspiciously vigilant over another, without
deserving blame. All thoughtful persons will agree that there is such a
thing as virtuous jealousy. Self-love is, no doubt, the usual
foundation of human jealousy, and it may be that Shenstone is right in
his definition of it as "the apprehension of superiority," the fear
lest another should by any means supplant us; yet the word "jealous" is
so near akin to that noble word "zealous," that I am persuaded it must
have something good in it. Certainly we learn from Scripture that there
is such a thing as a godly jealousy. We find the Apostle Paul declaring
to the Corinthian Church, "I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy,
for I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a
chaste virgin to Christ." He had an earnest, cautious, anxious concern
for their holiness, that the Lord Jesus might be honored in their
lives. Let it be remembered then, that jealousy, like anger, is not
evil in itself, or it could never be ascribed to God; his jealousy is
ever a pure and holy flame. The passion of jealousy possesses an
intense force, it fires the whole nature, its coals are juniper, which
have a most vehement flame; it resides in the lowest depths of the
heart, and takes so firm a hold that it remains most deeply rooted
until the exciting cause is removed; it wells up from the inmost
recesses of the nature, and like a torrent irresistibly sweeps all
before it; it stops at nothing, for it is cruel as the grave (Cant.
8:6), it provokes wrath to the utmost, for it is the rage of a man,
therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance (Proverbs 6:34),
and it over throws everything in the pursuit of its enemy, for "wrath
is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before
jealousy?" For all these reasons jealousy is selected as some faint
picture of that tender regard which God has for His own Deity, honor,
and supremacy, and the holy indignation which he feels towards those
who violate his laws, offend his majesty, or impeach his character. Not
that God is jealous so as to bring him down to the likeness of men, but
that this is the nearest idea we can form of what the Divine Being
feels–if it be right to use even that word toward him–when he beholds
his throne occupied by false gods, his dignity insulted, and his glory
usurped by others. We cannot speak of God except by using figures drawn
from his works, or our own emotions; we ought, however, when we use the
images, to caution ourselves and those who listen to us, against the
idea that the Infinite mind is really to be compassed and described by
any metaphors however lofty, or language however weighty. We might not
have ventured to use the word, "jealousy" in connection with the Most
High, but as we find it so many times in Scripture, let us with solemn
awe survey this mysterious display of the Divine mind. Methinks I hear
the thundering words of Nahum, "God is jealous and the Lord revengeth,
the Lord revengeth and is furious, the Lord will take vengeance on his
adversaries, and he reseryeth wrath for his enemies." My soul be thou
humbled before the Lord and tremble at his name!
I. Reverently, let us remember that THE LORD IS EXCEEDINGLY JEALOUS OF
HIS DEITY.
Our text is coupled with the command–"Thou shalt worship no other
God." When the law was thundered from Sinai, the second commandment
received force from the divine jealousy–"Thou shalt not make unto thee
any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in the heaven
above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under
the earth; Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for
I the Lord thy God am a jealous God." Since he is the only God, the
Creator of heaven and earth, he cannot endure that any creature of his
own hands, or fiction of a creature's imagination should be thrust into
his throne, and be made to wear his crown. In Ezekiel we find the false
god described as "the image of jealousy which provoketh to jealousy,"
and the doom on Jerusalem for thus turning from Jehovah runs thus,
"Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will
recompense their way upon their head." False gods patiently endure the
existence of other false gods. Dagon can stand with Bel, and Bel with
Ashtaroth; how should stone, and wood, and silver, be moved to
indignation; but because God is the only living and true God, Dagon
must fall before his ark; Bel must be broken, and Ashtaroth must be
consumed with fire. Thus saith the Lord, "Ye shall destroy their
altars, break their images, and cut down their groves;" the idols he
shall utterly abolish. My brethren, do you marvel at this? I felt in my
own soul while meditating upon this matter an intense sympathy with
God. Can you put yourselves in God's place for a moment? Suppose that
you had made the heavens and the earth, and all the creatures that
inhabit this round globe; how would you feel if those creatures should
set up an image of wood, or brass, or gold, and cry, "These are the
gods that made us; these things give us life." What–a dead piece of
earth set up in rivalry with real Deity! What must be the Lord's
indignation against infatuated rebels when they so far despise him as
to set up a leek, or an onion, or a beetle, or a frog, preferring to
worship the fruit of their own gardens, or the vermin of their muddy
rivers, rather than acknowledge the God in whose hand their breath is,
and whose are all their ways! Oh! it is a marvel that God hath not
dashed the world to pieces with thunderbolts, when we recollect that
even to this day milhons of men have changed the glory of the
incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to
birds and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. With what
unutterable contempt must the living God look down upon those idols
which are the work of man's hands–"They have mouths, but they speak
not: eyes have they, but they see not: they have ears, but they hear
not: noses have they, but they smell not: they have hands, but they
handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they
through their throat." God hath longsuffering toward men, and he
patiently endureth this madness of rebelhon; but, oh! what patience
must it be which can restrain the fury of his jealousy, for he is a
jealous God, and brooks no rival. It was divine jealousy which moved
the Lord to bring all his plagues on Egypt. Careful reading will show
you that those wonders were all aimed at the gods of Egypt. The people
were tormented by the very things which they had made to be their
deities, or else, as in the case of the murrain, their sacred animals
were themselves smitten, even as the Lord had threatened–"Against all
the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am Jehovah." Was it not
the same with ancient Israel? Why were they routed before their
enemies? Why was their land so often invaded? Why did famine follow
pestilence, and war succeed to famine? Only because "they provoked him
to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their
graven images. When God heard this, he was Froth, and greatly abhorred
Israel." (Psalm 78:58-59.) How was it that at the last the Lord gave up
Jerusalem to the flames, and bade the Chaldeans carry into captivity
the remnant of his people? How was it that he abhorred his heritage,
and gave up Mount Zion to be trodden under foot by the Gentiles? Did
not Jeremiah tell them plainly that because they had walked after other
gods and forsaken Jehovah, therefore he would cast them out into a land
which they knew not?
Brethren, the whole history of the human race is a record of the wars
of the Lord against idolatry. The right hand of the Lord hath dashed in
pieces the enemy and cast the ancient idols to the ground. Behold the
heaps of Nineveh! Search for the desolations of Babylon! Look upon the
broken temples of Greece! See the ruins of Pagan Rome! Journey where
you will, you behold the dilapidated temples of the gods and the ruined
empires of their foolish votaries. The moles and the bats have covered
with forgetfulness the once famous deities of Chaldea and Assyria. The
Lord hath made bare his arm and eased him of his adversaries, for
Jehovah, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
With what indignation, then, must the Lord look down upon that apostate
harlot, called the Romish Church, when, in all her sanctuaries, there
are pictures and images, relics and slivines, and poor infatuated
beings are even taught to bow before a piece of bread. In this country,
Popish idolatry is not so barefaced and naked as it is in other lands;
but I have seen it, and my soul has been moved with indignation like
that of Paul on Mars' Hill, when he saw the city wholly to idolatry; I
have seen thousands adore the wafer, hundreds bow before the image of
the Virgin, scores at prayer before a crucifix, and companies of men
and women adoring a rotten bone or a rusty nail, because said to be the
relic of a saint. It is vain for the Romanist to assert that he
worships not the things themselves, but only the Lord through them, for
this the second commandment expressly forbids, and it is upon this
point that the Lord calls himself a jealous God. How full is that cup
which Babylon must drink; the day is hastening when the Lord shall
avenge himself upon her, because her iniquities have reached unto
heaven, and she hath blasphemously exalted her Pope into the throne of
the Host High, and thrust her priests into the office of the Lamb.
Purge yourselves, purge yourselves of this leaven. I charge you before
God, the Judge of quick and dead, if ye would not be partakers of her
plagues, come out from her more and more, and let your protest be
increasingly vehement against this which exalteth itself above all that
is called God. Let our Protestant Churches, which have too great a
savoar of Popery in them, cleanse themselves of her fornications, lest
the Lord visit them with fire and pour the plagues of Babylon upon
them. Renounce, my brethren, every ceremony which has not Scripture for
its warrant, and every doctrine which is not established by the plain
testimony of the Word of God. Let us, above all, never by any sign, or
word, or deed, have any complicity with this communion of devils, this
gathering together of the sons of Behal: and since our God is a jealous
God, let us not provoke him by any affinity, gentleness, fellowship, or
amity with this Mother of Harlots and abominations of the earth.
With what jealousy must the Lord regard the great mass of the people of
this country, who have another God beside himself! With what
indignation doth he look upon many of you who are subject to the prince
of the power of the air, the god of this world! To you Jehovah is
nothing. God is not in all your thoughts; you have no fear of Him
before your eyes. Like the men of Israel, you have set up your idols in
your heart. Your god is custom, fashion, business, pleasure, ambition,
honor. You have made unto yourselves gods of these things; you have
said, "These be thy gods, O Israel." Ye follow after the things which
perish, the things of this world, which are vanity. O ye sons of men,
think not that God is blind. He can perceive the idols in your hearts;
he understandeth what be the secret things that your souls lust after;
he searcheth your heart, he trieth your reins; beware lest he find you
sacrificing to strange gods, for his anger will smoke against you, and
his jealousy will be stirred. O ye that worship not God, the God of
Israel, who give him not dominion over your whole soul, and live not to
his honor, repent ye of your idolatry, seek mercy through the blood of
Jesus, and provoke not the Lord to jealousy any more.
Even believers may be reproved on this subject. God is very jealous of
his deity in the hearts of his own people. Mother, what will he say of
you, if that darling child occupies a more prominent place in your love
than your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Husband, what shall he say to
you, and with what stripes shall he smite you, when your wife reigns as
a goddess in your spirit? And wife, thou shouldest love thy
husband–thou doest well in so doing; but if thou exaltest him above
God, if thou makest him to have dominion over thy conscience, and art
willing to forsake thy Lord to please him, then thou hast made to
thyself another god, and God is jealous with thee. Ay, and we may thus
provoke him with the dead as well as with the living. A grief carried
to excess, a grief nurtured until it prevents our attention to duty, a
grief which makes us murmur and repine against the will of Providence
is sheer rebelhon; it hath in it the very spirit of idolatry; it will
provoke the Lord to anger, and he will surely chasten yet again, until
our spirit becomes resigned to his rod. "Hast thou not forgiven God
yet?" was the language of an old Quaker when he saw a widow who for
years had worn her weeds, and was inconsolable in her grief–"Hast thou
not forgiven God yet?" We may weep under bereavements, for Jesus wept;
but we must not sorrow so as to provoke the Lord to anger, we must not
act as if our friends were more precious to us than our God. We are
permitted to take solace in each other, but when we carry love to
idolatry, and put the creature into the Creator's place, and rebel, and
fret, and bitterly repine, then the Lord hath a rod in his hand, and he
will make us feel its weight, for he is a jealous God. I fear there are
some professors who put their house, their garden, their business,
their skill, I know not what, at seasons into the place of God. It were
not consistent with the life of godliness for a man to be perpetually
an idolater, but even true believers will sometimes be overcome with
this sin, and will have to mourn over it. Brethren, set up no images of
jealousy, but like Jacob of old cry to yourselves and to your famihes,
"Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean." Let me
warn those of you who neglect this that if you be the Lord's people you
shall soon smart for it, and the sooner the better for your own
salvation; while, on the other hand, to those ungodly persons who
continue to live for objects other than divine, let me say, you not
only smart in this life by bitter disappointments, but you shall also
suffer eternal wrath in the life to come.
Come, let me push this matter home upon your consciences; let me carry
this as at point of bayonet. Why, my hearers, there are some of you who
never worship God. I know you go up to his house, but then it is only
to be seen, or to quiet your conscience by having done your duty. How
many of you merchants aim only to accumulate a fortune! How many of you
tradesmen are living only for your famihes! How many young men breathe
only for pleasure! How many young women exist only for amusement and
vanity. I fear that some among you make your belly your god, and bow
down to your own personal charms or comforts. Talk of idolaters! They
are here to-day! If we desire to preach to those who break the first
and second commandments we have no need to go to Hindostan, or traverse
the plains of Africa. They are here. Unto you who bow not before the
Lord let these words be given, and let them ring in your ears–"The
Lord whose name is jealous, is a jealous God." Who shall stand before
him when once he is angry? When his jealousy burneth like fire and
smoketh like a furnace, who shall endure the day of his wrath. Beware,
lest he tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. Dreadful
shall it be for you, if at the last you shall behold an angry God
sitting in judgment. Pause now and meditate upon your doom, and think
you see the Almighty robed in tempest and whirlwind.
"His throne a seat of dreadful wrath,
Girt with devouring flame;
The Lord appears consuming fire,
And Jealous is his name."
God save you for Jesus' sake.
II. The Lord IS JEALOUS OF HIS SOVEREIGNTY.
He that made heaven and earth has a right to rule his creatures as he
wills. The potter hath power over the clay to fashion it according to
his own good pleasure, and the creatures being made are bound to be
obedient to their Lord. He has a right to issue commands, he has done
so–they are holy, and just, and wise; men are bound to obey, but,
alas, they continually revolt against his sovereignty, and will not
obey him; nay, there be men who deny altogether that he is lying of
kings, and others who take counsel together saying, "Let us break his
bands in sunder, and cast away his cords from us." He that sitteth in
the heavens is moved to jealousy by these sins, and will defend the
rights of his crown against all comers, for the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
This reminds us of the Lord's hatred of sin. Every time we sin, we do
as much as say, "I do not acknowledge God to be my sovereign; I will do
as I please." Each time we speak an ill-word we really say, "My tongue
is my own, he is not Lord over my lips." Yea, and everytime the human
heart wandereth after evil, and lusteth for that which is forbidden, it
attempts to dethrone God, and to set up the Evil One in his place. The
language of sin is "Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice; I
will not have God to reign over me." Sin is a deliberate treason
against the majesty of God, an assault upon his crown, an insult
offered to his throne. Some sins, especially, have rebelhon written on
their forehead–presumptuous sins, when a man's conscience has been
enlightened, and he knows better, and yet still forsakes the good and
follows after evil; when a man's conscience has been aroused through
some judgment, or sickness, or under a faithful ministry; if that man
returns, like a dog to his vomit, he has, indeed, insulted the
sovereignty of God. But have we not all done this, and are there not
some here in particular of whom we once had good hope, but who have
turned back again to crooked ways? Are there not some of you who,
Sabbath after Sabbath, get your consciences so quickened that you
cannot be easy in sin as others are and though you may, perhaps,
indulge in sin, yet it costs you very dearly, for you know better? Did
I not hear of one who sits in these seats often, but is as often on the
ale bench? Did I not hear of another who can sing with us the hymns of
Zion, but is equally at home with the lascivious music of the drunkard?
Do we not know of some who in their business are anything but what they
should be, yet for a show can come up to the house of God? Oh, sirs,
oh, sirs, ye do provoke the Lord to jealousy! Take heed, for when he
cometh out of his resting-place, and taketh to himself his sword and
buckler, who are you that you should stand before the dread majesty of
His presence! Tremble and be still! Humble yourselves, and repent of
this your sin.
Surely, if sin attacks the sovereignty of God, self-righteousness is
equally guilty of treason: for as sin boasts, "I will not keep God's
law," self-righteousness exclaims, "I will not be saved in God's way; I
will make a new road to heaven; I will not bow before God's grace; I
will not accept the atonement which God has wrought out in the person
of Jesus; I will be my own redeemer; I will enter heaven by my own
strength, and glorify my own merits." The Lord is very wroth against
self-righteousness. I do not know of anything against which his fury
burneth more than against this, because this touches him in a very
tender point, it insults the glory and honor of his Son Jesus Christ.
Joshua said to the children of Israel when they promised to keep the
law–"Ye cannot serve the Lord, for he is an holy God; he is a jealous
God; and he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins." So I
may well say to every self-righteous person, "You cannot keep the law,
for God is a jealous God," carefully marking every fault, and just to
mark your iniquities; nor will he forgive your iniquities so long as
you attempt to win his favor by works of law. Throw away thy
self-righteousness, thou proud one; cast it with all other idols to the
moles and to the bats, for there is no hope for thee so long as thou
dost cling to it. Self-righteousness is in itself the very height and
crowning-point of rebelhon against God. For a man to say, "Lord, I have
not sinned," is the gathering-up, the emphasis, the climax of iniquity,
and God's jealousy is hot against it.
Let me add, dear friends, I feel persuaded that false doctrine,
inasmuch as it touches God's sovereignty, is always an object of divine
jealousy. Let me indicate especially the doctrines of free-will. I know
there are some good men who hold and preach them, but I am persuaded
that the Lord must be grieved with their doctrine though he forgives
them their sin of ignorance. Free-will doctrine–what does it? It
magnifies man into God; it declares God's purposes a nullity, since
they cannot be carried out unless men are willing. It makes God's will
a waiting servant to the will of man, and the whole covenant of grace
dependent upon human action. Denying election on the ground of
injustice it holds God to be a debtor to sinners, so that if he gives
grace to one he is bound to do so to all. It teaches that the blood of
Christ was shed equally for all men and since some are lost, this
doctrine ascribes the difference to man's own will, thus making the
atonement itself a powerless thing until the will of man gives it
efficacy. Those sentiments dilute the scriptural description of man's
depravity, and by imputing strength to fallen humanity, rob the Spirit
of the glory of his effectual grace: this theory says in effect that it
is of him that willeth, and of him that runneth, and not of God that
showeth mercy. Any doctrine, my brethren, which stands in opposition to
this truth–"I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy," provokes
God's jealousy. I often tremble in this pulpit lest I should utter
anything which should oppose the sovereignty of my God; and though you
know I am not ashamed to preach the responsibility of man to God–if
God be a sovereign, man must be bound to obey him–on the other hand, I
am equally bold to preach that God has a right to do what he wills with
his own, that he giveth no account of his matters and none may stay his
hand, or say unto him, "What doest thou?" I believe that the free-will
heresy assails the sovereignty of God, and mars the glory of his
dominion. In all faithfulness, mingled with sorrow, I persuade you who
have been deluded by it, to see well to your ways and receive the truth
which sets God on high, and lays the creature in the dust. "The Lord
reigneth," be this our joy. The Lord is our King, let us obey him and
defend to the death the crown rights of the lying of kings, for he is a
jealous God.
While tarrying upon this subject, I ought also to remark that all the
boastings of ungodly men, whenever they exalt themselves, seeing that
they are a sort of claim of sovereignty, must be very vexatious to God,
the Judge of all. When you glory in your own power, you forget that
power belongeth only unto God, and you provoke his jealousy. When
kings, parhaments, or synods, trespass upon the sacred domains of
conscience, and say to men, "Bow down, that we may go over you"–when
we make attempts to lord over another man's judgment, and to make our
own opinions supreme, the Lord is moved to jealousy, for he retains the
court of conscience for himself alone to reign in. Let us humbly bow
before the dignity of the Most High, and pay our homage at his feet.
"Glory to th' eternal King,
Clad in majesty supreme!
Let all heaven his praises sing,
Let all worlds his power proclaim.
O let my transported soul
Ever on his glories gaze!
Ever yield to his control,
Ever sound his lofty praise!"
Let us crown him every day! Let our holy obedience, let our devout
lives, let our hearty acquiescence in all his will, let our reverent
adoration before the greatness of his majesty, all prove that we
acknowledge him to be King of kings, and Lord of lords, lest we provoke
a jealous God to anger.
III. THE LORD IS JEALOUS OF HIS GLORY.
God's glory is the result of his nature and acts. He is glorious in his
character, for there is such a store of everything that is holy, and
good, and lovely in God, that he must be glorious. The actions which
flow from his character, the deeds which are the outgoings of his inner
nature, these are glorious too; and the Lord is very careful that all
flesh should see that he is a good, and gracious, and just God; and he
is mindfill, too, that his great and mighty acts should not give glory
to others, but only to himself.
How, careful, then, should we be when we do anything for God, and God
is pleased to accept of our doings, that we never congratulate
ourselves. The minister of Christ should unrobe himself of every rag of
praise. "You preached well," said a friend to Jolin Bunyan one morning.
"You are too late," said honest Jolin, "the devil told me that before I
left the pulpit." The devil often tells God's servants a great many
things which they should be sorry to hear. Why, you can hardly be
useful in a Sunday School but he will say to you–"How well you have
done it!" You can scarcely resist a temptation, or set a good example,
but he will be whispering to you–"What an excellent person you must
be!" It is, perhaps, one of the hardest struggles of the Christian life
to learn this sentence–"Not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name be
glory." Now God is so jealous on this point that, while he will forgive
his own servants a thousand things, this is an offense for which he is
sure to chasten us. Let a believer once say, "I am," and God will soon
make him say "I am not." Let a Christian begin to boast, "I can do all
things," without adding "through Christ which strengtheneth me," and
before long he will have to groan, "I can do nothing," and bemoan
himself in the dust. Many of the sins of true Christians, I do not
doubt, have been the result of their glorifying themselves. Many a man
has been permitted by God to stain a noble character and to ruin an
admirable reputation, because the character and the reputation had come
to be the man's own, instead of being laid, as all our crowns must be
laid, at the feet of Christ. Thou mayest build the city, but if thou
sayest with Nebuchadnezzar, "Behold this great Babylon which I have
builded!" thou shalt be smitten to the earth. The worms which ate Herod
when he gave not God the glory are ready for another meal; beware of
vain glory!
How careful ought we to be to walk humbly before the Lord. The moment
we glorify ourselves, since there is room for one glory only in the
universe, we set ourselves up as rivals to the Most High. Penitent
souls are always accepted, because they are not in God's way; proud
souls are always rejected, because they are in God's way. Shall the
insect of an hour glorify itself against the Sun which warmed it into
life? Shall the potsherd exalt itself above the man that fashioned it
upon the wheel? Shall the dust of the desert strive with the whirlwind?
Or the drops of the ocean struggle with the tempest? O thou nothingness
and vanity, thou puny mortal called man, humble thyself and reverence
thy Great Creator.
Let us see to it that we never misrepresent God, so as to rob him of
his honour. If any minister shall preach of God so as to dishonor him,
God will be jealous against that man. I fear that the Lord hath heavy
wrath against those who lay the damnation of man at God's door, for
they dishonor God, and he is very jealous of his name. And those, on
the other hand, who ascribe salvation to man must also be heavily
beneath God's displeasure, for they take from him his glory. Ah,
thieves! ah, thieves! will ye dare to steal the crown-jewels of the
universe! Whither go ye, whither bear ye the bright pearls which ought
to shine upon the brow of Christ? To put them on the brow of man? Stop!
stop! for the Lord will not give his glory to another! Give unto the
Lord, all ye righteous, give unto the Lord glory and strength; give
unto him the honor that is due unto his name! Any doctrine which does
not give all the honor to God must provoke him to jealousy.
Be careful, dear friends, that you do not misrepresent God yourselves.
You who murmur; you who say that God deals hardly with you, you give
God an ill character; when you look so melancholy, worldlings say, "The
religion of Jesus is intolerable;" and so you stain the honor of God.
Oh, do not do this, for he is a jealous God, and he will surely use the
rod upon you if you do.
A flash of holy pleasure crosses my mind. I am glad that he is a
jealous God. It is enough to make us walk very carefully, but, at the
same time, it should make us very joyful to think that the Lord is very
jealous of his own honor. Then, brethren, if we believe in Christ, you
and I are safe, because it would dishonor him if we were not; for his
own name's sake and for his faithfulness' sake, he will never leave one
of his people; since "His honor is engaged to save the meanest of his
sheep." Now, if Christ could trifle with his own honor, if he had no
jealousy, you and I might be afraid that he would suffer us to perish;
but it never shall be. It shall be said on earth and sung in heaven at
the last, that God has suffered no dishonorable defeats from the hands
of either men or devils. "I chose my people," saith the Eternal Father,
"and they are mine now that I make up my jewels." "I bought my people,"
saith the eternal Son, "I became a surety for them before the Most
High, and the infernal hon could not rend the meanest of the sheep." "I
quickened my people," saith the Holy Spirit; the temptations of hell
could not throw them down; their own corruptions could not overpower
them; I have gotten the victory in every one of them, not one of them
is lost; they are all brought safely to my right hand." Hide
yourselves, then, under the banner of Jehovah's jealousy. It is bloody
red, I know; its ensign bears a thunderbolt and a flame of fire; but
hide yourselves, hide yourselves under it, for what enemy shall reach
you there? If it be to God's glory to save me, I am entrenched behind
munitions of stupendous rock. If it would render God inglorious to let
me, a poor sinner, descend into hell; if it would open the mouths of
devils and make men say that God is not faithful to his promise, then
am I secure, for God's glory is wrapped up with my salvation, and the
one cannot fail because the other cannot be tarnished. Beloved, let us
mind that we be very jealous of God's glory ourselves since he is
jealous of it. Let us say with Elijah–"I am very jealous for the Lord
God of hosts." May our lives, and conduct, and conversation prove that
we are jealous of our hearts lest they should once depart from him; and
may we smite with stern and unrelenting hand every sin and every
thought of pride that might touch the glory of our gracious God; living
to him as living before a jealous God.
IV. In the highest sense, THE LORD IS JEALOUS OVER HIS OWN PEOPLE.
Let me only hint, that human jealousy, although it will exercise itself
over man's reputation, rights, and honor, hath one particularly tender
place: jealousy guardeth, like an armed man, the marriage-covenant. A
suspicion here is horrible. Even good old Jacob, when he came to die,
could not look upon his son Reuben without remembering his offense. "He
went up to my couch," said the old man–and, as if the remembrance was
too painful for him, he hurried on from Reuben to the next. The Lord
has been graciously pleased to say of his people, "I am married unto
you." The covenant of grace is a marriage-covenant, and Christ's Church
has become his spouse. It is here that God's jealousy is peculiarly
liable to take fire. Men cannot be God's favourites without being the
subjects of his watchfulness and jealousy: that which might be looked
over in another will be chastened in a member of Christ. As a husband
is jealous of his honor, so is the Lord Jesus much concerned for the
purity of his Church.
The Lord Jesus Christ, of whom I now speak, is very jealous of your
love, O believer. Did he not choose you? He cannot hear that you should
choose another. Did he not buy you with his own blood? He cannot endure
that you should think you are your own, or that you belong to this
world. He loved you with such a love that he could not stop in heaven
without you; he would sooner die than that you should perish; he
stripped himself to nakedness that he might clothe you with beauty; he
bowed his face to shame and spitting that he might lift you up to honor
and glory, and he cannot endure that you should love the world, and the
things of the world. His love is strong as death towards you, and
therefore will be cruel as the grave. He will be as a cruel one towards
you if you do not love him with a perfect heart. He will take away that
husband; he will smite that child; he will bring you from riches to
poverty, from health to sickness, even to the gates of the grave,
because he loves you so much that he cannot endure that anything should
stand between your heart's love and him. Be careful Christians, you
that are married to Christ; remember, you are married to a jealous
husband.
He is very jealous of your trust. He will not permit you to trust in an
arm of flesh. He will not endure that you should hew out broken
cisterns, when the overflowing fountain is always free to you. When we
come up from the wilderness leaning upon our Beloved, then is our
Beloved glad, but when we go down to the wilderness leaning on some
other arm; when we trust in our own wisdom or the wisdom of a
friend–worst of all, when we trust in any works of our own, he is
angry, and will smite us with heavy blows that he may bring us to
himself.
He is also very jealous of our company. It were well if a Christian
could see nothing but Christ. When the wife of a Persian noble had been
invited to the coronation of Darius, the question was asked of her by
her husband–"Did you not think the king a most beautiful man?" and her
answer was–"I cared not to look at the king; my eyes are for my
husband only, for my heart is his." The Christian should say the same.
There is nothing beneath the spacious arch of heaven comparable to
Christ: there should be no one with whom we converse so much as with
Jesus. To abide in him only, this is true love; but to commune with the
world, to find solace in our comforts, to be loving this evil world,
this is vexing to our jealous Lord. Do you not believe that nine out of
ten of the troubles and pains of believers are the result of their love
to some other person than Christ? Nail me to thy cross, thou bleeding
Savior! Put thy thorn-crown upon my head to be a hedge to keep my
thoughts within its bound! O for a fire to burn up all my wandering
loves. O for a seal to stamp the name of my Beloved indelibly upon my
heart! O love divine expel from me all carnal worldly loves, and fill
me with thyself!
Dear friends, let this jealousy which should keep us near to Christ be
also a comfort to us, for if we be married to Christ, and he be jealous
of us, depend upon it this jealous husband will let none touch his
spouse. Joel tells us that the Lord is jealous for his land, and
Zechariah utters the word of the Lord, "I am jealous for Jerusalem, and
for Zion with a great jealousy;" and then he declares that he will
punish the heathen. And will he not avenge his own elect who cry unto
him day and night? There is not a hard word spoken but the Lord shall
avenge it! There is not a single deed done against us, but the strong
hand of him who once died but now lives for us, shall take terrible
vengeance upon all his adversaries. I am not afraid for the Church of
God! I tremble not for the cause of God! Our jealous Husband will never
let his Church be in danger, and if any smite her he will give them
double for every blow. The gates of hell shall not prevail against his
Church, but she shall prevail against the gates of hell. Her jealous
Husband shall roll away her shame; her reproach shall be forgotten; her
glory shall be fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an
army with banners, for he that is jealous of himself is jealous for her
fair fame. The subject is large and deep; let us prove that we
understand it, by henceforth walking very carefully; and if any say
"Why are you so precise?" let this be our answer–"I serve a jealous
God."